Australian women reject Sports Girl’s summer range.

A week after announcing its plans for the future, Insomniac Games has delved into its storied past. On the latest episode of the studio’s Full Moon Show, studio founder Ted Price and his team discussed a long abandoned project code named I-5. It was to be the developer’s inaugural release for the then new PlayStation 2 console and the future of the company was thought to depend on its success.

Described by Creative Director Brian Allgeier as Tomb Raider meets Zelda, I-5 was to be an action packed fantasy adventure. The game’s protagonist went through a number of revisions, beginning life as a Mayan boy before being reconceived as an African man. Both designs were eventually discarded in favour of a young woman armed with a staff. Her knowledge of both martial and mystical arts made her a formidable combatant.

Insomniac produced dozens of design documents and even a working demo before the project was finally cancelled. What lead to the decision? According to Chief Operating Officer John Fiorito, the game simply “wasn’t fun”, which seems as good a reason as any.

The decision to pull the plug was seemingly vindicated by the success of the studio’s subsequent project, the highly imaginative Ratchet & Clank.

IN STORES

Your indispensible checklist of the titles arriving at retail this week:

Thursday 3 June

Backbreaker (360/PS3)

Project Runway (Wii)

Scene It! Twilight (Wii)

Split/Second: Velocity (360/PS3)

DOWNLOADABLE RECAP

A handy reminder of the downloadable titles released last week:

Art Style: Penta Tentacles (WiiWare)

Ben 10: The Rise of Hex (XBLA)

Doom 2 (XBLA)

Eve Online: Tyrannis (Steam)

Kirby’s Fun Park (Wii VC)

Soldner-X 2: Final Prototype (PSN)

Voodoo Dice (XBLA/PSN/WiiWare)

NEXT WEEK: Check back with us next Sunday for Megaman Zero Collection, Green Day Rock Band and much more!

PAST WEEKS

23.05.10 l 16.05.10 l 09.05.10 l 02.05.10 l 25.04.10

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

On MONDAY, we delivered a stirring rendition of Tina Turner’s Private Dancer on our latest podcast.

On TUESDAY, Sony stunned us by naming their latest 3D enabled blockbuster Killzone 3 instead of the more dignified Killzone 3D.

On WEDNESDAY, we revealed that Namco Bandai’s Knights Contract will feature one of the laziest protagonists in gaming.

On THURSDAY, we reported that Insomniac Games, the studio responsible for Ratchet & Clank and Resistance, is soon to go multiplatform.

On FRIDAY, we covered the announcement of the first direct sequel in the PixelJunk series.

Thanks for reading.

Erin Marcon

Editor

Is anyone else disturbed by this image?

You heard right, folks. PixelJunk Shooter 2 is on its way to the PlayStation Network. If the above screenshot is anything to go by, the sequel will continue very much in the vein of the first game, which despite its name, was as much a platformer as it was a shooter.

The original challenged you to manipulate water or lava to your advantage and, sadly, to your doom. You delved underground in a tiny ship in order to rescue trapped scientists. You used your ship’s gun to break through walls and defeat enemies. Scientists were not immune to your bullets and, if careless, your image as a saviour dissipated rather quickly.

For those yet to be ‘junked’, the PixelJunk series kicked off with 2007’s PixelJunk Racers and has since grown to include four quirky titles. PixelJunk Shooter 2 will be the first direct sequel for the series. Though a release date is yet to be a demo is already available in some territories, suggesting that we won’t have too long to wait.