Around 2003 – 2005 Z-Axis (AKA Underground Development) was working on a new Iron Man video game tie-in for Activision, using the Marvel license. The project was planned to be released for Playstation 2 and Xbox, but in the end it was never completed and quietly vanished, forgotten by everyone.
As we can read on IGN, Z-Axis was hiring new devs for Iron Man around November 2003:
“Z-Axis, the hard-working folks who brought gamers Dave Mirra’s BMX Freestyle and Aggressive Inline (and if you go a little farther back, Fox Sports College Hoops and Thrasher: Skate and Destroy), is now officially working on two new games for Activision based on the Iron Man and X-Men Marvel licenses.
Activision has not officially announced either of these two titles, but we have learned that both are definitely action games. The X-Men game is all new, and should not be confused with the Raven-developed X-Men: Legends.”
In the end only Z-Axis’s “X-Men: The Official Game” game was released in 2006. We can assume the team had some issues in developing two Marvel games at the same time and Activision decided to cancel Iron Man. Some screenshots from an early Iron Man prototype are saved below, to remember the existence of this lost game.
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.
SNO is a cancelled action adventure that was in development by Headstrong Games in 2014 – 2015, planned to be released for PC and unannounced consoles (possibly PS4 and Xbox One). The project was officially announced in February 2015 on their site and by reading its description it sounds a bit like Okami, but unfortunately it soon vanished with no explanations.
“Usher in Spring and bring your frozen world back to life in this 3rd person action puzzle game.
Clear the ice and snow that have blanketed your world. Encounter and defeat mysterious ice demons intent on holding back Spring. Discover ancient secrets and paths through the frozen wasteland as the Gods guide you on your journey.
SNO toys with your expectations, leaving you wondering whether you’re a dead soul raised to tend a magical land, or an android designed to repair a deserted spacecraft. As you emerge from your grave-like stasis chamber, it’s apparent a catastrophe has occurred – the world is carpeted in a thick layer of snow. As you clear the ice and snow, you reveal verdant patches of grass that catch the light and start to fend off the creeping frost.”
Headstrong were mostly known for theirArt Academy series and Battalion Wars series published by Nintendo, but around 2017 Kuju Entertainment (their parent company) dissolved the team to incorporate their employees directly into Kuju.
If you know someone who worked on this lost game and could help in preserving more images or footage, please let us know!
Need For Speed 10 “TerrorFive” is a cancelled chapter in the long-running NFS racing series, pitched to Electronic Arts around 2008 and planned for Xbox 360 and PS3. It was conceived as a strange mix between a racer and some kind of terrorism – hacking adventure, trying to imagine illegal street racers in a post 911 US city.
A racing gang / terrorists named “TerrorFive” would drive around the city while doing missions and hacking jobs, such as looking into the Police network and security cameras. Yeah, it sounds a bit like Watch Dogs, but probably most of these concepts were just meant to be the settings of the game and not it’s main gameplay.
While EA never officially announced this game, in 2010 they released Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit which was a completely different project. We can assume the pitch for TerrorFive never went much far from its early concept or prototype. Concept art for the game was found online around 2014, as reported by Kotaku.
Amazing Tales (AKA Project Caspian) is a cancelled MMO planned for Xbox 360, that was in development by Flying Lab Software around 2010 – 2011. The team was mostly known for their Pirates of the Burning Sea MMO, published by Sony Online Entertainment for PC in 2008, but when massive online games became an overly saturated genre, they were not able to find new publishers interested in their skills.
As the PC market for MMO collapsed, we can speculate their idea was to pitch an original MMO for consoles as it could have been more profitable with less competition. They started the project creating an early prototype for Xbox 360 running on the Cryptic Engine, showing off some of their ambitious concept: a “pulp online adventure game set in the Weird 1930s”.
“…the premise of Amazing Tales was based on a variety of genres ranging from pulp, to sci-fi, to adventure. Amazing Tales brought together great themes seen in movies such as Indiana Jones, Sky Captain, or The Mummy. What made this project so fun was the freedom we had with throwing in ideas. We had big plans for this game… and we couldn’t wait to see it all unfold.
We weren’t sure exactly if we were going to sell this game as an MMO, but we knew it was going to be multiplayer. We’d start out with the player choosing which class they’d like to be. The classes ranged from Adventurer, Vigilante, Scientist, Occultist, or Monk. Then we’d throw them in the middle of Egypt, where they had to band together with other players to take down the threats of the planet. What were the threats, you might ask? Our enemies ranged from Atlanteans, martians, Nazis, occultists, the undead, dinosaurs, and various other creatures, hellbent on wreaking havoc on civilization!
Further progress in the game would lead the player to other locations, such as New York, Shanghai, or London. Missions would consist of teamwork and strategy of playing off yourself and your teammates’ abilities. The end result of missions would lead the players into an ultimate boss fight. A major selling point we wanted to have in Amazing Tales were the boss battles. We wanted them to be memorable, so we wanted them to be huge. The fights themselves, AND the actual boss. Players would be up against giant alien robots, Tyrannosaurus Rex’s, or battles aboard huge war zeppelins.”
By reading this description we can say it sounds like an interesting and fun concept for an online multiplayer game. By looking at remaining footage and screenshots from the early prototype, it really looks like this could have been a great addition to Xbox Live.
While the team put all of their efforts and talent into Amazing Tales, unfortunately they were not able to secure funds from any publisher. The project was canned and soon Flying Lab had to close down with no money to stay alive. Artwork, screenshots and footage from the Amazing Tales prototype were shared online by former devs such as Fiona Turner, Alison Burkley and Bruce Sharp.
These documents are preserved below to remember the existence of their lost game.
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