For every game that ever there was, there are many games that almost were. The games that you read about in previews, and got excited for, only for them to be swallowed up by the knife-edge sinkhole that is contemporary video game development.
Because we delight in rubbing your face with the Wire Brush of Disappointment, here are ten of the best games that never came to be.
Please remember this: you will never, ever, ever play any of these games. Aaaaand... cue the weeping!
Because we delight in rubbing your face with the Wire Brush of Disappointment, here are ten of the best games that never came to be.
Please remember this: you will never, ever, ever play any of these games. Aaaaand... cue the weeping!
10. STAR WARS 1313 (Various)
This is one of the really big ones that got away - the game LucasArts was working on when Disney inhaled its parent company LucasFilm, and decided to adopt something of a scorched earth policy to the Star Wars Expanded Universe. LucasArts was one of the biggest casualties of the multi-billion dollar Disney deal, and its demise took the potentially excellent 1313 with it.
Reportedly due to focus on bounty hunter Boba Fett - and produced with direct involvement from George Lucas (always a guarantee of quality, unless you count 60% of everything he's ever done) - it was set amid the lower levels of the planet Coruscant, and utilised material from the canned Star Wars live-action TV series. The promise that LucasArts might've finally been giving everyone the Star Wars game they've wanted since Dark Forces makes this one of the more painful never-weres on this list.
Fortunately, there is another new Star Wars action-adventure in the works, that apparently picks up some of the threads of 1313. It's being overseen by Naughty Dog veteran Amy Hennig, and is "in the style of Uncharted", according to Uncharted actor Nolan "Every Voice" North.
Reportedly due to focus on bounty hunter Boba Fett - and produced with direct involvement from George Lucas (always a guarantee of quality, unless you count 60% of everything he's ever done) - it was set amid the lower levels of the planet Coruscant, and utilised material from the canned Star Wars live-action TV series. The promise that LucasArts might've finally been giving everyone the Star Wars game they've wanted since Dark Forces makes this one of the more painful never-weres on this list.
Fortunately, there is another new Star Wars action-adventure in the works, that apparently picks up some of the threads of 1313. It's being overseen by Naughty Dog veteran Amy Hennig, and is "in the style of Uncharted", according to Uncharted actor Nolan "Every Voice" North.
9. GREED
We couldn't find a screenshot of Greed anywhere online, so you'll have to make do with this uninspiring corporate logo. Indeed, there's very little about Greed at all online, so we can only go on our vague memories of it from a 1993 visit to Virgin Interactive's Los Angeles studio.
Being put together by the team behind the peerless side-scrolling shooter Robocop Vs Terminator, it followed much the same style, albeit revolving around a futuristic, Running Man-style gameshow where contestants slaughtered one another for readies.
Suffice to say, the hyper violent, murder-for-money, content helped put paid to its chances of getting a release. We remember it looking very, very lovely, mind. But then, we were drunk on our own good fortune at the time. Freebie trips to America? Pfft. Like that ever happened again...
Being put together by the team behind the peerless side-scrolling shooter Robocop Vs Terminator, it followed much the same style, albeit revolving around a futuristic, Running Man-style gameshow where contestants slaughtered one another for readies.
Suffice to say, the hyper violent, murder-for-money, content helped put paid to its chances of getting a release. We remember it looking very, very lovely, mind. But then, we were drunk on our own good fortune at the time. Freebie trips to America? Pfft. Like that ever happened again...
8. SONIC X-TREME (Saturn)
When Nintendo released the 3D Mario 64, Sega scrambled to respond with Sonic X-Treme. An unfavourable response to the game from Sega executives, and health issues with members of the development team - one of them nearly choked to death on a live hedgehog, we've imagined - lead to the project being culled: badger-style.
Frankly, early footage never looked that promising - blocky and confusing, compared to Mario 64's smooth curves - but the wrongly curious can now play a salvaged version of the game online.
Frankly, early footage never looked that promising - blocky and confusing, compared to Mario 64's smooth curves - but the wrongly curious can now play a salvaged version of the game online.
7. ELITE (SNES/MegaDrive/Game Boy)
Quite how Elite would've worked on the Mega Drive/Genesis or Game Boy is anyone's guess - badly, we'd assume - but we can see it happening nicely on the Super NES, via the Super FX chip. Unfortunately, it was not to be on any of those systems, and the project's cancellation means that the only console version of Elite was released on the 8-bit NES.
Demos of the axed attempts can be found on Elite co-creator Ian Bell's homepage.
Demos of the axed attempts can be found on Elite co-creator Ian Bell's homepage.
6. SILENT HILLS (Various)
The most recent cancellation on this list, Silent Hills showed much promise - being co-created by proper movie director Guillermo del Toro. It was to be Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima's crowning achievement... until he had some sort of weird fall-out with publisher Konami, who systematically started stripping him from their corporate materials/history.
The P.T. - Playable Trailer - released in 2014, and starring Mumbles out of The Walking Dead, promised much. The fact it was downloaded over a million times suggests the game would've been a sizeable hit... so you can only imagine the scale of the tiff between Kojima and Konami. Perhaps he left a bowl of coal and sick in their corporate fridge, or something.
The P.T. - Playable Trailer - released in 2014, and starring Mumbles out of The Walking Dead, promised much. The fact it was downloaded over a million times suggests the game would've been a sizeable hit... so you can only imagine the scale of the tiff between Kojima and Konami. Perhaps he left a bowl of coal and sick in their corporate fridge, or something.
