General and Gaming => General => Topic started by: kmacdw on December 28, 2015, 09:27:08 am
Title: Games Lost in Development
Post by: kmacdw on December 28, 2015, 09:27:08 am
For every great game we get to experience, there is always one that gets lost in development hell and never sees the light of day. What are the titles that upset you the most when they were cancelled?
For me three titles spring to mind....
Star Wars Battlefront III - I was never a big shooter fan pre-Seventh generation; the three series that were an exception to this were Star Wars Battlefront, Timesplitters and Halo. So you can imagine my excitement when I heard the developer of one of my favorite series was handling development on the latest entry in another one of my favorites. Free Radical's plans for Battlefront III were so ambitious; I mean being able to jump between battling above the planet and on its surface in the same match, with 100 players in the game. Not to mention an expansive single player campaign. Arguably this was the game to end all games for me. Yes they scaled back their ambitions on the single player front and in reducing the players to 50, however it was still going to do things that no other game had done before. I'm not sure I've ever been so devastated to hear a game had been cancelled; I cursed Lucas Arts at the time.
Star Wars 1313 - I love Star Wars games, no secret there. There's been some awful Star Wars game but there have been some amazing ones that rank among my favorites. One of the 'hidden gems' per se of the Star Wars franchise for me was Bounty Hunter; might be stretching it to give it that label, however it didn't belong to any of the big Star Wars franchises like Jedi Knight, Knights of the Old Republic or Battlefront, nor was it a move tie in; so to me it's as close to a 'hidden gem' as you're going to get with a Star Wars title. So when I heard a rumor that there was a new game coming out, where you played as Boba Fett; and then seen that jaw dropping trailer that revealed 1313, my mind was blown. I was so disappointed when the title became a casualty of the take over. Rumors that Visceral's Star Wars title was an adaptation of 1313 gave false hope as it doesn't seem to be the case :(
Prey 2 - I'll level with you, this one didn't upset me as much as the former two, however I feel it' worth a mention as its not necessarily a title that would have registered on everyone's radar. I really enjoyed the first game; yes I could see the effects of it's long stay in limbo, it wasn't the prettiest game of the previous generation, however it was an interesting entry in what at the time was often an over-saturated genre. So to hear Human Head were working on a sequel and hear their plans for that, really excited me. it sounded like things were going to be brought to a whole new level. Its a shame as this studio had an idea for an interesting series; the first title is dated at launch due to a stalled development and the sequel gets canned; I can't help but think about what could have been.
So what are some of the cancellations that disappointed you the most?
Title: Re: Games Lost in Development
Post by: ignition365 on December 28, 2015, 09:31:36 am
Timesplitters 4 and Fear Effect 3: Inferno.
Also, Mega Man Legends 3 and Mega Man Universe.
Title: Re: Games Lost in Development
Post by: soera on December 28, 2015, 09:42:33 am
Black Tiger (NES)
Ys Book II (SMS)
Title: Re: Games Lost in Development
Post by: kmacdw on December 28, 2015, 09:44:47 am
I thought about Timesplitters 4 but to my knowledge it never actually entered development, it was more so on the 'to-do list' after Haze and Battlefront III. I think Free Radical made two mistakes that led to their downfall; 1. being too ambitious with Battlefront III, and 2. trying to develop both Haze and Battlefront III at once. Battlefront III's scope meant that it took too long and too much money to make; not to mention Haze took away from their resources but because so much was put into Star Wars, Haze was a crap game anyways. I feel had they maybe envisioned Battlefront III with like 85% of the scope (which still would have been awesome) and not done Haze at the same time; we'd have gotten a great Battlefront title and we'd have eventually got Timesplitters 4
Title: Re: Games Lost in Development
Post by: redblaze57 on December 28, 2015, 10:09:19 am
Dead Phoenix
Title: Re: Games Lost in Development
Post by: indenton on December 28, 2015, 11:15:47 am
This isn't my personal pick, but I think we can all agree that 'Silent Hills' deserves to be mentioned here.
Title: Re: Games Lost in Development
Post by: ignition365 on December 28, 2015, 11:25:02 am
I thought about Timesplitters 4 but to my knowledge it never actually entered development, it was more so on the 'to-do list' after Haze and Battlefront III. I think Free Radical made two mistakes that led to their downfall; 1. being too ambitious with Battlefront III, and 2. trying to develop both Haze and Battlefront III at once. Battlefront III's scope meant that it took too long and too much money to make; not to mention Haze took away from their resources but because so much was put into Star Wars, Haze was a crap game anyways. I feel had they maybe envisioned Battlefront III with like 85% of the scope (which still would have been awesome) and not done Haze at the same time; we'd have gotten a great Battlefront title and we'd have eventually got Timesplitters 4
i am a giant fan of free radical, so I followed all of this closely as it was happening. Timesplitters 4 was in fact in development, it was shelved when they went into administration and were sold off to Crytek.
their downfall was mostly contributed to 1 major thing. LucasArts. Lucasarts had hired a hollywood producer to make all final decisions on the project which forced a lot of shit decisions. Free Radical was a company that given free reign, will give you one of the best games you will ever play. I dont recall what the issue was with Haze, but Haze had a really solid and fun multiplayer from what I recall. Story mode made me wanna kill myself.
