Vapor Trails 2.0 Feature on GamePro.com

Feature: Vapor Trails 2.0

Feature by DANELEKTRO | 02/04/2004 | 13:44:35 PM PST

It's called "vaporware"-game software that's announced, developed, promoted, and previewed, but never released. Years of effort and millions of dollars go down the drain, and eventually, even the public forgets the game ever existed. But why does it happen? We dug deep to find the real stories behind the games with potential that just plain disappeared.

Couple years after our first Vapor Trails, our investigations in "vaporware" continued. The list of suspects has changed, but we still have the truth right here. Take a look at this last report before checking out Vapor Trails 3.0.

Ferrari 360 Challenge (By Acclaim for PlayStation 2 ? Not released 2001)
The Hype: One of the world?s finest automobiles, the Ferrari 360 Modena was to take center stage in a realistic driving sim on the PS2. Acclaim planned to harness the new console?s graphical powers to make a stunning racer-but, hey, have you ever seen an ugly Ferrari?

What Happened? If you think Ferraris are expensive, imagine how much the license to create official Ferrari games would cost! After announcing the game and starting development, Acclaim then took a second look at the company balance sheet and realized that the rights necessary to the game would hurt them hard financially. When Acclaim surrendered the Ferrari license, Ferrari 360 Challenge went with it.

Tenth Degree (By Atari for Arcade ? Not released October 1998)
The Hype: The best of both fighting worlds: the depth, combos, and game mechanics of a 2D fighting game; with the style, visual effects, and panache of a 3D brawler.

What Happened? Market viability. The year 1998 was a banner year for fighting games-Tekken 3, Mortal Kombat 4, Soul Calibur, Rival Schools, Street Fighter Alpha 3, Pocket Fighter-and Atari was afraid Tenth Degree would be lost in the shuffle, despite its promising gameplay and good looks. So it was shelved.

The Diabolical Adventures of Tobu (By 989 Studios for PlayStation ? Not released November 1998)
The Hype: ?A refreshingly unique, flight-based platform game,? according to Air Hendrix back in our October 1998 issue. Playing as the title character in a fantasy Asiatic setting, ?Tobu has full 360-degree freedom of movement in alluring 3D worlds, as he rams enemies, collects power-ups, rockets through speed chutes, and floats up drafts.?

What Happened? Games can look good, but it?s all about gameplay-and Tobu?s didn?t exactly fly high enough. The game simply wasn?t performing up to expectations, so it was grounded.

X-Men Mutant Wars (By Activision for PlayStation ? Not released Holiday Season 2000)
The Hype: An action/adventure game (read: go-right, beat-em-up) that was supposed to tie in with the movie. Only a handful of PlayStation screen shots were released before E3 2000-and then the game was M.I.A. on the show floor, never to be seen again.

What Happened? X-Men Mutant Wars was simply not up to snuff. Most games are cancelled for quality reasons, and the PlayStation version of Mutant Wars was one such victim. Better to cancel a game than put out a lame one and make the license look bad, right? Right.

NBA ShootOut ?99 (By 989 Sports for PlayStation ? Not released Nov. 1998)
The Hype: 989?s annual edition of pro basketball was to feature a new developer, boosted A.I., and the introduction of Team Momentum and Total Control Shooting. ?We have received rave reviews from NBA players who have tested and consulted on this year?s game,? said 989?s vice president of marketing in a press release. ?No other PlayStation basketball video game has the moves, look, feel, and features of NBA ShootOut ?99.?

What Happened? Take a look at these screens-especially Shaq?s freakish face texture-and that?s pretty much all you need to know. ShootOut ?99 was canned simply for quality issues. The new developers needed time to get up to speed, so 989 shelved the game and waited a year. But, heck, the marketing department was right: No other basketball game had that look.

Tattoo Assassins (By Data East for Arcade ? Not released 1994)
The Hype: Hollywood screenwriter Bob Gale (Back to the Future) set out to build a better Mortal Kombat with Data East. The game featured 2D video-captured fighters, whose tattoos come to life and whack on other players. Characters included a Nancy Kerrigan clone and a giant running hot dog. Is it worth mentioning that one of the 150-plus finishing moves involved diarrhea?

