The Heartbreak of Canceled Games 115
Gamespot has a piece running today revisiting some of the late and lamented game titles that never made it out of the development phase. Though the article covers all genres, there are a depressing number of canceled Massive titles on the list. From the article: "You'd be hard pressed to find a game whose cancellation caused Xbox owners to shout "D'oh!" louder than True Fantasy Live Online. The ambitious game was slated to be the system's first MMO and it was being crafted by seasoned Japanese developer Level 5, whose resume includes such gems as Dark Cloud 2 and Dragon Quest VIII. The game had all the signs of being one of those special landmark titles for a platform--more than just a seminal moment in the console's software library. The game's ambitious use of Xbox Live, which would have been the most extensive use of the service in a game ever, was more in line with the level of sophistication seen in a PC game. Unfortunately, it appears that Level 5's ambition was what led to TFLO being shelved. The game's scope and rich experience presented a sizable challenge for both the developer and Microsoft within the given time frame."
Duke Nukem (Score:1, Redundant)
Re:Duke Nukem (Score:4, Informative)
Sam & Max (Score:5, Insightful)
Sam and Max 2 [samandmax.net] I feel cheated looking through that article without seeing S&M there.
Sam & Max - Don't give up hope (Score:5, Interesting)
A lot of the Sam and Max: FP developers created their own company, Telltale Games - www.telltalegames.com. Although they have not expressly said that they're negotiating with Steve Purcell, they have not ruled it out. Apparently, Steve Purcell was very upset with LucasArt's decision and TTG has the benefit of being the team that worked on Sam and Max: FP.
So, maybe after they're finished with their first major project Bone, based on the comic book of the same name, they'll be able to enter talks with Purcell.
At least we can hope.
Re:Sam & Max (Score:2, Funny)
<action>duck</action>
Re:Sam & Max (Score:1)
Wait... there was S&M in Sam and Max 2? That dosen't seem right......
More on Sam n Max! DEFINITELY don't give up hope! (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?s
Here are the last two paragraphs, bold emphases mine for those who don't want to read through the whole article.
Regarding the recent kerfuffle over a new Sam & Max title in development at LucasArts but subsequently cancelled, Purcell is relatively sanguine: "While at Pixar I was consulting on Sam & Max 2 after hours. I got word that it was cancelled from the team but the subsequent fan backlash was an unexpected side effect. Thirty thousand people signed the online petition protesting the decision. I had no idea there had been that level of anticipation for the game."
That would seem to bode well. I'm sure that if he had gotten no response he would have just assumed "Well, I guess no one is interested." (I hope that that I didn't just do a TripMaster Monkey, inane summarization there. Immense apologies if I did.)
Finally, Steve concludes his comments with equivocation about whether his involvement in the game industry is completely behind him: "Would I get back into games? Sure. The [Sam & Max] license is back in in my hands now so we'll see what happens in the near future."
Oh, sweetness!
Re:Sam & Max (Score:2)
S & what? (Score:1)
I feel cheated too when I don't get to see S&M.
volpone
forget UO:X, I wanted UO2 (Score:3, Interesting)
Their comment about UFO:Aftermath was unwarranted. It actually is very much turn based, like the original and TFTD. In fact it is the closest to TFTD of the UFO games proposed or released.
I can tell you one thing though, I lament over the fact of what doesn't get cancelled. Some of the crap that does get released makes you wonder why we even play these games.
Re:forget UO:X, I wanted UO2 (Score:2, Interesting)
At least the team got to destroy most of the documentation & backups for UO2 themselfs, rather than EA abuse it. I still have the pictures somewhere.
And also Sam N Max 2.
Last Ninja 4! (Score:5, Informative)
Info and beta screenshots at the unofficial Last Ninja 4 page [lemon64.com]
Re:Last Ninja 4! (Score:1)
Re:Last Ninja 4! (Score:2)
Oh, but it's hard... very very hard. Expect to replay boss battles over and over and over and over until you figure out the strategy to beat them, then 4-5 more times to actually pull it off.
