Puhleeze. Who wants a Hideo Kojima produced Silent Hill game written by Guillermo Del Toro and starring Norman Reedus anyway?

A few weeks ago, a potential classic, Silent Hills, was cancelled, and all trace of it was removed from the Playstation Network Store. What would have been a potential game changer for both the franchise and the survival horror genre in general is yet another case of what could have been. Although no definite reason was given for it, if you’ve kept up with the drama over the past few weeks, it’s evident that business politics, internal conflict, and the pending departure of Hideo Kojima all played into the cancellation. Sadly, Silent Hills isn’t the first high profile cancellation, nor will it be the last. Gaming’s history is rife with games that could have been classics being canceled due to a variety of reasons. I’ve done 5 previous installments on this subject alone.

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It would have been a dream collaboration, not to mention a desperately needed shot in the arm for the survival horror franchise: A Silent Hill title co-produced by Kojima Productions and Director/Writer/Producer Guillermo del Toro (Blade II, Pacific Rim, Hellboy). Sadly, it will remain to be just that, a dream. Hideo Kojima confirmed that he would be leaving Konami after the release of September’s Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, leaving the status of the project in the air. Sadly, it was confirmed via the twitter accounts of both actor Norman Reedus and Del Toro this past weekend that Silent Hills is indeed canceled. To add further insult to injury, PS4 owners will have until this Wednesday to download the playable teaser from the PSN store. Never before has a cancellation been so heartbreaking since Mega Man Legends 3 and Mega Man Universe a few years ago. Sadly, this isn’t the first time Del Toro was involved with a video game project that fell through; the title Insane was canceled in 2012 when would-be publisher THQ went bankrupt. Of course no doubt Konami will continue the Silent Hill series at some point. However, it will remain to be seen if anything Konami comes up would be as grand as what Kojima and Del Toro had planned for the series. If there is a bright spot in this whole fiasco, then there is a possibility that Del Toro and Kojima can take their talents to another company.

Sure sign of trouble: The intro features a generic martial arts guy who isn’t in the game. It’s not too late to turn back now.

I think I may have very well found the worst fighting game ever. This isn’t an exaggeration folks. Unlike other shitty fighting games such as Karate Champ (which gets a pass as it was among the first of its kind and for that awesome bullfighting bonus stage), Survival Arts (with it’s goofy character designs), Time Splitters (with its creative use of gore), and Rise of the Robots (that at least had nice graphics), there was no redeeming value for Best of Best. No, I take it back. There is some unintentional comedy in some of the poses, backgrounds, and animations. By the way, Best of Best should not be confused with Best of the Best: Championship Karate, Electro Brain’s 1992 fighting game nor should it be confused with the movie of the same name that the previously mentioned Karate Game ISN’T based upon.
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Developed by Pack-In-Video and released by LJN/Acclaim, Rambo is an NES game loosely based on Rambo: First Blood Part II. If any action movie franchise seems ripe for a video game treatment, it’s Rambo. I mean, basically all you’d have to do is give him a bunch of weapons (including his explosive arrows) and have him kill the ever-living fuck out of anything moving. This formula does work (see Contra, Heavy Barrel, Doom, Wolfenstein 3-D). So why the hell would PIV/LJN/Acclaim turn Rambo into a RPG-ish Zelda II (although it was released a few months prior) clone?
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This Thanksgiving, we show thanks for the many things that we have. We as gamers are also particularly thankful for the many games that have been released or are on their way, considering that there are so many that don’t make it off the drawing board. On the flip-side, we should also be thankful for all the crappy video games that have been left on the cutting room floor that gamers and critics never had to endure. Without any further ado, lets take a look at 10 of these cancellations, some of which are especially heartbreaking.
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This past weekend saw the news that the Neo Geo X would cease production. With that note, it brings to mind another handheld which had an all-too-brief existence, Gamepark Holdings’ GP2X Caanoo. What’s that you say? Never heard of it? Well, that’s part of the reason it didn’t last long. Normally, Maximum Letdown takes potshots at bad games or/hardware. However, this Maximum Letdown is a letdown of a different variety, because the product had some potential, it just succumbed to poor timing and poor marketing.
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As I noted in my review of Datura a few weeks back, indie games often use vagueness and minimalism as a means of attracting players. However, there is a difference between using minimalism to benefit the game and being vague for the sake of being vague. Sadly, Vigil (or Victi as it’s known in Europe) does the latter. While it drags players in with its Sin-City-style graphics and interesting storyline, it’s vagueness and frustrating gameplay will turn off players with the quickness.
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As I type this, it’s a few days removed from America’s birthday. Which means leftover fireworks, leftover hot dogs, and public pools. More importantly, it’s the middle of summer. Which means the temperature is getting higher, and with those temperatures, tensions are getting higher. Eventually, with those high tensions, this will happen:

But why get into a real life brawl and risk ending up on worldstarhiphop.com when you can engage in some digital fisticuffs instead? This special edition of $20GOTW/Maximum Letdown takes a look at some of the best and worst fighting games of the recent and distant past, so click below and check it out.
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