[sound effects]
>> NARRATOR: With each new video game announcement, fans have learned to take them with a grain
of salt.
Because while many eventually become a reality, or are assured they will in the future,
some of even the most anticipated games, regardless of development stage or influence, never see
the light of day.
[intro music, arcade sound effects]
In 1998, shortly after the release of Rare’s Diddy Kong Racing for the Nintendo 64,
the company responsible for some of the system’s best hits immediately began work on their
next project.
And while initially starting out as a Jurassic park inspired sequel to Diddy Kong,
the game evolved into what would be their most ambitious title.
[Ian Malcom: “Think they’ll have that on the tour?”]
Dinosaur Planet was set in an immersive prehistoric world,
which included a host of original characters, creatures, and a fantasy based story.
The game would also feature both a male and female protagonist,
allowing players to switch between characters for different portions of the game via Swapstone
locations.
[music]
Dinosaur Planet also intended to show off the true power of the Nintendo 64,
utilizing the recently developed 512 megabite catridges to feature live voice acting and
enhanced graphics.
[Sabre: “It’s alright, Tricky. I can look for your father.”]
And at E3 2000, the game was revealed in spectacular fashion, and slated for a release later that
year.
But shortly after the event, after having seen footage of the mostly finished game
and believing that the male protagonist Sabre bore a striking resemblance to Fox McCloud,
Nintendo’s Shigiru Miyomoto suggested the game’s story and characters be retooled
into a Star Fox title.
And while Members of Rare’s creative team were hesitant, they also saw the potential
of using the Star Fox License,
and went along with his idea.
[Data: “Resistance is futile.”]
During these changes, while it was initially denied by both Rare and Nintendo,
it was decided to rework the game as a launch title for the upcoming Nintendo Gamecube.
And in late 2002, the game was released as StarFox Adventures
[Fox McCloud: “I am Fox McCloud, lead pilot of the Star Fox team.”
[Sabre: “I am Sabre, royal knight from Planet Animus.”]
And while many aspects of Dinosaur Planets original gameplay elements and plot devices
survived the star fox overhaul,
changes included the removal of 1/3 of the levels and the original purpose of the Swapstone
locations,
reducing the female protagonist to little more than a scantly clad damsel in distress,
only playable in the games prologue.
The game also marked Rare’s last title for Nintendo, who was shortly after purchased
by Microsoft as a 1st party game developer.
And while Dinosaur Planet was never completed,
fans continue to hope that a rom or demo version of the nearly finished game will one day surface.
At E3 2002, the highly ambitious xbox game BC was finally revealed to the public,
and quickly became one of the most anticipated titles for the system.
Initially Set to ship in 2003, the open world RPG adventure was being co-developed by Intrepid
Computer Entertainment and Lionhead Studios,
in which players would explore, hunt, and develop survival skills to raise mankind up
from the bottom of the evolutionary ladder.
However, B.C. was also being developed alongside the highly ambitious and anticipated game
Fable.
And problems arose when the decision was made to push the xbox 360’s launch date by 9
months,
in order to beat the upcoming PlayStation 3 to the market.
And as it was becoming apparent that both Fable and B.C. would not be completed on schedule,
meaning one or both would release even closer to the end of the original Xbox’s life cycle,
despite being nearly 75% complete, the decision was made to cancel B.C. for the original Xbox
and divert all resources to completing Fable.
And while work initially began on an xbox 360 version of B.C., with the success and
critical acclaim of Fable,
Lionhead decided to instead develop a sequel for the new system.
And for nearly a decade only scraps and low quality footage seemed to exist of B.C,
but in 2015, game preservationist Past to Present was able to acquire a playable demo,
providing the first high quality look into the world of B.C.,
which demonstrated the game’s advanced weather system and day and night cycle,
as well as the host of other game elements preciously unseen by the public,
allowing fans to glimpse the ambitious Xbox game that could have been.
Allowing fans to glimpse what the ambitious xbox game could have been.
In 2013, after nearly 7 years of anticipation, Aliens: Colonial Marines released to scathing
reviews,
massive disappointment, and allegations of false advertisement.
But this was far from the first Alien based game to have a disappointing outcome.
In the year 2000, development began on an aliens title of the same name,
Which EA games debuted to the public at E3 2001, with a planned released on the playstation
2 that coming fall.
But the game missed it’s initial launch date, and shortly after being reassigned to
November the following year,
it was placed on indefinite hold, and officially cancelled in October of 2002.
[Ridley: “No!”]
