Beta + Cancelled Action Video Games - Page 48 of 91

Microsoft, Xbox

Phantom Dust is a pseudo-card-based fighting / action game developed by Microsoft Game Studios and published for the Xbox in 2005. The game soon became a cult hit among hardcore gamers. Players construct “arsenals” similar to decks of cards and then use them to do battle against other players. The game incorporates strategy and action elements into a game that requires both mental and reflexive skill. [Info from Wikipedia]

In a 1UP article about the game are a couple of images from a Phantom Dust prototype / beta build, in which we can notice the early graphic, different HUD and a removed arena.

From an interview published on Xboxphreaker we can read even more info about those removed areas and other missing content:

If we had more development time, I would have really liked to increase the number of missions in the single-player mode. I also wanted players to be able to move from one underground town to another. (Take a look at the area near the town shop. The driller-like machine is the remnants of this plan.)
We had more than 500 skill ideas. From that large batch we organized them, edited them, and cut them down to the present level. At first, we had intended to create a lot more environments, including:
The Aquarium
This would be the ruins of an aquarium, with only water and fish still remaining. Only in the middle of the fish tanks would be lit up, and that light would be destroyed as players fought and destroyed things around them.
We also envisioned the floor to have leaking water on it.
The Station
The other stage we had in the planning stages was a station. In Tokyo there are a number of different subway lines, and we wanted to isolate one of them and make that into a 3D stage. In that one area there would be a memory train that was still running. Players could ride that train to different platforms. Inside the trains we would place the regenerating capsules. This is one of the very dynamic stages I had wanted to make.
You know, practically speaking it was just too much production work for our time to make these two maps, but I think we could have done it if we were creating the game on Xbox 360…
Lastly, we had also wanted to create maps to be used exclusively for multiplayer, but creating stages took longer than expected. Including normal-mapping took longer than expected, then getting designers to be comfortable with the development took a lot of time, so map creation was quite difficult.

Thanks to Jason for the english corrections!

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Here’s a video from the final version:

Mega Drive / Genesis, Sega

Bean Ball Benny [MD GEN – Cancelled]

monokoma

14-05-2010

No Comments

Bean Ball Benny is a cancelled beat ‘em up / action game that was in development in 1990 / 1991 by Nuvision Entertainment for the Mega Drive / Genesis. Nuvision is a rather obscure company that only released Bimini Run before closing up shop and cancelling their 2 projects (Bean Ball Benny and The Swamp Thing), but with some researches it’s possible to find out some more info.

Thanks to an interview with Charlie Heath (who worked at Parker Brothers and Activision’s Boston office) at GDRI we can read more about the studio:

Nuvision was formed by a couple of Parker Brothers people, one an executive, the other a designer/artist. They had some venture funding, but got trapped in the credit crunch of 1990.
We had two additional games in the pipeline almost ready to ship, one called “Beanball Benny,” which was an original theme (baseball player/vigilante goes cruising around the city – streets, subways – trying to bean criminals and dodge obstacles. Modeled a bit after the old Keystone Kapers theme, but advanced by a decade), and the second, I believe, a licensed property called Swamp Thing.
Nuvision got caught with a bridge loan for the production of Bimini Run cartridges coming due at the same time that new credit was required to get the other two games from Alpha to release and into cartridge production.

In October 2009 The Red Eye shared the Bean Ball Benny’s CES flyer in The Lost Levels’ Flickr account. In March 2010, Bmpedrums from the Digital Press Forum found a playable prototype of the game and shared some screens and a video:

Beanball benny: playable, but very incomplete. The cutscenes even have developmental notes in them, like “Subway: trains not yet implemented”. Hit detection seems good, but instead of restarting the stage when you die, you actualy progress further in the game. There are also numerous places where the stage just simply cuts off and you’re walking in pitch black.

Thanks to Jason for the english corrections!

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Microsoft, Others, PC / MAC, Xbox 360

Splinter Cell: Conviction [X360 PC – Beta]

monokoma

08-05-2010

4 Comments

Splinter Cell: Conviction is a stealth / action game developed by Ubisoft Montreal, released in April, 2010 for the Xbox 360 and PC. The project was originally announced on May, 2007 when Ubisoft released a trailer for the game. It depicted a more rugged-looking Sam with long hair and a fully-grown beard. He had the ability to blend in with the environment, interact with tables and chairs and engage in hand-to-hand combat with enemies.

The game was due for release in November, 2007. However, it missed its initial launch date and on May, 2008 Xbox World 360 magazine reported that Splinter Cell: Conviction was “officially on hold” and that the game had been taken “back to the drawing board.” While Ubisoft never confirmed this, they announced that the game had been pushed back to the 2009-10 fiscal year.

The game resurfaced at E3 2009 with a completely new visual style and a more casual-looking Sam. The developers confirmed that the “new” Conviction had been in development since early 2008, commenting that “the gameplay has evolved a lot” and “the visual direction is simply much better.” [Info from Wikipedia]

We can say that the original Splinter Cell Conviction was cancelled, as the final game and gameplay look very different from what was shown in 2007.

Thanks to Userdante for the contribution! Thanks to Jason for the english corrections!

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Microsoft, Others, PC / MAC, Playstation 3 (PS3), Sony, Xbox 360

Mercs Inc. [X360 PS3 PC – Prototype]

U64 Staff & Contributors

07-05-2010

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Mercs Inc is a spin-off title based on the Mercenaries franchise, planned for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC. Pandemic Studios worked on a prototype of the game until its closure in November 2009. After a video of this prototype leaked, EA announced that the game would be developed at EA LA.

As we can read on Wikipedia:

The game was first rumored to be in development by Pandemic Studios as either Project X or Y which were rumored to be based on the Mercenaries franchise. Footage of the game was first leaked onto the internet on November 24, 2009, the footage was a multiplayer trailer of the game. The game was then officially announced by Electronic Arts less than a day later though without a proper platform or release date. The announcement of the game came less than a week after the closure of Pandemic Studios by Electronic Arts as it had been development there under the name, Project Y, the game is currently being developed by remaining Pandemic Studio staff members located at EA Los Angeles.

In november 2010 another Mercenaries video leaked from Kotaku, but we are not sure if it’s from the same project as Mercs Inc, as they call it Mercenaries 3: No Limits.

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PSP, Sony

Crusader: No Pity [PSP – Tech Demo]

monokoma

04-05-2010

No Comments

Crusader is a series of action-oriented computer games developed by Origin Systems and published by Electronic Arts. The series consists of two titles: Crusader: No Remorse, released in 1995, and Crusader: No Regret, released in 1996. [Info from Wikipedia] In 2006 a tech demo for a new / remake Crusader (called Crusader: No Pity) for the PSP was created by Outsider Development and pitched to EA, but the company was not interested in funding development. As we can read in an article by The Gaming Liberty: