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The untold story of a failed Nintendo game six years in the making
Nintendo has had a number of high-profile flops (Virtual Boy, anyone?). However, one of its biggest failures may have been one you heard almost nothing about -- at least, until now. Unseen64 has published a documentary detailing the largely unknown story of Project H.A.M.M.E.R (aka MachineX), a Wii game from Nintendo Software Technology that died after nearly six years of painful development that began in 2003. The hammer-swinging sci-fi brawler was supposed to be mostly finished by the time it was first acknowledged in 2005, but a culture clash between the Japanese management and American staff all but killed progress. The two sides had differing ideas about what would fix the mediocre gameplay. The top brass thought better environments would improve things, for example, while the rank-and-file wanted to overhaul the core gameplay mechanics.
Project H.A.M.M.E.R. gets cold shoulder in Japan?
According to German gaming website GameFront, the latest issue of Famitsu is reporting that Project H.A.M.M.E.R. has been officially axed for Japan. This follows rumors that the game was going to be canceled altogether.For us, we feel it's the right move, considering the demo we played back at E306 was not the least bit of fun. But, what about those of you hoping to get some intimate time with the title? Think this is the beginning of the end entirely for this game?[Via Codename Revolution]
Project H.A.M.M.E.R. development in doubt (still)
Project H.A.M.M.E.R. for Wii, initially shown at E3 2006 alongside the console's unveiling, has since been left in the tool shed to collect dust. After the title was rumored to be axed, and was conspicuously missing from their E3 presentation, we asked Nintendo's Beth Llewellyn to clarify. What's the status of Project H.A.M.M.E.R. or Disaster: Day of Crisis? Disaster is still in development. Project H.A.M.M.E.R. we've sort of shifted resources off that title. But Disaster is still in development. Again, you have to remember, E3 is one small little blip in time and we tried to focus on a few key titles. Rest assured, there is a lot more going on behind the scenes at Nintendo. You know the company, and we always have stuff going on ...Are you talking about the reasons why H.A.M.M.E.R. has been cancelled? No.Now, Ms. Llewellyn did not use the word "cancelled" but, coupled with the existing rumor, the vague shifting of resources, and a lack of protest when we specifically referred to the project as being "cancelled," the nebulous status of the project can only be interpreted as such. [Update: Reader WiNG just reminded us of the H.A.M.M.E.R. acronym's true meaning – Hiatus: Ambiguously Muttered Message Extinguishes Reassurances.]
Hope for Disaster: DoC, less for Project H.A.M.M.E.R
First, the good news: after speaking with NoA's PR star Beth Llewelyn, AMN reports that Disaster: Day of Crisis is trucking along. Since this is one of the games we've been most hoping to see (for a long, long time), we're pleased to hear it. Project H.A.M.M.E.R., however, does in fact seem to be either canceled, or at least indefinitely on some back burner in a forgotten room. Well, E3 can't be all about good news, we supposed, but we seriously wanted to smash things with a giant hammer. And who can blame us?
Rumor: Project H.A.M.M.E.R. gets the hammer
According to rumors, one of the titles that took the 'meh' medal home from E3, Project H.A.M.M.E.R., has been canned. Or, rather someone came into the cubicle holding all of the discs and computers with the game's code on them and dropped a gigantic hammer in the most dramatic way possible. Yeah, that's the mental picture we want to go with.Obviously, this isn't confirmed, but we could understand why Nintendo would want to go ahead and shut it down. It didn't look very fun and we imagine playing it is the video game equivalent of drinking the bottle of bleach underneath the sink. So, while we hope the rumor is true, some of you out there just might still be interested in this game, sitting there biting your nails while rocking back and forth in your chair. Care to comment?[Thanks, ConstyXIV!]
Rumor: Project H.A.M.M.E.R. axed
Sources close to NST allege that the studio's first-party Wii game Project H.A.M.M.E.R. has been canceled, IGN reports. The team has apparently moved on to one or more "expanded audience" projects -- more minigames? The ill-fated action romp was previewed during E3 2006 (in playable form), and then dipped below the radar, stamped with a "TBA" date on Nintendo's press site. IGN speculates that a supposed initiative to redesign several "traditional" titles to cater to casual players forced Nintendo to rethink Project H.A.M.M.E.R. Perhaps the Ninty think tank deemed the hack-n-smack unfit for mainstream tastes.Nintendo has yet to issue an official statement or change the "TBA" status of Project H.A.M.M.E.R. on its site. Despite the corny plot -- hammer-wielding cyborg saves U.S. from "killer robots" -- Project H.A.M.M.E.R. was (is?) expected to provide a relatively unique gameplay experience (like, um, some actual violence) for Wii owners.
