First of,
Mucrush, I need to say, kuddo's to your work.
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I completely understand the feelings of dissappointment and maybe anger you have, and be as angry as you want, as long as my protect still works
I must say thank you for to WPM and the others who 'recognize' the work I've done before. I'm not new to breaking world exclusive news and it would be completely crazy if I would risk my reputation with
purposely pulling something like this.
Coming from running a large game community (1.5 million visitors a day) myself, I knew how detailed information such as this would be much more appreciated in a game community, which is why I decided to contact Pokebeach. While I simply have not got the time anymore to run a community myself, contributing like this is something I still very much enjoy, which is also why I've worked with fan-site nightsintodreams.com, three years ago, on the new NiGHTS-game for the Wii.
In the more then 5 years I've work as a video game specialist now, this is the first time I have been involved in a slip-up like this; in that regards I am just as shocked as you are, maybe even more.
Zelda screenshot hoax
I knew it was going to come up, so it's only fair to comment on this. The situation with the Zelda community at that point was completely different from what's happened here. You are all still very excited, and there's tons of news coming in every week or so. Back then, it had been months since there had been any news on the game, and the general concensus was literally that all interest had been lost in the game. That is why we created one single screenshot -no news or anything with it- and created a lot of mystery around it, just to spark that fire in the fans again.
And it was
super effective! (sorry, couldn't resist); after the 'angry mob'-feelings had subsided, their passion for Zelda had returned.
The differences with this situation are massive. First of, I'm not part of the Pokémon community, so there'd be no reason for me to suddenly get involved with something like this. Second, you are all very much looking forward to the game, and very passionate about it. And third, there is no 'drought' on community news or activity going on, so there would be no need for a repeat.
So... what's up with this news then?
Well, obviously the Zelda screenshot was a fake then. I am trying to figure out what is up with all this then, because this has come to just as big a shock to you as to me. I know this source, and he has been true on former ocassions, so I do not expect bad-willing intent.
Next, and probably most important question is then, what is true of the news? I will have to do some calling around to get the picture right, but I know from Nintendo themselves (not 'a source', but the actual company) that there will be "new battle mechanics", and that "the theme of black and white is more than just color-related".
I will get back about my findings as soon as I know more.
I do not expect you to believe me, or even like me (just please don't wish me dead), I am just opening up about the situation and will do what I can to make up for this, and get things cleared up.