Update:
This title has now been official confirmed, below. The original article's details and context remain correct.
Original Article:
In the past generation Nintendo has often relied upon smaller studios to produce some compelling exclusives and ports for its systems, in particular on the eShop or as budget retail titles. That'll likely need to continue on the Nintendo Switch to boost its library, and now there's solid talk about another title coming to the system that may even be an exclusive.
It all started with a tweet by Laura Kate Dale, teasing an announcement of a 'smaller title' for the system.
It didn't take long for users on Reddit to share the following image, rather effectively tying the tease to Seasons of Heaven, a book that's being produced as a video game. As you can see below, the young boy, accompanying dog and the world are very similar between the blurred screenshots and the concept art.
Once the pieces are together, there's a lot of evidence that this title is indeed headed to Switch. Below are tweets over the past week or so from author Nico Augusto and Any Arts Production, a studio based in California that shows its love for all things gaming, Nintendo and Star Wars on its Facebook page.
So, what is Seasons of Heaven? Known as The Seasons of Paradise in its original French release, the book follows a group of people in a 'stripped and barren Earth' following a 'great purge':
This story will allow you to experience the awe of discovering the most beautiful, magical place that ever existed while at the same time staying only one step ahead of the dark and vile underbelly of the human race. Most importantly Seasons of Heaven will awaken your imagination and open your mind to possibilities you may never have considered. It will have you on the edge of your seat as you question everything you thought you knew about humanity and begin to realize that the possibility of things existing that can't be seen with our eyes but only felt within our hearts and souls, really do exist.
The book's available on Amazon, and those with a Kindle can read it for free as part of Kindle Unlimited subscription; that's applicable in the UK, at least.
It all seems like a good bet, in any case, but we'll see what gets announced later this week.
Thanks to all that sent this in.
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[source reddit.com]
Comments 60
Looks cool.
Revenge leak, then ask for donations....the epitome of ethical games journalism in modern times
A shame really, cause these would've been nice surprises had Nintendo been allowed to reveal them when they intended. Oh well...
@darkgamer001 To be fair, Nintendo decided to show switch then vow to say nothing/much till jan 12th. They had to have known stuff like this was a strong possibility.
@darkgamer001 We can go ahead and leave out all the 'extreme lifestyle choices' that were also made. Forward thinking is not this person's strength.
Keep it coming.
Hey guys can I point out she was never blacklisted? She had actually got the facts wrong about that?
And yeh, it was pretty petty of her to do this. Nintendo I understand but she just took vengeance on an Indie developer
OK the "revenge leak" idea is not valid. Just a joke that has been blown out of context. She's a games journo with contacts, she's gonna leak no matter what.
"The Last of Uncharted"?
@Super_Conzo Jokes are not easy to convey on the net. That is why we have memes to do it for us. Now instead of it being funny she has come off as a diva
I had to substitute diva for a rude word so I don't get in trouble
Man, so many people getting angry at Laura for doing her job. The "revenge leak" tweet was in jest. She has been leaking Switch details before being blacklisted and is continuing to do so after being blacklisted. Being blacklisted is completely meaningless.
Don't people realise that for a site like LPVG, which is not funded by advertisements and gets zero benefit from page clicks, being blacklisted has little to no impact whatsoever? LPVG being blacklisted is not a negative to LPVG, therefore the idea that this is a "revenge leak" is laughable. Revenge for what exactly? "oh no, nintendo isn't sending us review code any more. Now we can't get reviews up on launch day which really affects us... oh wait no it doesn't at all, we don't get money for clicks."
Reporting on leaks like this is literally journalism. "Hey someone has come forward with this information that is of interest to the public. I am going to release it." That is literally the point of journalism. Just playing PR for Nintendo, being a good girl and only saying what Nintendo wants you to say when they want you to say it, isn't journalism, it's marketing. Marketing that Nintendo isn't paying you for, I'll add.
I would even be so bold as to suggest that in Laura's job as a journalist she should do journalism and be paid for journalism. I know this is a stunning revalation to a big part of the internet but that's actually how careers work.
Actually, SuperMetalDave64 (https://twitter.com/SMetaldave64) reported this first in his channel. Gotta give credit to him.
What is that game ?
I mean genre please...
Looks great. I'd buy it if it's true.
With some of the sites in her bio being soooo well-known for ethical journalism, I find it hard to believe that the 'revenge' part is in jest.
And no, you don't necessarily leak info you get a hold of as a journalist. It really depends on your sources, for starters.
How was this info obtained? Are NDAs being broken?
I don't have an answer to these questions and quite frankly it's not my business, but let's not pretend that these people leaking the info are saints in need of mercy, or that they have some kind of spotless ethical track record. Far from it.
@Dakt Oh snap, I didn't think of it like that! Fragile Dreams is one of my all time favorite games, I'm actually serious! A lot of that has to do with the absolutely masterpiece of a soundtrack though.
Those images look very nice indeed.
This is looking amazing just from the above pictures. I'm starting to get the feeling we're going to be blown away at the system and games revealed for it. Yep, I'm drinking the kool-aid!! Guess what, it tastes good!!
