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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."
What article like this is complete without:
Sam and Max 2 I feel cheated looking through that article without seeing S&M there.
/^[A-Z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z]{2,4}$/i
I remember the videos and previews, hell I still have the preview videos. I suspect that any sequel to UO won't stand a chance until the population numbers of UO drop below 30k or so.
Their comment about UFO:Aftermath was unwarranted. It actually is very much turn based, like the original and TFTD. In fact it is the closest to TFTD of the UFO games proposed or released.
I can tell you one thing though, I lament over the fact of what doesn't get cancelled. Some of the crap that does get released makes you wonder why we even play these games.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
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.
This list is missing a lot of in-progress-then-cancelled games for the PC. Where is Sam and Max: Freelance Police from that list? It was one of the most anticipated games in LucasArts' "Coming Soon" line-up with an estimated completion of 85-90% (based on statements by its developers) when LucasArts suddenly pulled it citing market reasons.
How about Full Throttle 2?
(Does Duke Nuke 'Em Forever count or is that "still" in development?)
The Overrated mod is for reversing inappropriate, positive mods, not for voicing disagreement with a post.
Star Trek: Secret of Vulcan Fury.
Written by D.C. Fontana, whom true fans will recognize as the author of many episodes, most of them good. Voiced by the original actors, minus the late DeForest Kelley.
One can only wonder what it could have been. It's my biggest "could'a been", and that includes myself as both an Ultima and Fallout fan. (Fallout3 would probably have been at least OK, hopefully outstanding, but after Ultima 9, I'm not sure we needed a 10...)
I refuse to accept that steaming pile they released as an actual game. Biggest. Dissapointment. Ever.
Oh, well. I inadvertently duplicated your sentiments in my own post. Looks like we were both typing at the same time.
A lot of the Sam and Max: FP developers created their own company, Telltale Games - www.telltalegames.com. Although they have not expressly said that they're negotiating with Steve Purcell, they have not ruled it out. Apparently, Steve Purcell was very upset with LucasArt's decision and TTG has the benefit of being the team that worked on Sam and Max: FP.
So, maybe after they're finished with their first major project Bone, based on the comic book of the same name, they'll be able to enter talks with Purcell.
At least we can hope.
The Overrated mod is for reversing inappropriate, positive mods, not for voicing disagreement with a post.
What kind of stupid list is this? On a slightly related note, maybe it should include some home brew games too - Chrono Trigger 3D, Zelda: Ocarina 2D...though I'm not sure if those would count or not.
I'm not scared of anonymous cowards.
- Star Fox 2 for SNES
- No Sonic 3d game for Sega Saturn
Sadly, Freespace3 was one of the many casualties of Interplay's death.
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
One word: :'(
"Quoting yourself is stupid." -Me
FALLOUT 3.... I wanted it so bad.... *sheds tear*
Don't get me wrong, Halo was a great game, but way back in the day when Bungie was first talking about Halo, it was going to be this massive multi-genre game, having elements of an FPS, RTS, space sim, and possibly even RPG (though that was probably just hype admitedly). I can remember Battlecruiser3000-esqe usenet threads (minus Derek Smart of course) talking about how this game was going to revolutionize gaming as we know it, immerse you in a fully realized game world, make you toast in the morning and walk the dog.
Then all of the sudden, it was just another FPS. Well that turned out to not be quite true as Halo was anything but run of the mill, but you can't help but wonder what kind of game Halo would have been had the Bungie guys not got bored of Starcraft.
for Dreamcast, and you will have fanboys crying in seconds.
"Wow, Golgotha looks great", thought I so many years back. "I bet I'll be getting one of those Bitboys graphics cards when this comes out." Yes, those were my actual thoughts from that era. My belief in hype and far-off vaporware has been shaken greatly since. =)
Golgotha seemed like a really good concept. Sad to see that it never got released...
Not all was lost though, Battlezone had the same idea but more refined execution. Also, the game source and assets were released to PD. I couldn't help but grin when I installed an open-source mmorpg called Daimonin last week and as I started it up... "dah dah, da-da-da-dah..." familiar Golgotha menu theme =)
Hmm, speaking of Crack dot Com, I think it's soon time for my biyearly Abuse session...
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
I awaited that game with bated breath. Sierra Online had done a feature article about it while it was in development in their user magazine. I wasn't alone; quite a few people got excited, only to find out the game was later cancelled. If Sierra hadn't been so stupid and had actually gone ahead and made the game, they would have released it right before the huge LotR craze that hit the US. It could have been big bucks for Sierra and good times for LotR fans like myself.
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.
Half-Life for the Mac, goddamit. Sierra had the thing finished--but didn't go forward to releasing it, purportedly for marketing reasons. So I guess they prefer to lose their entire effort of porting it than spend another 10% to try to sell the thing.
Which meant no Counter-Strike for the Mac, either, naturally.
There are still many a Mac gamer that has a bitter, bitter hatred of Sierra for just this reason.
--
$tar -xvf
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]