Category Archives: Unseen News

Latest news, articles screens, info and videos about cancelled, beta and unseen videogames. Check U64 to understand what it means to preserve lost games.

The unseen games of next-gen? Not on U64

October 8, 2013 by
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Unseen 64 was born in 2001, from the passion of some italian friends that after some years looking at Nintendo 64 games that never came out or that were released with many differences from the beta version, decided to make an archive about them. We were young and with a lot of free time, it was just for fun that we kept working on U64 until it became the huge archive that you see today.Sadly we are not young anymore: we have families, full-time jobs, bills to pay and other real-life commitments that keep us busy 24/7. We don’t have so much free time anymore to write about unseen games. If we find some free time for our lovely videogames, we prefer to play them, than to write about the ones that we’ll never be able to play! From a couple of years we have already slowed-down the updates for Unseen 64 and there are still hundreds, HUNDREDS of emails, comments, contributions that we were not able to read yet. Also, to keep online our archive there are lots of other technical-related works to do, bugs to fix, servers to keep safe, plugins to update.

The current situation of videogames is much more complex than what we tried to follow in the early 2000: there are games for consoles, there are games for handhelds, there are games for PCs, there are games for smarthphones and there are hundreds of new indie-games announced every day. It’s basically impossible to keep up with so many interesting videogames that could be cancelled or that could be released with many changes from their beta versions.

This is why we decided that Unseen 64 will not cover new games for next-gen consoles (PS4, XBONE, Wii U) and not even “current gen” handleds as the 3DS or PSVita. We would not be able to do a good work when we are already in trouble to cover all the most interesting beta and cancelled games for the “retro” consoles. So Unseen 64 will slowly became a “more static” archive of Retro-Unseen-Games.

Today is much more easy to create a “website” using something like wikis, wordpress, tumblr, blogger and similar free tools so we hope that there will be some young gamers with more free time than us, that will decide to create their “Unseen Next-Gen Games Archive” for all the future beta and cancelled games.

U64 will not be closed. We’ll still keep Unseen 64 updated as much as we can and we’ll try to ready all the contributions that you will send to us, but we don’t know when we’ll be able to reply and to add them. For quick news about beta and cancelled games, we’ll probably share them on Twitter or Facebook, so follow us!

Let us know what you think about this and thanks a lot for you support in all these years! :D


monokoma

July 4, 2013

Croc was born as a prototype for a new 3D Mario game with Yoshi as the protagonist:

“The end came when we pitched to do a 3D platform game, the likes of which had never been done before. We mocked up a prototype using Yoshi. It was essentially the world’s first 3D platform game and was obviously a big risk – Nintendo had never let an outside company use their characters before, and weren’t about to, either. This is the moment the deal fell apart. We later made that game into Croc: Legend of the Gobbos for the PlayStation, Saturn and PC, which became our biggest ever game in terms of sales and also in royalties, since we owned the IP.”

Taken from Eurogamer’s article about Argonaut Software

Welcome to Unseen64 v4.0! :D

July 1, 2013 by
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unseen64_ver_4

Finally! Finally, finally finally finally! XD Finally after a year or 4 (I think?) I found the time and will to upgrade the site LOL! There is still a lot that has to happen but I have everything ready so it can be used! :D Most of the things I still need to do are especially background stuffs though so yeah you won’t be seeing much of those :3

As you can see the layout is updated to fit today’s techs :D The new and fresh layout is also ‘responsive’ meaning you can view the site on any device! The site will adapt itself to the device you are viewing it on. Ranging from phones, 3ds, vitas, tablets, tv’s and what not! You should try it yourself, it’s a llot of fun! :D

We also have a new Forum now! Finally we can discus our favorite unseen and released/upcoming games again! :D Also the “Off [Beta] Topic and Spam” section is back for some fun :) The forum works as it should completely but me and mono still have to add some stickies to it. Expect them to come soon! There are just two things you need to know, and that is that there is no possibility to PM stuff and you cannot preview posts but you can still edit them though. This due to some technical limitations.

Your profile is also different now. Instead of having to go to a special login page you can now directly login on the main site! Next to the traditional way of registering for U64 you can now also login with your favorite social network! Just click one of the icons under the login form to login with one of those and BAM! you can comment and participate in the forum! :D If you are logged in you can click on your name in the YOUR ACCOUNT block to edit your profile and upload your custom avatar and edit your signature and all. You also only need one account from now on for everything! No more different accounts for the site and forums and etc.

A last thing is that we also want to interact more on social networks! As you can see there are buttons to share posts and articles you like instantly on you Facebook, Twitter or G+. If you follow us on either Facebook or Twitter we will also auto-post an announcement with a link of every new article from now on so you will always be updated!

