Massively Multiplayer: Gaming In The New Millennium
- Thread starter RySenkari
- Start date
- Status
Yes, although in iotl the triple layer hd dvd is seen as a publicity stunt right before the dam broke and companies started jumping in the blu ray pool.
I'm beginning work on Suicide Squad for TTL. If anyone has any suggestions for casting, here is the line-up.
CCH Pounder as Amanda Waller
Lyssa Felding as Harley Quinn
Heath Ledger as Captain Boomerang
??? as Rick Flag Jr.
??? as Deadshot
??? as Bronze Tiger
??? as Plastique
??? as Blockbuster
??? as Bane
CCH Pounder as Amanda Waller
Lyssa Felding as Harley Quinn
Heath Ledger as Captain Boomerang
??? as Rick Flag Jr.
??? as Deadshot
??? as Bronze Tiger
??? as Plastique
??? as Blockbuster
??? as Bane
Waiting for 2006.
Even though the Duke Lacrosse case is butterflied away ITTL, there'll likely be some form of it ITTL at some college campus...
What happened to the Madrid terrorist attack in 2004?
What's Eva Longoria (who's also from Corpus Christi) up to ITTL? I ask because she's also from Corpus, and I wonder what path she'd go down ITTL...
Good update for the end of the year.
Even though the Duke Lacrosse case is butterflied away ITTL, there'll likely be some form of it ITTL at some college campus...
What happened to the Madrid terrorist attack in 2004?
What's Eva Longoria (who's also from Corpus Christi) up to ITTL? I ask because she's also from Corpus, and I wonder what path she'd go down ITTL...
Good update for the end of the year.
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Except the OTL Wii was all about the motion controls, and that was all it really had going for it. Steve is smart enough not to force it, and he did say it was all about potions, so I'm thinking it's more like the PS3 Move than the Wii. Plus it sounds the iPhone is also going to be the iPod Play 2 (or 1.5 at least).
Dwane "The Rock" Johnson if he takes lessons from Antonio Banderas for the accent.
Or Dolph Lundgren.
Or some random unknown bodybuilder that doesn't have to act as the body of Bane, and Antonio Banderas as the voice of Bane.
Vaporware: A Geek Radio Discussion
(Authors' Note: For this post where we cover some of the vaporware games of the timeline, we're going to do a brief little flash-forward to 2008. There may be a few little spoilery things in here, though we tried to avoid spoiling anything huge.)
-
Brittany Saldita: And that was "Cruel Angel's Thesis", the main theme to the hit anime Neon Genesis Evangelion. As always, you're listening to Geek Radio on Northstar Satellite Radio. I'm Brittany Saldita, and let's go ahead and continue our discussion on video game history with my amazing friend, long time GameTV co-host, founder of Games Over Matter and world renowned super dork Alex Stansfield.
Alex Stansfield: Thank you, Brittany. I feel like I'm back in high school, being called super dork!
Brittany: Still not used to it by now?
Alex: Well now it's a term of endearment. *laughs*
Brittany: This is one of the topics I most wanted to go into with you tonight, and that's the topic of vaporware. Video games that were announced, that entered various stages of production, but for whatever reason, stuff happened, they never materialized.
Alex: And I remember, we hyped up some vaporware back on GameTV. We did some really nice preview segments for games that never ended up being made!
Brittany: I'd always be so embarrassed, going back and looking at that footage...
Alex: Remember how excited we were?
Brittany: The game never came out, and I felt like a liar!
Alex: Yeah, they made fools of us!
Brittany: Some of those games I was really disappointed, never getting to play them, you know? And a lot of the games we hyped up were Sega arcade hits.
Alex: Oh yeah, Sega had these pie in the sky ideas for lots of arcade games that never came to fruition.
Brittany: The Saturn kinda banked its whole ad campaign on...what was that, how'd it go again? "We bring the arcade hits home?"
Alex: Yeah, bringing the arcade hits home.
*A brief snippet of one of the old Sega Saturn commercials plays where it talks about Sega's "We Bring The Arcade Hits Home" campaign.*
Alex: Some of those hits never got home!
Brittany: Yeah, a shame.
Alex: One of those was Kogura Kings. Kogura Kings was a game, it actually did come out for the arcades in, I think it was late 1997. It was a fighting game, where it would start out like a traditional fighter, and then after the first round you'd do this platforming segment where you'd have to collect items and fight these small enemies, and then you'd return to the fight and however many guys you beat, and whatever items you got...
Brittany: It'd power you up in the game!
Alex: Exactly!
Brittany: Yeah, I think we reviewed that one for GameTV, it was pretty fun, wasn't it?
Alex: The big complaint I had about it was that there were only six playable characters.
Brittany: Uh huh, yeah, and you couldn't unlock any more even though there were more than six other people you could fight in the game. There were like more than a dozen fighters but you could only play with six!
Alex: Sega promised that there'd be more characters playable in the Saturn port, and that got a lot of hype for a while because the game was pretty popular, but it never got ported. Sega wanted to focus on Virtua Quest, they said the game played too close to Virtua Quest and so they ended up canceling the port.
Brittany: A game like that, I think, would've been perfect for the Ring because I remember the graphics being really good.
Alex: Yeah, it was designed for the Model 3 hardware, as a launch title for the new arcade hardware and it never got ported over. Another game was called Quicksilver Night, and it was another arcade fighter, but the characters had guns. It was a mix of martial arts and gunplay, a lot like gunkata from that movie Equilibrium, if you remember that?
Brittany: I didn't like the movie but the gunkata was pretty cool.
Alex: Quicksilver Night was going to predate that, by two years. It was going to come out in the arcades in 2000, and we talked about it on an episode of GameTV...
Brittany: Right, I think it was the new millennium preview episode! We talked to Yu Suzuki about the game! It was getting a release on the Saturn, I remember it was supposed to be the last big fighter on the console.
Alex: Yu Suzuki was working on it and Virtua Fighter 4 at the same time, and also Shenmue II. And then Sega quietly canceled production on the game in late 2000.
Brittany: Because Yu Suzuki was burned out?
Alex: They tried to transfer the project to another employee but he didn't want it and ultimately it just sort of died on the vine. It would've been a great concept, and Capcom's Special Force fighting game actually took a lot of concepts from Quicksilver Night, some of the people who worked on Quicksilver Night would go on to Capcom and there's a lot of stuff in Special Force that looks like what was planned for Quicksilver Night.
