Xbox

Microsoft, Playstation 2 (PS2), Sony, Xbox

Driv3r [PS2/XBOX – Beta]

monokoma
24-09-2009
2 Comments

Driv3r (also known as Driver 3) is an action /sandbox game developed by Reflections Interactive and published by Atari, released for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox in 2004. Slayermaggot81 has linked us to the Driver Madness Forum, where they found many screenshots and a video (from Spetrikbob YT channel) with some beta differences.

Before the game came out, it was meant to be called Driver 3 and not Driv3r. If you have the videogame ‘Stuntman’, go in the Bonus section. There’s a preview of Driv3r, an the title at the end is ‘DRIVER 3’.

Stuntman came out in 2002, Driv3r came out in 2004 and they needed 3 years from the first idea to the release of the game. That mean they started making the game in 2001. So this video from Driver 3 in Stuntman can only be from 2001 or 2002.

In the beta videos and screens we can notice:

  • A yellow car that isn’t in the game (Miami)
  • The graphics are much better
  • The Ocean Drive looks different (Miami)
  • How can you have a so hight view of Istanbul ? Even with the film director it isn’t possible to go as high. Or is it a Cutscene … ?
  • The Sun looks different
  • The night looks better
  • Tanner looks different
  • Different and removed cars
  • Calita wearing red clothes and has a different hair cut
  • Miami looks different
  • & more…

Original Driv3r trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fgim9EkL10

Note that it was known then as “Driver 3″ and features Tanner in alternate clothing to the final game. It seems to be the same suit worn in Driver 2.

Thanks to Slayermaggot81, Martin Bigg and Vicente for the contributions!

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Microsoft, Xbox

Objective Force: Commander [XBOX – Cancelled]

monokoma
18-09-2009
No Comments

Objective Force: Commander is a cancelled action / car combat game that was in development by Dynamic Animations Systems in 2002, for the original XBOX.  The game was shown in playable form at E3 2002, but later it vanished from the release list, maybe because they never found a publisher interested in the project. Objective Force: Commander was set in the near future, following the missions of a group of Texas rebels against an evil mega conglomerate energy company. The player would have been able to command an entire squad of tanks in real time, by issuing orders to friendly team AI to complete the game’s missions and win over the other teams. Single player mode, multiplayer VS and coop modes of play (including Xbox Live) were planned.

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Microsoft, Playstation 2 (PS2), Sony, Xbox

Snake Plissken Chronicles [PS2/XBOX – Cancelled]

monokoma
16-09-2009
3 Comments

Snake Plissken Chronicles (also know as Snake Plissken’s Escape), is a cancelled action game that was in development at Namco Hometek in 2003, for the original Xbox and Playstation 2. The game was based on Snake Plissken, the protagonist (portrayed by Kurt Russell) in John Carpenter’s films Escape from L.A. and Escape from New York. A playable demo was created, but the project was never finished for unknown reasons.

S0me videos from the game were shared online by Neurobellum:

This video shows a functional SNAKE PLISSKEN game built in 2004 by the remaining Dead to Rights 2 staff. Campaign design was complete, storyline was approved by Carpenter, Russell, and Hill, and concept was well underway. The game would have included full particpation by all three, including a completed cyber-scanned version of Kurt. This game was going to rock. Video produced and edited by Mike Kennedy. Music by KMFDM and John Carpenter, remixed by DJSkavenger.

A sequence of key events storyboarded for the campaign mode of the unproduced Snake Plissken’s Escape video game, by Namco. These boards were illustrated by Comic Book legend Chris Warner.

 A compilation of Environmental concept art developed for the campaign of Snake Plissken’s Escape, developed for Namco in 2004 before cancellation. Contributing artists included Francisco Ruiz Velasco (Hellboy 2, Pacific Rim) and Tim Tao (Dead to Rights).

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GameCube, Microsoft, Nintendo, Playstation 2 (PS2), Sony, Xbox

I-Ninja [PS2/XBOX/GC – Beta & Concept]

monokoma
04-09-2009
No Comments

I-Ninja is a fun and underrated action game that was developed by Argonaut Games and published in 2003 by Namco (in USA) and Sony (in Europe) for the GameCube, Xbox and Playstation 2. A Game Boy Advance version of the game was announced too, but later cancelled.

ininja-article

As it happened with Orchid (another Argonaut game that was later cancelled), originally I-Ninja had a much more colorful and stylized graphic, but the publisher was worried that it looked too childish, and wanted an edgier, grittier look. As we can see from the early mockup / target renders, the original style of I-Ninja looked a bit like Zelda: The Wind Waker (especially for the islands, the pigs and the scene in which Ninja is sailing a ship) but the 2 games were in development almost at the same time so it was just a coincidence. 

Microsoft, Playstation 2 (PS2), Sony, Xbox

Earthworm Jim 2003 [XBOX/PS2 – Prototype]

monokoma
02-09-2009
No Comments

In 2003 a new chapter of the Earthworm Jim series was in development at Interplay as a side-scrolling 3D platform that was probably meant to be released on the Playstation 2 and Xbox. Sadly the project was soon cancelled, just after the preproduction stage. The basic structure of the game would have been somewhat similar to Klonoa or Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, with 3D environment, but viewed along a track with a fixed camera.

Jim’s head would have been used to not only swing and attack, but also as a grappling appendage that could hoist heavy objects. Aside from a few tests and the concepts you can see in the gallery below, not much more work was done before this new Earthworm Jim was canned, probably because it was seen as a risky project.

Lots of crazy ideas got tossed around during the early stages of development, as a musical sequence in which Jim went to Heck (hell) and had to do a boatride through the river styx. Jim was all mopey because he was dead, and the Grim reaper turns to him (in the small boat) and says “Cheer up Jim… it’s not that bad.” [in a terribly over the top British accent] and whips off his robe to reveal the Zuit Suit (that you can see in the concept arts). At this point, it was going to be a whacky musical boatride into Heck, to the tune of something like the Squirrel Nut Zippers song Afterlife/Hell. There would have been dancing skeletons, and demons and stuff as they travel down the river.

The Cyclops monster that you can notice in another concept art was a boss for a level made entirely of cheese. Imagine Rome, constructed of cheese, with the citizens all being mice, wearing togas. He was the “Gorgan Zola”. Made of cheese, with a pimento olive for a head (the red pimento being his eye). There would have been a showdown / boss-battle within the Fondue Colliseum, with cheering / jeering mice in the crowd.

Thanks a lot to Michael and Earthwormjim for the contribution!

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