New Cancelled Games & Their Lost Media Added to the Archive

Playstation 2 (PS2), Sony

Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando [PS2 – Beta]

U64 Staff & Contributors
13-11-2009
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Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando (aka Ratchet & Clank 2: Locked and Loaded in certain PAL regions) is a 3D platformer/shooter developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony for the PlayStation 2 in 2003. Going Commando was approved for development five months before the first game’s release, after highly positive reviews from the original’s playtesters. In August 2002, Insomniac Games started designing the visual concepts for Going Commando, while still fixing bugs in the original game. [Info from Wikipedia]

In the early screens of the game we can notice some graphic differences, especially for the HUD and the weapon designs. Also, the slot machines that should be in one of the levels are blank in the beta version. The launcher model was used for a sort of flamethrower weapon, but there wasn’t a flamethrower in the final game, just a firey-rock thrower and a gun with a stream of magma. There is also a beta Sniper Rifle and a beta Blitz Gun.

In the image with the glass tubes, the level is at night instead than to be during day like  in the final version. Also, something in the background looks like a tree… and an odd one at that. The gladiators in the arena were pink, while in the final they’re green. As we can see from a beta trailer from MegaLamb YT account, all of the MegaCorp crates were  still “Gadgetron” crates at that stage of development.

In the first beta video below, one major thing is at about 1:11: that weapon looks like NOTHING in the game. The graphics aren’t the same, but it does have the same general effect as the Zodiac. They both blow EVERYTHING up around them.

In BOTH videos, you can see two different versions of the SAME area. In the first video, it’s at 1:00 and in the second, it’s at 0:49. Also, in the second video the boss life meters are different from the final ones. Also in the final game  you can unlock an area called the “Insomniac Museum”, that is full of  beta-info and unseen-models! You can check a tour in the Insomniac Museum in the videos below, thanks to Bowserenemy and ScottishDuck17 YT channels. In Bowserenemy first R&C: Going Commando video you can even see the glitch way to reach the Insomniac Musem!

You can check the Ratchet & Clank Beta topic in the U64 Forum for more info!

Thanks to Bowsersenemy for the contribution!

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Playstation 2 (PS2), Sony

H2Overdrive [PS2 – Cancelled]

monokoma
12-11-2009
2 Comments

H2Overdrive is a cancelled powerboat racing game developed by VisiWare, that was going to be published in 2001 on the Playstation 2 by Crave Entertainment. In the game players would have been able to race in the fictional Global Powerboat Racers League, which features events set in locations ranging from rivers and lakes to the surface of the planet Mars, with 7 modes of play:  championship, simple race, duel, survival, checkpoint, ghost, and cat and mouse. The project was never released, maybe because of some problems with the publisher or for quality reasons.

This game is not related to the arcade-only H2Overdrive, developed by the guys who made the original Hydro Thunder.

Thanks to Drake Lake for the contribution!

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Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Wii

CCTV [DS/Wii – Unreleased]

monokoma
09-11-2009
1 Comment

CCTV is a cancelled adventure game that was in development at Nikitova Games, designed by Jon Hare, former member of Sensible Software. The concept of the game is that players work as a security operator in charge of using cameras to find criminals and resolve various problems. While you look at different camera feeds, you can see different action going and when you notice that something strange it’s happening, you can stop / rewinds the video to find more clues. As we can read in the official description of the project:

In this game you play the role of a security guard using CCTV and cop cars to catch petty criminals and most wanted criminals alike as you travel the world finding suspects and nailing them in this fast paced game of observation, identification & interrogation. Starting as a lowly shopping mall guard, the player can rise to International head of security […]

The game has been designed specifically for the Nintendo Wii & DS to play as either a single player, as two players co-operatively or as 2 players competitively against each other.

As Jon told in his Cubed3 interview, the game is currently suspended and it’s unknown if it will ever be resurrected. Sadly they did not find any publisher interested in the project:

CCTV’s a good example of how it’s very hard to sell an original game. We did show CCTV to a lot of companies, and some companies expressed interest, but there overall response was ‘that’s interesting, I like the idea of that, but…it’s too original

Thanks to Celine for the contribution!

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