Brittany: So if you want to play Quicksilver Night, get an Xbox? *laughs*
Alex: Exactly. One more Sega vaporware arcade game to discuss, and this game never got past the concept stages, but in 1997 Sega started working on a Sonic The Hedgehog arcade game.
Brittany: Whaaaaaaaaaaaat? *she's honestly surprised*
Alex: Yeah, this is something that really kinda was buried for a while but it IS true. For a very brief time it was actually called Sonic The Hedgehog 5.
Brittany: I can't see Sonic 5 as an arcade game, you're pulling my leg. They wouldn't!
Alex: Well only for a short time, then it was called Sonic Twisted, but basically it was an arcade with platformer Sonic levels like the ones in Sonic 4, the graphics were actually Katana-level quality and the stages were supposed to play just like the ones in past console Sonic games. It'd be a time attack thing, you'd play through a level, record your best time, and then people could play to beat your time. There'd be a local "best times" list and a nationwide list and a worldwide list-
Brittany: Okay, stop, you're making me want to play this now! A Sonic game you can compete in to get the best time? To beat other people? Sign me up!
Alex: They just couldn't figure out how it was going to play, if they were going to make the levels harder to get people to put in more quarters, or what, and by then work on Sonic 5 had started and the project was abandoned.
Brittany: What made Sega cancel the project?
Alex: Um, they didn't think a platformer could succeed as an arcade title. Sega wanted to focus on fighting and shooting games and didn't think a Sonic game would bring in enough revenue.
Brittany: I would've played it!!!
Alex: See, but you're good at Sonic, Sega felt that kids who, you know, aren't very good at the game would give up if they couldn't get on the high score list.
Brittany: Well, it would've been interesting to see a Sonic platformer in the arcades. So yeah, Sega probably burned through a lot of ideas during the time of the Saturn, when they were scrambling to come up games to put in the arcades.
Alex: Well, let's move from Sega to Nintendo. Around the time Nintendo was starting to transition to the Ultra, they released the Super Scope 2, an enhanced Super Scope for SNES-CD games that had limited 3-D capabilities.
Brittany: And we played that on GameTV too.
Alex: Right, it was featured with games like Days Of The Hunt...
Brittany: 3, 2, 1, Begin The Hunt! *laughs* That game was pretty cool, but playing it with the Super Scope 2 gave me kind of a headache.
Alex: It could also be used with Independence Day...
Brittany: Playing that game gave me a headache even without the fucking Super Scope!
Alex: *laughs*
Brittany: I seem to remember that Nintendo didn't push the Super Scope 2 at all. By then though, they were getting ready to move on to the Ultra Nintendo, and it seems to me like they only developed the Super Scope 2 to please Gunpei Yokoi, right?
Alex: That was kind of the reason. They did have some big plans to use it with Squad Four: Eclipse, but they couldn't get the device ready in time and had to scrap those plans. If you go back through the code for Squad Four: Eclipse, you can see snippets of code that were intended to be used for the Super Scope 2, and there have been attempts at ROM hacks to give Super Scope 2 support to the game.
Brittany: A disclaimer, we here at Geek Radio don't support the use of any ROMs, we support only purchasing and playing video games through legal and officially authorized means, no matter how frustratingly fun Kaizo Mario World is. Okay, continue.
Alex: So I was saying, Nintendo did at one time have plans for 3-D gaming. They looked into 3-D technology, they at one time planned a possible update for the Game Boy to use 3-D goggles, they were really hoping to get 3-D off the ground, and the Super Scope 2 was Nintendo and Gunpei Yokoi's attempt to take advantage of it. Even with the Ultra Nintendo looming, Nintendo did have some games planned, including another Squad Four project, Squad Four 3-D. They saw how popular Eclipse was and looked into making a quick spinoff title that would be released for the SNES-CD in late 1997 or early 1998, but after the Ultra Nintendo launched in Japan and sold out so quickly, all planning for that was scrapped.
Brittany: So it would've played like Eclipse, but using the Super Scope 2?
Alex: Right, it would've had elements of Rebellion, possibly even Raquel's first appearance in the series. It was even previewed in Famitsu in spring 1997 as a possible Super Scope 2 title, but nothing was heard of it after that.
Brittany: With 3-D movies starting to make a comeback, do you think a game company might take another shot at 3-D gaming?
Alex: You know, I think so. I think it's a matter of time before somebody does it, my guess being Nintendo or Apple, but you never know, maybe Microsoft's next console will be the Xbox 3-D.
Brittany: *laughing*
Alex: Another big vaporware game I wanted to discuss was a game created by Peter Molyneux.
Brittany: He does children's books now, but I do remember he used to be fairly big in the game industry.
Alex: His books are really good, he's got a creative mind but sometimes his brain and his mouth write checks that his ass can't cash.
*A brief snippet is played of the GameTV sketch where Steve Horton as Peter Molyneux sits on Santa's lap, only to be called naughty for promising things he can't deliver.*
Brittany: Everyone remembers Colony, the "epic" life-sim game-
Alex: You're making quotes with your fingers around the word epic.
Brittany: The game sucked.
Alex: *laughs*
Brittany: But yeah, after Colony he went to all the big console developers hoping to make a sixth-gen game.
Alex: Microsoft turned him down, Sega turned him down, but Sony wanted to work with him. Now, at the time, they were working on Carpathia, which was in development hell, and they were looking for a game to possibly replace that. Molyneux pitched them an idea that he'd had for quite some time, a god game somewhat like Populous but on a more personal level. It would've been released on the Nintendo Wave, possibly as a launch title, but development started to drag...
Brittany: Pretty much the same problems he ran into with Colony.
Alex: Exactly, and Sony was devoting resources to the game that they wanted to devote to Carpathia.
Brittany: So they were trying to develop these two big ambitious games both at once...
Alex: The Carpathia team was moving along a lot faster. Things were coming together really quickly for them in 2001, almost as if the presence of Peter Molyneux competing with them lit a fire under their asses.
Brittany: Because they knew if they didn't produce something, Sony was going to devote all its efforts to funding and promoting Molyneux's game.
