Beta + Cancelled Playstation 3 (PS3) Video Games - Page 4 of 70

Turok 2 is a canceled first-person shooter that was developed by Propaganda Games and published by Disney Interactive from 2007 to 2009, probably for the PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 systems. It was the sequel to the reboot of the Turok game series released in 2008.

Little information exists on Turok 2 since the game was canceled before its official announcement in January 2009. As indicated by Kotaku, it seems that it was the economic crisis of 2008 which was the reason of it’s cancellation when Disney Interactive, owner of Propaganda Games and the Turok’s license, decided to lay off 70 Propaganda employees and cancel the game:

“Sources tell us that Vancouver based Propaganda Games is in the process of laying off approximately 70 employees. That reduction in workforce is likely closely tied to the cancellation of Turok 2, a title never officially announced by Disney, but one of two projects that Propaganda was working on, we’re told.”

Steve Wadsworth, president of the Walt Disney Internet Group, later said:

“As you can imagine, given economic conditions, every industry has been impacted on a global scale. In response to this challenging business environment, we have examined ways in which we might be able to work more efficiently. The elimination of existing positions that we communicated today was a necessary step that we had hoped to avoid.”

We can speculate that the gameplay would have been similar to the 2008 reboot with some never-before-seen additions, like new environments (swamps, desert areas) or new enemies in the series like renegade soldiers named Savage or creatures called Ork, as can be seen from the many concept arts that subsequently leaked onto the net, and hosted by the Turok Wiki Fandom. Another novelty would have been the addition of new firearms like the assault rifle, apparently already planned in the 2008’s game before being cut in the end, and the Jak, a modified version of the well-known cerebral bore, firing this time projectiles allowing to control for a certain period of time the enemy in order to be able to neutralize other threats, as we can see it in action on a raptor on one of the rare in-game screenshots. A multiplayer mode was also planned.

In June 2015, Timothy Lewinson, who was Senior Designer and Associate Game Director at Propaganda until his departure, spoke briefly about the game during an interview for duke64nukem.com:

D64: In percentage how far along was Turok 2 before being canceled?
T.L.: “Without putting too fine a point on it, we were moving out of pre-production and making significant headway on a vertical slice. In development terms, that refers to a small level that provides a polished core gameplay experience. The expectation is that a tiny portion of the game is brought to as near a ship state as possible to properly demonstrate how new features will work, etc.”

The same month, director and animator Jeremy Brown posted on his Vimeo account a short teaser for the game as he himself explained under the video:

“Years ago I worked on a game that was canceled. This is the trailer I had in mind for it while we were working on the game, and nearly a decade later, I made it for fun.”

On the 25th June 2022, Youtuber Matt McMuscles was able to get in touch with former Propaganda’s art director Daryl Mandryk, who shared some new information about the game and what precisely happened during that time:

“The basic idea for Turok 2 was that it took place some time after the events of the first game, on the same planet. But now the human elements had all gone feral and crazy for some reason. It mainly took place in a badlands/desert area environment. I think the team had learned a hard lesson about how difficult it was to pull off a jungle environment on the Xbox 360. So it had a sort of Mad Max meets Jurassic Park feel. The big hook was going to be the return of the cerebral bore, which would allow the players to control dinosaurs and wreak havoc. We had this prototyped and it was awesome! The project was basically put on the back burner when Disney needed a studio to develop the movie tie-in game for the new Tron. I don’t think Turok 2 was officially cancelled, but after Tron: Evolution was shipped the studio was really focused on its other project : Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned. And many people were moved over to work on that. I think Disney felt this was a better financial bet than the Turok sequel. Regardless, within a few more months the studio was shut down and that was that.”

Since the cancellation of Turok 2, the series has stalled, although we were able to see remasters of the first two games by Nightdive Studios, released in 2015 and 2017 respectively.

Images:

Videos:

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

Urban Race (10Tacle Studios) [Xbox 360 / PC / PS3 – Cancelled]

U64 Staff & Contributors

13-12-2022

No Comments

Urban Race is a canceled multiplayer parkour racing game developed by 10Tacle Studios Belgium (formerly elseWhere Entertainment) for PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, in 2008.

