New Cancelled Games & Their Lost Media Added to the Archive

Playstation 3 (PS3), Sony

Steambot Chronicles 2 (Bumpy Trot 2) [PS3 – Cancelled]

monokoma
09-05-2011
2 Comments

Steambot Chronicles 2 (AKA Poncotsu Roman Daikatsugeki: Bumpy Trot 2 in Japan) is a cancelled steampunk sandbox / action mech game that was in development for the Playstation 3 by Irem, originally announced on September 2006, at the Tokyo Game Show. Steambot Chronicles 2 was officially canceled along with several other Irem games following the Japanese tsunami / earthquake in march 2011. It’s possible that Irem had already some problems with the development of Steambot Chronicles 2 and the natural disaster in Japan was just the nail in the coffin for this interesting project.

As wrote by Tollmaster on Mecha Damacy:

it seems that the original Steambot Chronicles is doomed to remain a one-off work of genius, an inexplicably deep and mold-breaking PlayStation 2 game where players finally got to see the civilian side of mecha. There was a living, breathing world outside the game’s mechanical boss battles and pitched tournaments; loading up lumber on your clunky steam-powered robot’s flatbed to help construct a bridge in-between playing the harmonica in a touring band and helping root out vast conspiracies seeking to control the world’s oil supply immersed you into something deeper than any other game has ever hoped to.

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Microsoft, Xbox 360

Kinect Trainer [Xbox 360 – Cancelled]

U64 Staff & Contributors
07-05-2011
No Comments

In 2009, British software studio Rare Ltd. started to work on fitness software for Microsoft’s Kinect accessory in co-operation with Nike. The title was allegedly cancelled in mid-2010 because of various fitness titles from third party publishers for the very same platform. As with every game from Rare Ltd, the software had different design directions throughout its development, including a style with rather realistic characters and Avatar-styled ‘protagonists’.

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Microsoft, Playstation 3 (PS3), Sony, Xbox 360

The Deep [XBOX 360 / PS3 – Prototype]

U64 Staff & Contributors
03-05-2011
3 Comments

The Deep was a prototype developed by French development studio Darkworks during 2009 for Xbox 360 and PS3. Started after finishing their contract with Ubisoft for I Am Alive, The Deep was pitched to various publishers. In 2010 it was used to present Darkworks’ stereoscopic 3D technology for next-generation consoles.

After The Deep, Darkworks worked on other prototypes including Black Death and Prodigies.

Thanks to Derok for the contribution!

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PSP, Sony

Full Metal Alchemist [PSP – Tech Demo]

monokoma
29-04-2011
No Comments

In 2006 Torus Games worked on a small PSP tech demo for a game based on the Full Metal Alchemist manga / anime, probably to pitch a full project. FMA is an ongoing Japanese series, set in a fictional universe in which alchemy is one of the most advanced scientific techniques. In 2006 Funimation licensed the franchise to create a new series of Fullmetal Alchemist related video games to be published by Destineer Publishing in the United States. [Info from Wikipedia]

It’s possible that Torus’ tech demo was shown to Destineer, but for some reasons it never evolved into a real game.  A FMA game for the PlayStation Portable titled “Fullmetal Alchemist: Senka wo Takuseshi Mono” was later developed by Namco Bandai and released in Japan on October 2009.

Thanks to Josuke for the contribution!

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Others, PC / MAC, Playstation, Sony

Professional Sportscar Racing [PSX/PC – Beta?]

monokoma
25-04-2011
7 Comments

Update: thanks to Anonymous we found out that this game was released as “Sportscar GT” by Electronic Arts, that bought out Virgin Interactive. The screens below could still be different from the final game, so let us know if you see any differences!

In 1997 / 1998 Virgin Interactive were working on a new racing game for the original Playstation and PC know as “Professional Sportscar Racing” but it seems that the project was never released. The game was based on the license for the pro organization of the same name, a competition that was sponsored by the same Virgin Interactive.  Maybe Virgin had some problems with the PSR  license and the development could have been stopped. In the original press release we can read:

Fast driving, intensely competitive Grand Touring racing simulation game. For the player’s driving pleasure, all of the dream cars racing in the 1998 season of the Professional SportsCar championship will be authentically re-created including the internationally famous Panoz Esperante.

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