Nintendo Renews Eternal Darkness Trademark

[StewShearerOld]

Nintendo Renews Eternal Darkness Trademark

Nintendo still holds the rights to Eternal Darkness but has no announced plans to continue the franchise.

While most hopes for an Eternal Darkness sequel have long since been bludgeoned and buried, Nintendo is still giving fans some hope for a sequel. With the game's trademark on the brink of expiration, Nintendo has chosen to renew its ownership of the franchise. While this could just be a case of a publisher maintaining control of a property for the sake of it, Nintendo is nothing if not prone to the unexpected revival <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/5634-Kid-Icarus-Uprising>of dormant franchises.

Even if Nintendo decides to go down the route of resuscitation, it will likely be of little solace to Eternal Darkness' creators, the deeply troubled Silicon Knights. While the developer received praise for its work on Eternal Darkness, the titles that followed were less well received. Too Human was infamously long in development and launched to a <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/213-Too-Human>chorus of mediocre reviews. X-Men: Destiny, the last game by Silicon Knights to make it to retail, was <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/9156-X-Men-Destiny-Review>also resoundingly panned. Silicon Knights has since declared bankruptcy and sat on the losing side of a legal battle with Epic Games, resulting in a court order forcing the studio <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/120568-Silicon-Knights-Must-Destroy-Its-Works-By-December>to destroy its unsold and unfinished games. This presumably included a <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/120385-Eternal-Darkness-2-Demo-May-Have-Scuttled-X-Men-Destiny>prototype of Eternal Darkness 2 that Silicon Knights was making at the same time as X-Men: Destiny.

Silicon Knights' misfortunes aside, there's nothing stopping Nintendo from, someday, handing Eternal Darkness off to another developer or making a sequel itself. It would be a welcome announcement. Eternal Darkness, in addition to telling a great and genuinely chilling story, also implemented a number of unique and interesting mechanics that have been rarely replicated since its release. The game's sanity meter, wherein characters become less mentally stable the more they come into contact with disturbing things, was particularly clever, often breaking the fourth wall to attack and unsettle the player directly.

With many <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/9950-Resident-Evil-6-Review>staples of the horror genre stepping away from their roots, a sequel to Eternal Darkness could be just what many gamers are looking for. Whether or not it will ever happen is another question.

Source: <a href=http://www.gamnesia.com/news/nintendo-extends-the-trademark-for-eternal-darkness>Gamnesia


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[Mr. Omega]

They're probably just going to sell the original on the Virtual Console. Maybe they'll use that to gauge the interest in a sequel. Still, considering all the circumstances that happened to Knights, if another game was made, would it be the same?

 

[The White Hunter]

Meh? Eternal Darkness is a game thats a bit overpraised, it's fans would be well served to replay it. I personally can only recommend it as a horror experience specifically to those that can't handle their silent hill...

Great story though!

Edit: Oh and that eternal darkness 2 prototype that no publisher wanted and wasn't even close to usable? That was a good use of time rather than developing the games they were supposed to be developing properly. Mismanagement at it's finest.

 

[kailus13]

It was possibly the most inventive horror game ever, a sequel would not go amiss.

 

[Mr. Omega]

They're probably just going to sell the original on the Virtual Console. Maybe they'll use that to gauge the interest in a sequel. Still, considering all the circumstances that happened to Knights, if another game was made, would it be the same?

What's the betting they'll turn it into a Kickstarter?

Nah. Nintendo is always slow to adopt a new idea that wasn't theirs, either out or arrogant pride or being overly cautious.

I'm more surprised they haven't made a statement denouncing Kickstarter yet.

 

[ScruffyMcBalls]

Love the previous title and Nintendo doesn't really have anything to lose making a sequel so I'll expect to see one some day. It really wouldn't surprise me if they just went back and revived all of the popular Gamecube franchises as a whole, it is after all what Nintendo does best.

 

[Kmadden2004]

Oh please, dark eldritch gods of videogaming, let this be Retro's next game...

 

[Glaice]

Why sit on a franchise and do nothing with it when you can sell it to a good developer and make some money off of it?

 

[AmzRigh]

If I recall correctly, beyond just being the publisher the first time around, Nintendo was very involved in the development of the game, as well. Lots of things added and cut under their instruction. And, given the quality of Silicon Knights' later games, it seems reasonable to assume that Nintendo's guidance is what made the game what it was.

Now, not every developer will put up with that level of meddling from their publisher, so rather than seek out a third party, I would be very pleased if they decided to develop it in-house, or maybe passed it off to Intelligent Systems.

 

[Saregon]

Man, when I read the headline I though "Nice, sequel-time!" and then I read the article.. This game is very deserving of a sequel, and is one of 3 games that are the reason I still keep my Gamecube and take it out once in a while. I just REALLY hope that if they were to make a sequel, they wouldn't go the Dead Space route of "appealing to a wider audience" third person action-horror shooter game.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Yeah, this really means nothing.

Even if they don't want to make a new Eternal Darkness game (because they are scared of money and success), they want to make sure nobody ELSE can make a new Eternal Darkness game.

They know if they did, a kickstarter would be created the second the copyright lapses.

 

[JediMB]

If I recall correctly, beyond just being the publisher the first time around, Nintendo was very involved in the development of the game, as well. Lots of things added and cut under their instruction. And, given the quality of Silicon Knights' later games, it seems reasonable to assume that Nintendo's guidance is what made the game what it was.

Now, not every developer will put up with that level of meddling from their publisher, so rather than seek out a third party, I would be very pleased if they decided to develop it in-house, or maybe passed it off to Intelligent Systems.

I wouldn't be against putting Retro Studios on the job. But then I really have no idea what they're up to these days.

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

They're probably just going to sell the original on the Virtual Console. Maybe they'll use that to gauge the interest in a sequel. Still, considering all the circumstances that happened to Knights, if another game was made, would it be the same?

What's the betting they'll turn it into a Kickstarter?

Nintendo doesn't seem the type of company to use Kickstarter. I could see plenty of other companies doing it, but not Nintendo. They're a very introverted company.

 

[Glaice]

I see no point for Nintendo to even need to use Kickstarter, they have millions upon millions to spend on.