Onimusha: Demon Warrior for Playstation (CANCELLED)

Publisher: Capcom
Style: Action-Adventure, Horror         
Players: 1
Developer: Capcom
Status: N/A
Platform: Playstation
Cancellation Date:1999

Titan AE for Playstation (CANCELLED)

Publisher: Fox Interactive
Style: Action-Adventure          
Players: 1
Developer: Blitz Games
Status: Preserved/Unknown
Platform: Playstation
Cancellation Date: 2000
Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDb7tDI6CHo

Developed by Blitz Games and published by Fox Interactive this movie based 3D Action-Adventure game was meant to be released for Playstation. Unfortunately, the movie flopped (even though personally I thought it was good) and the game was cancelled.  This is a demo of this game (not a beta or proto) which was also avaibele for download (now link expired) at the official movie website Game is not bad, but controls needed more polishing. Despite controls this would have been a very good Playstation game with a top notch graphics for this system.

If you have more information on full version, or you have something to contribute, contact me.

Bounty Arms for Playstation (CANCELLED)

Publisher: Data West (not confirmed)
Style: Action          
Players: 2
Developer: Data West
Status: Preserved
Platform: Playstation
Cancellation Date: 1995-1998
Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHqqnBSbKtE


NOTE: This is only a demo and, yes, demo was over in less than 4 mintues.
Thanks KidFenris (LostLevels) for contribution.

Bounty Arms is a game which is hard to describe. Altough it may seem similar to Commando or Mercs, still this little gem wanted to be innovative.

Bounty Arms isn't really a shooter. Main weapons are grappling hooks, flamethrowers and general-purpose whips for Rei and Chris to kick some major ass.

Playstation had a good library of 2D games, and it's a real shame that Bounty Arms couldn't stand with them.
IF YOU HAVE ANY MORE INFO ABOUT THIS PROJECT OR YOU HAVE MATERIAL TO SHARE THEN CONTACT ME.

Germs Newarete Machi - for Sony Playstation (BETA?????) [SLPS-02107]

Publisher: KEJ
Style: First Person Shooter/Adventure        
Players: 1
Developer: KEJ
Status: Preserved
Platform: Playstation

Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzjX8sMtKqQ

This is a real mystery game. Altough not confirmed it seems that this is a beta for released game under the same name.
Game is similar to Kings Field (and yes framerate for this game is similar).
Altough for some people this may seem GTA meets Kings Field it really is not the case. Game itself is very good and it's a shame it was not released in US or Europe or that it doesn't have a translation.

Dead Unity for Sony Playstation (CANCELLED)

Publisher: THQ
Style: Action-Adventure          
Players: N/A
Developer: Aramat Productions
Status: Unknown
Platform: Playstation, PC
Cancellation Date: 1998
Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mS-ngAPhWw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZ8Q9IIL_No


"Dead Unity" is a real-time, 3-D rendered graphic adventure that immerses players in a world of science-fiction and suspense. Enthusiasts are transported to an alternate reality and submerged in the "Dead Unity" universe.
Dead Unity, from THQ, places the player as an enhanced human in the city of Unity, defending the humans from deadly cyborgs and robots across hundreds of environments. It uses fully polygonal characters and monsters, but the backgrounds are prerendered.
Dead Unity really looked promising. Shame that such original game was cancelled.
Here is an information from former member of Dead Unity about it's development.

There are no Playable demos floating around. All the screenshots you seen in magazine ads, THQ promos...they were all mock ups. I designed the story for the project which was very complex, I was also Art Director and eventually producer on it before THQ pulled the plug with it. Long story short, Aramat was a new company and we had some really green programmers. It took over a year just to get a simple animation exporter out of them let alone AI, physics, game logic, etc...

 The first E3 we put together that Video Demo that ran on monitors. The second year we "almost" had something remotely playable...but the owner of the company derailed my efforts to get actual game play in place in favor of having animated texture overlays to make spinning fans on screen and pretty much single handedly destroyed our chances with salvaging our relationship with THQ. The demo was full of bugs and you couldn't even play it.