The only way this leak could be even realer is if the screen was even more titled and there was more lens flare. Sun and moon have been out for two weeks and already we're getting more of these kind of "leaks" of which even a 5 year old could tell you they're faked.
@darkgamer001 "Are NDAs being broken?" LPVG has not signed an NDA regarding the Switch or this game, so no. NDAs do not apply to anyone except those who have signed an NDA. Determining whether a source is breaking NDA is not LPVG's responsibility, liability or concern. Protecting an NDA signed by someone who is not associated with LPVG is not LPVG's responsibility, liability or concern. A source choosing to break an NDA to leak information to an outlet is entirely the source's choice, and their own risk.
This, again, is how journalism works
I have to ask, how do you know for sure that she didn't sign any agreement? Unless she said something I may have missed?
Journalists do at times sign agreements not to disclose certain info before a stipulated time, a very common example of this being reviews
Now if a source did so and gave her permission to leak it, then fair play to her, although the whole revenge thing, joke or not, reeks of an unprofessional attitude in the extreme, again....something that is not new to the likes of her, unfortunately.
But hey, I guess if that's the way journalism works nowadays, I'm glad I stopped looking at games journalism as an ideal job a loooong time ago.
"Hey I leaked a trailer for an indie game on a new system and stole their future moment in the limelight....don't care I GOT CLICKS" sigh
@darkgamer001 I'd also invite you to explain what exactly is non-ethical about this leak. Does the leak personally identify somebody who could be hurt by this information? No. Has LPVG hacked or otherwise stolen information? No. Has LPVG broken any laws, contracts, etc in order to provide this information? No. Is this information likely to hurt the sales of the Switch or the game in question? That's not even the concern of a reporter but even still, no.
@darkgamer001 because if LPVG had signed an NDA, LPVG would be liable to be sued for breaking a signed legal contract. In my experience people generally avoid doing things that could get them sued.
Being sued is expensive and generally pretty bad for a career.
Also as noted in my first comment, LPVG is not supported by adverts. The number of clicks does not help them in any way. If anything, higher traffic causes higher server costs. It causes downtime for the website. "Clickbait" would cost them more.
Looks great!
Is it January yet?
I've already mentioned the fact that joke or not, the whole BLACKLISTED, PLEASE DONATE thing was unethical, for starters.
Next up, yes revealing an indie game to that extent can definitely be deemed unethical without the permission of the devs themselves.
A surprise reveal was foiled, hype won't be the same which may in turn affect sales. Now if journalists want to hide under the "not my responsibility" shield, fine. But go ahead and damage the industry that feeds you for a few clicks.
As for being sued, it's not as simple as that. I don't know if Nintendo has grounds to sue, but even if they do, chances are they won't. For a very simple reason - suing a journalist as a multinational company looks really bad, even if they have a legitimate case.
Which is why companies have resorted to simply blacklisting journalists and/or sites before.
Nintendo doesn't sue because there's literally no legal grounds to sue. None. At all. That's why Nintendo has blacklisted LPVG and not sued LPVG. Believe me, if LPVG had signed a Switch NDA and then proceeded to reveal this much information about the Switch, they'd be being sued into oblivion, not removed from a review code list.
It is also not the responsibility of journalists to keep the secrets of companies. It's the companies' responsibility to keep the secrets of companies. The person arguably being "unethical" here and probably breaching a contract is whoever in Nintendo or Any Arts Production is stealing content and sending it to journalists. Don't shoot the messenger.
Oh I have no doubt in my mind that the person passing on the info is being unethical.
But absolving the "messenger" of all guilt under the grounds of "she's just doing her job" is far too simplistic.
You're also making a big assumption by saying there are no grounds to sue at all unless you somehow have in your possession all the relevant documents. They may or may not. We don't know and we likely never will.
Sure, but I find it's general useful to take the most likely assessment of events as the most likely to be true. Look up Occam's Razor.
LPVG may well be breaching an NDA that they have signed, and are revealing information confidentially disclosed to them. Nintendo may have therefore have grounds to sue but have decided not to because of the effect it has on their PR, despite showing no concern about such effects when taking down other things they have legal precedent to, such as fan games. LPVG may have also signed NDAs for other supposed leaks about Sony and Ubisoft and others, who have all also decided not to sue but also in fact continue to provide LPVG with further information under an NDA they know will be broken. LPVG may be publishing every article in the knowledge that several companies have the legal grounds to sue them.
Or LPVG never signed any NDAs in the first place, so they're totally legally in the clear.
Take your pick.
You may bring up Occam's Razor to support your argument, but the fact of the matter is that both scenarios are indeed possible, and in real life, it's not necessarily what one thinks is the likely option that is always true.
You also attempt to word it in a way that makes the first scenario appear extremely unlikely, and then word the second one in a simple, clear-cut way to make it appear more likely, but of course fail to take into consideration other things.....ex. it's one thing, PR wise, to take down a fan game, another thing to go after a journalist with lawyers.
I really wish these people would let the game devs reveal their own games. That's right...get off my lawn.
