A little note concerning ´No End Soon´

On his blog, Mr. Inc claims to be a developer of a Revolution title and he´s quite generous with information. Here´s what they have recently disclosed:

>>Details

* Working title: No End Soon
* Estimate Release Date: TBA
* Graphics are still to be decided
* Nintendo WiFi Connection enabled (...)
* Nintendo DS WiFi Link
* We would like to use the Virtual Console (...) for unlockable content (...)
* Free to explore gigantic world
* Able to chose female/male character
* Innovative combat mode. You can fight with your character by simply doing weird fighting moves with the controller to knock down your opponent. Expect it to be very easy, even your grandmother will be able to do this as you basicly use no buttons for the combat mode. (...)
* Atleast 64 players online
* Headset support
* You will be able to create your own server
* Friend list
* Match making service
* Online ranking system throught our website.

We’re currently still working with the pre-final Development Kits (final Development Kits are expected to come in mid-February now) we’ve received more than a month ago. (...) No End Soon currently is currently in pre-alpha stage, with pretty much running already. (...)

I’d like to end this post with a schedule I’ve created of when you should expect what. (...)

February 10 – 17: Exclusive interview with revogaming.net with exclusive details about No End Soon. (...)

March 21: Nintendo conference, second Revolutionary aspect will be fully revealed, including list of games which can be downloaded from day one.

In contrast to this wealth of information (along with the promise of more info coming exclusively to a non-commercial website), here are extracts from a standard non-disclosure agreement (NDA), the kind of contract that would exist between Nintendo as a manufacturer and a publisher like Ubi Soft, as well as between the publisher and the studio. The sample NDA is courtesy of attorney Tom Buscaglia who has been working in this industry for years (formatting is mine).

The Receiving Party will not disclose any Confidential Information of the Disclosing Party to third parties or to employees of the Receiving Party except those employees who are required to have information in order to carry out the discussion of the contemplated business. All employees of the Receiving Party to whom Confidential Information of the Disclosing Party have or will have prior to disclosure, sign a Non-Disclosure and Non-Use Agreement in content substantially similar to this Agreement, and the Receiving Party will promptly notify the Disclosing Party in writing of the names of each such employee upon the written request of the Disclosing Party at any time.

Each of the Parties agrees that it will take all reasonable measures to protect the secrecy of and avoid disclosure or use of Confidential Information of the other party in order to prevent it from falling into public domain or the possession of persons other than those persons authorized hereunder to have any such information, which measures shall include the highest degree of care that each of the parties uses to protect its own Confidential Information of a similar nature. The Receiving Party agrees to notify the Disclosing Party in writing of any misuse or misappropriation of Confidential Information of the Disclosing Party which may come to the Receiving Party's attention. (...)

The parties agree that the obligations of the Receiving Party provided herein are necessary and reasonable in order to protect the Disclosing Party and its business, and expressly agree that monetary damages would be inadequate to compensate the Disclosing Party for any breach by the Receding Party of it covenants and agreements set forth herein. Accordingly, the parties agree and acknowledge that any such violation or threatened violation will cause irreparable injury to the Disclosing Party and that, in addition to any other remedies that may be available in law, equity or otherwise, the Disclosing Party shall be entitled to obtain injunctive relief against the threatened breach of the Agreement or the continuation of any such breach by the Receiving Party, without the necessity of proving actual damages.

I think this contrast speaks for itself. Their claim that Nintendo allowed them to leak information, including a shot of the controller taken with a mobile phone camera, makes me fall off my chair laughing. Here´s what happens to publishers who violate contracts.

I am not even going to bother examining every single one of the outrageous spelling mistakes in detail or the laughable phrases ("Graphics are still to be decided") which undoubtedly show them up as non-professionals. I am just going to say that noone with any kind of experience in this industry could be in any doubt that these guys are totally fake. I will not discuss this blog in any more detail. This post should suffice.

Sources: Mr. Inc´s blog, Game Dev Kit, Gamasutra