 After I got back from E3 that year, I washed my hands of the project and started working on Arch Gothic. I put together a technology demo for it to show the rest of the company how it was done. With that technology they did manage to finish a working build for DU with a character traversing through a few rooms with weapons and some rudimentary AI...but it was too little too late. THQ pulled funding for the project and the company went under. Myself and 2 others primary to the company at that time have what was that playable build, but there is nothing floating around. You need special hardware just to play these builds and there isn't much there. A hall and a couple connecting rooms with some robots in them.

 There was a ton of art made...that's really all that was done on it the whole time it was in development. The engineering staff just spun their wheels through most of production.

 So that's basically the story....it was a cool title. I am adapting the story I wrote for it into a screenplay to use in a feature Film project...but I couldn't give a time line as to when that might materialize...

Silent Chaos for Sony Playstation 2 (CANCELLED)

Publisher: Squaresoft
Style: Action-Adventure              
Players: N/A
Developer: Kalisto/Squaresoft not confirmed
Status: Unknown
Platform: Playstation 2 (PC?)
Cancellation Date: 2001 (Not Confirmed)
Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aEdToNfYU8 (trailer)

Altough not a real confirmation but rumours are that this game was first developed as Dark Earth 2 but later cancelled and reworked by Squaresoft only to be cancelled later.

Highlander The Gathering for PC (CANCELLED)

Publisher: Kalisto
Style: Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game                
Players: N/A
Developer: Kalisto
Status: Preserved/Unknown
Platform: PC
Cancellation Date: 2001-2002
Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9C5rLrss08
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHSSYpLlM90
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5IO_VT-jBI&feature=related

There Can Be Only One in MMORPG market. Before World of Warcraft this ambitious game wanted to make other MMO'S give a run for their money. Sad as it is it's Publisher and Developer declared Bankruptcy. Game was cancelled in Pre-Production stages.

Key Features:

EPIC STORYTELLING
Highlander: The Gathering offers each player a unique experience : to be the hero of his story. Like the main protagonist of a Hollywood movie, the player’s avatar will choose a lofty goal and try to acquire the means to reach it while overcoming the obstacles he will meet on the way. The more he will progress, the more difficult his task will be and the fiercer the opposition. He will have to make tough choices that will change him and prepare him for his final challenge.
Most massively multiplayer games fail in the storytelling department because they can’t allow players to mess with their finely crafted stories. Highlander: The Gathering places the player at the heart of the story. It is his story that drives the game forward.
Furthermore, a great care has been taken to present the avatar’s actions in a heroic and cinematic fashion. Interactions are staged in a high poly-count world with dedicated animations, camera direction and special effects. The locations in which the storytelling takes place have the same high level of visual quality that can be found in dueling arenas.
The storytelling system governing the evolution of an avatar’s story and the choices offered to its player is based on extensive research in the field of storytelling, be it academic papers and publications or the study of story-generating tools: scriptwriting and directing techniques, paper role-playing and storytelling games, computer assisted writing tools, etc.


A PASSION PLAY
In Highlander: The Gathering, an avatar is a creature of passions. He is not just the sum of his characteristics. He possesses moral values that define him as a Champion, a character who is willing to make great sacrifices to uphold what he believes in, or a Warrior, someone who will go to any length to reach his chosen goal. The Champion and Warrior categories encompass a number of more precise archetypes toward which the player’s avatar can tend: the Lone Wolf, the Casanova, the Samurai, the Avenger, etc.
Throughout history, such archetypes have been used to tell the most famous tales. In Highlander: The Gathering, the player can embody one of these archetypes. Archetypes are not similar to the character classes that can be found in role playing game. They reflect the way the player plays the game and offer him different options according to the values he upholds. For instance, only two honorable avatars will be able to make a blood pledge between them and only a courageous one will not fear vastly superior opposition.