What Happened? Intended as a quick cash-in on the success of MKII, Tattoo Assassins was rushed-and looked it. Even the designers knew they were polishing a turd. While the game did go on beta test for a short while in some arcades, it?s believed that only two machines were ever completed with the final code. One is privately owned by a collector, and the other was last seen in Data East?s California headquarters-but the company went out of business about four years ago, so that second one could be anywhere....

Mini-Racers (By Nintendo for Nintendo 64 ? Not released 2000)
The Hype: Remote-control car racing with the N64?s visual flair and multiplayer support. Tracks included a basketball court, backyard dirt tracks, and others. Think Micro Machines with a nitro boost, or the NES classic R/C Pro Am reborn.

What Happened? The game?s developer, Looking Glass Technologies, went out of business. Looking Glass was also responsible for the excellent first-person stealth/action Thief series on the PC, and Mini-Racers was just another lamentable loss tied to the company?s passing.

Deuce (By Midway Home Entertainment for PlayStation ? Not released November 2000)
The Hype: A cute playing-card knight (the two of hearts, hence the game?s name) sets off on a 3D hop-and-bop adventure to save the royal family from the evil Jack of Spades. In a preview build of the game, Deuce took full advantage of a free-roaming environment and the analog controller?s variable pressure-push forward lightly to tiptoe, or fully forward to run. He could also float between rooftops, using his playing-card torso to glide. Bamboo Carabao called it ?promising? back in our September 2000 issue-and it was.

What Happened? Apparently, this one was a business decision. While Deuce looked like it was on track to deliver good gameplay and impressive graphics, current theory suggests that Midway didn?t feel the post-PS2 PlayStation market was strong enough to support a younger-audience game, despite Deuce?s quality. As a result, the company folded Deuce?s hand.

Maximum Surge (By Digital Pictures for Saturn/3DO/PC ? Not released November 1995)
The Hype: Then-Baywatch beauty Yasmine Bleeth starred as a 21st Century bounty hunter tracking power-mad dictator Walter Koenig (a.k.a. Chekov from Star Trek) in a full-motion video game from the gang that brought you Night Trap. Maximum Surge was to feature a technological innovation that, in the words of Digital Pictures founder Tom Zito, could have ?broken the stigma? of full-motion video games once and for all: ?We created a game where you could move through live video at your own pace-not on a roller-coaster track as in earlier games. We were remapping frames of video on the fly.?

What Happened? Focus groups held two months before the game?s expected release brought up many good suggestions-good enough that Maximum Surge was delayed six months so those ideas could be implemented. Unfortunately, Digital Pictures closed down before those changes were made-yet another victim of 1995?s gaming slump. Zito reports, however, that Maximum Surge was later sold to another company and could still resurface as an interactive DVD video.

RazorWing (By n-Space for PlayStation ? Not released October 1995)
The Hype: A bunch of ex-Martin Marietta military simulation programmers turned game developers, n-Space?s first PlayStation title was supposed to be a ?campaign-based action/adventure game featuring first-person alien-busting in an awesome anti-gravity tank,? according to an emphatic GamePro preview back in June 1995. RazorWing was such a lock that Sony put a screen shot of the game on the PlayStation?s carton, alongside games such as Mortal Kombat 3 and Twisted Metal.

What Happened? Mergers and movements within Sony around the time of the PlayStation launch wound up pitting RazorWing against SingleTrac?s Warhawk-and the two products were deemed similar enough that one had to go. So, three months before completion, Sony cancelled RazorWing. However, n-Space moved on to create Duke Nukem: Time to Kill; Danger Girl; and Die Hard Trilogy 2 for the PlayStation.

Virtua Hamster (By Sega for 32X ? Not released 1995)
The Hype: You?re reading that right-Virtua Hamster. It sounds funny, but the game involved polygonal rodents with rocket packs and skateboards swooshing through a huge hamster habitrail, collecting popcorn kernels to spit at enemies while searching for an exit from the evil lab. ?The feel was a bit like the arcade game Stun Runner, looping through tubes at high speed,? says the game?s designer, Eric Quakenbush.

What Happened? Well, it was for the 32X-and you know how that turned out. Sega public relations reps from the era have no recollection of the game, but Quakenbush says a British company picked up development for the PC after Sega stopped production. Unfortunately, Hamster never came out for PC either, and Quakenbush, who also designed Jurassic Park for the Sega CD, and Garfield: Caught in the Act for Game Gear, remembers Virtua Hamster as the one that got away: ?It would?ve been a classic if it had shipped.