As said by Tycho (Score:1)
Re:Last Ninja 4! (Score:2)
This is at least 4x harder than the hardest NG game from the NES era. And that's being generous.
Re:Last Ninja 4! (Score:2)
NG on the XBox is loads easier (on Normal difficulty), in fact the game seems a lot harder than it is. Weird I know but when you finally play through on Normal and move up to Hard (or Very Hard) and go BACK to playing on Normal you could swear that you accessed some new easy setting. Enemies that once slaughtered you in seconds when you first played now clumsily stumble a
Re:Last Ninja 4! (Score:2, Insightful)
Hard games give you a sense of accomplishment when you master them.
As for the last ninja, I never understood what people saw in the game. Maybe I should pull it up on an emulator sometime, as an adult and try to figure it out.
Where is "Sam and Max: FP"? (Score:5, Funny)
How about Full Throttle 2?
(Does Duke Nuke 'Em Forever count or is that "still" in development?)
Secret of Vulcan Fury (Score:3, Interesting)
Written by D.C. Fontana, whom true fans will recognize as the author of many episodes [startrek.com], most of them good. Voiced by the original actors, minus the late DeForest Kelley.
One can only wonder what it could have been. It's my biggest "could'a been", and that includes myself as both an Ultima and Fallout fan. (Fallout3 would probably have been at least OK, hopefully outstanding, but after Ultima 9, I'm not sure we needed a 10...)
They forgot Master of Orion 3 (Score:3, Funny)
Re:They forgot Master of Orion 3 (Score:2)
Re:They forgot Master of Orion 3 (Score:2)
Overambitious projects always sound great
Re:They forgot Master of Orion 3 (Score:2)
I too was disappointed when I installed and played MOO3, and my wife was a MOO2 fan also so it was a double-disappointment.
But supposedly they patched all the game-wrecking bugs out of it (like how anti-missile lasers wouldn't work). I have not yet tried it again, however.
Re:They forgot Master of Orion 3 (Score:2)
Re:They forgot Master of Orion 3 (Score:2)
Re:They forgot Master of Orion 3 (Score:2)
Related topic: check out Hegemonia [hegemonia.info] if you haven't gotten your 4X fix in a while.
Re:They forgot Master of Orion 3 (Score:2)
If you have to go to all of this trouble just to make the game what it should've been, it isn't worth it (and I certainly haven't tried).
Re:They forgot Master of Orion 3 (Score:2)
Re:They forgot Master of Orion 3 (Score:2)
The real hugest disappointment ever was Star Control 3. New dev team just destroyed it. StarCon, the fourth game, was completely cancelled. Apparently they replaced the material with a bunch of Colony Wars stuff and made it
Re:They forgot Master of Orion 3 (Score:2)
Re:They forgot Master of Orion 3 (Score:2)
Rob
Re:They forgot Master of Orion 3 (Score:2)
Freelancer was a marginal game in single-player, but the persistent universe server online play made it endearing.
Servers sprang up with all kinds of concepts, from user-enforced rules (RP) to complete mods with entirely new universes.
The Freelancer universe was a solid foundation, and the flight engine was excellent for PvP combat. Go have a look at the online community that still persists after nearly 3 years, if you need a second opinion.
Re:They forgot Master of Orion 3 (Score:2)
I couldn't care less about online play, so it doesn't enter into my opinion.
Rob
Re:They forgot Master of Orion 3 (Score:1)
No Earthbound 64. (Score:2, Interesting)
My heart breaks (Score:3, Interesting)
- No Sonic 3d game for Sega Saturn
Re:My heart breaks (Score:3, Informative)
Then I must assume you would appreciate the Star Fox 2 ROM [rapidshare.de] to play with your SNES emulator of choice? (and no, it's not the beta, it's the full version, completed and translated by AGTP [romhack.net])
Re:My heart breaks (Score:1)
Re:My heart breaks (Score:2)
http://www.rom-world.com/
Biggest RPG heartbreak evar (Score:2)
On a bright note, there's rumor the game is back in the works for GBA (with the 2D style), but GBA is started to fade out in favor of DS. Maybe it will be a DS title? The DS is capable of N64 graphics, so maybe the DS will get the actual Earthbound 64.