However Alien fans wouldn’t have to wait long for another attempt,
as Sega announced in December of 2006 that they had acquired the electronic rights of
the Alien franchise,
and had a first person shooter as well as an Alien based RPG in development,
later revealed as Aliens Colonial Marines, and Aliens Crucible.
[Dialogue: Thank you, that will be all.]
Unfortunately, after over 2 years of work, and Obsidians CEO later saying that Aliens
Crucible was practically finished,
and looked as if it was ready to ship,
in February of 2009, rumors began circulating about the Alien game’s delay,
and by June of the same year, it was officially cancelled.
[“That’s it, man. Game over, man. It’s game over.”]
Several years later, footage from an early build of Aliens Crucible made it’s way online,
and while far from polished,
it gave fans a glimpse of what might have been had Sega not pulled the plug,
and in an alternate reality, chose to complete Obsidian’s RPG.
While the track record of batman based video games has been spotty at best, in 2009,
Rocksteady’s Batman Arkham Asylum was released to critical acclaim,
spawning a number of successful sequels and is considered by many to be the definitive
batman game series.
But only a few years earlier, another attempt was being made at an equally ambitious batman
title.
[Villain: What are you?!]
[Batman: I’m Batman.]
This take on the caped crusader was directly inspired by the 1889 one-shot DC comic called
Gotham by Gaslight.
And while little is known about the game’s specifics, it appears development began sometime
in 2008,
and would have seen Batman in a gothic inspired 1889 Victorian England,
on a mission to track down the infamous jack the ripper.
And in early 2009, the game was pitched to THQ, but depending on the source,
THQ either came aboard but was unsuccessful in securing the rights,
or was unimpressed by the pitch and passed on the potential game.
[Bruce Wayne: The answer’s no. Sorry. Thanks everybody, keep up the good work.]
Disappointingly, development on the project ended and was unable to get off the ground.
However in January of 2012, concept art of Gotham by Gaslight appeared on the blog of
the proposed game’s graphic designer,
and just a month later, footage surfaced of the once in development Batman title.
And according to one source, the game was actually much further along than what can
be seen in the video,
but due to legal reasons, additional footage will most likely never see the light of day.
So much like the once promising but ultimately cancelled 2008 Dark Knight based entry,
Gotham by Gaslight will endure as another potentially great Batman game.
LMNO
In October of 2005, EA Games announced that a 3 game partnership deal had been made with
director Steven Spielberg.
2 of which were revealed at e3 2007, codenamed as LMNO, and PQRS.
[show host: Just announced LMNO, PQRS, can you tell us a bit about that partnership’s
gonna bring to gamers at home?]
[EA rep: “Sure. Um, we’ve got two projects with Steven right now.”]
And while PQRS eventually turned into Boom Blox for the Nintendo wii,
it was the mysterious LMNO that garnered the most attention,
with a tagline of “can a computer make you cry”, harkening back to EA’s 1983 advertisement.
[strange music]
Initially planned for a release in 2008, LMNO was to be a parkour inspired action adventure,
with a heavy emphasis on emotional engagement between the player and an NPC named Eve,
a mute alien-like human from the future on the run from the FBI.
[E.T. yelling]
The game was to be only 2-3 hours in length, emphasizing replayability and quality over
quantity,
as it would showcase Eve with advanced AI that could learn, adapt, and change the way
you play the game,
making each additional play through a completely different experience.
[podcast guest: "I don’t want to get the EA police on me. I can’t say too much, but
yeah,
I mean, there was, it was very uh, ambitious. And that was the problem."]
Described as a revolutionary game changer, it’s ambitiousness ultimately led to it’s
downfall,
reportedly trying to do too much for it’s time, leading to development struggles and
delays.
Problems only worsened amidst EA’s layoffs in 2008,
which saw the game’s development team reduced and given a new executive producer,
to rework the game into a more conventional action adventure,
allegedly to avoid competition with the similar parkour action style of another in development
EA title.
[EA host: “I want to show you a new game: Mirror’s Edge. Featuring a heroine named
Faith.”
Production limped on for a bit longer, but in late 2010, EA announced that the project
codenamed LMNO was officially cancelled.
[Crowd Booing]
And while very little seems to exist of LMNO, with titles such as the action drama Heavy
Rain,
and companion interaction based Bioshock infinite,
which initially featured a mute companion as well, it’s easy to see that the influences
of the unfinished project, continue to this day.
So what about you? If you could bring back to life any cancelled or unreleased game,
which would it be?
As always, thank you guys and gals so much for watching, and I’ll see you next time.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBxPKEMZtfo