Anamanaguchi Uses Viral Marketing For Latest Album Release

[UPDATE #2] After spending some time with the game as released by Anamanaguchi, this seems a lot more like a viral marketing campaign for getting out music from the band. While our writer has been in contact with representatives from Anamanaguchi and someone who claims to represent developer NHX, the state of the game itself makes us skeptical that any of this has been more than a hoax meant to increase press for the band.

While in our writer's defense, we were contacted about the opportunity directly by representatives from Anamanaguchi, we apologize that we did not do due diligence in learning more about the game and the band's intentions.

We've reached out to Anamanaguchi for further comment and will update this story with any additional details if the information is legitimate.

-- Justin Haywald, Senior Editor

[UPDATE #1] Anamanaguchi has publicly commented on the game’s announcement and the band’s involvement with developer NHX, but the relationship does not seem to have been positive. In a series of tweets outlined below, members of Anamanaguchi call out NHX for being like "A TERRIBLE F**KING LANDLORD," and then the band released its version of the game for download in this tweet.

NHX has responded to GameSpot's request for comment with the following statement:

"As you know, the artist hast not only blatantly breached the number of provisions in the applicable recording agreement, it has also willingfully infringed on NHX's copyright rights with respect to these masters.

Equally important, without provocation, the artist has made false and disparaging statements on various websites about NHX.

All this, despite the fact that NHX has done nothing except wholeheartedly support the band, even though the band has made certain decisions that have financially damaged NHX."

We have also reached out to Anamanaguchi for comment. We will update this story as we receive more information.

The original story follows:

Anamanaguchi, the band who did the music for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and contributed songs to Bit.Trip Runner, will feature in their own video game this year. The band announced Capsule Silence XXIV in a press release to GameSpot, alongside images that show off the likenesses of the characters and settings but not actual gameplay or assets from the game. You can see them for yourself below.

Capsule Silence XXIV is developed by NHX. Capsule Silence was described by NHX media relations manager David Leonard as a "story-based world-exploration FPS with RPG elements" that has "music at the core of the experience."

Gallery

The player takes the role of Larold, an orphan trying to uncover the truth about his mysterious past. Anamanaguchi's band members are trapped in various parts of the game's world, and you're tasked with rescuing them. Each part of the world also contains a piece of an ancient artifact that players will have the choice to restore, destroy, or merge with the antonist's power.

Anamanaguchi created the soundtrack for the game and also had a "hands-on" role with development.

Capsule Silence XXIV is set for release this year for PC and Mac with console announcements coming soon. The developer is also currently looking at virtual reality as well.

If you think you've seen or heard about this game before, it might be because it appears to have been leaked via Dropbox earlier this month. Originally posted on 4Chan, the Dropbox link was reposted to the Anamanaguchi subreddit. The link contained a PDF that contained information on the game which matched the PR we were sent. It also included the same images as above. When we asked NHX for comment, the company replied with the following.

"We do not believe the document accurately represents this project or our company."

Since talking to NHX, both the Reddit thread's original post and the PDF have been removed.

A Twitter user also sent the PDF link to Anamanaguchi on Twitter, who appears to have acknowledged it. We've reached out to a representative for the band and will update this as more information becomes available.