Rare artwork from unreleased games

[Agent Icebeezy]

http://media.1up.com/media/03/5/4/6/lg/720.JPG
http://media.1up.com/media/03/5/4/6/lg/723.JPG
http://media.1up.com/media/03/5/4/6/lg/725.JPG
http://media.1up.com/media/03/5/4/6/lg/722.JPG

The Nordic Game conference, held in the city of Malmo in Sweden last week, played host to many interesting speakers, such as Jet Set Radio designer Ryuuta Ueda and Ico's Fumito Ueda, to name a few. But one of the sessions that really caught our eye was one entitled "East West All-stars," where Ueda, Ninja Theory's Alex Taini, Furi Furi's Ryosuke Tei, and Rare's Ryan Firchau showed off artwork to demonstrate the differences in design approaches and style between the east and the west.

Most interesting was the concept art shown by Firchau of several games that never came to fruition at Rare.

Concept art is just that: concept art. But the work Firchau showed looked like it had the potential to be far more interesting than anything Rare has released in the last few years. Take a look at some of the photos that show art from a seemingly dark fairytale with werewolves (?) and a sci-fi game that looks a bit Halo-ish, only with more dirt and grime. What do you think of this stuff -- could any of it have made for some cool games?

[Tanjo]

Looks pretty neat.

[Banjo kazoo]

Malmo i where there last week... and im still there...
I drove to Skane and then stayed in lund for 1 night, Then i went to Malmo A.k.a Malmö!
My family lives down there so i go meat them sometimes!

[Loser Conker]

Awesome! I wonder if this was the concept art for Rare's MMO codenamed Quest...

EDIT: Look at this image from the unused concept art

Then look at Ryan Firchau's website and click the link labeled "Urchin- Were Wolf Design"

Those images are the same. Now if we assume that that Were Wolf was from the same game as the rest of the concept art we saw, then we know those are the concepts art from a canceled Rare game called "Urchin".

EDIT 2: Ok, this image is from the 1up concept art page, and on Ryan's website, click the link that says "The Dean sketch", they're the same, so we can assume all those images are from "Urchin", which I think could have been what "Quest" was later called.

EDIT 3: (last edit, I swear ) At Ryan Firchau's site, at the bottom it says:

Unpublished Titles
Battletoads
Diddy Kong Racing
Conker 2 "Getting Medieval"
Urchin

Diddy Kong Racing we knew was canceled after the Microsoft buyout, but since it has "Battletoads" as a canceled title, does that mean that they were making a new Battletoads at one point!? (Which begs the question: 2d or 3d?) We also know Urchin was canceled b/c those concept arts are from a canceled game (duh), but I was surprised Conker 2 was going to have "Getting Medieval" as a Subtitle (I was actually more surprised that a sequel was greenlit given Chris Seavor's hatred for Conker), but the coolest thing is was Ryan wrote at the bottom:

"I am currently working on three AAA titles but I am not at liberty to disclose for reasons of confidentiality." What could they be?

[watkinzez]

Originally Posted by Ryan Firchau's site

Unpublished Titles

Battletoads
Diddy Kong Pilot
Conker 2 ‘Getting Medieval’
Urchin

Wait, what? Don't give 4chan more fuel, please.
I assume Conker 2 is what they would have made if they didn't decide to remake the first one.

[Loser Conker]

Originally Posted by watkinzez

I assume Conker 2 is what they would have made if they didn't decide to remake the first one.

The Conker Team broke apart after BFD. Part of the team went on to develop Arc Angels, which was going to be a futuristic high-speed racer, and Chris Seavor, Duncan Botwood, and Mark Edmonds took the rest of the team to work on a MMO called "Quest". Because production was moving slowly on the MMO, and because Microsoft wanted another Conker, Microsoft canceled Arc Angel and Quest, put Botwood and Edmonds on PDZ, and put Seavor in charge of the newly reformed Conker Team to make C: L&R

Oh, and Seavor has been quoted as saying he hated the Conker series, and if a sequel were made, he would kill Conker off in the first scene, and focus on the war between the SHC and the Tediz, which is why I was so surprised that they started work on a sequel. So I don't think Seavor really wanted to make another Conker game, but rather that since he had to make another Conker game, he chose to remake BFD, since he wouldn't have to explor the universe he hates so much.

Source

[watkinzez]

I know. I'm saying it must have been an early version of what became Live and Reloaded, because it sure wasn't after it.

[Loser Conker]

Originally Posted by watkinzez

I know. I'm saying it must have been an early version of what became Live and Reloaded, because it sure wasn't after it.

You could be right about it being before Conker: L&R, but who says it wasn't after. I mean, Rare owns the IP. Perhaps Seavor agreed to a sequel, but he would only check in on it, from time to time, and when he didn't see what he wanted, he canceled it. The world, may never know...

[samf]

Doesn't Chris Seavor do Conker's voice?

[l3anjoK@z00ie]

Originally Posted by Agent Icebeezy

http://media.1up.com/media/03/5/4/6/lg/720.JPG
http://media.1up.com/media/03/5/4/6/lg/723.JPG
http://media.1up.com/media/03/5/4/6/lg/725.JPG
http://media.1up.com/media/03/5/4/6/lg/722.JPG

The Nordic Game conference, held in the city of Malmo in Sweden last week, played host to many interesting speakers, such as Jet Set Radio designer Ryuuta Ueda and Ico's Fumito Ueda, to name a few. But one of the sessions that really caught our eye was one entitled "East West All-stars," where Ueda, Ninja Theory's Alex Taini, Furi Furi's Ryosuke Tei, and Rare's Ryan Firchau showed off artwork to demonstrate the differences in design approaches and style between the east and the west.

Most interesting was the concept art shown by Firchau of several games that never came to fruition at Rare.

Concept art is just that: concept art. But the work Firchau showed looked like it had the potential to be far more interesting than anything Rare has released in the last few years. Take a look at some of the photos that show art from a seemingly dark fairytale with werewolves (?) and a sci-fi game that looks a bit Halo-ish, only with more dirt and grime. What do you think of this stuff -- could any of it have made for some cool games?

If banjo is not in it, It's not a game.

[Coolboyman]

Originally Posted by samf

Doesn't Chris Seavor do Conker's voice?

Yes, he voiced all the male characters expect the Great Mighty Poo. I believe he also did Banjo's and a few other characters in the Banjo series.

"Strange Noise Makers: Eveline Novakovic, Lee Ray, Chris Seavor"

Sucks he hates the Conker series though, but thats his opinion. Perhaps he wanted conker to bomb on purpose?

[ConkerTribe]

The art looks interesting, but it really depends on the type of game it is whether I'd enjoy whatever it was going to be. See, I don't play all Rare games. Mainly the platformers and silly junk like that. That looks like a serious game full of shooting and what-have-you.

Still, looks hot.

I really hate the fact that Chris Seavor hates Conker... You have no idea how that upsets me.

[xxjoesusxx]

i agree with coolboyman

art looks neat though...very different style.

[B-R-E-T]

Looks kind of generic to me. I'm not pickin' a fight, it's very well drawn, just... It looks pretty conventional. Aliens and spacemen with guns.

Chris Seavor hates Conker? That's news to me. I thought he just didn't want to make a series of it...

[watkinzez]

He doesn't hate Conker, he just doesn't want to work on it again. Considering how long he had to, I'd say that's fair enough.