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Canned Sony projects including The Getaway 3, Heavenly Sword 2 found in artist's reel, CV
Former Sony lead artist Martin Binfield touched a few projects that never saw fruition, including The Getaway 3, and his showreel shows off bits of these before they were shelved. The Getaway 3 footage in Binfield's above reel is pulled from the game's E3 trailer, while canceled PS3 science-fiction and lifestyle projects demonstrate rocket-fueled space travel and the joys of being a single father, respectively.Heavenly Sword 2 is listed on Binfield's CV as canceled in 2008. He was the character animation team lead on the first Heavenly Sword.
Heavenly Sword 2 could have gone to Hell
With Enslaved now wrapped up, Ninja Theory's Tameem Antoniades answered a few questions from VG247's readers. One asked about the possible direction a sequel to the team's previous game, Heavenly Sword, could take. (Spoiler alert!) The death of the first game's heroine, Nariko, obviously poses a challenge. According to Antoniades, one idea had players discovering Nariko "trapped in Hell by the spirit of the sword." Coming to her rescue would be Kai, playable in the real world and somehow able to "communicate with Nariko and try and help rescue her soul." Fascinatingly, the potential sequel would have played with the movement of time -- one day in Hell represents a year on Earth -- and as such, Kai would transform from "teenage girl to old woman" throughout the course of the game. The Voices of a Distant Star approach to the game's storytelling could have made for an interesting, thought-provoking journey. (Certainly more so than EA's Dante's Inferno.) However, it's unlikely this concept will ever come to fruition. Last we heard, Ninja Theory is no longer involved with the series.
Rumor mill round-up: Heavenly Sword 2 [Update]
Yesterday, Kotaku posted a rumor saying Heavenly Sword 2 was in fact in development ... but that it had been canned by the Sony higher-ups. Details of a potential sequel to Heavenly Sword were leaked to the public from a focus group a few months ago. However, since then, developer Ninja Theory has moved on to a yet-unannounced multiplatform game. According to the Kotaku report, the Heavenly Sword franchise is not seen as commercially viable, in spite of generally favorable reviews and respectable sales figures. Supposedly, Ninja Theory has "grown increasingly bitter about their treatment at Sony's hands." The bad blood between Ninja Theory and Sony has supposedly caused the developer to move offices, further away from Sony Cambridge. If there is any truth to this rumor, it would be the third major game canceled by Sony's European arm in recent memory (The Getaway and Eight Days being the last two games canned). Today, SCEE responded saying "I think it is fair to say that we do not comment on rumor and speculation, especially about games that have never been announced." In addition, the rep wants to remind everyone that Killzone 2, LittleBigPlanet and Motorstorm: Pacific Rift are all from Sony Europe, emphasizing that first-party development in Sony Europe is not in any kind of trouble. Update: Speaking to Gamespot, Ninja Theory confirms that the relationship between Sony and Ninja Theory are good. "We are moving, but it's completely amicable," Ninja Theory cofounder and chief development ninja Nina Kristensen told GameSpot. "We move mid July and have been planning it for the best part of a year; there's nothing nefarious about it. We are excited about the move--our new premises are considerably bigger and in an excellent location near the town centre." According to the report, Heavenly Sword 2 was offered to Ninja Theory, but the team declined to work on it.
Rumor: Heavenly Sword 2 canceled; Ninja Theory 'bitter' with Sony
Sony Europe has allegedly canceled the Sony Cambridge-helmed Heavenly Sword 2, while the first game's developer, Ninja Theory, has been said to be generally unhappy with the company. Kotaku reports an "inside UK source" said the game was killed after months in development because it was no longer commercially viable. Meanwhile, Ninja Theory, which has offices in the same building as HS2 developer Sony Cambridge, is apparently moving out following "increasingly bitter" treatment by Sony. We've contacted both Ninja Theory and Sony for comment. If true, we'll never underestimate Sony Europe's game culling ability again. Update: Sony informs it will not comment on the Heavenly Sword 2 rumor. Ninja Theory's official statement is after the break.
Rumor: focus group discusses possible Heavenly Sword 2 info
It seems a focus group got together, thanks to Chatter Inc., and talked about Heavenly Sword 2. At first, the questions were standard survey stuff -- nothing too meaty, just reactions to the first game. Later, though, tidbits were unveiled about possibilities with the sequel. What were they? We'll list them below, but if you hate spoilers, we'd recommend you turn your monitor off and bathe in clorox until all the pigment is gone from your skin. Heavenly Sword 2 will take place 10 years after the events in Heavenly Sword. The main character will be a male with martial arts background. The main character will be Kai, but she will be a more mature woman. The game will require you to master different martial arts styles before retrieving the heavenly sword. The game will, instead of button mashing, have controls that utilize an analog stick to go through weapons. The game will have downloadable weapons, characters, and enemies to customize your experience. The game will be more interactive with the environment. The game will have you on a storyline with replayable missions, as opposed to an open world. It seems like it's all speculation, but we can kind of see how the game will turn out if they follow some of these ideas. Instead of being compared to God of War, it seems the game might turn more into a Devil May Cry presentation style. Just so Kai isn't so ... weird. Take this rumor with a basket of salt.
