Tarantino's reimagining of The Love Boat divided long time fans of the show.

Sometimes it’s upsetting when a game you have been looking forward to gets cancelled.  Other times it doesn’t matter in the slightest. Such is the apathy surrounding the latest developments in the troubled history of Hei$t.

As reported by IGN, the proposed Grand Theft Auto style free-roaming robbery game has been permanently shelved. Set in a kitsch 60’s environment, when skin-melting vinyl car seats and not wearing seatbelts were the order of the day, the player was tasked to plan a robbery spree at successive locations (bars, restaurants, strip clubs, banks) in order to finally take on the San Francisco Mint.

Originally announced for PC and next generation consoles in 2007, the game has been cancelled in 2010 due to the inability of the studio to meet the release schedule and a desire for “Codemasters [to focus] its future portfolio on high quality titles that will, in the majority, be developed and produced by our internal studios.”

The development studio, inXile Entertainment is now focusing on iPhone games and releasing its past triumph ‘The Bard’s Tale’ on the steam network.

In this episode: Dante’s Inferno, Mass Effect 2, Dark Void, Vanquish, Grim Dawn, Borderlands, BattleBlock Theatre, Karen’s suggestion for Tecmo’s next game and much more!

Download l Subscribe l RSS

The Panellists: Erin Marcon, Karen Jacobson, David Walden and Peter Nickless

Twitter: BlackPanelDaily l Facebook: Black Panel Readers’ League

Related links: Grim news, Vanquished expectations, Secret Borderlands DLC on the way, Theater of war, One for the ladies

Welcome to the Black List, our regular retrospective on the week in games.

On Monday, we journeyed into deep space and returned with a review of Mass Effect 2.

On Tuesday, the Vanquish teaser trailer failed to convince us that the game will be as insane as previous Platinum Games releases.

On Wednesday, we reported that new Borderlands DLC is in the pipeline.

On Thursday, we covered the announcement of BattleBlock Theatre, the new XBLA title from the creators of Castle Crashers.

On Friday, we realised that the developers of Dead or Alive Paradise have been catering to female gamers for years.

Thanks for reading.

Erin Marcon – Editor

Twitter: Follow the site at BlackPanelDaily

Facebook: Join the Black Panel Readers’ League

RECENT REVIEWS

“Ten grand to anyone who can get me off this island…”

While 2010 is still in its infancy, Tecmo’s Yasuo Egawa has staked an early claim for most disingenuous comment of the year. The Quantum Theory producer told Edge that that the Japanese developer has been specifically targeting women “over the last three or four years.”

A quick perusal of Tecmo’s output during this period reveals what the women among you look for in a video game. For one, we know you love watching the bikini clad manikins of Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 splash around in the surf. The only thing that thrills you more is the prospect of charging into battle wearing a miniature S&M costume. Fortunately, Ninja Gaiden II has you covered in that regard. The forthcoming Dead or Alive Paradise will allow you to snap virtual photographs of pretend women and store them for later enjoyment. Doesn’t that sound like fun?

We can assume that Quantum Theory’s Fillena will be just as compelling as Tecmo previous heroines. As Yasuo Egawa said, “We’re Tecmo – we’re good at female characters.” That’s perfectly true. They are, in fact, Tecmo.