Microsoft

Spyro’s Kingdom [Cancelled – PS3 / Xbox 360 / Wii]

Spyro’s Kingdom is a cancelled game in the Spyro Series, which was developed, then scrapped, then redeveloped, then scrapped, but became Skylanders. Version 1 was developed by Helios Interactive and was to be exclusive to PC and Nintendo Wii. This version got cancelled, however, it was revived later by Toys 4 Bob with version 2, which introduced the portal of power and skylander figures, then called “Kingdom Heros”. Later it was redone again and finally released as Skylanders.

VERSION 1- Helios Version
The game was presented to
Activision, complete with working demo and production art. However, Activision decided against this game, and instead went on to create Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure, the third reboot in the Spyro franchise. It is unknown if the game was cancelled before or after the cancellation of the Spyro movie, which was also set in the ‘Legend’ reboot.

Something interesting to note is that the flying mechanic is very similar to that used in Skylanders – It is unknown if this was on purpose or not.

Post by RadSpyro

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Version 2 -Toys 4 Bob Version
This version is highly similar to Skylanders, even including portals and figures, however, this version did not require the figures or portal to play, and it had online play. Activision liked the concept and decided to go with it, later they had Toys 4 Bob remove the online play and make the figures and portal required. The version 2 was going to be Nintendo Wii Exclusive. However when word of this got out to fans, there was backlash and the fans on several forums expressed hate and did death threats. Later they announced it would also launch on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 as well.

http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121019073502/spyro/images/7/7b/Spyro%27s_KingdomLogo.jpg

http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121019062627/spyro/images/thumb/d/df/Spyro%27s_Kingdom1.jpg/185px-Spyro%27s_Kingdom1.jpg

http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/spyro/images/thumb/6/64/Selecing_Spyro_on_Spyro%27s_Kingdom.jpg/185px-Selecing_Spyro_on_Spyro%27s_Kingdom.jpg

more information: http://spyro.wikia.com/wiki/Spyro’s_Kingdom 

Crackdown 2 [Beta – Xbox 360]

As we can read from Wikipedia, Crackdown 2 is a sandbox third-person shooter game developed by Ruffian Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360 in July 2010. Thanks to a post at Sean Noonan’s blog, we can read some interesting info about the beta and the development of Crackdown 2:

We had these cavernous locations for these monstrosities to roam, but the Goliath’s slow movement pace just couldn’t cut it against our nimble agent characters – no matter how powerful we buffed the Goliaths. Their great size meant any quick movements looked jarring and totally unconvincing, so the speed couldn’t change. […]

We pulled an all nighter or two and redesigned the Goliath. We adopted an approach whereby the Goliath would completely ignore the player. The Goliath would sprint as fast as possible to the beacon at which point he would pummel it until it was destroyed – the player’s job was to kill the Goliath before that could happen. It was simpler, cleaner and had a much more interesting visual impact. […]

The old Shai Gen Car Park in Unity Heights Square is roughly a tenth the size it originally was meant to be with the old Goliath design …in fact the old Shai Gen Car Park was once meant to be a freak infested mall as an homage to Dawn of the Dead but it’s location being on the final island best suited a Goliath encounter. At one point we talked about having a Goliath climb the agency tower as a final, but the idea was scrapped […]

Thanks a lot to Sean for the contribution!

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Tekken 6 [Beta – Arcade / PS3 / Xbox 360]

Tekken 6 is a fighting game developed and published by Namco Bandai,  released in Japanese arcades in November 2007 as the first game running on the PS3-based System 357 arcade board.  A home version was released for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in October 2009. An old Tekken 6 trailer from 2006 seems to be from a beta version, which looks like it’s running on a different graphics engine. If you compare to the final version, Jin’s pants have a reflective nature that resembles Virtua Fighter 5. The stage and game style are not included in the current Tekken 6, and it feels like it’s almost an entirely different game. The models look like they were updated from Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection, and the stage they fought on had destructible environments, to a level that had not been seen in a Tekken game. Although this looks like it was going to be a cut scene, the different character models make think it was using what they had for gameplay at that time.

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Streets of Rage Reboot [Cancelled – Xbox 360 / PS3]

Streets of Rage is a remake / reboot of the original Sega Genesis / Arcade brawler that was in development for Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC by Grin, the same team behind titles such as Terminator Salvation, Wanted and the cancelled Wanted 2 and Final Fantasy Fortress.

Nothing much is known about this game, apart that is was a download-only title. The project was halted because of Grin’s financial difficulties that eventually bankrupted the company. In the gallery below we can see some concept arts and screens from an early build.

It seems that another reboot of Streets of Rage was also in development by Ruffian Games (the team behind Crackdown 2), but there are not many more info about this unseen project, apart from a beta / tech demo video preserved below thanks to Huff Allium!

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High School Heroes [Cancelled – Xbox 360 / PS3 / PC]

High School Heroes is an unreleased beat’em up / Action Adventure that was in development from 2010 to 2011 by Freedom Factory Studios for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC. The game would have had 3 main playable characters, each of them with their own superheroic skills and abilities. Players would have been able to explore the levels to lead a rebellion in planet Tyrannia, in 6 different main missions, each one with its own setting. High School Heroes looked promising, but even if a playable prototype was finished, they did not find a publisher interested in the project so they had to cancel it, at least for now.

Only some screens and concept arts are archived below, to preserve the existence of this lost game.

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