On my daily excursions through the many pages of the internet, I came across two early builds of Smuggler's Run. The first is an early alpha build, seen here on YouTube:
I'd seen this video a couple of years ago, though for some reason I always thought it was a gameplay trailer release by Rockstar during the development of Smuggler's Run. Only lately have I realised that it's actually an early alpha build of the game which actually exists on a disc; rather than being a snapshot of a work in progress.
The second is a slightly later beta build. No footage of this one but here's an image of the disc. Thanks to Ptoponline (Past to present online).
I believe the owner of this image sold this disc a few years ago by the way. Anyway, so this got me thinking about GTA III again. (I bet I sound like a broken record...) I'd always thought that the best shot of owning a beta build of GTA III was to hunt down the disc that was playable at E3 in 2001; though now I'm wondering if there's an even earlier disc out there. Possibly an alpha build like the earliest Smuggler's Run footage that I posted above. Obviously I'm just speculating, but it's nice to think that there may be an even earlier build out there; containing the game around this stage of development:
Even though it came out over ten years ago, Gran Turismo 2 is still being discussed on the web today. Roadhog360 from YouTube has recently launched a small website, to further improve the longevity of Gran Turismo 2. He could do with a few viewers and forum posts, so I'm posting it here in case anyone is interested: http://gt2info.ucoz.net
I just thought I'd post a small list of video games that I'm currently
interested in buying. Some of them are quite rare, so I'm having trouble
finding them. So on the off chance that anyone wants to sell a copy,
get in touch! :) Games marked with a strikethrough are ones that I have recently purchased. Gran Turismo Test Drive Disc (Single version or Pule Pule / Pure Pure version)
Gran Turismo 2 Test Drive Disc Grand Theft Auto III E3 2001 Demo Gran Turismo Special Edition 2004 Toyota Demo Gran Turismo 4 Press Kit Gran Turismo Concept 2002 Tokyo-Seoul [NTSC-J/KR] Gran Turismo Demo KB Toys [NTSC-U/C] Gran Turismo Limited Edition PlayStation discs 100 million
Gran Turismo Concept 2002 Tokyo-Geneva Press Pack [EU] Gran Turismo Concept Mitsubishi Airtrek Turbo Special Edition [NTSC-J] Gran Turismo Concept Daihatsu Copen Special Edition [NTSC-J] Gran Turismo Nissan 350z Edition (Press Pack) [NTSC-U/C]
Gran Turismo Nissan Micra Edition (Press Pack) [PAL-UK] Gran Turismo VW Lupo Cup Japan Training Version 1 [NTSC-J] Gran Turismo 4 BMW 1 series Virtual Drive Gran Turismo 4 BMW 1 series Virtual Drive Dealership Gran Turismo 4 E3 Press Kit Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec Demo [NTSC/UC]
I'll be adding more to the list whenever I come across something that
I'd like to own. I'd probably also be interested in any items that are
in any way similar to those that I have posted above.
Send me a message on YouTube (MattJ155) , or email me at mattj_155@hotmail.co.uk
I just thought I'd post a small list of video games that I'm currently
interested in buying. Some of them are quite rare, so I'm having trouble
finding them. So on the off chance that anyone wants to sell a copy,
get in touch! :)
Gran Turismo Test Drive Disc (Single version or Pule Pule / Pure Pure version)
Gran Turismo 2 Test Drive Disc
Gran Turismo 4 Press Kit
Gran Turismo 5 Press Kit
Gran Turismo 5 Prologue Press Kit Gran Turismo Concept 2001 Tokyo Collection Gran Turismo Concept 2002 Tokyo-Seoul [NTSC-J/KR] Gran Turismo Concept 2002 Tokyo-Geneva [NTSC-J] Gran Turismo Demo KB Toys [NTSC-U/C] Gran Turismo Limited Edition PlayStation discs 100 million Gran Turismo Concept 2001 Tokyo Promo [NTSC-J]
Gran Turismo Concept 2002 Tokyo-Geneva Promo [NTSC-J/Chinese]
Gran Turismo Concept 2002 Tokyo-Geneva Press Pack [EU]
Gran Turismo Concept 2002 Tokyo-Geneva Promo [PAL-UK]
Gran Turismo Concept Mitsubishi Airtrek Turbo Special Edition [NTSC-J]
Gran Turismo Concept Daihatsu Copen Special Edition [NTSC-J] Gran Turismo Nissan 350z Edition (Press Pack) [NTSC-U/C]
Gran Turismo Nissan Micra Edition (Press Pack) [PAL-UK] Gran Turismo VW Lupo Cup Japan Training Version 1 [NTSC-J] Gran Turismo Special Edition 2004 Toyota Demo [NTSC-U/C] Gran Turismo 4 BMW 1 series Virtual Drive
Gran Turismo 4 BMW 1 series Virtual Drive Dealership Gran Turismo 4 E3 Press Kit Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec Demo [NTSC/UC] Gran Turismo 4 Prologue Special Hologram Cover [NTSC/J] Grand Theft Auto III E3 2001 Demo
I'll be adding more to the list whenever I come across something that
I'd like to own. I'd probably also be interested in any items that are
in any way similar to those that I have posted above.
