We do declare Emergent Technologies, you must have caught the vapors. The middleware company's Gamebryo engine, which lurks beneath the hood of a number of games including Oblivion and the forthcoming Fallout 3, has been licensed by Nibris for its vaporous Wii title Sadness.

The Polish company celebrated the news by offering up what it calls the first official screenshot from the oft-delayed black-and-white "crime noir thriller," which we've posted above for your perusal. Says Nibris project manager Tomasz Wisniowski, the team is using the tech to include "quite a few graphical effects...which some believe are impossible to attain on the Wii." We have to wonder, however, if one of those effects includes actually making it to retail?

Since the inception of the video game, there have been those who would try to re-purpose electronic interactive entertainment for more ... educational pursuits. As a rule we're typically supportive of these efforts, but a recent project by students at Carnegie Mellon's Entertainment Technology Center has just pushed us too far. They've just used a game called Within Range to ... teach the Dewey Decimal System. [Update: It's the Library of Congress classification system. See below paragraph for more insight into how this error was made.]

We've made it clear how we feel about libraries (or as we think of them, the crappy, flammable Internet that also has homeless people), so you can understand why this is so offensive to us. That's doubled by the fact that the fun has been filed under "N" for "non-existent." Think all games deserve a fair shake? Go ahead, but don't say we didn't warn you.

[Thanks, Michael S.]

We had such a good time reading this, we thought we'd share for a laugh. If you're the kind of person who really splits a seam reading about Duke Nukem Forever's glacial progress, you're sure to get a laugh out of the comedy of errors that we know as Sadness. This vaporous piece of software has been teasing gamers for nearly two years and, despite that lengthy timeframe, we've yet to see even a single screenshot. Stop by Wii Fanboy's Sadness chronology and relive all those precious moments like it's your first time.

This is getting ridiculous. Since initially announcing survival-horror project Sadness way back in April 2006 (when the Wii was still called the Revolution, for Pete's sake), Polish developer Nibris has leaked precious little concrete information about the troubled title. Now come word that the game, which was originally slated for Q4 2007 has been pushed back to sometime in 2009, according to an e-mail received by a NeoGAF poster.

It's a shame the development progress has been so spotty, since the Wii could definitely use a new horror title that wasn't ported from the GameCube. Here's hoping Sadness ends up coming out before Duke Nukem Forever

[Via WiiFanboy]

Just when we were ready to forget this whole Sadness debacle, Nibris drops a few more pieces of artwork and information to keep our attention, some of which we were already aware of. At least they didn't contradict themselves and start a brand new round of "NIBRIS IS TEH FAEK!!!!111!".

We knew Sadness would feature two main characters: a woman (Maria) and her son Alexander. Now we know that Maria is around 30 years old and of Polish-Hungarian descent. Not exactly earth-shattering information, but what the heck, it's interesting. The game's length has been upped from 15 to 20 hours, and Nibris will use voice acting extensively. Fog will also be a major part of the game, allowing the in-game visuals to match the quality of the concept art released over the last year.

A few other interesting factoids:

• There are nearly 50 people involved with the making of Sadness.
• There are 18 species of monsters throughout the game, and different ones will appear depending on how you play.
• Some of the monsters will be "friendly", but don't expect flowers and a shoulder massage.
• The music will be performed by "one of the best" orchestras.
• Release date on the official site is still 2007.

So there you have it, more tidbits for the game we're still afraid to yearn for.

Some games have all the bad luck. Stick the word "Forever" on the end of your title and the development period will last about that long. Name your console "Phantom" and it will vanish like a ghost. Nibris should have took that into consideration when naming black-and-white WWII horror/adventure game Sadness. All we've seen is concept art and already the game's development is a tragic tale.

Last year Nibris announced a publisher (Frontline Studios) had picked up the game. Time passed and no news came out of either company. A forum member at IGN decided to investigate and contacted Frontline. The response? "[We are] no longer interested in developing Sadness game based on Nibris' concept." How ... sad.

The folks at Kiff News weren't satisfied, so they investigated a little further and got in touch with Nibris. The company confirmed the split with Frontline and insisted that Sadness and other projects are in development. One of the company's leads has been out sick, which was the reason behind their silence.

It still sounds fishy to us, but only because we don't want to get our hopes up if this falls through. Next time, use the working title Happiness: On Shelves Now for better publishing karma.

[Via NintendoWiiFanboy]

Has the mysterious Sadness weighed down your soul, pervading every fold and crevice of your aching heart? Well cheer up, Game Informer brings the first illuminating details of Nibris' dark horror adventure: It's pre-WWI, and you are Maria, a woman desperate to protect her son Alexander after a train derailment lands the two of you in the always-creepy Eastern European countryside. Alex has been blinded in the accident and is starting to act "odd." Your subsequent fate will share eerie similarities to ... Slavic legends!

Nibris estimates that Sadness will provide 15 heart-pounding hours of "No Alex! Not that way!" action, in addition to 10 tear-jerking endings. You ready to unleash your inner-mother? We hear Cooking Mama is a great way to stir up those maternal instincts ... try starting there.

Cubed³ recently posted an update from Nibris, the mysterious Polish developer that's strictly dedicated to Nintendo platforms. Though comprised of a mere fourteen employees (according to Wikipedia), Nibris is supposedly working on seven different projects (four for Wii; three for DS); but only four titles have been confirmed: Raid Over the River (Wii & DS), Sadness (Wii), and Double Bloob (DS). From the tech demo, we also know that Fresh Chicken Studio (who?) is contributing to the development of ROTR for DS.

While Nintendo has apparently acknowledged Nibris as an official developer, we remain suspicious of the studio's sporadic contact with the gaming community. The mystery surrounding Nibris is as thick as the one blanketing the eerie glimpses of Sadness's concept art. Give us some tangible evidence. Make us believers!

Nibris has announced that it's found a publisher for its atmospheric horror game, Sadness. However, due to a non-disclosure agreement, the Poland-based developer can't reveal the publisher's name just yet. Here's a hint: with themes like narcolepsy, nyctophobia, and paranoid schizophrenia, it's not Nintendo -- or is it ... ?