A COLLECTIBLE CARD GAME WITH A STRONG LINK TO THE COMBAT SYSTEM
Just like the combat system, the storytelling system is similar in its game design to a collectible card game. Playing the CCG meta-game in the community is an integral part of playing Highlander: The Gathering. Players can build decks that fit their archetype and their goals, acquire new cards by accomplishing great deeds or by making deals with other players.
The story cards are "story building blocks” in a story construction set. They are used to further plots, affect other characters’ actions – to either help them or impede their progress – or modify the conditions of upcoming duels. The storytelling and the combat card games are strongly linked: Story cards affect the duels and allow the players to win new combat cards and most stories culminate in a climactic duel.

EASY TO LEARN, HARD TO MASTER
In Highlander: The Gathering, telling a good story only requires common sense. If you follow your character’s inclination – being true to the archetype you’ve chosen – and the system’s hints, you’ll live a challenging and rewarding experience… provided no other player takes your head, and with it your Quickening !
Telling a great story is another matter. The highest goals are the more difficult to reach. They require perfect planning, "deckbuilding” proficiency (i.e. the careful planning of one’s actions and choice of options), diplomatic skills and the willingness to put your character through trials and hardships. Not everybody can become The Only One.


Overview
AN ECONOMY OF FATE
Highlander: The Gathering uses fate points as the basis for its economy. Gold is not a currency fit for heroes but Fate definitely is. Fate points represent the control over an avatar’s story given to its player. Fate points are used to buy story cards, trigger events, bid during conflicts, etc. A player wins Fate points when he completes a plot, most of the time by defeating an opponent (PC or NPC) in a duel.
Cards and actions costs in fate points vary according to supply and demand in order to prevent dominant strategies and encourage the exploration of new strategies. This cost is also linked to the appropriateness of the player’s choice considering the story he tries to tell and the archetype he wants to embody. For instance, a noble warrior can make a pact more easily than a merciless bounty hunter who, in return, expends less effort when looking for a prey.
The following schema shows how Fate and cards are used in the game.



Story cards can modify an avatar (for instance, a "training” card can improve fighting statistics), the world in which the avatar evolve (the character can acquire rare objects, establish relationships with NPC, etc.), the community (forge alliances, declare enmities, etc.) or the conditions of a duel (place, time, stake, etc.)
The four domains of storytelling, avatar management, world modification and community building all lead to resolution found in duels, which, in turn, open new stories.

COMMUNITY & GAME
Highlander: The Gathering treats relations between player characters exactly as the other story objects. They are created through the use of cards and the expenditure of fate points and can be affected by game events. This means that, for instance, the establishment of a friendship relationship between two players is a resources consuming engagement and that it confers a real advantage in the game. In this example, friends can be called for help when danger threatens and they can play story cards to help ongoing plots at a lesser cost. Conversely, it’s easier (i.e. cheaper) to take revenge on a declared enemy.
By encouraging the players to create relationships that have a real meaning in the game and the stories told within it, Highlander: The Gathering offers its community and designers a unique tool to observe and alter play patterns and social dynamics.

ABSTRACT STORYTELLING & IMMERSIVE RESOLUTIONS
Highlander: The Gathering’s storytelling system uses concepts evolved from the fields of interactive storytelling, role-playing, narratology, collaborative writing and dramaturgy. It defines abstract building blocks (such as "contract”, "chase”, "negotiation” or "conflict”) and a storytelling grammar that allow players to build a web of intertwined stories through the simple use of cards. Story evolution and resolution is computed at this abstract level, devoid of intricacies and of very manageable complexity. The results of the characters’ interactions are then presented in heroic scenes, faithful to the Highlander mythos (see Epic Storytelling).


EASILY EXPANDABLE
Abstract storytelling and a card based storytelling system allow for data driven expansion: new story building blocks, new stories or new cards. Furthermore, each new story elements added to the gamespace creates new combinations with the existing content and is available to everybody, as opposed to new rare objects that usually end up in the hands of few experienced players.
This is an asset for a game in which continuous content creation is required.
Depending on the chosen business model, data-disks / expansions may be based on themes and contain new story objects that allow for more variety and unique experiences: new places, weapons, NPCs, story or combat cards, etc.