After the critical failure of Haze, free radical was having trouble finding a publisher for timesplitters and they didnt have the timesplitters money because it went into haze. So all their money was in that battlefront deal. Eventually LucasArts scrapped all star wars projects. It was a real hard blow, but I personally dont think they did anything wrong, anybody else wouldve likely had been just as screwed in that situation. Ill look for the articles that explain what happened.
Title: Re: Games Lost in Development
Post by: aliensstudios on December 28, 2015, 11:56:30 am
Charlie Brown's All Stars which was going to be a baseball game for the PS2. Still really wished it existed.
Title: Re: Games Lost in Development
Post by: tpugmire on December 28, 2015, 12:10:47 pm
Earthbound 64 and Starcraft Ghost are two that come to mind.
Title: Re: Games Lost in Development
Post by: tripredacus on December 28, 2015, 12:18:26 pm
Prey Sims 2 :p
Title: Re: Games Lost in Development
Post by: DreamsDied13101 on December 28, 2015, 02:19:21 pm
Star Fox 2 for SNES
Title: Re: Games Lost in Development
Post by: indenton on December 28, 2015, 04:32:22 pm
Compared to pretty much all other titles being brought up here, at least Star Fox 2 is available in some form, seemingly complete or at least near completion.
Title: Re: Games Lost in Development
Post by: kmacdw on December 28, 2015, 05:01:56 pm
Compared to pretty much all other titles being brought up here, at least Star Fox 2 is available in some form, seemingly complete or at least near completion.
That is true. I don't use emulators so I haven't played it. Maybe I can find a Youtube video where someone played through it.
Sonic X-treme is another one of those recently discovered games that would top my list also. Following the progress on Assembler has been fun. I haven't looked in to it again recently.
Title: Re: Games Lost in Development
Post by: turom on December 28, 2015, 05:43:46 pm
Half Life 3 ? ;D
Title: Re: Games Lost in Development
Post by: indenton on December 28, 2015, 08:45:47 pm
Compared to pretty much all other titles being brought up here, at least Star Fox 2 is available in some form, seemingly complete or at least near completion.
That is true. I don't use emulators so I haven't played it. Maybe I can find a Youtube video where someone played through it.
Sonic X-treme is another one of those recently discovered games that would top my list also. Following the progress on Assembler has been fun. I haven't looked in to it again recently.
Repro carts are out there. I happen to own one. Played it. Beat it. It was a good game. Star Fox Zero is supposedly everything they wanted this game to be.
That said my contribution to this topic is a Yasmine Bleeth (Kelly from Save by the Bell) and Walter Koenig (Chekov from Star Trek TOS) FMV shooter I bet ya'll never heard of called Maximum Surge. It was being made by Digital Pictures for PC and the other CD rom based consoles of the time. I am not kidding.
A very rudimentary demo was released but the game itself ended up never being completed or released.
Here's a trailer that includes some in-game footage.
Part of me died that day.
Title: Re: Games Lost in Development
Post by: kmacdw on December 29, 2015, 04:05:25 am
Half Life 3 will happen at some point; its just Valve have no need to make it financially so it'll happen on their terms.
Half Life 2: Episode 3 apparently got cancelled in development though.
Title: Re: Games Lost in Development
Post by: kashell on December 29, 2015, 09:38:57 am
This is going to sound really vague. I tried searching for this game but couldn't find it's title. Maybe someone will have better luck. Anyways, there was a promising looking RPG being made for the Game Boy Color. The system was already starved for RPGs (I was about done with Pokémon after Gold) so the news of a new RPG that had a good chance of coming to the US was great.
And it got cancelled. I was so mad.
Title: Re: Games Lost in Development
Post by: kmacdw on December 29, 2015, 10:28:47 am
This is going to sound really vague. I tried searching for this game but couldn't find it's title. Maybe someone will have better luck. Anyways, there was a promising looking RPG being made for the Game Boy Color. The system was already starved for RPGs (I was about done with Pokémon after Gold) so the news of a new RPG that had a good chance of coming to the US was great.
And it got cancelled. I was so mad.
