Dead Space is a third-person survival horror / action game, developed by Visceral Games (formerly known as EA Redwood Shores) for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. As we know the game was started with a Dead Space prototype for the original Xbox, but even the “next gen” version had some slightly differences in its beta build, as the models for the enemies and the main character (especially the armor). Also, the graphic / atmosphere of the game looks different: the final version is gloomier and less bright than some of the beta screens.
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.
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.
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!
When LucasArts terminated their contract with Free Radical Design (nowadays known as Crytek UK), the studio was not only working on Star Wars Battlefront III and Time Splitters 4. Instead, the company started the pre-production of another Star Wars Battlefront game.
Faith and a .45 is a cancelled action game that was in development by Deadline Games for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The story would have follow a couple named Luke and Ruby, two outlaws during the Great Depression. This idea evolved from a tech demo about a “Bonnie & Clyde” couple, inspired from the real-life couple of outlaws, robbers and criminals who, with their gang, travelled the Central United States during the 1930s.
The game was going to follow their lovely escape (Deadline called Faith and a .45 a “gritty, emotional shooter”) and the gameplay should have been similar to a cover-based third-person shooter (as Gears of War or Army of Two) in particular with the dual-character dynamic, with online and offline co-op. [Info from Wikipedia]
Sadly they were not able to find a publisher interested in the project and on May 2009, Deadline Games filed for bankruptcy. Faith and a .45 vanished forever with the closure of the studio.
As noted by NeXuSDK on the NeoGAF forum, Deadline Games had a lot of troubles selling the game concept to publishers:
Initially, Faith and a .45 was set in a post-apocalyptic setting ala Fallout, which publishers didn’t see value… now look at Fallout. Then they changed the theme to something Bonnie & Clyde inspired, set in the era of the great depression and still developers could not see the potential.
Thanks to Robert Seddon for the contribution!
Thanks a lot to Jonas Springborg, Jan Ditlev and Adam Rishede for the help in preserving their artworks created for this project! Some more images are from Carsten Brandt’s website. All images are copyrighted Deadline Games.
Images:
Videos:
Søren Lundgaard is the Game Consultant at DADIU. Before this he worked at Deadline Games for 10 years, first as a Lead Programmer, later as a Game Director.
Credits:
Original Idea Kristine Ploug Søren Lundgaard
Director Helle Pagter
Visual Concept Helle Pagter Felicia Bang
Production Design Felicia Bang Tine Lylloff Madsen
Multiple Camera Direction Sun Hee Engelstoft
Camera Signe Tora Munk Bencke Sine Vadstrup Brooker Martin Køhler Jørgensen
Light Torben Borup-Madsen
Edit Linda Nielsen-Mann Helle Pagter
Sound Sune Kaarsberg
Set Construction Ninna Stengade
Technical Support Schack Lindemann Peter Posgaard Lars Holstener
Logo animation Dennis Nielsen
Images All images courtesy of Aptocore Aps
Thank you The National Film School of Denmark The Computer Game Zone
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