The creation of Urban Race began on the remnants of Totems, a parkour action-platform game in development at 10Tacle until June 2008, when the financial problems of their parent company forced them to do a major restructuring towards online games and online worlds, as we can read on the Planet-Adelpha forum:

“(…) 10Tacle AG suffered quite a lot due to Elveon cancel, Totems being late and more over wrong investments here and there. So 10Tacle was out of cash, without a CEO and investors were not happy at all. With the new CEO, investors decided to change company’s orientation, focusing only on online games and online worlds, they had already a project in mind.”
“In the meantime as we saw that the financial situation was becoming critical at 10Tacle AG, the company decided to create a small spin off project based on what’ve being doing on Totems for 3 years, we worked on a project called Urban Race, a multiplayer parkour game yet very different from an esthetic point of view but really the same movement engine behind Totems.”

Using the technology initially created for Totems, Urban Race was a fast-paced on-foot racing game where players can use techniques from the sport of Parkour as well as aggressive attacks on other racers to complete a mad dash through ancient ruins.

Shortly before its cancellation, an anonymous source who worked on the game further explained some concepts to the French website Factornews:

“First of all, the game is intended to be a good quantity of fun where up to four players compete in races taking place both on the rooftops and in alleys, or on the docks. Thanks to the engine developed for Totems, the characters move easily around the scenery, jumping over grids and obstacles with ease.
Although this is a running race, there are ways of doing takedowns during the race, such as pushing an opponent against the wall, or grabbing them by the leg when they start climbing a wall. Obviously, each successful takedown gives you a good chunk of adrenaline (useful for making big jumps or even more impressive takedowns), on the other hand if you undergo a takedown, you will lose a little of it.
In addition to the classic racing modes, the circuits also contain their set of objects. Mario Kart fans, this game could have been for you: use the paint bucket to obscure your opponent’s view, send a Chihuahua bite their ankle, or drop stuffs on the road, just to block the path. These objects also allow crazy game modes like “King of the Chihuahua” (the one who keeps the furball as long as possible wins), “Take me down” (eliminate your opponents with takedowns, the last one in contention has won) or even “Paint it black” (Each paint pot used fills part of your opponents’ screen, when the screen is full, you are eliminated).”

Unfortunately still plagued by financial difficulties, 10Tacle Belgium closed in August 2008, due to a lack of publishers, definitely cancelling Urban Race during the process.

Images:

Videos:

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

Totems (10Tacle Studios) [Cancelled – Xbox 360, PC]

U64 Staff & Contributors

13-12-2022

No Comments

Totems is a canceled action/platformer game developed by 10Tacle Studios Belgium (formerly elseWhere Entertainment) for 10Tacle Studios, from 2005 to 2008, for the PC and Xbox 360.

Made by former developers of the game Outcast, Totems was an action/adventure game mixing modern day world events with the fantasy of native American religion where the player controls Gia, a parkour expert, who inherits various powers from four different animal totem spirits.

The game was revealed a day before the Leipzig’s Game Convention 2007 as we can read on Gamesindustry:

“Darmstadt, August 22nd 2007 – Today 10TACLE STUDIOS AG and 10TACLE STUDIOS BELGIUM officially announce the development of TOTEMS for PC and Xbox 360.
Inspired by the urban sport “Le Parkour“, TOTEMS is a super-heroic platform game with tactical elements that let the player magically transform the world and story to their own style and skill. This third-person 3D action adventure offers non-linear gameplay in a highly interactive environment and is designed to be accessible to the widest audience while offering depth for the core gamers. The player character as well as the enemy is able to use the environment to full extent thanks to the innovative Semantic Environment Sensing System (SESS). Super-heroic movement and combat come alive in a never seen before manner. The Belgian developer’s proprietary NeoReality Engine sets new standards for next-gen platforms and provides an unparalleled atmosphere and experience. Based on an elaborate and original mythology, TOTEMS offers an exciting new world to explore.”
“The PC and Xbox 360 release is scheduled for 2008.”