That’s it for now. If you have something to say about the new Unseen64, please leave your message in the comment box below (which also supports threaded comments from now on LOL)! I hope you will enjoy the new Unseen64 V4! :D

Leaked ShadowMan early beta demo

June 12, 2013 by
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A early beta demo of  Shadow Man (PC version) was leaked some days ago, you can download it from here (if someone can re-upload it somewhere else as a backup, do it please!). As it’s and old demo, it has some graphic issues / random problems on some PCs.

For anyone interested here’s a very early shadowman demo from 1997, its really basic, has differerent models/ sounds to the game. If you burn it to a disc and run it you get to here the ingame audio,
* To start press space on title page
* space to jump cursers to move
* W – wireframe on/off
* H – get lighter
* Y – get darker
* R – respawn
* F6 – free cam on
* F5 – Free cam off
* esc – to quit

 for best results burn it to a CD and run it from there

Credit to the following pages:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/15818496890/
There you can find some of the original developers of the pc game, as Tim Haywood (composer of the awesome music of the game) and Trevor Storey (game designer)

http://shadowman.freeforums.org/index.php
It´s a forum create by Tim Haywood, good things in there.

As BO3000B wrote as a comment to the beta video on Youtube:

I just recently played through it and don’t really recognize anything in this video. Louisiana is the only part that looks vaguely like the final game. This must’ve been really early in development.

Video:

Hardware Arena Online Beta-Demo

May 13, 2013 by
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About this Build: This Demo is more like a Online Beta (Public Beta). It was given away to test the online functions of this game. Its possible to play the game online and offline. There are just 5 playable maps (offline). A small debug can be found by pushing the right buttons too!!

Post by Robert_Kendo

Let’s play Aliens: Colonial Marines? Let’s see some more of that Aliens game that you’ll never play

February 19, 2013 by
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While every Aliens fan is currently playing Aliens: Colonial Marines (but not the cancelled PS2 version), we still remember that Aliens RPG that was in development by Obsidian Entertainment for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, but noone will ever play this, because it was cancelled. Keep in mind that this video is from an unfinished development version of Aliens Crucible in 2008/2009, but it’s still nice to see it playable in-game, there was good potential in the game. Some days ago an animation reel from Aliens RPG was leaked too.

Croc 3: Stone of the Gobbos [Cancelled - PSX / PS2 / XBOX / GameCube]

December 29, 2012 by
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The original Croc is a platform game published by Fox Interactive and developed by Argonaut Software (AKA Argonaut Games) in 1997 for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn. A sequel, Croc 2, was released in 1999 but the third chapter of the series was never released, even if development was started. The game was called Croc 3: Stone of the Gobbos (also known as Croc 3: Barons Revenge and Croc 3: Croc Returns! during development). It was to launch on Playstation 2, Gamecube and Xbox in 2005. The game would of been a direct sequel to the events of Croc 2, and would feature 2 player on all 3 platforms. In this game, Croc was to yet again, be faced with stopping Baron Dante and saving the Gobbos. However this time Dante has a spell that is not able to be stopped unless Croc finds the Sacred “Stone of the Gobbos”.

Sadly after Argonaut Software closed in 2004, the IP for Croc was sold to Zenimax Media Inc, and Zenimax Media had Mud Duck Productions continue development of Croc 3: Stone Of The Gobbos. However, the game was cancelled after trouble with the developer and thus, ended the Croc Franchise.

The world shown in the render below is the Croc 3 castle hub. In Croc 3, rather than the former games, Argonaut Software were using Full Explorable Hub Worlds sorta like Spyro The Dragon. This way it was more easy for younger kids to play the game. Some of the Croc 3 inspiration was coming from Spyro Year Of The Dragon (One of the biggest being hub worlds with portals).

croc 3 cancelled

Croc 3 started development in the summer of 2001. Argonaut Software had split into three teams to work on their big games, Malice (Which started development in the 90`s but later bumped dev up to PS2), other small projects (like Carve), and Croc 3. Croc 3 was having trouble finding a publisher. They had contacted Fox, and they wanted no part of Croc 3 due to the sales of Croc 2. Argonaut then contacted EA and they said they would publish it, but their fees were too high. The Publisher they stuck with was Activision, who said they would publish it and help Argonaut work around their budget. With a team of only 10 people working on the project, Croc 3 went through many changes.

First it was in development for Dreamcast, Playstation, Playstation 2, Xbox, Gamecube and PC, however with the failing sales of Dreamcast (And due to Croc 2 never appearing on sega), Argonaut stopped working on the Dreamcast version and focused more on the PS,PS2,XB and GC versions. They later cancelled the PC version as well.

The next problem Argonaut ran into was the voice actor for croc had no wish to return to the role. So they would need to recast. The engine they were developing on was an unstable version of their in house engine, BRender, which also powered Malice and a couple of other Argonaut games. This version was a new updated one exclusive to Croc 3 to allow for certain things to try to push the 4 consoles to their limits.