Alex: Right. But after Carpathia started to come together, Molyneux's game hit a snag, and at the same time he was also trying to work on a new Populous game for the PC. So he's getting pulled every which way, he can't figure out a vision for his Wave project, things are stalling out, money's drying up, and Sony and Nintendo are moving on.
Brittany: They're sick of it.
Alex: Molyneux and his team can't come up with a concrete plot, the Wave's limitations are starting to become evident...
Brittany: Because as powerful and impressive as the Wave was, it's not a PC.
Alex: At one point Molyneux considered breaking it off with Sony and going back to EA to develop his game for PC, but he thought the game could sell better for the Wave. Eventually, by 2004, it's clear that this thing's just not going to be ready and the whole thing gets scrapped pre-alpha. It was shown off briefly at E3 2003. I saw it at IGN and like most Peter Molyneux projects, it sounded really ambitious and fun but it played like a mess.
Brittany: A shame, too, because from what I was hearing about the project it did sound pretty fun. But then again, so did Colony.
Alex: The whole thing soured Molyneux on games entirely, and that's when he started work on the Grave Of The Gods series, which of course is now one of the hottest YA fiction franchises out there.
Brittany: Yeah, those books are great, Arturo's reading the first one now and he really enjoys it.
Alex: Peter Molyneux is definitely a creative guy and he's done some great games, but I feel like he never really properly transitioned to the next generation of titles, once it got to be 1997 or so things just stopped working for him.
Brittany: So are there any more tales of vaporware games you want to share? Because this is pretty fascinating, hearing about all these games that never came to be. It's something I wanted to talk about on GameTV a few times, but we mostly focused on current games and kind of ignored the past except for when we started doing those retro reviews in 1999. It's kind of a shame, because retro gaming is hot right now.
Alex: Yeah, I wanted to cover more retro games on the show too. We do a ton of them on Games Over Matter.
Brittany: It is nice when you're the boss and you get to pick what to cover. *laughs*
Alex: *laughs* So there's one more vaporware-related thing I wanted to bring up, and it relates to the subject of smartphones. They're really big right now thanks to the iPhone, but smartphones have been around for quite a while. Back in 2002, the Motorola Elite was a big one since it promised to be the first phone solely devoted to games.
Brittany: Yeah, it was a pretty neat handheld. I actually bought one and Chris asked me why I needed another cellphone since I already had one, and I told him "I'm playing games on it!" and asked if he wanted one too.
Alex: Did he get one?
Brittany: He didn't want one!
Alex: Probably a good call.
Brittany: Hey, it had some decent games on it, you remember Modular right?
Alex: Oh yeah, I forgot Modular, that was actually one of the better handheld games of its day. And I'm sure you know but a lot of our listeners don't, that they wanted to make a Grand Theft Auto game for the Motorola Elite.
Brittany: Right, an exclusive one too!
Alex: An exclusive Grand Theft Auto game, a follow-up to Vice City, and it was supposed to be a fully 3-D game.
Brittany: Now that kind of baffles me, because Grand Theft Auto is a huge game, and the Elite...I mean it could do 3-D graphics, a bit better than even the Game Boy Nova could, but...Grand Theft Auto, on the Elite?
Alex: They were going to have it take place in just a part of Liberty City, a small part-
Brittany: But on the Elite? I mean....I guess there was a really good looking Gran Turismo game on the Nova...
Alex: That looked awesome for the Nova!
Brittany: It blew my mind the first time I played it, I couldn't believe a handheld was doing that!
Alex: Now there's the Supernova and the iPod Play with fully 3-D Grand Theft Auto.
Brittany: And the iPhone has it too.
Alex: But in 2002...yeah, it would've been tough, but there are some screenshots...
Brittany: Whoa, it does look pretty good. You people listening can't see but-
Alex: We do have them on Games Over Matter! I mean, it's not Xbox quality, it looks...
Brittany: Pretty blocky and pixellated but yeah, that's Grand Theft Auto all right.
Alex: Development on it was taking a while and by the time they had it about halfway done, the Elite had really kind of tanked and Rockstar quietly dropped the project.
Brittany: And do you think it could've been a killer app for the Elite?
Alex: You know, I....
Brittany: Probably not, right?
Alex: *laughing* Yeah, the Elite just had too many problems no matter what games were on it. Would've been neat, though.
Brittany: And you know, we could probably spend this whole hour...we could probably spend many hours talking about vaporware and just how many amazing game concepts never saw the light of day, it's a really fascinating subject.
Alex: And on Games Over Matter we do have a series, Up In Vapor, where we discuss a few vaporware games and what they might've been like had they been released. It's a weekly blog post, so check it out if you get the chance.
Brittany: The sad thing is that there are probably a lot more games that never get made than games that actually do. Any one of them might have changed the way we play video games forever!
Alex: Yeah, makes you think, doesn't it?
Brittany: ...but let's be honest, most of them would've sucked.
Alex: *laughs*
Brittany: Well, we've got another couple of songs coming up and then more with my guest Alex Stansfield, you're listening to Geek Radio on Northstar!
-excerpted from the April 14, 2008 evening broadcast of Northstar Satellite Radio's Geek Radio channel
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Brittany Saldita: And that was "Cruel Angel's Thesis", the main theme to the hit anime Neon Genesis Evangelion. As always, you're listening to Geek Radio on Northstar Satellite Radio. I'm Brittany Saldita, and let's go ahead and continue our discussion on video game history with my amazing friend, long time GameTV co-host, founder of Games Over Matter and world renowned super dork Alex Stansfield.
Alex Stansfield: Thank you, Brittany. I feel like I'm back in high school, being called super dork!
Brittany: Still not used to it by now?
Alex: Well now it's a term of endearment. *laughs*
Brittany: This is one of the topics I most wanted to go into with you tonight, and that's the topic of vaporware. Video games that were announced, that entered various stages of production, but for whatever reason, stuff happened, they never materialized.
Alex: And I remember, we hyped up some vaporware back on GameTV. We did some really nice preview segments for games that never ended up being made!
Brittany: I'd always be so embarrassed, going back and looking at that footage...
Alex: Remember how excited we were?
Brittany: The game never came out, and I felt like a liar!
Alex: Yeah, they made fools of us!
Brittany: Some of those games I was really disappointed, never getting to play them, you know? And a lot of the games we hyped up were Sega arcade hits.
Alex: Oh yeah, Sega had these pie in the sky ideas for lots of arcade games that never came to fruition.
Brittany: The Saturn kinda banked its whole ad campaign on...what was that, how'd it go again? "We bring the arcade hits home?"
Alex: Yeah, bringing the arcade hits home.
*A brief snippet of one of the old Sega Saturn commercials plays where it talks about Sega's "We Bring The Arcade Hits Home" campaign.*
Alex: Some of those hits never got home!
Brittany: Yeah, a shame.
Alex: One of those was Kogura Kings. Kogura Kings was a game, it actually did come out for the arcades in, I think it was late 1997. It was a fighting game, where it would start out like a traditional fighter, and then after the first round you'd do this platforming segment where you'd have to collect items and fight these small enemies, and then you'd return to the fight and however many guys you beat, and whatever items you got...
Brittany: It'd power you up in the game!
Alex: Exactly!
Brittany: Yeah, I think we reviewed that one for GameTV, it was pretty fun, wasn't it?
Alex: The big complaint I had about it was that there were only six playable characters.
Brittany: Uh huh, yeah, and you couldn't unlock any more even though there were more than six other people you could fight in the game. There were like more than a dozen fighters but you could only play with six!
Alex: Sega promised that there'd be more characters playable in the Saturn port, and that got a lot of hype for a while because the game was pretty popular, but it never got ported. Sega wanted to focus on Virtua Quest, they said the game played too close to Virtua Quest and so they ended up canceling the port.
Brittany: A game like that, I think, would've been perfect for the Ring because I remember the graphics being really good.
Alex: Yeah, it was designed for the Model 3 hardware, as a launch title for the new arcade hardware and it never got ported over. Another game was called Quicksilver Night, and it was another arcade fighter, but the characters had guns. It was a mix of martial arts and gunplay, a lot like gunkata from that movie Equilibrium, if you remember that?
Brittany: I didn't like the movie but the gunkata was pretty cool.
Alex: Quicksilver Night was going to predate that, by two years. It was going to come out in the arcades in 2000, and we talked about it on an episode of GameTV...
Brittany: Right, I think it was the new millennium preview episode! We talked to Yu Suzuki about the game! It was getting a release on the Saturn, I remember it was supposed to be the last big fighter on the console.
Alex: Yu Suzuki was working on it and Virtua Fighter 4 at the same time, and also Shenmue II. And then Sega quietly canceled production on the game in late 2000.
Brittany: Because Yu Suzuki was burned out?
Alex: They tried to transfer the project to another employee but he didn't want it and ultimately it just sort of died on the vine. It would've been a great concept, and Capcom's Special Force fighting game actually took a lot of concepts from Quicksilver Night, some of the people who worked on Quicksilver Night would go on to Capcom and there's a lot of stuff in Special Force that looks like what was planned for Quicksilver Night.
Brittany: So if you want to play Quicksilver Night, get an Xbox? *laughs*
Alex: Exactly. One more Sega vaporware arcade game to discuss, and this game never got past the concept stages, but in 1997 Sega started working on a Sonic The Hedgehog arcade game.
Brittany: Whaaaaaaaaaaaat? *she's honestly surprised*
Alex: Yeah, this is something that really kinda was buried for a while but it IS true. For a very brief time it was actually called Sonic The Hedgehog 5.
Brittany: I can't see Sonic 5 as an arcade game, you're pulling my leg. They wouldn't!
Alex: Well only for a short time, then it was called Sonic Twisted, but basically it was an arcade with platformer Sonic levels like the ones in Sonic 4, the graphics were actually Katana-level quality and the stages were supposed to play just like the ones in past console Sonic games. It'd be a time attack thing, you'd play through a level, record your best time, and then people could play to beat your time. There'd be a local "best times" list and a nationwide list and a worldwide list-
Brittany: Okay, stop, you're making me want to play this now! A Sonic game you can compete in to get the best time? To beat other people? Sign me up!
Alex: They just couldn't figure out how it was going to play, if they were going to make the levels harder to get people to put in more quarters, or what, and by then work on Sonic 5 had started and the project was abandoned.
Brittany: What made Sega cancel the project?
Alex: Um, they didn't think a platformer could succeed as an arcade title. Sega wanted to focus on fighting and shooting games and didn't think a Sonic game would bring in enough revenue.
Brittany: I would've played it!!!
Alex: See, but you're good at Sonic, Sega felt that kids who, you know, aren't very good at the game would give up if they couldn't get on the high score list.
Brittany: Well, it would've been interesting to see a Sonic platformer in the arcades. So yeah, Sega probably burned through a lot of ideas during the time of the Saturn, when they were scrambling to come up games to put in the arcades.
Alex: Well, let's move from Sega to Nintendo. Around the time Nintendo was starting to transition to the Ultra, they released the Super Scope 2, an enhanced Super Scope for SNES-CD games that had limited 3-D capabilities.
Brittany: And we played that on GameTV too.
Alex: Right, it was featured with games like Days Of The Hunt...
Brittany: 3, 2, 1, Begin The Hunt! *laughs* That game was pretty cool, but playing it with the Super Scope 2 gave me kind of a headache.
Alex: It could also be used with Independence Day...
Brittany: Playing that game gave me a headache even without the fucking Super Scope!
Alex: *laughs*
Brittany: I seem to remember that Nintendo didn't push the Super Scope 2 at all. By then though, they were getting ready to move on to the Ultra Nintendo, and it seems to me like they only developed the Super Scope 2 to please Gunpei Yokoi, right?
Alex: That was kind of the reason. They did have some big plans to use it with Squad Four: Eclipse, but they couldn't get the device ready in time and had to scrap those plans. If you go back through the code for Squad Four: Eclipse, you can see snippets of code that were intended to be used for the Super Scope 2, and there have been attempts at ROM hacks to give Super Scope 2 support to the game.
Brittany: A disclaimer, we here at Geek Radio don't support the use of any ROMs, we support only purchasing and playing video games through legal and officially authorized means, no matter how frustratingly fun Kaizo Mario World is. Okay, continue.
