Sony

Final Fantasy 13 (XIII) [PS2 – Prototype]

Final Fantasy 13 was released in 2009 for Playstation 3, but the first prototypes for the game were created on Ps2 even before FFXII release. In this page we can see some pics from the old-gen version that were recently published in two official japanese artbooks / guides.

Unfortunately, it seems that Square did only some early testing of the battle system before switching the development to the Ps3. Even the characters (Yuna and Rikku from FFX) are placeholders, but, interestingly, in the last screenshots they appear to be cell-shaded.

Thanks to Proto1 for the contribution!

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Wizard of Funk [PS2 – Cancelled]

Wizard of Funk is a cancelled RPG that was in development in 2005 by Playlogic for the Playstation 2 EyeToy add-on. As we can read from the original press release, the player would have take the role of a young wizard, to physically cast spells in front of the EyeToy Camera to defeat his enemies. The game vanished from Playlogic’s release list without any official statement but we can speculate that it was cancelled for quality reasons.

Thanks to Userdante for the contribution!

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James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing [PS2/XBOX/GC – Beta]

James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing is a 2004 third-person shooter, developed by EA Redwood Shores and EA Canada for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and the GameCube. DCodes7 noticed some beta differences in the early screens  and videos released for the game:

  • Different and unused outfits worn by James bond
  • Different outfit for Jaws (beige shirt with brown pants & brown suspenders)
  • Beta enemy wearing a silver/platinum armor (not used in the final game)
  • Beta enemy wearing a grey/black hat (the hat is red in the final)
  • Various differences in the first trailer

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Slipshod [PS2/XBOX – Cancelled]

Slipshod is a cancelled platform game that was in development by Electronic Arts in 2001, for the Playstation 2 and Xbox. It was supposed to launch a new platform franchise for EA (something like Crash Bandicoot or Ratchet & Clank), but sadly after some years of development, they decided to disband the team and kill the game.

One of the levels was finished and playable, but it was too easy and not much fun to play. The Slipshod team put a lot of time and effort into the artwork and the graphic engine but they did not have enough time to develope the actual game play.

The main character design and background evolved a lot during the development: named “‘Buggy”, he was originally meant to be a pizza delivery bug in a “human-sized” world, who rode a segway and was trying to save his girlfriend. After 2 years of work, EA decided to change the whole game from scratch. In another concept “Buggy” was more like a ninja bug, who had to collect scrolls. One of the last changes before the cancellation put Buggy  in a “bug-sized” world, having the whole game to take place in a tree stump.

After the target of the project was changed again to create the new “bug-scaled” world, rumors of the cancellation started to pass inside the dev-team and soon after they were all reassigned to different games. EA decided that they had already put too much time and money into the development of Slipshod, and to start over would have been too cost prohibitive.

Slipshod had the potential to be a fun game, but sadly the continuous changes of  perspectives and scenario ended up killing the project.

Thanks a lot to Hey Hey for the contribution and to Tyler for his help to preserve info and media from this lost game!

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12 Volt [PS2/XBOX/GC – Cancelled]

12 Volt is an arcade racing game that was in development by Sproing in 2003 / 2004 for the Playstation 2, Xbox and GameCube. The game was set in slot-car tracks and players would have been able to race their models in houses and gardens. 12 Volt looked like a mix between Re-Volt and another cancelled Nintendo 64 game, Mini Racers: it’s unknown why Sproing never released this project or how much it was completed before being canned.

Some more info can be read in the original press release:

The cars can move freely on the track, they are not bound to a specific lane or slot like conventional slot cars are! This way the game combines the look of a die-cast-racer with the feeling of a full-physics arcade rally game!

Highly realistic physics enable the player to activate toys and tools that work as weapons against other players. Imagine plunging through a heap full of marbles crashing at you in a world that really looks and feels like a childhood dream-come-true. Special magnetic rails even allow you to hook on to the inner side of hairpins and drive through them at full speed!

A GBA version was planned (and cancelled) too, but they did not even show any screens from this portable version.

Thanks to Userdante for the contribution!

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