The Gameboy Color is arguably the (relatively successful) console with the least RPGs. I mean off the top of my head, putting Pokémon aside, without googling I can only think of Lufia: The Legend Returns and Star Ocean: Blue Sphere, and the latter never made it west. I honestly can't think of anything else.
Title: Re: Games Lost in Development
Post by: kashell on December 29, 2015, 10:46:56 am
There were a few others, but most weren't very good:
Magi Nation was slow moving and archaic. Revelations had a strong start but the difficulty spikes made it hard to keep up with. There was a Phantasy Star Collection, but I never played it. The remake of Crystalis was somewhat fun, I guess. I never played Dragon Warrior III, but I did play the Dragon Warrior Collection (consisting of I and II) which was surprisingly fun. I never played the Dragon Warrior Monster games.
That's all I can think of off the top of my head.
Title: Re: Games Lost in Development
Post by: kmacdw on December 29, 2015, 11:08:59 am
There were a few others, but most weren't very good:
Magi Nation was slow moving and archaic. Revelations had a strong start but the difficulty spikes made it hard to keep up with. There was a Phantasy Star Collection, but I never played it. The remake of Crystalis was somewhat fun, I guess. I never played Dragon Warrior III, but I did play the Dragon Warrior Collection (consisting of I and II) which was surprisingly fun. I never played the Dragon Warrior Monster games.
That's all I can think of off the top of my head.
Ah I did think of the Phantasy Star Collection but then I second guessed myself and questioned if that was GBA.
I forgot about the Dragon Warrior and Dragon Warrior Monster games, I am aware of those though.
Title: Re: Games Lost in Development
Post by: soera on December 29, 2015, 11:09:13 am
Phantasy star collection is GBA.
The DQ games are decent but better on NES actually.
Before Pokemon got popular, the only decent options for people who dont like silly games was the occasional Metroid, Kid Icarus, or Zelda installment. The thought of trying to play a full blown RPG on handheld wasnt taken too seriously.
Title: Re: Games Lost in Development
Post by: kashell on December 29, 2015, 11:13:18 am
There were a few others, but most weren't very good:
Magi Nation was slow moving and archaic. Revelations had a strong start but the difficulty spikes made it hard to keep up with. There was a Phantasy Star Collection, but I never played it. The remake of Crystalis was somewhat fun, I guess. I never played Dragon Warrior III, but I did play the Dragon Warrior Collection (consisting of I and II) which was surprisingly fun. I never played the Dragon Warrior Monster games.
That's all I can think of off the top of my head.
Ah I did think of the Phantasy Star Collection but then I second guessed myself and questioned if that was GBA.
I forgot about the Dragon Warrior and Dragon Warrior Monster games, I am aware of those though.
Thaaaat's right...GBA. I knew it was one of those; my brother was the one who got into that series. He said the first two were awful, but the third one included in that collection was somewhat fun.
Title: Re: Games Lost in Development
Post by: soera on December 29, 2015, 11:24:26 am
Phantasy star is unarguably the best 8-bit RPG on the planet. PS 2/3/4 are decent too but nothing will compare with the first one. Its my dream series to see an HD remake.
Title: Re: Games Lost in Development
Post by: kmacdw on December 29, 2015, 12:20:58 pm
Phantasy star is unarguably the best 8-bit RPG on the planet. PS 2/3/4 are decent too but nothing will compare with the first one. Its my dream series to see an HD remake.
I'd like to see that; not that I'm a big fan but because I hear so many good things about the premise of the series but I feel I gave it a try far too late; they all seem far too dated with the exception of Phantasy Star IV. I'm by no means a graphics snob......its not just the visual aspect of the games that puts me off. Its their simplicity overall. They just seem far too simplistic when compared to more recent RPGs; so although I can appreciate what they done for the genre, I can't get myself into them. Its much the same with other franchises, Final Fantasy for example; I can't bring myself to play the original at all, I've started it multiple times but quickly give up and just end up playing a later entry instead. I think titles such as Final Fantasy IV and Shining Force are the earliest RPGs that I can really get into.
I'd love to see more early RPGs given the Final Fantasy III treatment; enhanced both in terms of visuals and content, however retaining their identity. I'd play all the Phantasy Star titles and other RPG titles if they got that treatment.
Title: Re: Games Lost in Development
Post by: kmacdw on December 29, 2015, 12:24:10 pm
The DQ games are decent but better on NES actually.
Before Pokemon got popular, the only decent options for people who dont like silly games was the occasional Metroid, Kid Icarus, or Zelda installment. The thought of trying to play a full blown RPG on handheld wasnt taken too seriously.
Ain't that the truth; I feel 99% of my time with both my GameBoy and GameBoy Color was with a Pokémon title (The other 0.99% being with Monkey Puncher :D). Nothing else really held my attention.