Alex: So I was saying, Nintendo did at one time have plans for 3-D gaming. They looked into 3-D technology, they at one time planned a possible update for the Game Boy to use 3-D goggles, they were really hoping to get 3-D off the ground, and the Super Scope 2 was Nintendo and Gunpei Yokoi's attempt to take advantage of it. Even with the Ultra Nintendo looming, Nintendo did have some games planned, including another Squad Four project, Squad Four 3-D. They saw how popular Eclipse was and looked into making a quick spinoff title that would be released for the SNES-CD in late 1997 or early 1998, but after the Ultra Nintendo launched in Japan and sold out so quickly, all planning for that was scrapped.
Brittany: So it would've played like Eclipse, but using the Super Scope 2?
Alex: Right, it would've had elements of Rebellion, possibly even Raquel's first appearance in the series. It was even previewed in Famitsu in spring 1997 as a possible Super Scope 2 title, but nothing was heard of it after that.
Brittany: With 3-D movies starting to make a comeback, do you think a game company might take another shot at 3-D gaming?
Alex: You know, I think so. I think it's a matter of time before somebody does it, my guess being Nintendo or Apple, but you never know, maybe Microsoft's next console will be the Xbox 3-D.
Brittany: *laughing*
Alex: Another big vaporware game I wanted to discuss was a game created by Peter Molyneux.
Brittany: He does children's books now, but I do remember he used to be fairly big in the game industry.
Alex: His books are really good, he's got a creative mind but sometimes his brain and his mouth write checks that his ass can't cash.
*A brief snippet is played of the GameTV sketch where Steve Horton as Peter Molyneux sits on Santa's lap, only to be called naughty for promising things he can't deliver.*
Brittany: Everyone remembers Colony, the "epic" life-sim game-
Alex: You're making quotes with your fingers around the word epic.
Brittany: The game sucked.
Alex: *laughs*
Brittany: But yeah, after Colony he went to all the big console developers hoping to make a sixth-gen game.
Alex: Microsoft turned him down, Sega turned him down, but Sony wanted to work with him. Now, at the time, they were working on Carpathia, which was in development hell, and they were looking for a game to possibly replace that. Molyneux pitched them an idea that he'd had for quite some time, a god game somewhat like Populous but on a more personal level. It would've been released on the Nintendo Wave, possibly as a launch title, but development started to drag...
Brittany: Pretty much the same problems he ran into with Colony.
Alex: Exactly, and Sony was devoting resources to the game that they wanted to devote to Carpathia.
Brittany: So they were trying to develop these two big ambitious games both at once...
Alex: The Carpathia team was moving along a lot faster. Things were coming together really quickly for them in 2001, almost as if the presence of Peter Molyneux competing with them lit a fire under their asses.
Brittany: Because they knew if they didn't produce something, Sony was going to devote all its efforts to funding and promoting Molyneux's game.
Alex: Right. But after Carpathia started to come together, Molyneux's game hit a snag, and at the same time he was also trying to work on a new Populous game for the PC. So he's getting pulled every which way, he can't figure out a vision for his Wave project, things are stalling out, money's drying up, and Sony and Nintendo are moving on.
Brittany: They're sick of it.
Alex: Molyneux and his team can't come up with a concrete plot, the Wave's limitations are starting to become evident...
Brittany: Because as powerful and impressive as the Wave was, it's not a PC.
Alex: At one point Molyneux considered breaking it off with Sony and going back to EA to develop his game for PC, but he thought the game could sell better for the Wave. Eventually, by 2004, it's clear that this thing's just not going to be ready and the whole thing gets scrapped pre-alpha. It was shown off briefly at E3 2003. I saw it at IGN and like most Peter Molyneux projects, it sounded really ambitious and fun but it played like a mess.
Brittany: A shame, too, because from what I was hearing about the project it did sound pretty fun. But then again, so did Colony.
Alex: The whole thing soured Molyneux on games entirely, and that's when he started work on the Grave Of The Gods series, which of course is now one of the hottest YA fiction franchises out there.
Brittany: Yeah, those books are great, Arturo's reading the first one now and he really enjoys it.
Alex: Peter Molyneux is definitely a creative guy and he's done some great games, but I feel like he never really properly transitioned to the next generation of titles, once it got to be 1997 or so things just stopped working for him.
Brittany: So are there any more tales of vaporware games you want to share? Because this is pretty fascinating, hearing about all these games that never came to be. It's something I wanted to talk about on GameTV a few times, but we mostly focused on current games and kind of ignored the past except for when we started doing those retro reviews in 1999. It's kind of a shame, because retro gaming is hot right now.
Alex: Yeah, I wanted to cover more retro games on the show too. We do a ton of them on Games Over Matter.
Brittany: It is nice when you're the boss and you get to pick what to cover. *laughs*
Alex: *laughs* So there's one more vaporware-related thing I wanted to bring up, and it relates to the subject of smartphones. They're really big right now thanks to the iPhone, but smartphones have been around for quite a while. Back in 2002, the Motorola Elite was a big one since it promised to be the first phone solely devoted to games.
Brittany: Yeah, it was a pretty neat handheld. I actually bought one and Chris asked me why I needed another cellphone since I already had one, and I told him "I'm playing games on it!" and asked if he wanted one too.
Alex: Did he get one?
Brittany: He didn't want one!
Alex: Probably a good call.
Brittany: Hey, it had some decent games on it, you remember Modular right?
Alex: Oh yeah, I forgot Modular, that was actually one of the better handheld games of its day. And I'm sure you know but a lot of our listeners don't, that they wanted to make a Grand Theft Auto game for the Motorola Elite.
Brittany: Right, an exclusive one too!
Alex: An exclusive Grand Theft Auto game, a follow-up to Vice City, and it was supposed to be a fully 3-D game.
Brittany: Now that kind of baffles me, because Grand Theft Auto is a huge game, and the Elite...I mean it could do 3-D graphics, a bit better than even the Game Boy Nova could, but...Grand Theft Auto, on the Elite?
Alex: They were going to have it take place in just a part of Liberty City, a small part-
Brittany: But on the Elite? I mean....I guess there was a really good looking Gran Turismo game on the Nova...
Alex: That looked awesome for the Nova!
Brittany: It blew my mind the first time I played it, I couldn't believe a handheld was doing that!
Alex: Now there's the Supernova and the iPod Play with fully 3-D Grand Theft Auto.
Brittany: And the iPhone has it too.
Alex: But in 2002...yeah, it would've been tough, but there are some screenshots...