What started to take more time was the Playstation 1 version. This was due to the fact that Argonaut were using croc 1/2 version of BRender because BRender for Croc 3 was not compatible on Playstation 1 due to the “Next Gen” graphics. The new console versions would feature top of the line graphics developed in house to push them to their limits, while the PS1 version was simply the same graphics as croc 2. The reason Argonaut were insisting to release Croc 3 on PS1 was to keep the trilogy in line with each other on Playstation. The series was always planned as a trilogy and the third was supposed to be the final one.

Croc 3 on PS2, GC and Xbox would of been 2 player. Player 1 was Croc, and player 2 was a new crocodile named Ginger, who was a love interest to croc. (Kinda like a Amy/Sonic relationship). To appease players who hated multiplayer, Ginger would only appear in the story IF you were in 2 player. If not, she would disappear. As for the soundtrack, Justin Scharvona from croc 1, who composed the C1 soundtrack would make a return to compose it in this game.
Thanks to former Argonaut Employees from the Croc 3 Team for the contribution!

Storm Riders [Xbox - Cancelled]

October 9, 2012 by
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Storm Riders is a cancelled action game that was in development for the original Xbox, that could have been based on a korean film / comic with the same name. There are not many info on its development, but an early beta version / prototype of the game was somehow found on an old Xbox Debug Kit by Museman and it was shared online thanks to the Assembler Games Forum. The menu, HUD and some of the character’s moves are really similar to Ninja Gaiden, but it’s hard to say if it has any connection with Tecmo’s game.

Thanks a lot to MegaMoto85 for the video!

Images:

Videos:

Melon Brains [Beta - LaserActive]

September 13, 2012 by
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Thanks to the LaserActive Preservation Project, we can take a look at a beta version of Melon Brains, a dolphin edutainment title for the platform. You can find the beta footage at the 5:30 mark in the video below. The main menu is in a very unfinished state, as is the interface while the video is playing – white boxes and stand-in text are in place of the later finalized icons and banners.

Thanks to Max Krieger for the contribution!

Videos:

KotOR 1 & 2 beta restoration mods

August 11, 2012 by
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The original Knights of the Old Republic had a lot of beta / unused stuff and KotOR 2: The Sith Lords, so many fans decided to work together to create a couple of mods for the PC version of the game to be able to play some of those beta elements that were changed or removed before the final version!

The KotOR 1 Restoration is an attempt to restore almost all the content that was cut from the game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic by BioWare Corp. Of course, these restorations will be within reason and things that were cut because they did not fit with the plot, and cannot be made to fit with the plot, will most definitely NOT be restored. Remember, this is only the demo, not the full mod.

Most of the content that has been released in this demo is from Taris. However, there are few pieces of restored content that pertain to Dantooine as well as a difficulty option restoration.

- Impossible Difficulty, a cut option for difficulty that is harder than the Vanilla “Hard” difficulty
- Carth dialogue when the PC first awakens on Taris, Carth makes a few comments about the PC’s injuries. (Thanks to zbyl2 for this!)
- Lower City, numerous restorations to the Lower City
- Under City, numerous restorations to the Under City
- Restoration of the Black Vulkar Base Sublevel
- Restored Droid Items
- Restoration of some dialgoue with Niklos in the Uppper City Cantina
- Restoration of the Duel Ring announcer in the Taris Upper City Cantina. The announcer will be available to speak to in between fights.
- Zaerdra Swoop Platform Dialogue, Zaerdra will make some final comments to the PC on the prototype accelerator before intitiating your first run with it
- Sith Base, numerous restorations
- Sarna and Yun Genda are available to talk to members of the same sex and can be used to further the plot of Taris. Albeit, in different ways than they normally do.
- Iriaz Restoration, returns the Iriaz to the plains of Dantooine. (Thanks to Seamhiann for this!)
- Garrum and Tar’eelok Restoration, returns a cut padawan and master to the Jedi Enclave. (Thanks to Seamhiann for this!)
- Restoration of cut items within the Jedi Enclave
- Shen and Rahashia Indecent Proposal, the PC can make a rather indecent, and awkward, proposal to either Shen or Rahasia depending upon the PC’s gender.
- The file called plc_glowpudl.utp had the name of “Glowing Puddle” however when placed in game it looked like a blood puddle. The model file and textures have been changed so now the glowing puddle placeable makes a glowing puddle of green liquid. It can be seen in the new module, tar_m03ac, or the swoop platform non-racing version.
- Modified Iriaz from Seamhiann’s modules so there were less of them, they fought against the Kath Hounds, and usually stayed in their small areas.

The Sith Lords Restored Content Mod (TSLRCM). This mod’s intention is to restore much of the cut content to The Sith Lords, that was lost to the main game due to a rush to release the game. This rush also left the game with a plethora of bugs (some of which also blocked out content, so not everything restored was really “cut”, for example the quest ‘Corrun Falt’), this mod should seriously decrease the buginess that plagued TSL.

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