Note: this offer is ALWAYS valid, we keep searching for new people every month, every year, even NOW when you are reading this post!
There are some big projects coming up on Unseen64, so we really need to expand our staff for more help (currently, there are only a few people in the main staff). We are searching for new volunteer editors who are interested in writing and proofreading articles for this website.
We are searching for someone that is English native speaker (or that could write in English very well), who likes to write about video games (please, keep in mind: there will be A LOT to write, you cannot simply copy / paste info from Wikipedia) and who is capable of and passionate about digging up obscure info. He or she should be able to write at least 1 new article every 2 weeks or to proofread at least 1 article per week. Volunteer authors and editors will proofread and expand some of the descriptions for cancelled games that we already have in the Unseen64 archive and write new articles to remember even more lost titles. Are you interested?
In 1998, Nintendo of America’s internal team, Nintendo Software Technology developed a pitch to lock down exclusive access to the Harry Potter rights. Had it been successful, Nintendo would have secured the rights to produce all adaptations of the book series for the indefinite future in video game form; potentially preventing the eventual movie adaptations from being created altogether.
VIDEO:
According to one former artist of the studio, a sudden order from Nintendo’s management halted work on their three titles in development at the time (Ridge Racer 64, Bionic Commando and Crystalis) when news arrived that the license was to be auctioned off. This was a blanket license covering all formats of adaptation, including not only video games, but TV and film as well.
“The license went up for sale and all these major media companies were putting together pitches.”
The studio was then split into two: the primary group focused on devising on a pitch for a third person adventure title, whilst a smaller team worked on a potential game based around quidditch. The latter division reportedly included Marvel comic book artist, Adi Granov, who was responsible for character art.
Hogwarts Express concept art by Nintendo ST.
Nintendo ST aspired to develop the adaptations themselves, with versions planned to be released on Nintendo 64, Gameboy Advance and later Gamecube; as well as any of Nintendo’s future platforms further down the line. These releases would have coincided with the launch of each new book.
“All together it was only a week of insanely furious scribbling things to the digital artists to create animations for mock game demos”
The license holder, JK Rowling, agreed to view Nintendo’s presentation, but this was not without some trepidation among the members of Software Technology. Our source alleges that there was a disagreement at one point over which art style would be most appropriate for the franchise. Towards the start, there was a push for character designs inspired by those of the first book’s cover art by Thomas Taylor. However, it wasn’t long before the studio’s higher-ups took against this idea and forced it in a different direction:
“…it went against all my instincts based on what I had read quotes from JK about keeping it strictly British, and I had to revamp my initial designs and go more manga/Japanese – I had a big fight about that, but my boss insisted”
Hagrid’s Hut concept art.
We have unfortunately been unable to post images of these characters, since Nintendo would not allow its artists to share any of them publicly.
According to our source, the crew developing the quidditch game proposal had wanted to follow a similar route with regards to character design:
“[Name redacted] did get to do a more realistic take – I remember his Hermione being really nicely realized, but I doubt he saved anything from those days.”
Ultimately, Nintendo’s bid was declined by JK Rowling. Our source revealed that the writer turned it down in favor of several other proposals by media giants with greater resources, such as Disney and Universal. Whereas Nintendo was only able to offer forays into the realm of video games, these larger companies had the ability to spread out into TV and film; as well as gaming.
With January’s donations from our patrons and other awesome people, this month we have reached our $300 goal to pay the servers for 2015! We are super happy to be able to keep the site online for another year with the help of our readers and friends and would like to thank youall for the support!
We also reached our second goal on Patreon, meaning Tamaki will create more Unseen64 Podcasts for all our patrons as a big “thank you!” for their help. There are some more goals in our Patreon page, as the creation of better documentary videos for beta & cancelled videogames, and even if we are still far away from the $250 goal to fully work on the Unseen64 Book, we are already starting to do some early organization for its content. You can give us your feedback about what you would like to see in the U64 Book in our forum.
Donations will now be put aside to pay the server for the next year too ($300) and when we’ll be financially secure enough to keep Unseen64 online in 2016, we can then hopefully start to work more on the Unseen64 Book.
2015 Server: 100% funded, thank you!
17%
Current: $51
2016 Server Goal: $300
If you have suggestions and feedbacks, let us know in the comments below! :)
Ragnarok Online II: The Gate Of The World was the sequel of the popular MMORPG Ragnarok Online, in development by Gravity and Team Mercury. After entering a closed beta testing phase in 2006 and continuing through 2010 in Korean open beta testing, the game was reworked multiple times due to its poor initial reception. The game itself was created with the Unreal Engine 2.5, giving the game an nice Anime-looking graphic. The Gate Of The World was planned for have 3 different races: Norman (Humans) Ellr (Sort of Super deformed style character) and the Dimago (Sort of Pale Humans who featured a stylish combat style).
Ragnarok Online 2 featured even a changeable job system, making player to be able to change job in any town. The jobs available in the Beta(s) were: Novice, Swordsman, Thief, Clown, Soldier and Magician. Gate Of The World was scrapped for create Ragnarok Online II: The Legend Of The Second, who ironically closed in Korea in 2011 because there were not enough players.
Driver 5 is a cancelled racing game which was, for a short period of time, in the works at Sumo Digital, the developer of the Sonic & All-Stars Racing games. It would have been published by Ubisoft and released around early 2011 on Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii.
In January 2010, Ubisoft released a financial forecast for their next fiscal year, detailing a number of their scheduled releases. Among these were some vague plans to release an untitled fifth entry to the Driver series, although no other information was provided at the time. Behind the scenes, it was around this point that Driver 5 (a working title) was in pre-production at Sumo Digital, who had been contracted externally. Previously, Sumo had partnered with Ubisoft to produce Driver ’76 on the PSP, who they worked on alongside Ubisoft Reflections.
Concept art for Driver 5.
Christian Bravery of design studio, Lighting Lights, was brought on board to draft concept art for the Driver 5 project.
“It was interesting to be involved at the beginning and the end of this project and something I’d love to do more often.”
The lifespan of Sumo Digital’s Driver 5 was brief, as it never moved past pre-production. It was cancelled when Ubisoft elected not to partner with Sumo Digital on it, instead giving the project to Ubisoft Reflections. Reflections would then go on to create Driver: San Francisco.
By the looks of it, this original vision for the game would have incorporated destructible environments of some sort. The concepts show Tanner’s surroundings crumbling around him as he races away from his pursuers. Perhaps this was a small stepping stone towards Sonic & All Stars Racing: Transformed, which incorporated a similar concept of tracks that would dynamically change and fall apart as the race progressed.
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