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High Voltage Software

Leisure Suit Larry: Island Tale (AKA Cocoa Butter) is a cancelled adventure game in the Leisure Suit Larry series, which was in development by High Voltage Software around 2005 – 2006. The project was planned to be a sequel to Magna Cum Laude, to be released for Xbox, Playstation 2 and PC.

In the game Larry would visit San Areolas Islands to seduce women and resolve simple puzzles. Some more details were shared online by a former HVS developer:

“Cancelled at about 70% complete, this adventure game (like its predecessor) would have certainly pushed the boundaries of both story, design and taste. The focus of this UI was the match the game’s island feel, with warm sunset skies for the main menu and bright, colorful blues and reef colors for the in-game experience. We used classic postcards as inspiration for how we wanted the user to feel while in the menus, while still injecting a bit of Larry’s sexual references within the design work itself. We had the UI about 80% finalized when the game was sadly cancelled, so what you see here was pretty much final.”

As far as we know Vivendi Universal canned the game, possibly to cut costs during a difficult time. Because of this High Voltage Software had to lay off some of their staff, as reported by Gamasutra and GameIndustry in January 2006:

“Chicago-based independent developer High Voltage has officially announced that the company has “right sized” its operations from 156 full time employees to 120, following a recent project cancellation.”
“The layoffs are believed to have occurred last Friday, January 13th, and according to a source within the company, the cancelled project was one being undertaken for Vivendi Universal Games – which has published several of High Voltage’s recent titles.”

Some images from the game are preserved in the gallery below, to remember this lost project.

Thanks to Sean-Paul for the contribution!

Images:

Microsoft, Nintendo, Others, PC / MAC, Playstation 3 (PS3), Sony, Wii, Xbox 360

Heroes: The Video Game [Cancelled – PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PC]

Liam Robertson

16-02-2015

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Heroes, as it was tentatively titled, was a cancelled video game based off the NBC TV show of the same name. It was being developed by High Voltage Software and would have been published by Ubisoft. The title was planned for releases on PS3, Xbox 360, PC and Wii.

Heroes: The Video Game

Shortly after the successful first season of the Heroes TV series concluded in May 2007, Ubisoft entered talks with NBC Studios to use the license for a video game adaptation. This was to be the second big TV property Ubisoft would adapt following the development of LOST: Via Domus, which had began earlier that year in February. While Ubisoft’s Montreal division was busy working on that game, the publisher reached out to external developers including High Voltage Software.

At the time, High Voltage already had experience with developing TV tie-in games, including the Family Guy video game, and was therefore “a natural choice for Ubi”, one developer recalled. Ubisoft successfully negotiated a deal with NBC, which they announced in June, but the final decision to secure High Voltage as its developer was made over the following few months without ever being revealed to the public.

High Voltage Software’s Vision For Heroes

Just as LOST: Via Domus introduced an original character, Elliot Maslow, as its protagonist, the Heroes video game would have centred around a new female character of High Voltage Software’s own invention. Given how short the project’s lifespan was, it appears as though this redheaded heroine had yet to be named, but you can see some concept art of her below.

In the vein of Ubisoft Montreal’s character, this new member of the Heroes mythos would have acted as the player’s vessel through which they could explore the world of the show and interact with its extensive cast of superhumans. She would have enabled High Voltage and Ubisoft a higher level of creative freedom as they attempted to delve into the Heroes universe without too greatly interfering with the pre-established lore.

PSP, Sony

Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 [Debug / Beta – PSP]

U64 Staff & Contributors

13-05-2012

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Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (GRAW 2) is a shooter developed by High Voltage Software and published for the PSP in 2007. Edward Kirk found out that in the final game there are still some unused options that are usually hidden.

This game contains a number of debug options and a level select which, when enabled, turn it into a “Pre-Certification” version. The released game contains a file called Game-txt, which can be edited to enable the debug menu and other options used to test a game.

The debug has a number of different options which affect the game, such as …

… wireframe mode. Although the Game.txt file does identify the enabling of cheats, the features found so far are definitely for debugging and testing, rather than just making it easier to get through the game.

More on Edward Kirk’s website: http://zenade.angelfire.com/GRAW/debug.html

Nintendo, Wii

Tournament of Legends [Wii – Beta]

monokoma

06-04-2010

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Tournament of Legends (previously known as Gladiator A.D.) is a fighting game developed by High Voltage Software for the Wii. The game was aiming for a highly realistic and mature look and contained high amounts of blood and gore, including bloody finishing moves.

In February of 2010, it was announced that Gladiator A.D. had secured a publisher, Sega, and had its name changed to Tournament of Legends. The visual style was changed to feature mythological features instead of the highly realistic look the game had originally. The amount of blood and gore was also apparently greatly reduced as the game’s look was altered to aim for the ESRB’s T rating, rather than the M rating Gladiator A.D. had been aiming for. [Info from Wikipedia]

The gameplay now looks more fast and arcadish than before.

Thanks to Robert for the contribution!

Images:

Videos:

For comparison, here’s a video from the “final” version: