If Sadness exists, it will be powered by Gamebryo (Update)

Let’s be clear — I don’t think that Nibris’ Sadness is a real game that will ever see the light of day. Do I want it to be? Sure. The concept and the single “screenshot” of the black and white thriller for the Wii sounds and looks interesting. But I’m skeptical.

I do however, know for a fact that the engine that is said to be powering the game, Emergent Game Technologies’ Gamebryo platform, does exist. I’ve seen it in action with games like Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Fallout 3, or Cyberlore Studios’ Playboy: The Mansion. According to a press release that is making the rounds, the engine will Nibris “push the bounds of the Wii technically” with their “ground-breaking product.”

Yeah, OK. Right. E3 is right around the corner, Nibris — let’s see some game here, guys. I attempted to contact Emergent’s marketing and PR department to verify this press release (which you can read after the jump), but they were unavailable for comment at the time of this writing. Whether they call “bs” or confirm, I’ll be sure to let you guys know. In the meantime, enjoy the dream.

[Update: I’m prepared to eat my words sometime in the future.

We have received phone confirmation from Emergent that this press release is indeed legit. When asked about the title (“Seriously, this isn’t an actual game, is it?”), I was told that it does indeed exist, and that Nibris were currently in search of a publisher. So there you have it, but I’ll see it when I believe it!]

Gamebryo Breathes Life Into Wii’s First Black-And-White Horror Title

Highly-Anticipated Wii Game, Sadness, Chooses Emergent’s Gamebryo

CALABASAS, Calif. (April XX, 2008) –Emergent Game Technologies announced today that the highly-anticipated psychological thriller Sadness for Wii™ is being built on the Gamebryo game development platform. The first Wii title to be presented entirely in black-and-white is in development by Poland-based game studio Nibris. Taking place prior to World War I, Sadness is a crime noir thriller with richly detailed characters and an engaging storyline.

“Without a doubt, Gamebryo is the most powerful engine available for the Wii. After getting familiar with the engine several months ago we made the decision to choose Gamebryo. Since then, our team has been working on Sadness and we are quite impressed,” said Tomasz Wisniowski, Project Manager of Nibris. “We will have quite a few graphical effects in our game, which some believe are impossible to attain on the Wii. Gamebryo helped make it possible. We are firmly convinced we made the right choice.”

“From the early stages of pre-production with Sadness, Nibris realized that they would need development technology that allowed for an extreme amount of flexibility in the creative process, which is a cornerstone of the Gamebryo framework,” said Geoffrey Selzer, CEO of Emergent. “Sadness is designed to push the bounds of Wii technically and creatively. We are thrilled to be a part of Nibris’ ground-breaking product. We’re really looking forward to playing Sadness on Wii.”

Gamebryo gives Nibris’ developers a considerable head start by implementing numerous Wii development features that do not typically come with standard SDKs. Loaded with rendering and animation tools, a Wii-specific viewer, extensive libraries and APIs to simplify pipeline integration, Gamebryo provides Wii teams everything they need to optimize and deliver visually stunning games on time and on budget.

Sadness is a horror adventure game aimed at adults with strong nerves. Players will need to confront their greatest fears and protect themselves in hopes of not getting trapped inside the main character’s nightmare. The game has eight different extreme endings each with their own premise, which are assigned to a player based on specific factors during the game. To compliment the intense gameplay, the Wii-mote and Wii Nunchuk control the main character’s hands so players feel as though they are in the psychological thriller.