@darkgamer001 "your point is invalid because anything is possible" is a curious defense to reach, but okay.
@TobiasAmaranth Did LKD get a sex change?
What gave you the impression that I'm trying to defend anything or that I'm calling your points invalid?
We're just discussing things here....for the record, I think you're making some valid points, but I don't necessarily agree with them.
Keep up the good Laura.
Her leaks have been bang on!
@Dakt Your comment is five words too long.
Still not convinced about the the authenticity of some of things that LKD has reported on, but I must say - this game looks gorgeous and better than a dreamed Switch was capable of...
Good. Come forth with it.
Looks hell of a lot better graphically than breath of the wild
Yessssssss!
EDIT: Also, this game could be HUGE if it was multiplayer. Looks like an open world RPG experience. If you can play it with friends, then the game becomes 100% better! We definitely need more open world RPG's with friends and Xenoblade Chronicles X sort of blew that. That means that no matter where you are (within reason), you could play this with any of your friends! ... In ANY way you want!
Looks good
Nintendo should have been showing off games like this at least as early as E3 2016 anyways. It's too late to complain about "surprise leaks." The Sandwitch is only a few months away, and Nintendo has only just now seen fit to start showing off gameplay videos, much less live game showcases. The secrets have been kept secret for too long, it's past time to reveal them. Don't be surprised if this and more information gets leaked- Nintendo isn't doing themselves any favors by holding off information until right before release.
@brutalpanda Waiting for their big planned reveal that will be buried under all the first party Nintendo game news? And this will supposedly kill them? Yeah, right... I bet this leak is actually going to end up helping them, since people now know about it before they're swallowed in the sudden deluge of information with all the focus on first party titles. Keep in mind that we still have barely been shown anything about BotW- almost no one was going to be paying attention to this game come the announcements.
@brutalpanda "if you are being paid by a company you should do the job they want done, if you don't like it then leave in peace. If they fire you then yeah it's probably your fault. This person did something against Nintendo's employee policy and is now acting nasty about, taking advantage of it and asking for donations. Complete crock."
What? Laura isn't employed by Nintendo. Laura has never been employed by Nintendo. Nobody in this story is or has been employed by Nintendo.
Nintendo's employee policy therefore has nothing to do with anything. Nor does Sony's employee policy or McDonald's employee policy or any other company that has an employee policy that is also totally unrelated to this story and the people in it.
I still just can't believe Switch is getting this gem. Like, it's looking like its right up my alley! Now all they have to do is make the doge exchangeable for something else (I'm not a doge fan at all) and it'll be golden. Well, that and having multiplayer available. Heck, THIS is the pokemon adventure everyone wants!
@brutalpanda They were planning to show the game this week anyway...
I'm kind of in the middle on all this. I think it's really great that yet another game is revealed for the Switch, and one that is actually looking good and interesting, but I also think that not EVERY game or company needs to be leaked.
It would be nice to have some surprises left to be shown during the January event. And sure, Nintendo is very stingy with information, but that is really no reason or excuse for other parties to spoil literally everything there is to know about any possible third party effort...
#F***theinternetandespeciallytwitter
@Mijzelffan You were saying?
Think before you post seems to be the way to go here...
Looks pretty dope!!
Nice screen shots but need to see the game as a whole but the visuals look really good for a Nintendo console.
We'll see how this pans out. Hopefully it isn't like the Switch's "Sadness."
@IronMan28 Sadness is easily the greatest game that never existed in any form.
@Raylax Very well said.
@Spoony_Tech Grape Cool aid please mmmmmm........now thats good stuff! DRINK UP BOYS THERE IS PLENTY TO GO AROUND
Looks absolutely beautiful. Definitely on my radar.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. But, This game is not an exclusive because it is also coming to the PC.
Nice screenshots, could be fun. But its based on a book and is yet another indie-title. Where are the big third-party retail titles?!
Besides, we won't see the trailer in December. But most likely around the January event!
@ThanosReXXX are you implying it's smarter to believe every single rumour you see posted on nintendolife? I can "leak" that generation 8 of pokemon is going to come out in september 2018 and I could be correct but that still doesn't mean anyone is stupid for not believing me considering I provided no evidence whatsoever. Even if I turned out correct on that I'd still say anyone who actually believed me are dumber than those who didn't.
@rjejr stop
@XFsWorld
@Mijzelffan I'm not "implying" anything. I just emphasized that you were WAY too fast in jumping to the conclusion that this was going to be fake, and it definitely made you look less than smart.
And of course it's correct that not every rumor is true, but that also works the other way around. But in that case, you don't see many people on here (or on any other site) going out of their way to say that it MUST be real. The smartest thing you can do is just wait and see. There have been lots of fakes, and there have also been games that were so long in development that we thought they were fake, and there have been fake looking games that were actually real.
And yes, in the end this game might still be cancelled, we all know the Wii U had more than its share of those, but for now it's a VERY real new game to add to the ever growing list that is coming to the Switch.
And that's a good thing, something to be positive about, even if it's not your kind of game. Because the more, the better. For all of us...
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