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Unseen News

Robert Seddon linked us to this article on Kotaku, in which they talk about a removed level from Command & Conquer Generals, a RTS game that was released in 2003.

Called “Black Sheep”, the mission tasks you with driving one of the Global Liberation Army (ie the terrorist faction) chemical weapons vehicles around a “town that had been corrupted beyond salvation by the USA’s propaganda”.
Coming at the height of the WAR ON TERROR, EA decided back in 2003 that such a mission may have been a little much, and cut it from the game when it shipped.

In march 2009 the developers decided that it was time to let it go, and the removed Black Sheep level was finally released as a download from the official C&C website! As we can read from there:

In celebration of the sixth anniversary of the award-winning real-time strategy classic Command & Conquer Generals, we are releasing an exclusive gift to Command & Conquer fans — the lost mission of Command & Conquer Generals. The never-before-seen and controversial Global Liberation Army mission was not included in the game’s original 2003 release and has been hidden and securely stored away in a secret location at our EA Los Angeles development studio until today. Command & Conquer, download the mission Black Sheep for free and unleash their inner General.
Black Sheep was originally slated to be the third mission in the Global Liberation Army campaign where players were given command of the Toxin Tractor, a slow-going farm vehicle modified to spray a deadly corrosive agent, and ordered to eliminate the town that had been corrupted beyond salvation by the USA’s propaganda. While the mission was ultimately removed from Generals, the Toxin Tractor was available in other campaign missions, as well as in multiplayer and skirmish modes.

Huge props to EA!

Projects, Unseen News

[Projects] The Zelda 64 Castle Town in the Beta Restoration!

monokoma

12-06-2009

No Comments

Here’s another nice update from our friends at Team Beta Triforce, about the Zelda 64 Beta Restoration Project. Do you remember the original version of the Castle Town, as we have seen it in these famous beta screens?

Well, you will be able to play in there in the Zelda 64 Beta Restoration public demo that is scheduled for release this year! In the meantime, check the video below to have a look at the beta Castle Town, resurrected in its full glory! Keep in mind that this is still an early preview demo of the mod:

For more updates and feedbacks on the Zelda: Ocarina of Time Beta Restoration Project, check the main article in here.

Update: ZM90 from the Team Beta Triforce has let us know that The demo castle town will be playable in the public demo that is scheduled for release this year! Also the release date of the “final version” of the OoTBRP has been pushed back to at least 2012: the reason it has to be pushed back is because they need to make the other areas much bigger like they did with the town. Hyrule Field in the OoTBRP will be roughly the size of the one in TP. Also, there are new inside areas to make and a ton of new NPCs to create. Keep up the good work guys!

Leaked, Playstation 2 (PS2), Sony

Wingz [PS2 – Cancelled]

monokoma

08-06-2009

2 Comments

In April 2009, Dr.daichi and Unclejun from the Assemblergames Forum have shared a lot of screenshots from an unreleased Playstation 2 shoot em up, that was in development in 2002 at Joycast / Hanbitsoft, two korean companies. Wingz was going to be an on-rail shooter, similar to Panzer Dragoon or StarFox, but it seems that it was later cancelled for some reasons. You can find more infos and a playable version of the game to download in the original topic, props to Dr.daichi for sharing the game and to Unclejun for the screenshots!

Thanks to X-Cult for the videos!

Images:

Videos:

Leaked, Others, PC / MAC

Duke Nukem (Lame Duke) [PC – Beta]

U64 Staff & Contributors

07-06-2009

4 Comments

Duke Nukem 3D is a FPS developed by 3D Realms and published by Apogee Software. It was released on January 29, 1996. LameDuke is an early beta version of Duke Nukem 3D, which was released by 3D Realms as a “bonus” one year after the release of the official version. It has been released as is, with no support, and is currently available to download from Fileplanet. LameDuke features four episodes: Mrr Caliber, Mission Cockroach, Suck Hole and Hard Landing. Some weapons and levels were removed and/or altered in the final game. [Infos from Wikipedia]

As we can read from the official 3D Realms website:

What most of the public does not know is that the game was several years in the making, and the development started almost immediately (to the day) after the release of Duke Nukem II (December 10, 1993).
On January 29, 1997, 3D Realms has decided that for the one year anniversary of Duke Nukem 3D, we’d release a sneak peek into the development of the game. Released now is LAMEDUKE. What’s LameDuke? LameDuke is a beta version of Duke Nukem 3D from December 1994.

In the galleries below you can see many images from different Duke Nukem beta builds. The “Older Gallery” contains images that appear to be from a build somewhere between Lameduke and what became the final Duke Nukem 3D, the “Newer Gallery” seems to be a build that can’t be too much earlier than the v0.99 beta that was leaked.

Treasons made a list of the main differences in these screens (check below):

Older Gallery:

These have a different hud, there is a Kill counter in the main hud and it is in what appears to be single player, this is not present in any build I have seen, there is also an orange shape either side of the hud which appears to light up, this may work like the skulls on the hud in Blood where the eyes light up sometimes. the weapons in the hud are 1 to 9 instead of 2 to 10, in some shots the hud has no “Keys” section.
The Silver-gray robotic enemy did not appear in the final game, his art occupies the same tiles as the Assault Trooper in the final game.
Duke1.png has an older version of the scuba gear.
When there is no Hud in the shot it appears duke has an old-fashioned army torch at the lower left, not seen in the final.
In some shots there is a colored dot in the ammo count.
Enforcer enemies have a strange red design that is not present in the final game.
Recon Patrol Vehicles appear different and also seem to be flown by enforcers rather than pig cops.
The overall palette seems marginally different.
The chaingun graphics in later builds are based upon the plasma gun in Duke2.png

Newer Gallery:

In the newer folder, the shots are not too far different to the v0.99 beta
More old scube gear graphics.
the space suit is on in one screen shot (24.png), code exists for it in v0.99 but no build I ever saw had the hud graphics for it that appear here.
The HUD is still a little different but closer to the final, the levels also closely resemble the final build, being marginally different from V0.99.

It is also worth mentioning that a code exists in v0.99 for a flamethrower weapon, dropped from the final game.

There are also some more beta shots on the box of the game, which are different from the actual game, you can find them with more info on Treason‘s website: www.freewebs.com/hctreason/duke3dstuff1.htm

More infos on LameDuke can be found at Planet Duke and GameFAQs! Thanks to SquarePulse for some of the videos and to Treason and JudgeDeadd for the contributions!

More Lameduke Images:

Videos:

Unseen News

The removed Left 4 Dead 2 characters

U64 Staff & Contributors

07-06-2009

No Comments

As we can read from this article from Kotaku, it seems that Valve decided to cut a couple of characters from the original Left 4 Dead 2 cast, changing them with 2 other ones that look more appropiate:

Two characters that didn’t make it into the final version were a female DMV worker-amiable, not stereotypically surly-and a fireman, someone who would know how to expertly use those axes players can now pick up for melee attacks.
But the scrapped DMV employee just wasn’t turn out to be as interesting as originally hoped, dashing Faliszek’s dreams of being able to appeal to real-life DMV workers that he “was the guy who put a nice DMV employee into our game.”
That firefighter just didn’t seem to fit into the world of Left 4 Dead, Faliszek said, not like the new cast, a group of Survivors who will have a more noticeable arc.

Sadly they did not released any image of the 2 removed characters…