PC / MAC

Project Offset [X360 PS3 PC – Cancelled]

Project Offset is a cancelled fantasy action adventure that was in development by Offset Software, initially planned for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC. As we can read on Wikipedia, in February 2008, Intel acquired Offset Software and the game became a PC exclusive. After a couple of yers, Intel officially canceled the game in July 2010, citing “recent changes in our product roadmap” as the cause for the decision. The founders of Offset Software have moved to a new game development studio named Fractive LLC.

As we can read at Super Download, it seems that the changes in Intel’s product roadmap in the statement most likely refer to the company’s decision to cancel the high-end graphics chip product code name “Larabee” that was shut down as a commercial hardware product last December.

Some more info about Project Offset can still be found in the official website:

Q: Has the game gone back to the drawing board since you last saw it?

A: In some ways…Yes. We have a had a design scrub post Intel acquisition. The gameplay footage you have seen in the past was from a prototype. However we did not throw away all work or assets from that effort. We will share all we can as soon as possible and when ready. […]

Yes it has been a while, and yes this project and team started small and was then acquired by Intel. The tech and engine have been in development for some time, and post the acquisition did need some re-work to target Intel Architectures in the best way possible. We also took some time after completing the prototype of the game, which was created before acquisition, to look at the size of the team, our resources, the games out on shelf currently and our target hardware architectures, and did some re-working on design and gameplay mechanics. […]

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Hirelings [PS2 PC – Cancelled]

Hirelings is a cancelled fantasy platform game that was in development in 2000 by Cinematix Studios for the Playstation 2 and PC. As we can read on MobyGames, Cinematix was founded by Jong Yoon and Ben Cooley in 1993, and has released only two PC games: Total Mayhem (Published by Domark in 1996), and Revenant (Published by Eidos Interactive in 1999). After those titles, the studio was working on Hirelings and Renegade Zero, but neither of them was ever released. Cinematix had to close down after a while, probably for economic issues.

Thanks to derboo we were able to preserve some images from the game, found in Korean mag PC Power Zine (October 2000 issue) and from Cinematix’s old website though the Wayback Machine.

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Gumshoe [PC / XBOX – Cancelled]

Gumshoe is an adventure game that was in development by Hiding Buffalo in 2002 / 2003 for the PC and the original XBOX. As we can read in the original press release:

The concept for the game along with a working prototype were created as Hiding Buffalo’s entry in the 2002 Dare to be Digital competition, which challenges groups of students to create a new and original piece of digital content. Entries are judged by a panel of industry experts on their originality and commercial potential. Gumshoe was chosen by a majority of the judges thanks to it’s unusual concept, naturalistic dialogue system and innovative gameplay and episodic approach.

In the end, they never found a publisher interested in the project and so Gumshoe was cancelled. It’s interesting to notice that Hiding Buffalo did released a flash version of the game in 2006, even if it looked much different from the PC and Xbox version.

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Silent Space [XBOX/PS2/PC – Cancelled]

Silent Space (a.k.a. Space Force / Space Wars) is a cancelled Sci-fi RTS that was in development in 2001 by Crytek, originally created as a prototype for PC, but later planned for Xbox and Playstation 2 too.  This project was in the works along with Engalus (a cancelled FPS) and X-Isle (which evolved in Far Cry) in the early days of Crytek.  When the game was announced, Faruk Yerli (president of the studio) told to GameSpot that:

Currently we are in negotiation with some publishers. We know that the game would be fantastic, but you surely know that without funding no game could be finished. We believe that Silent Space could break the limits of other space games, and we will soon announce the future of all of our projects.

It seems that they never found a publisher interested in Silent Space, and the project was soon canned.

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Alien vs Predator: Nightmare on Ryushi [PC – Cancelled?]

Alien vs Predator: Nightmare on Ryushi is a point & click adventure game based on the Aliens VS Predator series, that was going to be published for MS-DOS PCs by Activision in 1993, but in the end it seems that the project got cancelled. As we can read from the AVP Galaxy Forum, even fans of the series are not sure about the release of this title, but as not one knew about it before finding an old Activision catalog, it’s almost sure that Nightmare on Ryushi was canned:

When I was done obsessing over the intricacies of the labyrinth of Zork, I noticed a small catalog of Activision titles to be released in 1993 among which was the drool-inducing “Alien vs Predator:Nightmare on Ryushi” (and yes it is Alien, not Aliens).

It appears to be a point and click first person adventure title for MS-DOS with excellent graphics. It also looks like the first AvP game to allow the user to play as all three species in independent campaigns!!

After an intense an stressful search of the InterWebs, I came up with absolutely no trace of this game ever having existed!! It is even absent from AvPGalaxy’s list of cancelled titles!

If you know someone that worked on this game or could have more info about its development and cancellation, please let us know!

Thanks to Unclejun for the contribution!

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