So when is concept art not concept art? When it's part of an artist's established portfolio of fan art and book covers, and not in any way related to an actual game. That didn't stop Cubed3 from posting the "exclusive concept art" straight from Nibris, which turned out in fact to be older art that deviantArt member OmeN2501 turned in to the alleged developer as an example of what he might like to see in a DS horror game.

That's rather more like conceptual examples of concept art for a possible concept than an actual confirmed game, but this not the first we've seen from the company's reported upcoming title, Children of the Night. It's just the first "art" we've seen, and if you happen to seek out Silent Hill fan art, you may have seen some of it before. Fortunately, a few intrepid armchair detectives over at NeoGAF were quick to point out that the art was not precisely new, but was in fact part of the aforementioned artist's profile on deviantArt. A little digging revealed that while Marek Okon, aka OmeN2501, is reportedly working as an artist for Nibris, these particular pieces of art were never meant for release in conjunction with Children of the Night, or any other game, real or imagined. It might also be worth nothing that the artwork was cropped to give it a fresh look, though we can't say who did the cropping.

Cubed3, continuing with their exclusive Nibris coverage, interviewed the enigmatic Polish developer about their possibly-upcoming projects. Apparently, Raid over the River and Double Bloob both have publishers and vague release dates, but "not for all territories." Optimistic DS fans (presumably those in Europe) should look forward to Double Bloob in "Q4 2007" and Raid over the River (now possibly called Ride over the River or simply ROTR) in "Q1 2008".

Some gameplay details about both games are revealed in the interview, including touchscreen integration for ROTR that, if real, sounds like fun: the game contains a slow motion mode in which you draw on enemies to target them for a special attack.

They're considering bringing a version of ROTR to the Wii Ware download channel as well. Let's hope they release something, somewhere. The title quote may be referring to Nibris's non-plans for a Sadness sequel, but we'd like to see something happen once.

There's no time for beating around the bush: we doubt these guys. In fact, we even wonder if they exist and aren't some cruel joke at all of our expenses. We can suspend our disbelief with the best of them, hoping for what can rather than realize what isn't, but even we have our breaking point.

So, hate us if you must, but it's hard for us to be excited about these "games." What about you, fine reader? Think we're crazy? Think we're keeping it cool and cautious? Think we should take the puddle of mush that once was a dead horse and bury it out in the yard forever?

When the world has begun to doubt whether or not you even exist, and your "games" have become comedic fodder, what's a young developer to do? We would suggest something crazy, like finishing a game, or even just following through when promising official statements. But the folks at Nibris, they're rebels. Instead, they've announced yet another title, this time a horror game for the DS. The Children of the Night is said to feature third person gameplay and a deep story. Unlike the rumored Sadness, it will be in full color. At least, that's the plan: a commenter under the name of "Nibris" who sometimes speaks out at C3 reported that the game is still in a conceptual stage. Yeah, we know -- a Nibris game only in the planning stages? Say it ain't so!

The commenter also reports that Sadness is almost complete, thus freeing up the creative team for work on Children of the Night, but we'll believe that one when we see lots of actual gameplay footage ... and maybe a copy on a shelf somewhere. Don't get us wrong. We want all these games to exist, and to be released, and for everyone to join hands and sing about making the world a better place. But when videos feature flash carts with other commercial games on them, deadlines come and go repeatedly, and gameplay footage continues to be presented in a slapdash manner, we start to doubt things a little.

What's this? New video of a Nibris game? And it looks like somebody's really playing it? We're cautiously optimistic. Despite our skepticism, we can't deny the visual evidence of at least one level of their vertical shooter Raid Over the River. And we doubt that Nibris would stoop to faking gameplay for a demonstration. So that's two real-looking gameplay videos for this game.

Nibris's other hypothetical DS game, Double Bloob, exists in a similar state of having some gameplay footage. The major update with Double Bloob is that it's no longer a total Pang clone, but also, alternately, a total Bust a Move/Puzzle Bobble clone. Which is apparently fine for casual games!

Controversial developer Nibris, known for the Wii Sadness trailer and the DS Raid Over The River, shared some videos and pictures of a new(ish) game with Cubed3. Double Bloob is the new name for Double Pang, which indicates that either they lost the rights to the Pang series (also known as Buster Bros.) or never had them in the first place. Double Bloob is a puzzle game about harpooning some huge bouncing blobs, likely called Bloobs, causing them to double.

Given that there's a video of Double Bloob being played on a DS Lite, this may actually exist in some playable form. We hope. We're rooting for them to finish a game, at this point, hopefully after running spell-check. Check out the shaky video after the break.

The embedded video, as always available past the jump, popped up on the intertubes recently resulting in many a raised eyebrow and inquisitive glance. Many are questioning the validity of the video's content, while others are praising its content as the real deal Holyfield. What do you guys think?

See also:

• Raid Over the River trailer
• New Raid Over the River info, screens

[Via Go Nintendo]

Oh, Nibris. Please finish a game before you begin taunting us with announcements of yet another title. This time it's Double Pang, tentatively scheduled for next April on the DS and September for the Wii. The Pang (aka Buster Bros.) franchise has been around for nearly two decades, and bubble-bursting harpoon action seems well suited to the capabilities of both the DS and the Wii. Now if we can just pry a game, any game, out of Nibris, there will be great rejoicing. Less talk, more production, guys.

Hot on the heels of the smaller tech demo that NIBRIS recently showed us is this fairly lengthy trailer for Raid Over the River. While mostly comprised of cutscenes, the trailer does feature some gameplay that looks very exciting. Now that we've actually seen something concrete on the game from NIBRIS, we're anxious to get our hands on the game.

You know, NIBRIS has been talking about Raid Over the River for quite some time now, providing little-to-no explanation of the method to their madness. That is, until now. Over at the Gamespot forums, one of the NIBRIS staff dropped a small tech demo for the DS version of their upcoming title Raid Over the River. While only a short clip, it manages to boast some amazing graphics and what already looks to be an equally wonderful gameplay experience. A direct link to the video may be found here.

See also:

• Raid Over the River a DS game too?
• New Raid Over the River info, screens

[Note: Video is in .avi format and requires the Divx codec to play.]

Polish top-down shooter news now, with developer Nibris updating their website with information regarding Raid Over the River, a game we last heard about just over 6 months ago. In case your memory doesn't reach that far back, the official website can eloquently remind you of the genre the game finds itself in. "A representative of the 'flying shooter' plays this and he is seen from a vertical projection."

The vertically projected atmosphere is trumpeted as the winning difference between Raid Over the River and other shooters, though our attention was more drawn to the fact that in one of the game's three time periods, your futuristic aircraft is switched out for a rather disagreeable dragon. Bolstered by the presence of a winged beast, it shouldn't take Nibris too long to get hold of a publisher (or the English language). In the meantime, have a look at the first colorful batch of screenshots.

[Thanks Nushio and Cringer8]

Read - Official site (click on Projects, then Raid Over the River)
Read - First DS screenshots