Xbox 360

I Am Alive (Darkworks Version) [Beta – Xbox 360 / PS3]

I Am Alive is a PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 videogame envisioned by French developer Darkworks. First pitches of the game already appeared during the early 2000’s when Darkworks was still working on USS Antarctica (a PS2 game which was planned to be published by Capcom but then cancelled). In 2003, the studio worked on Time Crisis Adventure / Cold Fear, originally to be published by Namco. When they ditched Cold Fear, Ubisoft jumped in and became publisher of the game. This laid the foundation for a partnership between Darkworks and Ubisoft, which finally allowed Darkworks to realize their “Alive” project with production beginning in 2005, even though gameplay and environment might have been changed when compared to the original 2001/2002 concept.

As we can see, in 2007 the game was changed a bit. While being first concepted with dark and brown colours, they decided to go for a more realistic style two years later.

I Am Alive was originally planned and ready for a release in early 2009, but Ubisoft was not satisfied with the game’s direction in spite of this initial version being nearly complete. Therefore the game was brought to Ubisoft Shanghai where they wanted to change parts of the game only at first. Then however, they restarted the project completely and also tried implementing a multiplayer mode. This did not work out either, therefore I Am Alive was restarted once again in 2010 and was finally release in 2012, as a much different game.

Some more info can be found in this article:

Months after the release of Cold Fear, Darkworks started planning out their next project, a game their General Manager, Guillaume Gouraud had high hopes for. Concept artists and writers went to work on an apocalyptic horror game. However, pre-production on what was then known only as Alive, was lengthy and itinerant. The team went through various iterations on the original concept. Says our source about the pre-production, “We went from a zombie survival game to a squad-based action game with rollercoaster rides to a single-avatar pseudo-stealth one (also with rollercoaster rides though).

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot called for all hands on deck. If Ubisoft was going to pour money and resources into Alive, they would need to ensure that Darkworks remained on track. For Hascoët, this meant entrenching Ubisoft employees at Darkworks headquarters to work alongside the team. This approach ended up creating a stressful work environment for the Darkworks employees. “Ubisoft thought it would lead to a greater collaboration (and of course, greater control), Darkworks thought of it as a hostile takeover and proof that Ubisoft didn’t want to let them hold the creative ownership,” says the anonymous former Darkworks employee.

The trailer hinted at an open world, cinematic storytelling, pre-calamity flashbacks, and open-ended combat scenarios. I Am Alive’s public profile was suddenly off the charts. Though the illusion successfully fooled fans, back in France, things weren’t going well. Perhaps foreshadowing the future of the project, Ubisoft didn’t include the Darkworks logo in the E3 trailer.

Then disaster struck. The project was pulled from Darkworks in January 2009. The team’s hard work left on the cutting room floor. “Ubisoft was fed up with Darkworks.” Says our source of the situation. “To their credit, the game wasn’t very good in its current state and it already cost them a lot of money.” The team was devastated.

Thanks to Hey Hey for the contribution!

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The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf [X360 / PS3 – Cancelled]

The original Witcher is a action adventure / RPG for the PC developed by CD Projekt RED STUDIO and published in 2007 by CD Projekt in Poland and Atari for the rest of the world. The console version of the The Witcher (known as Rise of the White Wolf) was to be the best version yet, with enhanced graphics, new combat system, and rebuilt pixel by pixel for the consoles. Soon followed financial issues between co developers CD Projekt RED STUDIO and co Widescreen Games as CD Projekt had not been financed in three months after fully committing to the new project. Michal Kicinski, Joint CEO CD Projekt Group for Widescreen Games response popped up as a comment on the VG247 article:

  • All payments were done on time according to milestone plan.
  • Truth is that payments were later than originally planned but this was solely due to delays in production. The delays were growing in the project due to WSG continued to miss the deadlines.
  • Delays and risks of further development by WSG were unacceptable by CD Projekt (this happened even though CDProjekt RED was constantly increasing main team involvement to help in the production). The most important fact is that development process didn’t make planned release date possible and moreover propositions of the new release date were changing few times. Besides the schedule, technical incapability created a risk of missing planned quality which is absolutely unacceptable. And this brought an end in our cooperation with WSG.
  • Currently the works are on hold. We are evaluating all possible options to continue the production.

