The gaming world is often full of myths and urban legends. This week, Japanese mag Famitsu covered a few and shed some light on the validity of some, but not all.
One such urban legend is the fact that the idea for the game Kingdom Hearts was hatched in an elevator. The legend was born from the fact that at the time of the game's conception, Square Enix (then, simply Square) and Disney Japan shared the same office building. Legend says that employees from each company happened to meet in the building elevator and started talking then and there about a joint project.
A spokesperson from Square Enix shed light on this myth, saying, "While it's true we did share the same building with Disney Japan, it's not like we came to a decision in the elevator. It was more of a trigger that led to talks which led to the idea of a joint project."
Another urban legend is that game developers who make horror games have purification rituals (the Shinto version of an exorcism) performed to ward off evil spirits whenever they make a new horror game. When asked if this was true, Yasuhiko Nomura, the producer for the ,Corpse Party series answered, "While we had the ritual performed for the last two games in the series, we didn't for the latest game. We thought it would be fine, but there were incidents of equipment trouble and strange voices during recording. We're thinking of having the ritual performed again soon."
One rumor that was focused on was the connection between the next Metal Gear Solid and the cryptic "Project Ogre" that Hideo Kojima has written about on Twitter. Sadly, no light was shed on this rumor and Konami's spokesperson gave the standard carbon copy response, "We have no comment at this point in time. Please await future announcements." Couldn't even give us a bone, could you...
ゲーム業界のウワサ2012 [ファミ通.com]