It was showed during the convention in which Gamespot managed to write a preview:

(…) Gia’s expertise in parkour comes from one of the four totem spirits whose powers she’s able to use. Her agility comes from the monkey spirit, her speed comes from the cheetah spirit, and her combat skills come from the bear spirit. We weren’t told what powers the songbird spirit will afford you, except that they have something to do with creativity. Interestingly, each of the four spirits is mapped to a different face button on the Xbox 360 controller, and so each button can be used to perform a massive number of different moves depending on the context in which you press it.
Using only the monkey button during our presentation, the player was able to navigate a number of different obstacles, including high walls, columns, wide gaps, and narrow ledges. The animation was seamless, and the one-button control system is purportedly possible because of how aware Gia and other characters in Totems are of their surroundings. This was demonstrated to us in a number of different ways. When slowly moving toward the corner of a rooftop, for example, Gia automatically stopped and leaned over the edge to look down, and when left standing idle next to a low wall, she casually brushed her hand along the top of it.
The anthropomorphic tigers that attacked Gia at one point were also very aware of the geometry around them, and were incorporating parkour-style wall jumps and the like into some of their own combat moves. Like Gia’s, their moves were occasionally superhuman, including cat leaps and muscle-ups worthy of the Agency operatives in Crackdown(…).

Unfortunately, nearly one year after it’s announcement, 10Tacle Studios filed for bankruptcy in the beginning of August 2008, shutting down 10Tacle Studios Belgium and cancelling every projects within the studio. We learned via Planet-Adelpha that the development was stopped in March of the same year and that the team had decided to make a similar game using the technology initially created for Totems with Urban Race, also canceled:

“10Tacle AG is in a big financial crisis and it is not over yet. Here at elseWhere Entertainment it has been 6 months since they don’t pay us. The company took on its personal cash and contracted debts in order to keep paying the employees until 2 months ago (since June in fact). So it has been two months since we’re not paid which is a difficult situation for everyone here and Yves Grolet had to take a decision, we couldn’t wait much longer for the money of 10Tacle. So Yves decided to close the studios.”
“From the business and development point of view, Totems was paused (heavy) end of March due to cash issues of 10Tacle, we were doing the vertical slice demo. We had quite a lot of things to show and positive feedbacks. I guess you saw the problem with Michele Pes and stuff, 10Tacle AG suffered quite a lot due to Elveon cancel, Totems being late and more over wrong investments here and there. So 10Tacle was out of cash, without a CEO and investors were not happy at all. With the new CEO, investors decided to change company’s orientation, focusing only on online games and online worlds, they had already a project in mind. So for the team the last 6 months were quite depressing and there was a lot of uncertainties, some people left the company.”
“In the meantime as we saw that the financial situation was becoming critical at 10Tacle AG, the company decided to create a small spin off project based on what’ve being doing on Totems for 3 years, we worked on a project called Urban Race, a multiplayer parkour game yet very different from an esthetic point of view but really the same movement engine behind Totems.”

After that, several former developers returned to Appeal Studios, including former CEO Yves Grolet, currently developing Outcast 2: A New Beginning for THQ Nordic.

Images:

Videos:

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

Cipher Complex [X360/PS3 – Cancelled]

monokoma

09-12-2022

2 Comments

Cipher Complex is a canceled stealth/action game for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, alongside a potential PC version, developed by Edge of Reality and published by Sega, from 2005 to 2009. The game was officially revealed in June 2006 by it’s developer where the plot emerged:

“Cipher Complex is an intense, cinematic military combat game that will deliver a brutal shot of adrenaline straight to the hearts of next-generation gamers.
U.S. surveillance satellites detect activity onboard the decommissioned Soviet Bargration Missile Defense Station 4 off the east coast of Siberia. When the Russians deny the U.S. access to the facility, Department of Defense strategists suggest that a small, plausibly deniable reconnaissance mission be sent in to investigate. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency is given the go-ahead for operation BLACKOUT, the insertion of a single expert Operator on Russian WMDs and launch facilities. Lt. Col. John Sullivan, callsign: Cipher is air dropped in, and what was supposed to be primarily a reconnaisance mission becomes a race against a terrorist threat; one with implications that will shake the foundations of American democracy and freedoms.”

