simulation

Spore [PC – Beta]

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Spore is a video game under development by Maxis and designed by Will Wright. The game has drawn wide attention for its promise to simulate the development of a species on a galactic scope, using its innovation of user-guided evolution via the use of procedural generation for many of the components of the game, providing vast scope and open-ended gameplay. Spore was originally a working title, suggested by developer Ocean Quigley, for the game which was first referred to by the general public as SimEverything. Even though SimEverything was a first choice name for Wright, the title Spore stuck. The gameplay itself had numerous changes during development. The most striking was the shift in realism, from the gritty depiction of cellular and animal life in the GDC 2005 debut, to the current iteration of a more round, softer edged depiction of the creatures. The most visible change was in the cellular phase, which transformed the monocellular organisms into strange insects with cartoonish, human-like eyes, which were  

Black & White Creatures [DS – Cancelled]

Black & White: Creatures is a cancelled DS game that was based on the original Black & White, a PC game developed by Lionhead Studios and published by Electronic Arts and Feral Interactive in 2001. The original game was a “God Simulation”, which included elements of artificial life, strategy, and fighting games, but we are not sure about the gameplay of this unreleased DS port.

It seems that Black & White DS was going to be more like a “Pet Simulator”, in which to raise your creature to make it to fight against other creatures. Here’s the original press release:

* Numerous game play modes: Single Player, Creature Quest, Creature Pen, Creature Battle Multiplayer and a Creature Dance mini-game where you can teach your creature to get down!

* 10 different species of creatures with several new, never-before-seen breeds

* Specific DS touch screen features include custom tattoo design and ‘God’s Hand’ stylus control to punish or reward your creature via specific stylus movements

* Revolutionary creature AI adds a deeper training simulation and strategy game play experience

* Huge array of animations, personalities and actions bring your creature to life

* Pit your creature against your friend’s creatures via the Nintendo DS wireless link

* Use the Nintendo DS microphone to verbally berate or encourage your creature during training

* 8 different island environments ranging from arid deserts to frozen tundras

* Hundreds of awards and items to collect and unlock

* Based on the award winning franchise from Lionhead Studios

After some months / year of development by Full-Fat studio, Black & White Creatures vanished without any official statment.

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Animal Leader – Cubivore [64 DD – Cancelled]

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One of the strangest games ever created for the N.64, Cubivore was originally revealed (already ported on cartridge) at the Spaceworld 2000. It was without a doubt the most creative game of the show, not only because of the extreme stylized graphic, but also for the main objective of the game: became the forefront of the evolution chain. Unfortunately, it was first a victim of the failure of the 64DD, and then, when finally ported on a cartridge, of the forthcoming release of the Project Dolphin. It did come out however in 2002 on the Gamecube and, despite being graphically almost identical to the N.64 version, it was released even in the USA.

italian_flag.jpg [spoiler /Clicca qui per la versione in Italiano/ /Nascondi la versione in Italiano/] Di tutti i giochi insoliti inizialmente previsti per il 64DD, Dobutsu Banchou (che vuol dire più o meno Animal Leader) era probabilmente il più bizzarro. Apparso per la prima volta allo spaceworld 2000, già peraltro convertito in cartuccia, il futuro Cubivore si era infatti subito distinto sia per il suo comparto tecnico, particolarmente stilizzato, quasi da esposizione cubista, che per l’obiettivo del gioco, divorare gli altri animali fino a diventare l’essere più in alto nella scala evolutiva.

Si trattava certamente di un concept interessante, ma che ha fatto purtroppo la fine di tanti altri giochi 64DD, venendo improvvisamente cancellato quando Nintendo aveva ormai capito che il suo add-on aveva poche possibilità di riuscita. Fortunatamente in seguito (2002) Dobutsu venne portato su Gamecube, e nonostante l’aspetto grafico pressochè identico alla versione Nintendo 64 non lo rendeva certamente un titolo appetibile a tutti, la solita, grande Atlus è riuscita comunque a fare avere questa piccola gemma a noi occidentali, ottenendo i diritti di distribuzione da Nintendo e rilasciandolo sotto il nome di Cubivore.[/spoiler]

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Space World 2000 Trailer:

 

Desert Island 64 [N64 – Cancelled]

Desert Island 64 (AKA Super Real Island) is an interesting simulation rpg, that was first announced by Imagineer at the Shoshinkai 1996 for Nintendo 64 Disk Drive, but soon cancelled by the developers, perhaps because of the failure of the 64DD. The concept of the game was similar to Survival Kids for the GBC, Lost in Blue for the DS or the Lost TV series, players had to survive in a desert island. According to the few info released, Desert Island 64 was going to be a really complex game, in which to observe and interact with the evolution chain of the island, from plants to the rich fauna. The main gameplay was supposed to be a mix of platform, survival, and life simulation, and we had to cultivate the land and raise animals in order to create a new civilization. Of course, the game would have used all the features of the 64DD. The only screenshots available shows an early proto with almost no scenario. The main character and the animals have a very strange design and we can only speculate that the events were going to be really odd. Unfortunately, the game was never completed. Some rumors even suggested a Dreamcast release, but Desert Island 64 was destined to never see the light of day.

English translation by yota

Concept arts from Nintendo Fun Vision News issue 8, another scan from Nintendo Fun Vision 7+8, both from 1998. Thanks to Mario for the contribution!

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Ohcouchi Gengorou Ikka [N64 – Unreleased]

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What is going on in this strange game? I’m not sure. There are not many informations about Ohcouchi Gengorou Ikka, but a prototype was sold in 2005 on a Japanese auction, for about 57,000 yen, which should be around 400 euros. Who bought this proto? Probably some lucky collector who can now be the only one in the world to know what happens in Ohcouchi Gengorou Ikka. We can not understand much from the few screenshots leaked, but with some imagination we can speculate that this was going to be a “family simulator”, in which the player would have had to monitor the mood and the needs of a Japanese family, to make them happy. Or maybe something else.

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Japanese 2007 blog entry about this game

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