Brittany: Whoa, it does look pretty good. You people listening can't see but-
Alex: We do have them on Games Over Matter! I mean, it's not Xbox quality, it looks...
Brittany: Pretty blocky and pixellated but yeah, that's Grand Theft Auto all right.
Alex: Development on it was taking a while and by the time they had it about halfway done, the Elite had really kind of tanked and Rockstar quietly dropped the project.
Brittany: And do you think it could've been a killer app for the Elite?
Alex: You know, I....
Brittany: Probably not, right?
Alex: *laughing* Yeah, the Elite just had too many problems no matter what games were on it. Would've been neat, though.
Brittany: And you know, we could probably spend this whole hour...we could probably spend many hours talking about vaporware and just how many amazing game concepts never saw the light of day, it's a really fascinating subject.
Alex: And on Games Over Matter we do have a series, Up In Vapor, where we discuss a few vaporware games and what they might've been like had they been released. It's a weekly blog post, so check it out if you get the chance.
Brittany: The sad thing is that there are probably a lot more games that never get made than games that actually do. Any one of them might have changed the way we play video games forever!
Alex: Yeah, makes you think, doesn't it?
Brittany: ...but let's be honest, most of them would've sucked.
Alex: *laughs*
Brittany: Well, we've got another couple of songs coming up and then more with my guest Alex Stansfield, you're listening to Geek Radio on Northstar!
-excerpted from the April 14, 2008 evening broadcast of Northstar Satellite Radio's Geek Radio channel
I like Blu-Ray... and since it was first presented by Sony... and it is with Nintendo....
*rubs hands in anticipation
So the iTwin is the Wii done right? Sounds intresting, I wonder why its called twin though.
Isn't blue-ray proprietary? 15 GB is plenty for the 7th gen imo.
Isn't blue-ray proprietary? 15 GB is plenty for the 7th gen imo.
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AeroTheZealousOne
Monthly Donor
Nice, nice. The biggest spoilers from 2008 so far would have to be
Aside from that, I am looking quite forward to 2006 and beyond, and as always, a very cool update. The "we don't endorse ROMs" bit, while obligatory, was funny in its own right as well.
My last question about Civilization IV (I promise!): Do we still get Leonard Nimoy voicing the tech quotes?
The existence of the iPhone (which is an OTL item, with opportunity for multiple differences from our counterpart); and it appears Northstar got into entertainment weather than just sticking to weather, and ended up beating out Sirius.
Aside from that, I am looking quite forward to 2006 and beyond, and as always, a very cool update. The "we don't endorse ROMs" bit, while obligatory, was funny in its own right as well.
My last question about Civilization IV (I promise!): Do we still get Leonard Nimoy voicing the tech quotes?
The Blu-Ray will be covered in an upcoming Sony-based update that should be up sometime in the next few weeks.
The Madrid attacks were totally butterflied away. For the most part, Europe's been fairly quiet in terms of terrorist attacks during this time, save for a few very small incidents not nearly as severe as the OTL ones. Russia's been an exception, due to the continuing conflict with Chechnya.
As for Eva Longoria, she's still in TTL's version of Desperate Housewives. She's friends with Selena, who will make at least one guest appearance on the show.
Yep!
All still playing soccer and doing about as well as IOTL.
This may be spoilery as OTL they didn't start until 2007/2010 respectively, but have Grimes (Claire Boucher) and Death Grips' careers been butterflied? Also I don't think I saw it but what is Kanye up to? IIRC his accident was butterflied so Through the Wire is gone. I hope Donda's death is butterflied. It may butterfly MBDTF away but maybe he won't be as much of a dick as he is OTL.
I'd like to know too, due to the one what if I've always wished happen: Child Rebel Soldier.
Good to know that Eva Longoria is appearing in Desperate Housewives TTL (and that Selena is making a guest appearance). Speaking of Selena, how is Selena Gomez (who was named after Selena Quintanilla Perez, interestingly enough; not a surprise, considering that Selena was popular in the Latino community IOTL and ITTL before crossing over ITTL (1)) ITTL?
BTW, there are going to be a lot more girls named Selena ITTL...
(1) She would have been a success IOTL, IMO, and it's a shame Yolanda Saldivar took that away from us...
BTW, there are going to be a lot more girls named Selena ITTL...
(1) She would have been a success IOTL, IMO, and it's a shame Yolanda Saldivar took that away from us...
As the Fantastic Four sequel approaches, I'm curious (or in need of a memory refresh) as to what Michael Chiklis' OTL co-stars are up to:
Jessica Alba
Chris Evans (may be getting ready to return as Flash Thompson, but that's by no means certain)
Ioan Gruffudd
Julian McMahon
And BTW, another thing I forget whether it's been specified: is Stan Lee making cameo appearances in TTL Marvel movies?
Jessica Alba
Chris Evans (may be getting ready to return as Flash Thompson, but that's by no means certain)
Ioan Gruffudd
Julian McMahon
And BTW, another thing I forget whether it's been specified: is Stan Lee making cameo appearances in TTL Marvel movies?
Grammy/Oscar 2006
2006 Grammy Nominees: (winners in bold)
Best New Artist-
Carrie Underwood
DJ Hoogland
Fall Out Boy
Indira Villa
Keane
(Notes: DJ Hoogland, the winner in this category, is an original TTL rap artist who mixes smart beats with catchy rhythms and social commentary. He would be compared to Kanye West numerous times soon after the release of his debut album, Welcome To Hoogtown, but his more media friendly personality would lead many to dub him a “sellout”. Hoogland's main competition for this award would be Carrie Underwood, who IOTL won the Best New Artist Grammy a year later, but releases her album a bit earlier ITTL and just barely qualifies to win it in 2006. However, against stiffer competition, she would come up short.)
Song Of The Year-
“Devils & Dust” by Bruce Springsteen
“Flip And Twist It” by DJ Hoogland
“It's A Woman's World” by Destiny's Child ft. Julieta Venegas
“These Savior Wings” by Carrie Underwood ft. Jenny Stigile
“Witch Song” by No Doubt
(Notes: This was a fairly competitive category, with five well-written songs nominated in the category, but it would ultimately be Destiny's Child and their collaboration with Julieta Venegas that would take the award with their defiant anthem for femininity that many critics said was a much stronger message than Independent Woman Pt. 1 back in 2000. Beyonce Knowles would specifically mention Gwen Stefani during the band's acceptance speech, acknowledging the fact that many considered “Witch Song” to be the biggest competition.)