Send me a message on YouTube (MattJ155) , or email me at mattj_155@hotmail.co.uk
Since my last post on this subject, there have been a few updates to report. Firstly, the Rockstar E3 Press Kit I bought from Ebay arrived and it's a nice thing to own. It obviously contains no demo, only screenshots, some videos, a trailer and a press release statement. However, it came with a name (probably the press officer at the time); Jeff Castaneda. I managed to contact Jeff and ask him about the demo that was playable at E3. Nice guy, however he couldn't really help me and instead, directed me to Rockstar support.
The trail went dead for a while, when I was contacted by a user on YouTube; with some snippets of information about a German journalist that had owned the demo, and sold it on Ebay. I am currently investigating this lead, though I have no idea how far I'll get with it. It would be great to talk to a previous owner though, as that would be a big step forward in tracking down the disc.
Look at this picture; do you recognise it at all? Well if
you don’t, it’s a school bus in Grand Theft Auto III. It’s not a mod either; it’s
one of many things that was either cut or changed during the development. You
can still see school buses near 8-Ball’s bomb shop in Portland, though they’re not
driveable; they don’t even have any wheels! Speaking of 8-Ball, he was
originally white rather than black, and was named Mullin. Last year, Rockstar
did an online Q and A with fans about GTA III; where beta features such as
these were explained. I’m going to do my best to detail what is now known about
the early stages of GTA III’s development, and what is still a mystery.
At any point during
the development of GTA III, did Claude ever speak?
Many people have seen this trailer where Claude appears to
say; “Get out of the car!”
Here is Rockstar’s explanation:
“This is fake. This is
an old bit of gameplay footage, for sure, but we think the voices were added at
a later date by someone online as at no point did we plan for Claude to have a
voice or even design how a speaking protagonist would be implemented until Vice
City.”
Seems probable, right? Well I can shed at least a little bit
more light than Rockstar can on this matter. I recently bought the press disc
that was given out by Rockstar to the press at E3 in 2001. The trailer in
question features on this disc, with voices and all. So it seems as if this
trailer is not a fake after all, though I would assume that the voices and
sound effects within the trailer were added by a Rockstar employee; and therefore
a talking Claude would have never been implemented in the game. It is possible
that the trailer in its finished state wasn’t seen by the powers that be at
Rockstar; and so could have been added by a single designer gone haywire. This
one remains a bit of a mystery.
Darkel
Darkel was a character that was cut during the development
of GTA III. He was to be a revolutionary street urchin who would have given out
rampage-like missions. However Rockstar decided to go back to the traditional
rampage style missions and Darkel’s part in the game was cut. The only mission
of his that is known to still exist in the game is ‘I scream, you scream’,
which was given out to Claude by El Burro. Here are Rockstar’s comments on the
matter:
“Darkel was just a
crazy bum who gave you some crazy missions. They were removed a few months
before the game was done and long before 9/11 because they just weren’t as good
as the rest of the game, and tonally they were a little odd. He started with 5
missions and they were slowly all cut. When only one or 2 were left, they were
all removed as the character just didn’t work alongside the other characters. None
of these missions involved blowing up buses of school children although that is
a funny rumour!”
Another rumour is that Darkel gave out a mission where the
player had to fly a plane into the Love Media Building. Rockstar have never
commented on this, however they have revealed that the Dodo was never meant to
be flown; meaning that this mission is probably just a rumour.
“Because we were
making a driving and shooting game - even that, as a combination of core
gameplay elements, was very, very radical at the time. The Dodo was never meant
to be flown very much at all, and it certainly wasn’t grounded as a result of
9/11 – it was just a fun thing that people then went crazy with when they
figured out various bugs that let them fly it!”
