Playstation 2 (PS2)

Gex 4 [PS2 – Cancelled]

Gex was a platformer game series, developed by Crystal Dynamics, that details the adventures of a gecko named Gex. In this page you can see a couple of concept arts from the cancelled Gex 4, a cancelled project that was probably in development for the PS2. The series followed Gex the gecko. A lazy, tv crazy young man who after inhering a large fortune from his late uncle purchases the largest tv in the world.

Upon eating a fly which was actually a metallic transmitter, he is pulled into the digital world by his soon to be arch nemesis RezWhile. Not much is known about this sequel in terms of plot or overall any information. The last media ever released in the Gex franchise was a book in 2000.

Thanks to Hey Hey for the contribution!

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Backstage [PS2/GC/PC – Cancelled]

Backstage is a cancelled arcade racing game somehow similar to Crazy Taxy, that was in development in 2003 by Carapace and it would have been published by Wanadoo. The player would have start the game as a young and surf wear clothed bike messenger (with a scooter) named Zack. The action took place in a Los Angeles like city (its Studios, different districts and suburbs).

Zack is a kind of jack-of-all-trades, he had to accomplish such different jobs as deliveries, taxi, collections, races, track-races, and shooting (with a camera). Doing this, Zack would have meet important people of this universe who could have give him access to filming: his secret dream.

For unknwon reasons the project was never released and a couple of years later Carapace closed down.

Thanks a lot to Kyle for the contribution!

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Eden [PS2 – Concept]

Through GameSetLinks, Robert Seddon linked us to the International Hobo website, where they talk about one of their unreleased project for the Playstation 2, known as “Eden”. Eden was going to be a simulation / puzzle game in which the player would have been able to explore and grow his personal garden, but for various reasons Eden was shelved before they even started the  development. Only the concept design remains and you can read it all on ihobo:

When circumstances in the market changed and Play with Fire ceased to be a PS2 project (with a commensurate fall in budget), Eden was effectively shelved. Plans were tentatively made to resurrect it later, and inventive Belgian developer Tale of Tales were considered as an option for developer.

However, over the following years the project was to suffer further blows. The Japanese gardening game Shiki-Tei (“Four Seasons Garden”) was released in June 2008 for download on the PS3 and featured time-lapse as part of its gimmick – it was apparent that the technology for this is still very expensive, and the quality of the time lapse in Shiki-Tei was nowhere near the standard we had hoped to use in Eden, suggesting we could not have delivered this part of the design pragmatically. Then, the following month, Dylan Cuthbert’s Q-Games released Pixeljunk Eden for download on PS3, which meant the name “Eden” would have to be shelved.

Finally, in February 2009, Jenova Chen’s thatgamecompany released their game Flower for download on the PS3 which had so many fundamental similarities to Eden that this project was officially shelved. Flower is a magnificent piece of work, and more beautiful than Eden could ever have been on the budget we were intending to use for it. Although the play of the two games is very different, it’s apparent given the issues with time lapse technology that Eden was too ambitious for its time.