Sony

The Crucible: Evil Within (The Box/The Ritualyst) [Cancelled – PS3/Xbox 360]

The Crucible: Evil Within, AKA “The Box” or “The Ritualyst” originally was a Silicon Knights-developed (developer of Eternal Darkness and Too Human) open-world horror pitch for PS3 started in 2004, which was accepted for full production by Sega in March 2005.

“Silicon Knights has a rich history of developing great games that push hardware technology, so we expect this relationship will result in a powerful, new, and highly commercial franchise.”
Simon Jeffery, President and COO, SEGA of America

In 2006, Sega revealed some game details in an online survey. Until then, the game was internally known as “The Box”. The survey however led to “The Crucible: Evil Within”. Later, however, it was renamed to “The Ritualist” instead.

“An open free-roaming action horror game where the player undertakes a terrorizing journey of suspense, fear, power and discovery, and where every decision has multiple consequences… Uncover an ancient chest with unimaginable power that seduces you into evil, sin and corruption.”

Court documents from Silicon Knights’ legal battle with Epic Games reveal that The Box was initially planned to be finished by February 27th, 2007. It was later amended to extend the delivery date to November 4th, 2008. In August 2008, Sega decided to cancel various external projects, including Aliens RPG: Crucible, Aliens: Colonial Marines (later restarted), Cipher Complex, and The Box. However, Silicon Knights was able to find a new publisher with THQ, which also dropped the project in early 2009. As a kind of compensation, team members of The Box were asked to help on Vigil Games’/THQ’s Darksiders.

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Mega Man X4 [PSX/Saturn – Beta / Unused Sprites]

Mega Man X4 (aka Rockman X4 in Japan) is the fourth game in the Mega Man X series, released for the Sega Saturn and PlayStation in July 1997. Kei was able to find an old preview/trailer of the game from an equally old April 1997 Multiple Option CFC (Capcom Friendly Club) Style videotape from Japan. As Kei has wrote in the U64 Forum:

While this preview may not include much immediate beta/pre-release differences, there is one particularly noticeable element that can be heard in this video. For one, X sounds completely different as you see him jump and shooting out charged buster shots in the video; we’re talking about a pre-release video of the Japanese version here. Apparently, he had a different voice actor, as he sounds like a girl, much like he does in the English final version of RMX4. Zero also sounds slightly different as well, his Saber slashes are odd too.

Also, Bowserenemy and Protodude noticed some more differences in the same beta trailer:

Enemies are in different spots; Zero’s missing a few frames in his mid-air slar, and the hit detection is a bit off here and there. […] it’s the same as the third slash in his 3 hit combo, so just compare the two.

Hidden in the game’s code, Ace Spark from The Mechanical Maniacs has found some unused animation frames for Double, that could be from removed dialogue sequences [UPDATE: The running animation for Double is actually used in the game, but you only see it for a split second after you select a stage in the game. Thanks to OKei!]. An unused mugshot is in there too.

MMX4mys-doubleMMX4mys-mug

Some beta screenshots are available too, in which we can notice that the intro stage had a drill enemy in the beta, that was removed from the final game. When the place starts blowing up there are even more drill enemies. You can read more info on the beta at The Mechanical Maniacs!

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An even later beta build than the one above with many more differences can be seen below:
 

Titanium Angels [PS2/PC – Cancelled]

Titanium Angels is a cancelled action adventure that was in development in 2000 by Mobius Entertainment (now known as Rockstar Leeds). As we can see in the screenshots and the video below (that show a 40% complete build), the player would have used a girl named “Carmen Blake”, a bounty hunter with an armored spider vehicle named Titan. Titanium Angels was cancelled after two years of development when Mobius was purchased by Take-Two Interactive. In april 2004 the studio was officially renamed Rockstar Leeds.

Thanks to Userdante for the contribution!