Some time later CD Projekt officially canceled the console versions of The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf and is currently working on the sequel The Witcher 2 for PC.

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Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe [PS3 X360 – Beta / Unused Stuff]

Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe (also known as MK vs. DCU or MK vs. DC) is a crossover fighting game from Midway Games and Warner Bros. Games in the Mortal Kombat series, which was released on November 2008. Ed Boon later revealed via Twitter (June 23rd, 2009) that two new characters were developed for DLC, Quan Chi from Mortal Kombat and Harley Quinn from DC Universe. Boon also stated that these characters will not be released, due to issues surrounding Midway’s bankruptcy. [Info from Wikipedia]

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Also, FaIr_fIghTeR_ noticed many differences in the early videos of the game:

00:19 – Sub Zero does an attack that is almost similar to Jax’s headkick attack.
00:21 – Sub Zero has a different costume then in the final product.
00:32 – The graveyard stage has a big wall with two statues that give a green light.
00:36 – The freefall physics look horrible.

00:05 – Sonya has Batman’s fighting position.
00:19 – Scorpion has Batman’s fighting position.
00:38 – Flash does an uppercut move.
00:46 – Sub Zero’s ice has a sharpy form.
00:55 – Superman’s freeze breath gives a less detailed ice effect on the enemy.
01:06 – The Fatality cameras are further away from the performer and the screen doesn’t turn black in the background.

00:35 – Superman attacks slower then in the final product.
00:48 – Scorpion’s teleport attack sounds different.
01:16 – Superman chains two simple attacks into a promove. This isn’t possible in the final product.
01:44 – Scorpion does Batman’s footgrab attack.
02:50 – Flash leaves much more speed waves behind.
02:58 – Sonya’s bicycle kick voice sounds like a Japanese girl.
03:22 – The opponent who knocks you down in freefall lands softly, you won’t hear or see him land next to you.
03:57 – Superman’s promove circle is white instead of red/blue

Not only Superman’s Brutality is different, but there are quite a few interesting differences in here.

00:00 – There are no ragebars. There were no breakers or possible use of rage.
00:03 – The SUB ZERO WINS! looks different, it looks like this SUB ZERO WINS!
00:06 – There is no intro song when a new round starts.
00:18 – Superman’s laser is fat.
00:47 – The camera is different and the music is different to.
00:47 – Superman’s Brutality animation is ugly.
00:55 – You hear and see BRUTALITY! instead of HEROIC BRUTALITY!

Thanks a lot to FaIr_fIghTeR_ for the contribution!

 

Devil May Cry 4 [PS3/X360 – Beta]

It seems that Capcom developers had something very different in their minds about DMC4. A teaser trailer was shown at E³ 2005, depicting Dante traveling through snow, and then quickly performing some fast, stylish moves. The second trailer was shown at the Tokyo Game Show 2005 where it showed a more rugged and older Dante in a city-like setting performing more stylish moves at the camera while using more of the PlayStation 3’s graphical power. While both were just teasers, showing very little detail of the game itself, the Tokyo Game Show 2006 trailer, shown on September 20, 2006, displayed a more accurate reflection of what is expected to be present with the release of the final product. On September 22, 2006, the Tokyo Game Show trailer was posted on the official Devil May Cry 4 website. Until then, only off-screen, low quality versions of the trailer were available.:

E3 2005:


TGS 2005:

TGS 2006:

Dante from E3 2005:

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Dante from TGS 2005:

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Final Dante:

 

Bam [PC / X360? – Prototype]

Before Ensemble Studios was closed, they worked on serveral prototype games, such as Nova, Sorcerer, Wrench and Phoenix, an RTS which featured humans fighting aliens (which later evolved into Halo Wars). Another protype was known as  “Bam” which Ensemble describes as a “Ratchet & Clank-Style Platformer”. As seen on various images posted by the company’s employees , in the game you would have played as Sprocket and the levels had a cartoony look to them.

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