There were other cut characters too: Curtly, Butler
(presumed to have been Salvatore’s butler) and Novy. Tom Novy’s song ‘Back to
the Streets’ was used in a trailer and it is rumoured that it was to feature on
Head Radio. Both Novy and his song were cut for unknown reasons; however the
textures for him and Butler remain in the game. Other characters simply changed names before the final
release of the game. Salvatore Leone’s name was originally Frankie Sorvino; therefore
making Joey’s surname Sorvino too.
Other Stuff
A lot of the other stuff that was changed between the first
look at GTA III and the final release was mostly cosmetic. A beta map design
shows that Francis International Airport was located in Staunton Island, before
it was moved to Shoreside Vale. Shoreside Vale looked slightly larger than it
ended up being, having more roads near where the airport would eventually be
placed.
The graphics were a lot more ‘cartoonish’ in the earliest
stages of GTA III’s development, and Portland went through a few design tweaks.
The police station and hospital were changed and there was originally no
subway. The Police cars were originally blue rather than black, which is
potentially one of the few changes Rockstar made in light of 9/11.
“(GTA III after 9/11
was) about 1% different. We removed only one mission that referenced terrorists
and changed a few other cosmetic details – car details, a couple of ped
comments, lines of radio dialogue etc – the game came out a very short time
later. The biggest change was the US packaging which remixed the previous
packaging into what became our signature style – because the previous packaging
[which was released as the cover of the game in Europe] was, we felt, too raw
after 9/11. All of the more extreme rumours are amusing but impossible to have
been achieved in such a short period of time.”
So that’s about it. There’s just one thing left to cover
really.
The year was 1999. My parents had bought me a Sony Playstation
the previous Christmas and Tekken 3, amongst other games; had come with it. I
loved Tekken 3, and I’m still addicted to the series today; eagerly awaiting
the impending release of Tekken Tag Tournament 2. But during the first year
that I owned my Playstation, I was oblivious to all the other titles that Namco
had released.
Then one day, my friend brought round a game for me to play:
Soul Blade. This game was the first in another series of fighting games that Namco
had produced, alongside Tekken. We inserted the game into the console, and
started to play. I mentioned that I’m still a fan of the Tekken series today,
well I’m still a fan of the Soul series too, and it’s all thanks to the
impression that Soul Blade made on me.
So recently, I purchased Soulcalibur V and dived straight in
to the new mode of gameplay; Story Mode. It doesn’t sound like a new mode at
all, but the difference is that you’re forced to take control of a new
character called Patroklos, and guide him through a series of battles divided
into twenty episodes.
Unfortunately for me, Patroklos wields a sword and shield;
similar to the characters Sophitia and Cassandra. Now I know that this type of
move set will suit some people, but it’s just not for me. Besides, if the game
designers are going to force you to play as just one character through this
story mode; then they should give you the option of selecting a move set. At
the very least, the player should be able to earn different weapons and move
sets as they progress through the story.
Now, what makes this mode even less appealing is that
instead of cut scenes, you’re forced to watch still images in sepia tone. There
are a few cut scenes, but they’re few and far between. The lack of effort that
was put into the main innovative feature of the game is quite astounding. The
innovation of a new mode has been a staple since the very first game in the
series. Many fans of the series loved the Edge Master Mode of Soul Blade (named
Weapon Master Mode in Soulcalibur II); but the mode I always enjoyed best was
Chronicles of the Sword from Soulcalibur III.
Not only did Soulcalibur III introduce the option to create
a character, but Chronicles of the Sword actually gave your created characters
a purpose in the game. Your character would begin as a rookie cadet for the
Grandall Empire and work up to commander of the Arthias rebels through 20
Chronicles. This mode still offered players the chance to fight 1 on 1, but
also brought in an element of turn based strategy. Unfortunately, this mode was
plagued by a glitch that reportedly wiped the save game from your memory card;
though I never experienced this myself.
But in any case, such a mode of gameplay was never included
in a Soul game again, and neither was the popular Weapon Master Mode. Soul
Calibur IV offered the Tower of Lost Souls mode, but what it boiled down to is
just a survival mode with a fancy title.
There are some good elements in Soulcalibur V; the controls
are as good as ever and so is the music. But they are both a continuation of
what was already good about the series, and where this game falls down is just
a lack of innovation this time around. I’ll always hold out for another game
like Soulcalibur III, which felt innovative and fresh. The soundtrack and controls
were as good then as they are today; but it came with the exciting additions of
Chronicles of the Sword and Create a Soul modes. It seems as if my search for a
worthy successor to Soulcalibur III will go forever on, just as Siegfried is
forced to endure the never-ending quest; to rid the world of the cursed blade, Soul
Edge.