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Silent Hill 2 [PS2 – Beta]

Silent Hill 2 is the second installment in the Silent Hill survival horror series. The game was released in late 2001 on Sony PlayStation 2 and was ported to the Microsoft Xbox later that year and PC the following year. The original European edition also included a second disc: a “Making-of” DVD video featuring beta trailers, an artwork gallery and a documentary on the title’s development. [Info from Wikipedia]

For more info about the beta differences in these early screens and videos, read the full article: Silent Hill 2 Beta Analysis! A beta version of the game is in the hand of some collectors and as we can read at Letter from Silent Heaven, it has some nice differences:

The sign says “WELLCOM!” (instead of its later version, “WELCOME!”).

The background on the cutscenes where you talk with Angela at the cemetery received an update. It appears the depth-of-fog was increased for the final build.

A first aid kit was once found on the lobby floor of the apartments.

At one time, the “hit” sound effects for both the Lying Figure and Mannequin were the same but later changed so each would have their own unique cries of pain.

Even the famous “Pyramid Head and James in closet” cutscene has seen a few changes. The sound effect revolving around Pyramid Head was revised. Also note the second mannequin’s legs are visible in the kitchen in the early build.

Some more info about the beta cuts from the Silent Hill 2 beta were shared thanks to an anonymous developer that worked on the game:

MARIA DEATH BETA:
In the very early prototype, instead of Maria die at the hospital, she was to die at the Prison. The part where james jumps down the hole in the prison into the hole with no door, Maria was to be impaled on a spike, but removed that scene because we thought it not fit Lore.
EDDIE BETA SCENE:
In the early prototype, we have very different eddie scene in apartment. James was to walk into apartment and witness eddie murder a man, then drag body to fridge and beat body while the man screaming until death. After, Eddie runs into bathroom and pukes, and james then meets for first time eddie.
Additionally, we had other scenes written in early script but got removed in re write. 3 Scenes remember:
1. A scene was written for James to enter Silent Hill in car. He was to pass through another town and stop at gas station to ask for direction. This scene was later remade for the Silent Hill 2006 movie.
2. Angela had other cutscene cut which was her being found in hospital. She was in script to be found in the second floor hallway and attack james but stop when she sees its him.
3. Final scene is a cut ending. Another ending was show epilogue for “leave” end. If leave end gets, James was to adopt Laura and bury Mary.

Thanks to Il’ya P, Megalol and silverpen for the contributions!

Some more interesting differences can be found hidden in the game’s code, as some unused weapons found by DeepGameResearch:

Most weapons differ from their final counter parts:

  • Pistol= Pretty close to final.
  • Wooden plank= Has a different menu model.
  • Steel pipe=No menu model, more attack frames than the final animation
  • Shotgun=No menu model, No sound effects
  • Hunting Rifle=No menu model,Does not use ammo (Unlimited clip,Never reloads), Uses pistol sound effects.
  • Spray Can(s)=No menu model,Glitched ready stance,No damage frames
  • Giant Knife=No menu model,Uses shotgun walking animation.  So many more frames in the attack animation it makes the game look like it’s lagging, When the knife hits the ground it causes a loud screeching sound to play until the player enters the start menu.

Also even if the Doctor’s lounge and Examination room are inaccessible to normal players, DGR was able to found them both using the room jump in the debug menu. You can read more on Silent Hill community Forum! You can see more SH2 hack videos from DGR in his Youtube Channel.

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Disney’s Atlantis [PS2 – Prototype]

Atlantis is a prototype for a game based on the Disney film of the same name, that was created by Ubisoft Canada in 2000 / 2001. As we can read on Wikipedia, the movie begins with a reenactment of the sinking of the legendary city of Atlantis, but the main story begins thousands of years later in 1914, when Milo James Thatch, an aspiring young cartographer/linguist/explorer, believes he has found the secret to the location of Atlantis.

While some Atlantis games were released for the GBA, PSX and PC, a PS2 version was never published. It seems that Ubisoft tried to pitch their  demo to Disney, but for some reasons they decided to not give the permission to use the Atlantis license for a Playstation 2 project.

Thanks a lot to Stephane for his help in preserving some screens from the prototype!

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