Runner up on biggest RPG heartbreak was probably the move of Final Fantasy 64 to FF7 for PSone.
Re:Biggest RPG heartbreak evar (Score:1)
My Biggest Disappointment (Score:4, Interesting)
Sadly, Freespace3 was one of the many casualties of Interplay's death.
Re:My Biggest Disappointment (Score:1)
Yes! The Freespace series was the spiritual successor to Wing Commander, and I loved it. Sadly, we'll probably never see a Freespace 3 (Volition, the developer and I believe the owner of the Freespace IP, is still around but they're doing crap like the Red Faction series and The Punisher). Luckily, th
Shenmue 3? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Shenmue 3? (Score:1)
Re:Shenmue 3? (Score:2)
Stars: Supernova (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Stars: Supernova (Score:1)
There's always freestars [sourceforge.net], but that doesn't seem to be moving very fast.
Post-Apocalypse (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Post-Apocalypse (Score:2)
Re:Post-Apocalypse (Score:2)
Rob
X-COM Alliance and Genesis (Score:1)
I also remember reading a little about X-COM: Genesis before it was cancelled. It was a remake of the original X-COM: UFO Defense that was being worked on at the same time Alliance was. And then Hasbro decided X-COM wasn't a brand worth reviving
How about Halo? (Score:5, Insightful)
Then all of the sudden, it was just another FPS. Well that turned out to not be quite true as Halo was anything but run of the mill, but you can't help but wonder what kind of game Halo would have been had the Bungie guys not got bored of Starcraft.
Re:How about Halo? (Score:2)
Re:How about Halo? (Score:2)
Re:How about Halo? (Score:2)
Re:How about Halo? (Score:1)
hahahaha. oh wait, this hasn't been modded as funny
Just mention Castlevania... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Just mention Castlevania... (Score:2)
Castlevania Ressurrection would have been a strict action game - which makes it better than any of the recent Castlevanias. After the good but overrated Symphony of the Night, Konami has churned tons of action+RPG mixes - always pretty good, but never great.
The last Castlevania truly worthy of this name is Bloodlines for the Sega Genesis.
Re:Just mention Castlevania... (Score:2)
What about Golgotha? (Score:2, Interesting)
"Wow, Golgotha looks great", thought I so many years back. "I bet I'll be getting one of those Bitboys graphics cards when this comes out." Yes, those were my actual thoughts from that era. My belief in hype and far-off vaporware has been shaken greatly since. =)
Golgotha seemed like a really good concept. Sad to see that it never got released...
Not all was lost though, Battlezone had the same idea but more refined execution. Also, the game source and assets were released to PD. I couldn't help but grin
Middle Earth Online (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Middle Earth Online (Score:2, Informative)
Propeller Arena: Aviation Battle Championship (Score:2)
For more info, check my Propeller Arena Fan Site. [gametribute.com]
Re:Propeller Arena: Aviation Battle Championship (Score:1)
Having never heard of this game, and only going by the screenshots on that site, I wonder if you've played the Crimson Skies games? One on PC [gamespot.com] from 2000, much more flight sim-ish; one on Xbox [gamespot.com] from 2003 (with Live support), much more arcadey. Propeller Arena definitely looks simila
Re:Propeller Arena: Aviation Battle Championship (Score:1)
Re:Propeller Arena: Aviation Battle Championship (Score:2)
Re:Propeller Arena: Aviation Battle Championship (Score:2)
I remember it being mentioned as a potential Dreamcast port back when the console appeared to have a future. Nothing ever came of it though. It is available as a MAME ROM but to my lasting disappo
Re:Propeller Arena: Aviation Battle Championship (Score:2)
The games that time forgot (Score:2)
The worst has to be when a game ends on a cliffhanger but the sequel is never released. This isn't a problem that's unique to interactive media - this page [tripod.com] lists many TV shows that were cancelled before a cliffhanger could be resolved.
