Kuju Entertainment

To End All Wars (Chemistry) [Xbox 360, PS3 – Cancelled]

To End All Wars is a cancelled FPS that was in development in 2007 by Chemistry (AKA Kuju Sheffield), planned to be published by Ghostlight on Xbox 360 and PS3. It was conceived as a realistic shooter set in the first World War, focused on defending trenches and planning attacks against enemy bases. We imagine it somehow like a FPS – Tower Defense hybrid.

The game was briefly mentioned on such gaming websites as Gamespot, IGN, GamePressure and VideoGamer:

“Powered by Epic’s Unreal Engine 3, To End All Wars is an all-new World War One first-person shooter in development at Kuju’s newly appointed Chemistry Studio. Set in the war-torn trenches of WWI Europe, To End All Wars promises to deliver unrivaled atmosphere and realism. Authenticity of conflict is high on the agenda, with period locations recreated in lavish detail, weaponry of the time and character designs which reflect the uniforms and style of the era.”

“Crucially, the experience of the gritty combat in the trenches, the fear of charging across No Man’s Land, deadly secret excursions to enemy outposts in the dead of night, and the heart-stopping terror of pounding artillery guns will be central to the gaming experience. Ghostlight also told GameSpot how the AI will play a big role in the game, reacting to every decision the player makes, meaning that strategy and tactical warfare elements will be crucial to winning the game.”

“There are many different missions awaiting us, during which we participate in various combat activities. The players will defend their trenches to the last drop of blood, to venture into no-man’s land under the cover of night, to charge heavily defended fortifications of the enemy, and to pray for survival under heavy artillery shelling. The scriptwriters tried to include the most characteristic motifs of the European theater of warfare during the single-player campaign and to show the enormous tactical and technological progress that took place during the conflict in question.”

To End All Wars was never shown again to the public and a couple of years later parent company Kuju Entertainment closed down the Chemistry studio.

Thanks to Dan for the contribution!

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DJ Hero: After Party [Cancelled – Xbox 360, PS3, Wii]

DJ Hero: After Party is a cancelled spin-off to the original DJ Hero game, which was briefly being worked on by Zoë Mode, the UK based subsidiary of Kuju Entertainment, for Activision in 2009. It was proposed as a game for the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii.

Another Spin On DJ Hero

As FreeStyleGames was in the final stages of developing the first DJ Hero, Zoë Mode set a team of artists on formulating ideas for a spin-off game to it in July 2009. The developer had, in the recent past, created other such music games as Rock Revolution and Disney: Sing It! when the project began.

Leading Light, the design studio of Christian Bravery, was contracted to help make concept art for the company, as the vision behind game was steadily being realised. Together, they imagined an alternative approach to the formula of DJ Hero, one developer explained.

“It would have had a very different vibe to it than the other games. We wanted it to have its own personality and feel. More relaxed and laid back.”

DJ: After Party would have made for a more casual-friendly approach to the series. Another developer described the possibility of it being made up of “slower, more up beat” tracks, although work on the title never got as far as assembling a set list.

The general idea behind it was that most of the show venues, as you might imagine, were after parties. Leading Light and the developers put together images of some of the events, which included celebrity wedding receptions, boat parties and a private luxury island.

Activision allowed the developer to use the DJ Hero license in developing conceptual documents and a prototype demo for their potential spin-off, as well as the opportunity to present a proposal to their management. Zoë Mode ended up working on the concept for a few months before Activision ultimately decided against pursuing the project, rejecting the pitch in October 2009; the month of DJ Hero’s first release.

According to one artist, the concepts were, however, retained by Activision and some of their ideas were later used in DJ Hero 2.

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Knight Wars [Wii – Cancelled]

Knight Wars is a cancelled real time strategy / action game for the Wii, that was in development in 2006/2007 by Kuju London (nowadays known as Headstrong Games). Except for being planned as a medieval version of the Battalion Wars games, there is not much known about the project, only that it was cancelled in 2007 when Nintendo decided to shift their resources to mass market-accessible titles such as Wii Fit or even the cancelled Wii Crush. As we can read in an old Gamespot article:

Our spies at Kuju’s HQ also tell us that another game based around the WARS series is also in development for the Wii called Knight Wars. Based in middle-aged England, players control tens of thousands of troops including units such as horses, magicians and Knights! ‘Its like Battalion Wars but with some great sword-swinging Wii action and riding around doing tasks for King Arthur!’ we were told!’

As you can read on the wayback machine there were 2 also unnamed Juku projects, one published by Ubisoft Entertainment S.A., and the other by Vivendi Universal Games.

Thanks to Rukku for the contribution!

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Rush Club [PS2/GC/XBOX – Cancelled]

Rush Club is a cancelled racing game that was in development in 2001 by Wide Games (Kuju’s Brighton) for the Playstation 2, with planned ports for the GameCube and Xbox. The player would had to race in various cities (such as New York, Shanghai, London, and Tokyo) against rival street gangs, to reach the final goal before their competitors. Rush Club soon vanished from the PS2 release list and after Wide Games finished to work on Prisoner of War and Pilot Down: Behind Enemy Lines, in 2007 they changed their name to Zoë Mode.

The project was probably canned because they never found a publisher interested in it. The only screens and the video preserved from Rush Club look more like a tech demo than a real game.

Thanks to Userdante for the contribution!

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Rebelstar – Psionic Rebellion [X360/PS3 – Cancelled]

In 2007 NamcoBandai asked Kuju Entertainment to work on a successor of their GBA game Rebelstar, for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. The game was set in the near future and was about an Alien army attacking Earth. The game was cancelled when NamcoBandai decided to allocate their resources to other projects.

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