Record Of The Year-
“Feel Good Inc.” by Gorillaz ft. De La Soul
“Gold Digger” by Kanye West
“It's A Woman's World” by Destiny's Child ft. Julieta Venegas
“Pon de Replay” by Rihanna
“Remaining Days” by Jamiroquai
(Notes: Jamiroquai's win was a bit of a surprise to the mainstream music industry, but many insider critics expected the band to win due to the brilliant production values of the song, which mixed soulful lamentations over a melancholy techno beat. Kanye West was said to have been livid after losing out for this award, belieiving it meant that Jamiroquai was going to take home the grand prize as well.)
Album Of The Year-
Fell In A Forest by Jamiroquai
High Wire Act by No Doubt
Late Registration by Kanye West
The Sum Of Our Parts by Destiny's Child
Welcome To Hoogtown by DJ Hoogland
(Notes: Just as IOTL, Late Registration was lauded by critics and considered one of the year's top albums. This would be the last of Kanye's albums that would be fairly close to its OTL incarnation, and unlike OTL where he lost this award, he would win it here, getting revenge for last year's Best New Artist loss. Kanye's acceptance speech, in which he mostly talked about himself while also insulting his critics, was the longest acceptance speech ever given at the Grammys.)
-
2006 Oscar Nominees: (winners in bold)
Best Picture-
Brokeback Mountain
Chasm
Kingdom Of Heaven
Playing To Win
Violet Summer
(Notes: Unlike IOTL, where Crash controversially won the big prize, ITTL Crash was butterflied away, and Brokeback Mountain, favored to win since the beginning of Oscar season, won the award to nobody's surprise. It beat out Chasm, Kingdom Of Heaven, Playing To Win (a film about race and basketball in the 1960s, centering particularly around the 1964 strike at the NBA All-Star Game in which Bill Russell led both teams in threatening to sit and not play the game unless the players got a union), and Violet Summer (a film starring Frances McDormand as a woman suffering early onset dementia who begins to plant a garden for her family to remember her by). Brokeback Mountain's win was seen as a major touchstone for LGBT rights, which had been steadily gaining progress over the course of the decade.)
Best Director-
Ang Lee for Brokeback Mountain
George Clooney for Landmine
Ridley Scott for Kingdom Of Heaven
Spike Lee for Playing To Win
Steven Spielberg for Chasm
(Notes: As IOTL, Ang Lee takes it here. Steven Spielberg was thought to have an outside shot, but Chasm wasn't as critically praised as Munich was IOTL, and considering Spielberg was considered the #2 in this category, you can see by just how much Ang Lee outran the field.)
Best Actor-
Alphonse Renning for Playing To Win
Heath Ledger for Brokeback Mountain
Joaquin Phoenix for Walk The Line
Pierce Brosnan for Between
Tom Cruise for Chasm
(Notes: Of note: Alphonse Renning, who played Bill Russell in Playing To Win, is an original TTL actor, and Pierce Brosnan starred in Between as a diplomat caught up in an international love affair. While Joaquin Phoenix's performance in Walk The Line as Johnny Cash was as acclaimed as it was IOTL, Tom Cruise was absolutely masterful in Chasm in a performance that even surpassed his work in Born On The Fourth Of July. His heart-wrenching performance earned him an Oscar here.)
Best Actress-
Felicity Huffman for Transamerica
Frances McDormand for Violet Summer
Kim Min-hee for Comfort
Reese Witherspoon for Walk The Line
Rose Byrne for Wickersby Lane
(Notes: This one was largely a three way race between Huffman, McDormand, and Witherspoon. Kim Min-hee, who before 2005 was a fairly obscure Korean actress largely known for TV acting in South Korea, absolutely burst onto the scene with a powerful performance as a woman forced into sexual slavery in Comfort, which chronicles the lives of several World War II era “comfort women”, but was considered to be a major longshot to win. Same with Rose Byrne, who starred in the comedy-drama Wickersby Lane, about a woman serving as a maid for a posh noble family in Britain. Ultimately, as she did IOTL, Reese Witherspoon impressed the Academy and beat her tough competition.)
Best Supporting Actor-
Al Pacino for Cloistered
Edward Norton for Playing To Win
Leonardo DiCaprio for Brokeback Mountain
Vincent Cassel for Landmine
William Hurt for A History Of Violence
(Notes: Though praise went to Al Pacino for his role as a repentant murderer in Cloistered, to Edward Norton for his performance as Jerry West in Playing To Win, and to Vincent Cassel for his performance as a corrupt United Nations inspector in Landmine, Leonardo DiCaprio was absolutely brilliant as Jack Twist in Brokeback Mountain, and didn't have much trouble winning an Oscar.)
Best Supporting Actress-
Anika Noni Rose for Playing To Win
Billie Piper for Royal Pain
Jennifer Garner for Violet Summer
Lauren German for Mistakes Were Made
Nell Carter for Stand And Be Counted
(Notes: This was a category full of trendy and quirky performances, and while Jennifer Garner was the frontrunner, there was definitely some intriguing competition, including Anika Noni Rose's performance as Bill Russell's wife in Playing To Win, Lauren German's performance as a slick tattoo shop owner turned professional artist in Mistakes Were Made, and Nell Carter's comeback role as a lawyer/activist in the civil rights drama Stand And Be Counted. Meanwhile, Billie Piper, who was seen as a massive longshot in the category, was actually a popular upset pick to take the category in the lead-up to Oscar night. In the end, Jennifer Garner won, but all five performances got people seriously talking.)
Best New Artist-
Carrie Underwood
DJ Hoogland
Fall Out Boy
Indira Villa
Keane
(Notes: DJ Hoogland, the winner in this category, is an original TTL rap artist who mixes smart beats with catchy rhythms and social commentary. He would be compared to Kanye West numerous times soon after the release of his debut album, Welcome To Hoogtown, but his more media friendly personality would lead many to dub him a “sellout”. Hoogland's main competition for this award would be Carrie Underwood, who IOTL won the Best New Artist Grammy a year later, but releases her album a bit earlier ITTL and just barely qualifies to win it in 2006. However, against stiffer competition, she would come up short.)
