New Cancelled Games & Their Lost Media Added to the Archive

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

Star Wars Battlefront 3 [Cancelled Free Radical Version / Proto – Xbox 360 / PS3 / PC]

U64 Staff & Contributors
18-01-2009
9 Comments

In 2006, LucasArts announced an agreement with UK-based and now shut down developer Free Radical Design. Although no further announcements were made about the game, it was well known that FRD was working on Star Wars Battlefront 3 for next-generation platforms.

Several issues including delays and “communication problems” made LucasArts cancel the project and leave Free Radical Design without funding. As a result, the studio had to close in December 2008 as publishers showed no interest in either buying or investing into FRD.

While Star Wars Battlefront 3 will be finished at Rebellion Studios, the other FRD game (TimeSplitters 4) will probably not appear in the near future.

In April 2012, more screens and videos from an alpha version of Star Wars Battlefront 3 Free Radical version were shared online by Past to Present Online

Also as we can read from PC Gamer:

Betagames have found remnants of a Battlefront project in the form of images stashed away on the Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City disk. That seems like an odd place to leave some spare files, but Raccoon City developers, Slant Six were rumoured to have been working on the third game in the Battlefront series for a while. The files include a variety of pro-quality loading screens and some odd bits of texture work, including a hideous image of Luke Skywalker’s face stretched out on a 2D plane. Eeeugh.

Images:

Video:

Microsoft, Xbox 360

The Dark (Condemned) [X360 – Beta]

monokoma
17-01-2009
No Comments

Condemned: Criminal Origins was originally known as The Dark, quite far into production. Under this name, the game was largely similar but differed in several key areas. The player character was known as Agent Cross, and the game appeared to follow him on a Government-sanctioned investigation, or investigations, rather than acting as a rogue on the run from the law. Although Cross possessed the supernatural leanings of Thomas from the final game, he could actually use various magical spells. For example, a spell could be uttered to pull a gun from an enemy’s hands and bring it to you through the air, and another spell saw doors and other obstacles break in front of you, seemingly negating the need for a fire axe.

The forensic tools used by Cross also differed, as the detection and collection tools were typically one individual item – the UV light, for instance, could illuminate clues and then be used to physically swipe across them, to take samples.

While playing the game, various bonus contents are unlocked, which can then be accessed from a special menu. Content includes concept and production sketches and paintings, work-in-progress animation, video from motion capture sessions, and a rather lengthy video showcasing a complete level from an early version of the game. [Infos from Wikipedia]

Thanks to Neodiffer for the contribution!

Videos:

Unseen News

RS Links: Little Big Adventure

monokoma
16-01-2009
1 Comment

lbalogo

Another list of interesting links from Robert Seddon, this time about cancelled ports and early versions of Little Big Adventure, one of the most fascinating adventure games that was released for PC and Playstation.

From an interview with Frédérick Raynal on the Magicball Network, we can read about the unreleased GBA port of LBA:

Assassin: a couple of years ago there were plans of porting LBA1 (and 2?) to the GBA. Have you been thinking about maybe porting them to one of the new systems?

Frederick Raynal: Didier did a good work on LBA GBA, it’s a shame
it’s never released. I would love to see ports on portable consoles,
if LBA3 starts there are good chances…

it seems that LBA for the Gameboy Advanced was finished, or at least in a playable form.. really a shame. Maybe on DS?

On Wikipedia there are a couple of notes on the development of LBA (but lacking citations):

It was initially planned as a SNES game, making use of the Super FX chip for real-time 3D game components.

In early previews, it was said that the player could drive vehicles in the game. This wasn’t implemented in the final version because of lack of time and the idea was kept for the game’s sequel, Little Big Adventure 2.

Another list of various versions of LBA:

Beta Version August 1994: This version is unique, in that it had encrypted texts, and a slightly different scene format than the final version. Also notable for having separate external .DIA, and .ORD, files (encrypted for some reason), instead of a single TEXT.HQR file. Available for download from the Magicball Network.

It’s also interesting to notice that Frederick Raynal worked on 2 other cancelled games, Agartha (Dreamcast) and Trium Planeta (GameCube/PC). Raynal even helped with the production of Soul Bubbles, one of the best DS games ever. He offered “spiritual and game design guidance” to the game’s creators. You can find our article on the beta of Soul Bubbles in here.

Thanks as always to Robert Seddon for these links!