New Cancelled Games & Their Lost Media Added to the Archive

Nintendo, Wii

Xenoblade [Wii – Beta]

yota
07-10-2011
No Comments

Xenoblade, originally known as Monado: The beginning of the world, is a jrpg developed by Monolith and released for Wii in 2010 after four years of work.  In the first beta trailer and in the gallery below, we can see an early version of the battle HUD. Also, in the final version treasure chests are different looking and they can obtained only by defeating enemies, while in the beta they could be found in the overworld too.

However, the most interesting thing about this beta is a large unused map, originally located between Makna Forest and Eruyt Sea, that can be briefly seen in one of the final build cutscenes and which it was removed from the final game, even if it is still possibile to explore it by modifying some internal files. It is largely incomplete and deserted, but it was one of the first areas shown in screenshots, so it must have been created at the beginning of the development. For more informations check the video below and a gamefaqs topic.

Thanks to KEK8 for the contribution!

Also, some hackers found a few debug items and an explorable test-map with a big Xenoblade sword (similar to the one in title screen). Check this topic on GBATemp for more info!

In a 2012 interview with Siliconera, director Tetsuya Takeshi admitted that he tried a turn-based system before sticking with real-time battles:

“I did experiment with a turn-based system that included the ability to see the future, but it didn’t go very well.”

The story seems to have changed quite a few times also.

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Videos:

Leaked, Unseen News

Glover 2 N64 leaked and preserved

monokoma
04-10-2011
No Comments

NES World and Team Carrot have shared online the beta version of the cancelled Glover 2 for the Nintendo 64, that was found sometime ago. Now it’s publically available and preserved! Huge props to them :) Check NES World for the download link

Glover 2 – Unreleased Beta Version – CARROT
Title: Glover 2
Date: 03/11/2011
Company: Interactive Studios / Hasbro
Area: USA
System: Nintendo 64
Size: 256 MBits
Supplier: YECA

As noted by Edward Kirk, some codes and a Level Select menu from the first game still work with the beta of the sequel: http://zenade.angelfire.com/Glover2/glove.html

Nintendo, SNES + Super Famicom

Firearm [SNES – Cancelled]

yota
03-10-2011
3 Comments

Firearm is a cancelled 2d action game developed by Malibu Interactive which  was planned to be released for Snes and Genesis. Nothing much is known about it, apart that it was based on the eponymous comic. In 2010 what it looks to be a test build of Firearm was uploaded on the internet. This version includes only two stages and it is barely playable. It seems that the game was dropped very early.

Scans by snescentral.com.

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Videos:

Others, PC / MAC

Freelancer [Beta – PC]

monokoma
02-10-2011
1 Comment

As we can read on Wikipedia, Freelancer is a space simulation that was developed by Digital Anvil and published by Microsoft Game Studios in 2003. The game was initially announced by Chris Roberts in 1999, but it was only released 4 years later, with many cuts and changes from the original concept. In 1997, Chris Roberts began work on a vision he had since he first conceived Wing Commander. He wanted to realize a virtual galaxy, whose systems execute their own programs regardless of the players’ presence; cities would be bustling with transports and each world’s weather changes on its own time.

Roberts promised features such as automated flight maneuvers, dynamic economies, and a multiplayer mode that could host thousands of players, but diminished versions of these features were implemented in the final release. The game’s initial technical demos impressed reviewers, but after the Microsoft buyout and Roberts’ departure from Digital Anvil, critics had doubts about the game. Microsoft instructed Digital Anvil to scale down the ambitions of the project and focus on finishing the game based on what was possible and the team’s strengths.

Freelancer 2 was in development by Digital Anvil in 2006 for XBOX 360, but the game was cancelled when Microsoft closed the studio.

Thanks to EmoLevelDesigner for the contribution!

Images:

Old beta videos show early versions of the game. There are many scenes that are not included in the final version: Read more

Unseen News

Current U64 situation and future

U64 Staff & Contributors
01-10-2011
10 Comments

Hi everyone! Now it’s already some months that we update the site every few days, instead than daily as before. This was decided because the main U64 Staff does not have much free time anymore (university, job, family, etc.), but we love to preserve info about beta and cancelled games, so we just slowed down the updates instead than stop them at all. Right now we have scheduled updates already prepared till half of 2012, so even when we are super busy, U64 will still automatically update itself! The joy of scheduled posts :)

What do you think of the current U64 updates schedule? We have some more changes in the waiting line (as the alphabetical order for the archived posts), but if you have some suggestions for the site, they are all welcome! With the feature that lets everyone to add new articles to the U64 archive or to edit old pages, we are also getting a lot of help from visitors and that’s great (but remember that every edit and addition is reviewed before being published, so it could take some days).

Also, we would like to thanks our new sponsor, Black Friday Deals, with their support we now should have enough to pay for the Unseen 64 server for all 2012! They have a big list of gaming deals, so try to check them out, maybe you’ll find some cheap games :)