Song Of The Year-
“Devils & Dust” by Bruce Springsteen
“Flip And Twist It” by DJ Hoogland
“It's A Woman's World” by Destiny's Child ft. Julieta Venegas
“These Savior Wings” by Carrie Underwood ft. Jenny Stigile
“Witch Song” by No Doubt
(Notes: This was a fairly competitive category, with five well-written songs nominated in the category, but it would ultimately be Destiny's Child and their collaboration with Julieta Venegas that would take the award with their defiant anthem for femininity that many critics said was a much stronger message than Independent Woman Pt. 1 back in 2000. Beyonce Knowles would specifically mention Gwen Stefani during the band's acceptance speech, acknowledging the fact that many considered “Witch Song” to be the biggest competition.)
Record Of The Year-
“Feel Good Inc.” by Gorillaz ft. De La Soul
“Gold Digger” by Kanye West
“It's A Woman's World” by Destiny's Child ft. Julieta Venegas
“Pon de Replay” by Rihanna
“Remaining Days” by Jamiroquai
(Notes: Jamiroquai's win was a bit of a surprise to the mainstream music industry, but many insider critics expected the band to win due to the brilliant production values of the song, which mixed soulful lamentations over a melancholy techno beat. Kanye West was said to have been livid after losing out for this award, belieiving it meant that Jamiroquai was going to take home the grand prize as well.)
Album Of The Year-
Fell In A Forest by Jamiroquai
High Wire Act by No Doubt
Late Registration by Kanye West
The Sum Of Our Parts by Destiny's Child
Welcome To Hoogtown by DJ Hoogland
(Notes: Just as IOTL, Late Registration was lauded by critics and considered one of the year's top albums. This would be the last of Kanye's albums that would be fairly close to its OTL incarnation, and unlike OTL where he lost this award, he would win it here, getting revenge for last year's Best New Artist loss. Kanye's acceptance speech, in which he mostly talked about himself while also insulting his critics, was the longest acceptance speech ever given at the Grammys.)
-
2006 Oscar Nominees: (winners in bold)
Best Picture-
Brokeback Mountain
Chasm
Kingdom Of Heaven
Playing To Win
Violet Summer
(Notes: Unlike IOTL, where Crash controversially won the big prize, ITTL Crash was butterflied away, and Brokeback Mountain, favored to win since the beginning of Oscar season, won the award to nobody's surprise. It beat out Chasm, Kingdom Of Heaven, Playing To Win (a film about race and basketball in the 1960s, centering particularly around the 1964 strike at the NBA All-Star Game in which Bill Russell led both teams in threatening to sit and not play the game unless the players got a union), and Violet Summer (a film starring Frances McDormand as a woman suffering early onset dementia who begins to plant a garden for her family to remember her by). Brokeback Mountain's win was seen as a major touchstone for LGBT rights, which had been steadily gaining progress over the course of the decade.)
Best Director-
Ang Lee for Brokeback Mountain
George Clooney for Landmine
Ridley Scott for Kingdom Of Heaven
Spike Lee for Playing To Win
Steven Spielberg for Chasm
(Notes: As IOTL, Ang Lee takes it here. Steven Spielberg was thought to have an outside shot, but Chasm wasn't as critically praised as Munich was IOTL, and considering Spielberg was considered the #2 in this category, you can see by just how much Ang Lee outran the field.)
Best Actor-
Alphonse Renning for Playing To Win
Heath Ledger for Brokeback Mountain
Joaquin Phoenix for Walk The Line
Pierce Brosnan for Between
Tom Cruise for Chasm
(Notes: Of note: Alphonse Renning, who played Bill Russell in Playing To Win, is an original TTL actor, and Pierce Brosnan starred in Between as a diplomat caught up in an international love affair. While Joaquin Phoenix's performance in Walk The Line as Johnny Cash was as acclaimed as it was IOTL, Tom Cruise was absolutely masterful in Chasm in a performance that even surpassed his work in Born On The Fourth Of July. His heart-wrenching performance earned him an Oscar here.)
Best Actress-
Felicity Huffman for Transamerica
Frances McDormand for Violet Summer
Kim Min-hee for Comfort
Reese Witherspoon for Walk The Line
Rose Byrne for Wickersby Lane
(Notes: This one was largely a three way race between Huffman, McDormand, and Witherspoon. Kim Min-hee, who before 2005 was a fairly obscure Korean actress largely known for TV acting in South Korea, absolutely burst onto the scene with a powerful performance as a woman forced into sexual slavery in Comfort, which chronicles the lives of several World War II era “comfort women”, but was considered to be a major longshot to win. Same with Rose Byrne, who starred in the comedy-drama Wickersby Lane, about a woman serving as a maid for a posh noble family in Britain. Ultimately, as she did IOTL, Reese Witherspoon impressed the Academy and beat her tough competition.)
Best Supporting Actor-
Al Pacino for Cloistered
Edward Norton for Playing To Win
Leonardo DiCaprio for Brokeback Mountain
Vincent Cassel for Landmine
William Hurt for A History Of Violence
(Notes: Though praise went to Al Pacino for his role as a repentant murderer in Cloistered, to Edward Norton for his performance as Jerry West in Playing To Win, and to Vincent Cassel for his performance as a corrupt United Nations inspector in Landmine, Leonardo DiCaprio was absolutely brilliant as Jack Twist in Brokeback Mountain, and didn't have much trouble winning an Oscar.)
Best Supporting Actress-
Anika Noni Rose for Playing To Win
Billie Piper for Royal Pain
Jennifer Garner for Violet Summer
Lauren German for Mistakes Were Made
Nell Carter for Stand And Be Counted
(Notes: This was a category full of trendy and quirky performances, and while Jennifer Garner was the frontrunner, there was definitely some intriguing competition, including Anika Noni Rose's performance as Bill Russell's wife in Playing To Win, Lauren German's performance as a slick tattoo shop owner turned professional artist in Mistakes Were Made, and Nell Carter's comeback role as a lawyer/activist in the civil rights drama Stand And Be Counted. Meanwhile, Billie Piper, who was seen as a massive longshot in the category, was actually a popular upset pick to take the category in the lead-up to Oscar night. In the end, Jennifer Garner won, but all five performances got people seriously talking.)
Maybe Rick will open up a portal for anyone who can get him some of that Mulan McNugget sauce
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