Others

Microsoft, Others, PC / MAC, Playstation 3 (PS3), Sony, Xbox 360

Sky Gods [PS3/X360/PC – Cancelled]

monokoma
11-07-2010
No Comments

Sky Gods is a cancelled shooter based on HALO (High Altitude, Low Opening) Special Forces operations. The project was in development at BlackFoot Studios in 2008 for the  Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. As we can read in the official press release, in a typical HALO exercise, the parachutist will jump from the aircraft, free-fall for a period of time at terminal velocity, and open his parachute at a low altitude. The combination of high speed downwards and minimal metal and forward air-speed serves to defeat radar, enabling a stealthy insertion.

In Sky Gods players would have been in full control of their character during HALO freefall as well as while under canopy and were required to properly steer to a landing zone and land without injury or fatality. Once on the ground, players would have been tasked with various missions based on real life SOF experiences, observing and engaging targets through various terrain environments.

The game was planned to have 8 Coop missions playable with 1-8 people, customizable weapons and kit, a training scenarios playable solo or Coop and mod capabilities out of the box.

Sky God was officially cancelled when BlackFoot Studios went through some internal restructuring. As we can read in their official website:

BFS has been operating as a virtual company for some time now and we have had some good people move on to other ventures as well as those still with the projects finding themselves in need of other income sources and/or other outside influences effecting their involvement.

Thanks to Celine for the contribution!

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Arcade, Others

The King of Fighters ’99 [Arcade – Beta / Concept]

monokoma
11-07-2010
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As we can read from Wikipedia, The King of Fighters ’99: Millennium Battle is a 1999 head-to-head fighting game by SNK released for the Neo Geo arcade and home platform. The King of Fighters ’99 initially meant to remove Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami from the series due to the introduction of the new lead character, K’. However, due to negative fan response in location tests, they decided to readd them.

The SNK staff wanted to create a Robo Army Team. However, this idea was abandoned but they later made it a tribute in The King of Fighters 2000 by introducing Rocky, a character from Robo Army as a striker for Maxima. The character from Whip was originally meant to star in The King of Fighters ’96, but due Leona’s introduction in that game, the staff decided to wait until K0F ’99.

Developers also found troubles with the large number of young characters appearing in the game; as such the staff also designed older character such as Maxima and Vannesa to balance the game. In contrast to this Bao was added to the game in order to reduce the average age from the Psycho Soldiers Teams. Bao had many different design before its final one, as you can see in the gallery below.

Here’s the final Bao sprite to compare it with its early designs:

Thanks to Saga Darvulia for the contribution!

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Nuon, Others

aMaze [Nuon – Cancelled]

U64 Staff & Contributors
10-07-2010
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aMaze was among the first known titles to be announced for the NUON DVD game system but like most of the games announced for it, aMaze never saw the light of day. The premise was based upon those old marble balance board games where you tried to get a small ball to the goal, avoiding the many holes along the way. It also was notable at the time as the game employed real-time raytracing to draw objects such as the ball. The official description goes as follows:

aMaze is based on the classic board game that challenges you to tilt the board in order to roll a steel ball through a nerve-racking maze of trap holes. Simple in theme yet elegant in graphic nature, aMaze is best described as an overall experience that is highly addictive, yet surprisingly relaxing. From the outset, aMaze was designed to be attractive to all types of gamers – from hard core to mainstream. aMaze is an engaging game for everyone.

Some screenshots and a couple of videos can be found at NUON-Dome.

Thanks to Adam for the contribution!

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Jaguar, Others

Jack Nicklaus Cyber Golf [Jaguar CD – Cancelled]

monokoma
08-07-2010
8 Comments

Jack Nicklaus Cyber Golf (aka Jack Nicklaus Power Challenge Golf) is a cancelled sport game that was in development for the Jaguar CD by Atari and Hand Made Software in 1994. It seems that the game was canned in early stage, as no version more complete than what is seen in the video below (from viMasterJag channel) have been found, which is no more than a demo lacking animations, voice and gameplay.

As we can read at Cyberroach:

Jack Nicklaus Cyber Golf, a CD title, is a photo-realistic golf game for the Jaguar that utilizes over 9,000 images of Murfield Village Golf Course. This course is the first that Jack Nicklaus created and is the site of the annual Memorial Tournament. Well-known sports presenter David Livingston acts as a virtual commentator to teach the first-time player how to play the game or provide comments and suggestions for the more experienced players. Up to a foursome can play Jack Nicklaus Cyber Golf, and the CD is expected to ship late this spring.

Thanks to Adam for the contribution!

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Microsoft, Others, PC / MAC, Playstation 3 (PS3), Sony, Xbox 360

Project Offset [X360 PS3 PC – Cancelled]

U64 Staff & Contributors
07-07-2010
No Comments

Project Offset is a cancelled fantasy action adventure that was in development by Offset Software, initially planned for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC. As we can read on Wikipedia, in February 2008, Intel acquired Offset Software and the game became a PC exclusive. After a couple of yers, Intel officially canceled the game in July 2010, citing “recent changes in our product roadmap” as the cause for the decision. The founders of Offset Software have moved to a new game development studio named Fractive LLC.

As we can read at Super Download, it seems that the changes in Intel’s product roadmap in the statement most likely refer to the company’s decision to cancel the high-end graphics chip product code name “Larabee” that was shut down as a commercial hardware product last December.

Some more info about Project Offset can still be found in the official website:

Q: Has the game gone back to the drawing board since you last saw it?

A: In some ways…Yes. We have a had a design scrub post Intel acquisition. The gameplay footage you have seen in the past was from a prototype. However we did not throw away all work or assets from that effort. We will share all we can as soon as possible and when ready. […]

Yes it has been a while, and yes this project and team started small and was then acquired by Intel. The tech and engine have been in development for some time, and post the acquisition did need some re-work to target Intel Architectures in the best way possible. We also took some time after completing the prototype of the game, which was created before acquisition, to look at the size of the team, our resources, the games out on shelf currently and our target hardware architectures, and did some re-working on design and gameplay mechanics. […]

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