Sony

Others, PC / MAC, Playstation, Sony

Starship Troopers [PC PSX – Cancelled]

monokoma
15-11-2010
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In 1997 / 1998 Spectrum Holobyte was working on an action game based on the Starship Troopers license, that would have been published by Microprose for PC and Playstation, but it was later cancelled. This project was really different from the 2000 released Starship Troopers game, that was instead developed by Blue Tongue. The producer  of the 1998 version was named Simon Finch, who is not in the credits of the 2000 game. In 1996 Microprose / Spectrum Holobyte signed a contract with Sony over the development of several games based on Starship Troopers, but in the end only one was released.

The first in the series of four games is in development under the MicroProse brand for Windows 95 which will be followed by a Sony PlayStation game console version. […]

“As we build our merchandising program for the upcoming theatrical release of Starship Troopers, we felt it would be natural to develop a thrilling multimedia game based on this high action film,” said Scardino. “Through our new relationship with Spectrum Holobyte, we are confident that they will create an innovative game which will appeal to the consumer marketplace.”

As we can read at Economypoint:

Although the [Starship Troopers license] purchase was celebrated at that time of MicroProse as large success, MicroProse drew the enterprise downward. Mismanagement and bad firm politics affected additionally creativity and work of the developers. One had to accept larger losses than before. 1997 were temporarily stabilized the financial situation by high incomes, but they came too late, in order to still save the enterprise. The enterprise was bought up 1998 by Hasbro Interactive, which fired thereafter the flight simulation team already briefly.

It seems that Hasbro decided to cancel Spectrum Holobyte’s Starship Troopers game for economic reasons.

Thanks to derboo for the scans!

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Playstation, Sony

Pac-Man Ghost Zone [PSX – Cancelled]

monokoma
14-11-2010
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Pac-Man Ghost Zone is a cancelled platform game that was in development in 1996 by Namco Hometek for the original playstation. This would have been the first 3D Pac Man game to be released for home consoles. Ghost Zone was previewed in various old magazines and it seems that it was even shown in some form at E3, but after a while Namco decided to kill the project for quality reasons. As we can read on the Playstation Museum:

We built a playable demo and even though there was some fun gameplay, the game just never felt right. The environments all felt too much the same and it was lacking a sense of grandeur found in other games like the recently released Mario 64. Japan must of felt the same way too – when we flew to Japan and presented it to Namco president Nakamura-San, he was very displeased. As a result, almost the entire team – save 1 designer (myself), 1 programmer (Gil Colgate) and 1 artist (Neil Strudwick) – were fired and we had to start again on what eventually became Pac-Man World.”

Thanks to Celine for the scans! (GamePro #100, Console+ #78, GameInformer #53)

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Playstation, Sony

Thrasher: Skate & Destroy [PSX – Beta]

monokoma
13-11-2010
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Thrasher: Skate and Destroy is a skateboarding game developed by Z-Axis and released in 1999 for the PlayStation. Pcloadletter noticed various beta differences in some old screens and videos. Different HUD, some tricks do not register (nollie tricks especially), different start screen with 3 characters only and no multiplayer and many more.

A beta demo of Trasher: Skate and Destroy seems to have been leaked online, its a combination of the early build/hud but with the (almost) final menus. All the character photos are here with one selectable at start. You can see a short bio instead of the stats. Also one of the three levels unlocked.

As Pcloadletter has wrote in the U64 Forum:

The coolest part I found is the camera control. Pressing L2 + a direction changes views on the fly; up = overhead, right = regular chase, down = far/wide chase and left = first person. Sometimes switching on the fly will crash the demo but its interesting to play in first person at least. I’m not aware of that in the final game at all.

Its weird because many advanced tricks are available but not some of the default basics. L1 is the control for certain grinds (missing) nollie tricks (missing completely), wall rides (these work), and manuals (incomplete). Manuals do not score points or register and have glitchy animations. If you move it cancels out and will in a short time on its own regardless. So far only the nose manual will work on a downslope or landing in a pipe. L1+x is used to switch stance or revert. A difference is a missing hud logo with only a text indicator of “switch”. Also if you hold R1+L1+x you will do a unique trick where the board switches but you hold position. This was removed from final, its kind of cool even if pointless. […]

In the courthouse level itself many textures are different and the lighting seems darker or maybe its the popup. Some logos are not on ramps and there is a missing trash can from final. If you try to exit the gates (different texture from final) the menu type is weird. […]

There is also a text file on both demo and final called OPTIONS.txt. They look like they related to debug but I don’t really know. The only difference from final is the first option for ztuneDebugPrint set to NO. In final it is set to YES. The dates are 7/27/1999 and 10/20/1999. It was released 10/31/1999. I don’t know if that relates directly to the build of the game but 3 months pre-release would be believable with all the differences I noticed already. […]

Comparing the text visible in hex editor has revealed some minor differences. There is no reference to the passwords, secret character Beesuit Guy, or character stats (but all descriptions are present in final form). The memory card functions are incomplete but 1/3rd present. From some general text there appears to be a test level called “gametest” in a missing map area called “Debugville”.

Thanks to Pcloadletter for the contribution!

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Microsoft, Playstation 3 (PS3), Sony, Xbox 360

NBA Elite 11 [X360 PS3 – Cancelled]

monokoma
13-11-2010
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NBA Elite 11 is a cancelled basketball game that was in development by Electronic Arts for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, meant to be the first installment in the NBA Elite series, succeeding EA’s NBA Live series. As we can read in Wikipedia, NBA Elite 11 was originally planned to be released on October 2010, but the game was delayed until March 2011 due to “concerns about gameplay polish”. Basically, the game had too many problems, gamers we not happy with the demo and EA decided to cancel it.

The game’s cancellation was officially announced on November 2010 and development of the franchise was moved from EA’s Black Box studio to its Florida-based Tiburon studio. EA has stated that it will instead release free DLC for last year’s NBA Live 10, including roster updates for the 2010–11 NBA season.

Some more info can be found at Escapist Magazine website:

EA recently conducted “seasonal layoffs,” though the company says its current restructuring efforts are “relatively small.” Part of this restructuring appears to be moving the NBA Elite series, which it does plan to bring back in the future, from EA Black Box to EA Tiburon.

Analysts estimated that NBA Elite 11’s delay was going to cost EA somewhere in the realm of $60 million with around 1 million in lost sales for this fiscal year, so now those estimated numbers may be straight up losses. NBA Elite 11 was reportedly delayed over quality concerns, which freed up pack-in NBA Jam for a solo release on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Thanks to Federico for the contribution!

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Microsoft, Playstation 3 (PS3), Sony, Xbox 360

Gunhead [X360 PS3 – Pitch / Cancelled?]

U64 Staff & Contributors
11-11-2010
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Gunhead is an action game that was in development by Electronic Arts Vancouver, but very little is known about this project other than a few concept arts that were leaked and posted in gaming forums in december 2009. It seems that Gunhead was an internal pitch at EA that will never see a release, as we can assume from the following quote published on Blue’s News:

On the off chance you were interested in more info on this EA project, the gist of it is that the main character is a guy whose head is a gun. That’s it,” he tells us. “EA has been trying to get this game made for ages now. … It was a pretty lame idea, and we had no real interest in developing it for them. Every so often, I hear it pop up here and there, and it makes me laugh that they are still trying. I really must wonder who’s baby the idea is for it to not have died a well deserved death yet…

The concept arts look really nice, so we can hope that more screens or videos could be preserved in the future.

Thanks to Hey Hey for the contribution!

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