5. FEZ 2 (Various)
Whatever you think of former indie game developer Phil Fish - and whatever you think, he evidently brings a lot of it on himself - Fez is truly special. We have no doubt that Fez 2 would've been even special-er... had Fish not cancelled the project - along with his development career, apparently - following one of his regular Twitter spats. When asked on Twitter last year if there was any chance of Fez 2 still happening, Fish raved: "Never going to happen. you don't deserve it”.
4. SIX DAYS IN FALLUJAH (Various)
A response to the question "How soon is too soon?", Six Days in Fallujah was due for release in 2009/10 - barely five years after the real-life battle it was based upon. British war veterans and UK-based peace campaigners all came out to criticise the game.
As did the father of one fallen British soldier, who said: "These horrific events should be confined to the annals of history, not trivialized and rendered for thrill-seekers to play out... It's entirely possible that Muslim families will buy the game, and for them it may prove particularly harrowing. Even worse, it could end up in the hands of a fanatical young Muslim and incite him to consider some form of retaliation or retribution."
Unfortunately, he could've been talking about any number of modern video games, which might suggest he'd stoked-up by... oh, of course... The Daily Mail... just to stir up some controversy in the pursuit of a story. Nevertheless, it was all too much for publisher Konami, who pulled the plug. Which was a shame, as the game's intent - so it seems - was intended to honour and explore everyone affected by the Iraq conflict, and had been put together with surprising stab at sensitivity.
Speaking to Joystiq, Atomic Games' president Peter Tamte trilled: "It's important for us to say, you know, that there are actually three communities that are very affected by the battle for Fallujah. Certainly the Marines. Certainly the Iraqi civilians within Fallujah, and the insurgents as well. We are actually getting contributions from all three of those communities so that we can get the kind of insight we're trying to get."
As did the father of one fallen British soldier, who said: "These horrific events should be confined to the annals of history, not trivialized and rendered for thrill-seekers to play out... It's entirely possible that Muslim families will buy the game, and for them it may prove particularly harrowing. Even worse, it could end up in the hands of a fanatical young Muslim and incite him to consider some form of retaliation or retribution."
Unfortunately, he could've been talking about any number of modern video games, which might suggest he'd stoked-up by... oh, of course... The Daily Mail... just to stir up some controversy in the pursuit of a story. Nevertheless, it was all too much for publisher Konami, who pulled the plug. Which was a shame, as the game's intent - so it seems - was intended to honour and explore everyone affected by the Iraq conflict, and had been put together with surprising stab at sensitivity.
Speaking to Joystiq, Atomic Games' president Peter Tamte trilled: "It's important for us to say, you know, that there are actually three communities that are very affected by the battle for Fallujah. Certainly the Marines. Certainly the Iraqi civilians within Fallujah, and the insurgents as well. We are actually getting contributions from all three of those communities so that we can get the kind of insight we're trying to get."
3. B.C. (Xbox)
Another one of those games that got hyped by dear Peter Molyeneux, yet failed to live up to its promise (or, specifically, his promises).
As always with Molyneux, the action-based strategy shindig at least sounded great - helping tribes to evolve, while fighting off dinosaurs and that. However, after Molyneux heaped lashings of hype onto the game, it was cancelled with a simple statement on the Lionhead Studios website, announcing that members of the B.C. team were being moved to other projects. B.C.? More like B.S...! High-five.
As always with Molyneux, the action-based strategy shindig at least sounded great - helping tribes to evolve, while fighting off dinosaurs and that. However, after Molyneux heaped lashings of hype onto the game, it was cancelled with a simple statement on the Lionhead Studios website, announcing that members of the B.C. team were being moved to other projects. B.C.? More like B.S...! High-five.
2. DIRTY HARRY (PS3/Xbox 360)
Dirty Harry: The Game would've been set in a free-roaming sandbox version of 1970s San Francisco. Apparently, the game would've dug deeper into the character from the iconic movie series, as he tracked down a serial killer named Scorpio, and shot leftover hippies, or whatever. Early mocked-up footage made it all feel like a GTA game, wherein you got to play a man wearing a schoolteacher's blazer and a plastic Clint Eastwood mask.
Reasons for its cancellation are unclear - Warner Bros. shut down the game before its scheduled 2007 release, and moved team members onto other projects. Did they feel lucky, punk? No they did not feel lucky, punk.
Reasons for its cancellation are unclear - Warner Bros. shut down the game before its scheduled 2007 release, and moved team members onto other projects. Did they feel lucky, punk? No they did not feel lucky, punk.
1. LMNO
LMNO wouldn't have been the first time Steven Spielberg collaborated on a video game - 1995 adventure game The Dig, Steven Spielberg's Director's Chair, and the Medal of Honor series got there first - but it was the first time he bit off more than he could chew with his big, hairy mouth.
Part of a three-game, 2007 deal with Electronic Arts (which also produced, er, Boom Blox and Boom Blox Bash), Spielberg's aim with LMNO was to produce a game that evoked emotion in a player, based around their relationship with an extra-terrestrial (sound familiar?) named Eve. It was set to be a mix of first-person parkour platforming (think Mirror's Edge) with RPG-like overtones.
The game was actually cancelled twice - undergoing a complete overhaul after the first cancellation, and being retitled The Escape Artist - before EA pulled the plug in 2009, once and for all. Steven!
Part of a three-game, 2007 deal with Electronic Arts (which also produced, er, Boom Blox and Boom Blox Bash), Spielberg's aim with LMNO was to produce a game that evoked emotion in a player, based around their relationship with an extra-terrestrial (sound familiar?) named Eve. It was set to be a mix of first-person parkour platforming (think Mirror's Edge) with RPG-like overtones.
The game was actually cancelled twice - undergoing a complete overhaul after the first cancellation, and being retitled The Escape Artist - before EA pulled the plug in 2009, once and for all. Steven!
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