Half-Life for the Mac (Score:5, Interesting)
Half-Life for the Mac, goddamit. Sierra had the thing finished--but didn't go forward to releasing it, purportedly for marketing reasons. So I guess they prefer to lose their entire effort of porting it than spend another 10% to try to sell the thing.
Which meant no Counter-Strike for the Mac, either, naturally.
There are still many a Mac gamer that has a bitter, bitter hatred of Sierra for just this reason.
Re:Half-Life for the Mac (Score:3, Insightful)
You'd think that they could have at least released it as a download. No boxes, no distribution, no middleman. Make the game available as a paid-for download, put the word out to the Mac community, and let them purchase and download it electronically.
It
Re:Half-Life for the Mac (Score:2)
Re:Half-Life for the Mac (Score:2)
Um
There is nothing saying that Sierra would have to take the calls. They're just distributors. Valve could just as easily been the ones to take the service calls. And for all we know they were ready to.
For that matter, if Valve had the game finished and Sierra backed away from distribution, why didn't Valve just allow a paid-for download d
Re:Half-Life for the Mac (Score:2)
God know what the agreement was between Valve and Sierra, but I'm sure considering the case between Valve and Vivendi (it was them wasn't it?) concerning direct sales via Steam - there probably would have been some sort of contract issue.
The only other thing to consider is that at th
Re:Half-Life for the Mac (Score:2)
Yeah, I guess that would be a stretch.
Wait a minute...
Re:Half-Life for the Mac (Score:2)
Though, in all fairness, contemporary marketing costs more than 10% of development -- it's more like 50%-100% for most games.
Re:Half-Life for the Mac (Score:2, Insightful)
Odd omissions... (Score:1)
Re:Odd omissions... (Score:1)
You're missing the essentials (Score:1)
Avoid the Noid 2- How did Dominoe's Pizza allow this franchise to die?
Superman 64 part 2- Substitute "purple haze" for "green kryptonite fog", and suddenly the sequel would make sense.
Catch-22: The Videogame- It would have been the best WWII-themed game ever. The best part is that it was to contain no action gameplay (except perhaps drunk driving in Jeeps and other mischief). Had it been completed it would have been part economic simulation and part non-
Re:Shooting the dog.... (Score:2)
Actually, in the arcade version of duck hunt if you made it far enough, the dog would start to jump up at the ducks from the brush. You could actually shoot him (would cost you the round) and then it show him hobbling along with a bunch of bandages on him. I think he would also wave his fist at you too. I was pretty disappointed that the home version didn't have that 'feature'.
How about a cancelled system??? (Score:1)
Babylon 5 (Score:4, Informative)
Then Sierra moved the team. Then they dropped the project.
Then when the developers raised the money to buy the IP, Sierra refused to sell at any price.
[sigh]
Re:Babylon 5 (Score:2)
Re:Babylon 5 (Score:1)
Re:Babylon 5 (Score:2)
It's an incredible feeling, sliding along the skin of a capital ship while laying down a barrage of fire on its broadside, then blasting out sideways at a crazy angle.
There's even a conversion from Independence War to a Babylon 5 universe: see Buda 5 [firstones.com].
Re:Babylon 5 (Score:2)
Re:Babylon 5 (Score:1)
Outcast 2 (Score:1)
I still remember being shocked at the wonderful sound of my character walking across snow.
Outcast 2 cancelled. Truly a bad day for PC games.
Third in the Crusader series (Score:2)
Nintendo Puzzle Collection (Score:2)
Jerks. I still gotta drag my SNES around to my friends so we can play the old 2 player version.
True Fantasy Live Online (Score:1)
Master of Magic 2 (Score:1)
For years the
The Red Star (Score:1)
The X-Box version at least was finished and distributed on usenet. It is a great shame that it wasnt released officially it is well deserving of making money and there are few games as addictive and down right fun as it is. With any luck it will gain a cult following and either be released or another game based in the Red Star universe will come out.
Re:The Red Star (Score:1)
Anyone play Alternate Reality? (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
Re:The Red Star (Score:1)