[email protected]
Unseen64 is made with love, sleep deprivation and your help :)

New Cancelled Games & Their Lost Media Added to the Archive

Ultima Worlds Online: Origin – originally titled Ultima Online 2 – was to be the first sequel to the popular 1997 Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game Ultima Online. Origin Systems revealed that they were developing Ultima Online 2 in September 1999 for release within a year or two, but development was cancelled in March 2001.

The game was to be set in Sosaria but in an alternate timeline where a cataclysm has collided the past, present and future of Sosaria into a single world, thus bringing Industrial Revolution and steampunk elements to the medieval fantasy world. Players would be able to choose from three playable races. Ultima Online 2, billed as a “2nd generation MMORPG”, was to improve upon Ultima Online and previous MMORPGs. The most noticeable advancement was the competitive 3D engine that replaced Ultima Online’s aging isometric view. The design also changed several aspects that players voiced dislike for in the first one. In Ultima Online 2, player vs. player combat was to be disabled by default (except in special areas, such as arenas). The title also would have emphasized grouping, including groups of 20-30 players, and reduced the ability of single players to become all-around grand-masters (i.e., prevent the notorious “tank-mage” characters that appeared in Ultima Online).

In March 2001, Electronic Arts, the parent company of Origin, announced that development on Ultima Worlds Online: Origin would cease in order to provide additional support for Ultima Online. Shortly after, EA announced it had laid off 200 employees including some at Origin Systems. EA feared that it would compete for subscribers with Ultima Online, which was still profitable and not showing signs of slowing down. About one-third of the team that worked on Ultima Online 2 joined Destination Games to work on Richard Garriott‘s MMORPG, Tabula Rasa.

Just a few years later, history repeated itself when EA cancelled Ultima X: Odyssey in 2004.

Images:

Videos:

Unseen News

[Unseen Interview] Ruud Van De Moosdijk

U64 Staff & Contributors

18-07-2008

1 Comment

Marshall Leslie has recently played the incomplete release of Corn Buster, but there is very little information available about the game, and few people know of its existence. Marshall has sent a mail to Engine Software to ask if someone who was involved in the development of Corn Buster would have been willing to provide more information concerning the game’s development history, any planned elements for the game, and the reason for its cancellation. Ruud van de Moosdijk, current VP of Development at Engine Software who had an integral part in the development of Corn Buster, was nice enough to answer some of the questions! [Interview by Marshall Leslie] Read the rest of this entry »

Playstation 3 (PS3), Sony

Metal Gear Solid 4 [PS3 – Beta]

yota

18-07-2008

2 Comments

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is a stealth action video game. Directed by Hideo Kojima, Shuyo Murata and Yoji Shinkawa, Guns of the Patriots was developed by Kojima Productions exclusively for the PlayStation 3 video game console. It is the seventh title in the Metal Gear series and the first in its fourth generation. The game, designed around the motto, “No Place to Hide!”, is the last Metal Gear game developed by Hideo Kojima, and the last game in the series starring the protagonist Solid Snake. [Info from Wikipedia]

Looking at some old screens from the game, it seems that there are some scenes that i don’t remember to be in the final version, or that are a little different. Also in some screenshots, Snake’s face looks weird. Thanks to Segagaga Domain we can also check an old tech demo that was presented at the Tokyo Game Show 2005, in which Konami shown various real time effects and details from its 3D engine.

Thanks to Jamie for the contribution!

Thanks a lot to Yakumo / Segagaga Domain for the MGS4 Tech Demo!

Images:

An interesting beta-version comparison between new and old MGS4 trailers was already made by people at Kotaku some time ago, where we can see some little differences in the cutscenes of the game, like different colors for the 3d models.. As they said: “Kojima Productions went through and made various changes, alterations to assets that appeared in earlier trailers. But what kind of changes? Are they changes for the better? Or not? Below, is a comparison. On the left is footage from an older, yellowish MGS4 trailer, while on the right there’s brand new footage.”

Videos:

Leaked, Nintendo, SNES + Super Famicom

Corn Buster [SNES – Cancelled]

U64 Staff & Contributors

17-07-2008

3 Comments

Corn Buster is an unreleased Super Nintendo game developed by Engine Software. The game is the story of a dragon named Globey, who sets out to defeat the person who’s stolen all the cornflakes in the world. The gameplay is an interesting mix of an Arkanoid-Style ball-and-paddle game and a vertical scrolling shooter. The game quietly began development around 1994, and was canceled soon after interest in the Super Nintendo waned in light of the release of Sony’s Playstation. Some time ago, Engine Software released a ROM of the game for free download on their website. The download page has since been removed, but the ROM is still easily obtainable. The game was 70-80% completed before it was canceled.

Thanks a lot to Marshall Leslie for all these information and screens! If you are a collector, you can buy an official cart of Corn Buster for SNES thanks to Piko Interactive.

Images:

Others, PC / MAC

World of Warcraft [PC – Beta]

U64 Staff & Contributors

17-07-2008

2 Comments

Early in the development of World of Warcraft, when battlegrounds were made, there was a battleground called Azshara Crater. Azshara Crater would’ve been in – you guessed right – Azshara. It was intented to work in a similar fashion to Alterac Valley. A funny detail is that the entrances was already made when the battleground got cancelled, and is still in the final game. The entrance for the Alliance is south of the Forlorn Ridge and the entrance for Horde is north of Forlorn Ridge. Go check it out if you’re bored.

Even if the battleground wasn’t implented in the game, it’s still in the games files. Read more