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The Heartbreak of Canceled Games
Gamespot has a piece running today revisiting some of the late and lamented game titles that never made it out of the development phase. Though the article covers all genres, there are a depressing number of canceled Massive titles on the list. From the article: "You'd be hard pressed to find a game whose cancellation caused Xbox owners to shout "D'oh!" louder than True Fantasy Live Online. The ambitious game was slated to be the system's first MMO and it was being crafted by seasoned Japanese developer Level 5, whose resume includes such gems as Dark Cloud 2 and Dragon Quest VIII. The game had all the signs of being one of those special landmark titles for a platform--more than just a seminal moment in the console's software library. The game's ambitious use of Xbox Live, which would have been the most extensive use of the service in a game ever, was more in line with the level of sophistication seen in a PC game. Unfortunately, it appears that Level 5's ambition was what led to TFLO being shelved. The game's scope and rich experience presented a sizable challenge for both the developer and Microsoft within the given time frame."
The sequel to the classic Last Ninja series from the 80s was first supposed to be released in 2000. The releasedate has since been pushed about 6 months at a time and been shifted from "cancelled" to "not cancelled" several times... Only time will tell if we'll ever see this game on the shelves. I've been waiting forever...
Info and beta screenshots at the unofficial Last Ninja 4 page
My other account has a 3-digit UID.
Somebody had better check their facts on this one...
"Think you can take me? Go ahead on. It's your move." --Joe Don Baker in Final Justice
for Dreamcast, and you will have fanboys crying in seconds.
The story's about cancelled games. Duke Nukem Forever is still in active development, at least according to the studio. Since it hasn't been officially cancelled, it doesn't appear on the list.
Comment of the year
: Star Fox 2 for SNES
Then I must assume you would appreciate the Star Fox 2 ROM to play with your SNES emulator of choice? (and no, it's not the beta, it's the full version, completed and translated by AGTP )
Circumcision is child abuse.
This game is still being developed http://lotro.turbine.com/ I'm not sure when they changed the name but it was recent. It probably won't do so well because the lotr craze seems over and only really big fans will notice it.
[20:36] wwwdot/.dotorg
Steve Purcell is not giving up hope, so we definitely shouldn't! It's a month-old link, but I noticed it a few minutes ago on TTG's site.
t ory=6021
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?s
Here are the last two paragraphs, bold emphases mine for those who don't want to read through the whole article.
Regarding the recent kerfuffle over a new Sam & Max title in development at LucasArts but subsequently cancelled, Purcell is relatively sanguine: "While at Pixar I was consulting on Sam & Max 2 after hours. I got word that it was cancelled from the team but the subsequent fan backlash was an unexpected side effect. Thirty thousand people signed the online petition protesting the decision. I had no idea there had been that level of anticipation for the game."
That would seem to bode well. I'm sure that if he had gotten no response he would have just assumed "Well, I guess no one is interested." (I hope that that I didn't just do a TripMaster Monkey, inane summarization there. Immense apologies if I did.)
Finally, Steve concludes his comments with equivocation about whether his involvement in the game industry is completely behind him: "Would I get back into games? Sure. The [Sam & Max] license is back in in my hands now so we'll see what happens in the near future."
Oh, sweetness!
The Overrated mod is for reversing inappropriate, positive mods, not for voicing disagreement with a post.
Then Sierra moved the team. Then they dropped the project.
Then when the developers raised the money to buy the IP, Sierra refused to sell at any price.
[sigh]