It blew my mind when my friend got a GBA and started to show me titles such as Advance Wars, Golden Sun and Breath of Fire. Totally changed my perception of handhelds.
Title: Re: Games Lost in Development
Post by: soera on December 29, 2015, 12:32:38 pm
There are some decent 8/16 bit RPGs if you are willing to give them a try.
Destiny of an Emperor on the NES is a really awesome playthrough. Final fantasy 1 on the NES is a bore now but if you try one of the newer versions (GBA for example) its a lot better. Dragon Warrior is a must play but IV on the NES is great. FF VI (III on the SNES) is one of the greatest plays ever. Chrono Trigger. Sword of Vermillion on the Genesis.
Title: Re: Games Lost in Development
Post by: ignition365 on December 29, 2015, 12:36:37 pm
Here's a good article about the whole Free Radical debacle. Reading, I remember the issue with Haze. They built a new engine with c++ instead of C, and Ubisoft forced them into a PS3 exclusivity, which was shit because PS3 is one of the worst platforms to develop for ever. The game never ran properly on PS3, before the exclusivity was enacted, they had it running relatively well on 360.
I bought a magazine a while back that had a different interview, I'll have to find it, it goes into more detail about the shit that went on with LucasArts.
Title: Re: Games Lost in Development
Post by: kmacdw on December 29, 2015, 01:40:48 pm
There are some decent 8/16 bit RPGs if you are willing to give them a try.
Destiny of an Emperor on the NES is a really awesome playthrough. Final fantasy 1 on the NES is a bore now but if you try one of the newer versions (GBA for example) its a lot better. Dragon Warrior is a must play but IV on the NES is great. FF VI (III on the SNES) is one of the greatest plays ever. Chrono Trigger. Sword of Vermillion on the Genesis.
My first attempt at playing Final Fantasy I was the GBA version; I preferred II to I. Overall I couldn't really get into either.
Final Fantasy VI is easily the best in the series :) and Chrono Trigger was a game I played through as soon as I finally got the chance on DS, it was a great game.
I own the DS version of Dragon Warrior IV but I haven't gotten around to playing it as yet. never played any of the first three games in the series. They're on android right? Although I'm not really a fan of playing games on my phone.
I've never heard of Destiny of an Emperor to be honest; just had a quick google there. Seems its based on the same story that Kessen 2 is, interesting. Shame it isn't on the Virtual Console.
Title: Re: Games Lost in Development
Post by: bikingjahuty on December 29, 2015, 08:12:16 pm
While it technically did come out eventually on a different console, I would love to see a fully playable Saturn version of Shenmue. For those of you who aren't aware, Shenmue was originally developed for the Saturn, and then moved to the Dreamcast back in 1998. There is pre-alpha Saturn footage of it, but beyond a trailer, I don't think any gameplay has ever surfaced from the original Saturn version. I'm sure it would not be nearly as good or immersive as the Dreamcast game, but would be awesome to try out.
Title: Re: Games Lost in Development
Post by: maximo310 on December 30, 2015, 05:13:18 pm
Here's my stuff that I'd like to see
Saturn port of Virtua Fighter 3 w/ LM graphic card upgrade- rumored to exist but never shown off Dreamcast port of Scud Race- only shown in a tech demo Saturn port of Raiden Fighters- never shown but rumored to exist
And one's that have been rediscovered and will maybe be playable in the future R-Gear- Prototype of Raystorm on the F3 system; supposedly game is complete and is being dumped for MAME along with Cyber Sterra Super Mario 64DD- A port of Mario 64 with higher quality music;
Title: Re: Games Lost in Development
Post by: marvelsofindustry on December 30, 2015, 05:30:13 pm
Tomba 3 :'(
Title: Re: Games Lost in Development
Post by: dashv on January 02, 2016, 07:06:38 pm
Phantasy star is unarguably the best 8-bit RPG on the planet. PS 2/3/4 are decent too but nothing will compare with the first one. Its my dream series to see an HD remake.
Kinda exists (PS2 isn't HD, but I think it counts). Sega Ages for PS2 had a remake. You can even get an english translation from PSCave. Link with screenshots:http://www.pscave.com/psg1/download/
Mine are Earthbound 64, Starcraft Ghost, and Shenmue 3 (doesn't count anymore, but I kinda suspect it will be fairly different from the previous games. It's been 15 years...)
Title: Re: Games Lost in Development
Post by: dashv on January 05, 2016, 10:55:38 pm
Sim City for the NES.
Title: Re: Games Lost in Development
Post by: DreamsDied13101 on January 09, 2016, 10:31:41 am
True Fantasy Live Online (for Xbox) has always intrigued me.