Silicon Knights defending Siren in the Maelstrom?

What we heard: Silicon Knights' future seemed to be locked into a definitive course in 2005, when studio president Dennis Dyack announced that his Norse mythology-infused sci-fi action role-playing game Too Human would be a trilogy. However, following Too Human's weak critical and commercial launch in August 2008 and an ongoing lawsuit with Epic Games over Unreal Engine 3, the future of the franchise is anything but clear.

Still, Silicon Knights remains at work on an undisclosed number of other projects, one of which was apparently unmasked by the Canadian government last week. As part of an announcement detailing 56 government grants to a host of media companies, Telefilm Canada said that Silicon Knights had received funding for work on a "console or portable console game" titled "Siren in the Maelstrom."

No other details on the project were revealed by the Canadian culture agency. Less clear is what the name could refer to. In addition to the aforementioned Too Human trilogy for Microsoft Game Studios, Silicon Knights has also signed with Sega to develop a largely under-wraps new game. According to court documents associated with the Epic Games suit, Silicon Knights' Sega collaboration will be a single-player-only PlayStation 3 exclusive with a unique camera control scheme.

The official story: "Silicon Knights is busy working on several exciting projects. Unfortunately, it is too early to disclose any details."--A Silicon Knights representative.

Bogus or not bogus?: Not bogus that the Canadian government has offered Silicon Knights money to make a game currently titled Siren in the Maelstrom. However, what exactly that project is has yet to be revealed.