After it’s revelation, however, little was shown in the press except that in 2008, a deal was signed with “an important publisher“. Unfortunately, in January 2009, as Gamespot pointed out, it appeared that the publisher was Sega, but that they also took the decision to cancel the game without statements:

“As spotted by the increasingly prolific Superannuation, the LinkedIn profile of a former Edge of Reality producer indicates that Sega pulled the plug on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 game earlier this year. “Producer for Cipher Complex that was canceled by Sega,” reads the job description of Rob Brown, who served on the project from July 2008 to January 2009.
Oddly, if Cipher Complex has been canceled, Sega and Edge of Reality have made no outward signs of saying so. The game’s Web site remains wholly intact, if devoid of content, and the developer’s Web site continues to promote the project.”

It is still unclear what caused it’s cancellation, even if some people speculated that the 2008 economic crisis was the main reason.

In June 2010, a 10 minutes gameplay video was leaked onto the internet, showing the main character carries out various actions with speed, precision, strength and cunning stealth to neutralize enemies. Under that same video, in the commentaries section, Voice-Over talent Anthony Mendez answered back in 2016 to someone:

“I did the voiceover for the main character. This was simply a vertical slice to demonstrate the approach and some of the characters, etc. (…) With that said, the approach to stealth was ahead of its time – Arkham Knight uses this (albeit much more developed) but I’m sure if they had the opportunity, they would have finished a nice game.”

After it’s cancellation, Edge of Reality managed to make their own self-published new IP in 2014 with Free-To-Play multiplayer third-person shooter Loadout, which shutted down in 2018, the same year during Edge of Reality closed down their offices. Still in 2018, a prototype from March 2009 leaked onto the internet before being made publicly available for download in May 2020.

Images:

Videos:

PC / MAC, Playstation 3 (PS3), Xbox 360

Sam Suede: Undercover Exposure (iBase Entertainment) [PC, XBOX 360?, PS3? – Cancelled]

Todd_the_Toad

08-12-2022

No Comments

Sam Suede: Undercover Exposure is an another project from Al Lowe, the author of Leisure Suit Larry series. It has been in development in his own studio, iBase Entertainment for PC and, probably, for consoles (XBOX 360 and PS3). The genre was “Action Comedy“.

By this definition, Lowe meant that now the characters would have to be incapacitated not with the help of weapons, but in a much more original way – in other words, to make them laugh to death. Not without branded puzzles and several mini-games. The role of the protagonist was played by Sam Suede, a charming loser who unexpectedly witnessed a crime and decided to independently take up the investigation (he had long dreamed of becoming a detective).

From gamesradar.com:

Sam starts off as something of a wannabe, uncertain of himself and short on skills. Suspects will be interviewed, clues pieced together and jokes pitched left and right – five minutes into the demo, he was wearing lipstick and a French maid’s costume and getting hit on by a security guard whose glasses were clearly waaay too dark.
Over the course of the game, Sam will score “encounters” with a variety of beautiful women, each time rising the following morning with a new bounce in his step, and more effective methods in his repertoire. Details on this score are scarce at the moment, but the stated emphasis on character interaction and dialogue over static cutscenes when interviewing suspects gives some idea of the machinations that’ll be at your disposal.

The style of the game was reminiscent of “Larry”, except that the trademark humor became more correct. However, the reason for the game’s cancellation was a lack of funding, due to the high cost of developing games for consoles – “Sam” was to be released on next-gen consoles as well (because, according to the game’s publisher, a PC-only release would not have paid for itself). According to Lowe’s, they had another year of work left to complete Suede Sam. The company’s website reports that as of January 2007, the game has been delayed until additional funding can be found. Unable to locate a publisher to promote and distribute Sam Suede, iBase Entertainment shut down in December 2006. Following this setback, Lowe expressed serious doubts whether he’d ever reenter the gaming industry again.

Some information is taken from «Игромания» magazine, 03 (114) 2007