Sony

Microsoft, Playstation 2 (PS2), Sony, Xbox

Agent (RockStar) [XBOX PS2 – Cancelled]

monokoma
15-09-2010
5 Comments

Agent is a cancelled action / sandbox style game that was in development in 2003 by Rockstar San Diego / Angel Studios, for the Playstation 2 and Xbox. There are not many info available on the project, as it was never officially announced, but we can assume that it was going to be somehow similar to the GTA series. In the end the game was never finished for unknown reasons, but it’s possible that Rockstar San Diego had to shift resources to finish Red Dead Revolver. Only few screens  and a video from an ealry prototype / tech demo are saved in the gallery below, to preserve its existence.

A new project also called Agent is now in development at Rockstar North for the Playstation 3, but we are not sure if the 2 games are somehow related. As we can read in Wikipedia, Agent by Rockstar Nord will be set in the world of the late 1970s and it will “take players on a paranoid journey into the world of counter-intelligence, espionage, and political assassinations”.

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Others, PC / MAC, Playstation, Saturn, Sega, Sony

Wipeout [Beta – Playstation, PC, Saturn]

monokoma
13-09-2010
1 Comment

Wipeout is the first in a series of futuristic racing games developed and published by Psygnosis in 1995 for Sony PlayStation and PC, in 1996 for the Sega Saturn. Wipeout was designed in part by The Designers Republic, while the game’s vehicle designs were based on Matrix Marauders, a 3D grid-based strategy game whose concept was developed by Psygnosis employee Jim Bowers. Nick Burcombe, the game’s future designer, was inspired to create a racing game using the same types of vehicles from his experience with Powerdrome, F-Zero and Super Mario Kart. [Info from Wikipedia]

In the gallery below you can see a couple fo screens from a beta version and what is seems a FMV / target render.

Beta:


Final:


In an interview on Grumpy Old Gamers with Andy Satterthwaite we can read some memories from the early days of Wipeout:

As for the “Inspiration” the original game was very much “Mario Kart” to techno music. Nick Burcombe and Jim Bowers had designed the game from those beginnings; and an early concept video  was made.

Wipeout Target Render / Concept Video:

Thanks to Rod_Wod and Celine for the scans! Thanks to Ross Sillifant for the interview!

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Playstation 2 (PS2), Sony

WWF Smackdown: Just Bring It [PS2 – Beta]

monokoma
10-09-2010
1 Comment

WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It is a professional wrestling fighting game developed by YUKE’s Future Media Creators and published by THQ for the PlayStation 2 in 2001. In the early screenshots from the beta version Lionheart noticed some differences:

Jericho, Angle and Jeff Hardy had different costumes in the final game, these models can still be used with a gameshark/codebreaker

The game had 3D announcers sitting at the announcers table, who would sometimes pop-up in a “picture in picture” view to talk about the match. Both of these features where cut out of the final game (Although you can see a picture of Tazz and Micheal Cole commentating on the back of the boxart).

You were able to attack the announcers during the match

In the final game there is only one ladder in ladder/tlc matches, while in the beta there were a lot.

There are no big ladders at all in the final game.

In the beta it was possible to do attacks with the ladder which were removed from the final game (Dropkicking the ladder into the face).

You can also notice an alternate start screen.

Thanks to Lionheart for the contribution!

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GameCube, Microsoft, Nintendo, Playstation 2 (PS2), Sony, Xbox

Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow [XBOX PS2 GC – Beta]

monokoma
09-09-2010
No Comments

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow (also know as Shadow Strike during its development) is a third-person stealth game in the Splinter Cell series, developed and published by Ubisoft Shanghai in 2004. Below you can see a video compiled by Silenceofthehills, with lots of early concept arts and beta screens. Text and video annotations in the video help explain the differences between the earlier planned renditions and the final version of various spots in each area.

As seen in the video, a fully missing level map is viewed under the first game‘s HUD. Since the first game had cut a level and used it as an extra in another version of the game, its quite possible that these shots are from a missing level. Its also possible that these are merely early renditions of a previous level, or even simply a test level considering the unaltered HUD.

Secondly, we can also see the previous incarnation of the PS2 and GameCube port before it had be delayed and taken under various graphical tweaks to ensure the artwork was nearer to par with the original versions of the game. This is also available in the GameInformer article scan as well, which also oddly contains a beta HUD akin to that of the online mode’s. This HUD was also apparently shared between all versions of the game.

Below is the direct quote on this from Gamespot itself, posted on February 4, 2004 by Justin Calvert.

“Ubisoft has today announced that while the Xbox, PC, GBA, and cell phone versions of Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow are still on track for release next month, the PS2 and GameCube versions will now launch at a later date. The only reason given for the delay is that the development team is committed to making sure that the other two console versions are as good as the Xbox version.”

Thanks to Silenceofthehills for the contribution!

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