Recently this month, everyone and their mother blew their lids over a possible NX leak. The initial leak were rumored pictures and videos of what was claimed to be the NX console controler. A few people were convinced, and not without fair reason: the leak was pretty darn identical to a patent Nintendo filed for the NX controller back in June of 2015 (see below).
The leak made its first appearance on Reddit (no surprise), by Idriss2Dev. The photo claiming to be a leak of the NX controller circulated like wildfire. As the week wore on, more photos were released. Opinions on the leaks were pretty split: some took the posts at their word (after all, one photo had a sticky note echoing former Nintendo president Satoru Iwata’s famous words before the release of the Wii), others sternly reserved their judgement for a later time.
Well, it appears we really can’t have nice things.
The leaked photos were proven to be fake when the creator of the original “leak,” David Im, published a cheeky (and abliet clever) confession video.
In the video, Im shows the elaborate detail he poured into his forged photo, including a speedy display of his photoshop skills.
As for the numerous other supposed leaks?
Another creator of such photos came out as well: Frank Sandqvist, original founder of Finish laser-engraving company CNC Design, also made a similar video unshrouding the mystery behind his supposed NX controller. It appears Sandqvist was intrigued by the first fake leak, and decided to try his hand at creating a physical duplicate of an NX controller. His video proved to be more legitimate in nature, and quite informative.
I’m sorry if I got people’s hopes up, but it seems most people were against this kind of design, so maybe it’s a relief to hear that it’s fake. I thought it would be funny to see how easy it would be to recreate that Photoshopped leak in real life–it turns out, it’s pretty easy.
Sandqvist even shows the process of 3D printing, hitting it with compressed air, painting it, and laser cutting.
While it stinks that some fans had the wool pulled over their eyes, at least Sandqvist’s video is a neat look inside the work of a skilled craftsman.
Nintendo meanwhile held their tongues pretty well throughout the leak, but they have recently promised fans that they will make an official announcement on their NX project this very year.
More updates soon!