Microsoft, Others, PC / MAC, Xbox 360

Splinter Cell: Conviction [X360 PC – Beta]

monokoma
08-05-2010
4 Comments

Splinter Cell: Conviction is a stealth / action game developed by Ubisoft Montreal, released in April, 2010 for the Xbox 360 and PC. The project was originally announced on May, 2007 when Ubisoft released a trailer for the game. It depicted a more rugged-looking Sam with long hair and a fully-grown beard. He had the ability to blend in with the environment, interact with tables and chairs and engage in hand-to-hand combat with enemies.

The game was due for release in November, 2007. However, it missed its initial launch date and on May, 2008 Xbox World 360 magazine reported that Splinter Cell: Conviction was “officially on hold” and that the game had been taken “back to the drawing board.” While Ubisoft never confirmed this, they announced that the game had been pushed back to the 2009-10 fiscal year.

The game resurfaced at E3 2009 with a completely new visual style and a more casual-looking Sam. The developers confirmed that the “new” Conviction had been in development since early 2008, commenting that “the gameplay has evolved a lot” and “the visual direction is simply much better.” [Info from Wikipedia]

We can say that the original Splinter Cell Conviction was cancelled, as the final game and gameplay look very different from what was shown in 2007.

Thanks to Userdante for the contribution! Thanks to Jason for the english corrections!

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Unseen News

Help! Perfect Dark Zero Limited Collector’s Edition?

U64 Staff & Contributors
07-05-2010
6 Comments

UPDATE: thanks to an anonymous contributor, we were able to get these PDZ bonus videos! You can see them below:

Do you know anyone who has got the Perfect Dark Zero bonus DVD from the Collector’s Edition? It seems to feature a “Making of ” with some interesting development footage (Mundorare once had beta images and screenshots from it, but they disappeared after their relaunch).  As we can read on Wikipedia:

Perfect Dark Zero was released in two forms: the standard version and a “Limited Collector’s Edition”. The collector’s edition features a second disc of content, a black metal game case, images of the staff and most of the in-house testers which gave a glimpse behind the scenes at Rare, a comic booklet set in the Perfect Dark universe, which sets the scene for the game, and one of nine holographic collectible cards.

If someone could be able to find this “Making Of” Video and sharing it online, it would be nice!

 

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

Mercs Inc. [X360 PS3 PC – Prototype]

U64 Staff & Contributors
07-05-2010
No Comments

Mercs Inc is a spin-off title based on the Mercenaries franchise, planned for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC. Pandemic Studios worked on a prototype of the game until its closure in November 2009. After a video of this prototype leaked, EA announced that the game would be developed at EA LA.

As we can read on Wikipedia:

The game was first rumored to be in development by Pandemic Studios as either Project X or Y which were rumored to be based on the Mercenaries franchise. Footage of the game was first leaked onto the internet on November 24, 2009, the footage was a multiplayer trailer of the game. The game was then officially announced by Electronic Arts less than a day later though without a proper platform or release date. The announcement of the game came less than a week after the closure of Pandemic Studios by Electronic Arts as it had been development there under the name, Project Y, the game is currently being developed by remaining Pandemic Studio staff members located at EA Los Angeles.

In november 2010 another Mercenaries video leaked from Kotaku, but we are not sure if it’s from the same project as Mercs Inc, as they call it Mercenaries 3: No Limits.

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32X / Mega CD, Sega

Metal Head [32X – Beta]

monokoma
06-05-2010
No Comments

Metal Head is a 3D shooter with mechs developed and published by Sega and released for the Sega 32X add-on for the Sega Mega Drive in 1994. Rod_Wod found some screens from an early beta / prototype of Metal Head, in which the main robot was still an unfinished ensemble of basic polygons. Check the video below (from the final version) for comparison!

Thanks to Jason for the english corrections!

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Others, PC / MAC, Playstation, Saturn, Sega, Sony

Flying Nightmares 2 [Cancelled – PC, Playstation, Saturn]

monokoma
05-05-2010
1 Comment

Flying Nightmares 2 is a cancelled flight simulator / shooter that was in development for PC by Eidos Interactive, with a presumed port for the original Playstation and Saturn. As we can read in an interview by Combat Sim with Bryan Walker, Lead Producer of the FN2 project, the game was “a sequel to AV8B Harrier Assault, a game that Domark and Simis developed several years ago, and went on to become SVGA Harrier, the first 640×480 flight sim on the PC, and Flying Nightmares on the Macintosh“.

An online multiplayer mode up to 16 players was also planned. It seems that Eidos decided to shut down Flying Nightmares 2’s development team for unknown reasons and the game vanished with them. Only a self-running PC tech demo was released before the cancellation.

There is not much info on the presumed Playstation and Saturn ports, but Celine was able to find a scan with a short article about them on CD Consoles issue #4. We can assume that the console ports would have been a downgraded version with a more arcade-ish gameplay and no online mode.

Check the FN2 preview at Combat Sim for more info!

Thanks to Jason for the english corrections!

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