Video Games Cemetery, which one desrves a memorial?

[pym]

We all know at least one of these.
They are announced as the next thing, promising us a better future, a new world, improved gameplay, sharp AI and a fascinating story.
And then, they suddenly disappear, no one knows why, when or how, they just pass away with no dignity , sad...

I decided to look into the subject and fetch you a list of some games, learn where they are buried, why, and what exactly we lost (or gained) as a result of their sudden death.

Mythica
Date of death: February 12, 2004
Mythica, Microsoft's MMORPG was one of the most anticipated games in 2004.
It tried to bring some new things to the genre.
You would start as a strong hero on his quest to become a god.
Microsoft also wanted to let the player complete interesting quests alone as well as being a party member.
In December 2003, Microsoft was sued for trademark infringement and unfair competition by Mythic Entertainment, the developers of a competing MMORPG Dark Age of Camelot.
Some believe that the cancellation proved the saturation of the (English language) massively multiplayer market.



Simsville
Date of death: September 2001
Simsville was meant to be a Maxis's cross between The Sims and SimCity.
The game was to offer the user to control a multitude of houses in a neighborhood in a fashion similar to The Sims.
The cancellation came as Maxis decided to apply more of its staff to development of The Sims products.
In theory, that sounds just perfect, but I guess the result was just not good enough...
Maxis preffered to invest in The Sims expansions and in SimCity 4 which all used a lot of parts that were originally develped for Simsville.



Torn
Date of death: July 2001
Torn was supposed to be a 3D RPG with a skill-based character system that allows for innumerable approaches to any problem in the game. Utilize items of your own creation, four different realms of magic, and enough specializations and abilities to make every character unique.
The reason for the cancellation of the promising game (which was supposed to be the Black Isle's answer to Buldor's Gate) was the graphics engine.
Black Isle Studios had licensed Monolith's LithTech engine to use in Torn but had little previous experience with 3D graphics and found it difficult to appropriately customize the LithTech engine, which led to the cancellation of Torn.



Sam & Max Freelance Police
Date of death: March, 03 2004
the adventures genre is constantly and rapidly fading away.
Besides a few, like The Longest Journey, we don't see too much games of the genre since they are just not profitable (or maybe it is not profitable just because we don't see too many out ).
hmmm, anyway, genre fans were very happy when LucasArts announced its new sequel to the successful Sam & Max Hit the Road starring the crazy rabbit and the cynical dog, with the same crazy humor and drawn 3D graphics.
But the game was cancelled because LucasArts decided that this genre just does'nt sell anymore and is not profitable.
Fans tried to reviv the development but failed.



Full Throttle: Hell on Wheels
Date of death: August, 2003
Sam & Max was not the first adventure game to be cancelled by LucasArts, the first was Full Throttle: Hell on Wheels the sequel to the big hit from 1995.
This time, Ben, the likable biker, was supposed to be back for another round in a hybrid action-adventure game in full 3D.
That means Full Throttle: Hell on Wheels was meant to include not only puzzles and collecting items but speed races, fist fights and humorous conversations
Ben has to stop a nefarious plot to tear up and destroy the roads of the wasteland. But the development was stopped on August 2003 and LucasArt decided the game is just not good enough.
Instead of releasing it, they just threw it away, which is something I really respected LucasArt for.
Sometimes, if a game is not good enough, keep your reputation (especially if it is a sequel to a very succussful game) and just cancel it instead of embarrassing yourself and ruining the first game's name (Wachowski brothers, learn!).



Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans
Date of death: May 22, 1998
This is a game I am really sad was cancelled.
WarCraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans was a dark comical point-and-click adventure computer game under development by Blizzard Entertainment that was set in the Warcraft Universe
The game takes place immediately after the events of Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal.
The player's role was that of a 22 year old orc named Thrall who was raised by a cunning human lieutenant named Aedelas Blackmoore, who found him as a youngster.
Even though the game exploring Thrall's origins was cancelled, Thrall became a major character in Blizzard's subsequent games Warcraft III and World of Warcraft.

Blizzard was (and still is) very successful after releasing the huge hits Starcraft and Diablo and fans waited anxiously to every bit pack to be released by Blizzard.
That's why, when understanding the game was not good enough and too old for its time, Blizzard made a very tough decision and cancelled it.





For me, the one who deserves a decent memorial is Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans .
I really loved Warcraft II and being able to play an adventure set in that universe was just amazing. Blizzard is known for its excellence and that's what makes it a perfect company releasing perfect and polished games. Too bad Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans was 'just' great and not perfect...

[liqnit]

i would love to see mythica comes to life
the quest for beeing a god is a new idea

[pym]

Mythica should have been great as well...
Really impressive graphics for its time.
Also, innovative gameplay, a hero on a quest to become a god.
By the way, Mythica was supposed to be based on Norse mythology.

Definitely one of those I was sorry to bury...

I vote for Lord of the Clans.

I really can't say as the only game on the list I have even heard of was Simsville, and then only from a trailer that came with Sim City 3000 Unlimited. It does suck when good and promising games are cancelled for business reasons, the best we can hope for is that someone else will pick up the idea later.

An example of this was Nexus: The Jupiter Incident, a game I own. It started out as Imperium Galatica 3, was cancelled and then reinvented as Galaxy Andromada, then cancelled again and reborn as Nexus, which finnaly came out about Feburary of 2005 (iirc).

[tomato]

Full Throttle: Hell on Wheels deserves to be released dammit! Tim Schaffer (sp?), where oh where have you gone? You're done with Psychonauts, come back to Ben and his bike

[zachig]

I think that Sam and Max really deserve it. I really like these characters. Therefore, I vote for them.

[pym]

Originally Posted by tomato

Full Throttle: Hell on Wheels deserves to be released dammit! Tim Schaffer (sp?), where oh where have you gone? You're done with Psychonauts, come back to Ben and his bike

I agree that Full Throttle was amazing.
But Full Throttle: Hell on Wheels was going to be a disaster and was going to ruin every drop of respect I had for the first one.
Therefore, I am glad it didn't see the store shelves at all and I am proud of LucasArts for not releasing it and giving up any income that it would bring if released.

lord of clans...i think..it sounds better than other

[tomato]

Originally Posted by pym

I agree that Full Throttle was amazing.
But Full Throttle: Hell on Wheels was going to be a disaster and was going to ruin every drop of respect I had for the first one.
Therefore, I am glad it didn't see the store shelves at all and I am proud of LucasArts for not releasing it and giving up any income that it would bring if released.

Really?! All I ever heard about it were a few scattered screen shots, but nothing really solid about the game itself... sounds like it was for the best then...