List of development hell projects

This is a list of non-movie projects considered to be in development hell.
Albums
Limp Bizkit' The Unquestionable Truth (Part 2)
Originally, the band began working on the album directly after finishing , with Fred Durst even saying on the band's official chat that Part 2 was finished before Part 1 was released. It was scheduled to be released in fall 2005 (similar to System of a Down's Mezmerize and Hypnotize).
After several months with no word, a new post on the band's website stated the band intended to release a compilation album of the band's favorite songs along with lots of brand new material as a 'greatest hits' album, followed by 'a new full length album' and 'the greatest limp tour ever'. The band had already cancelled the shows they were supposed to play for the release of The Unquestionable Truth due to personal issues, specifically John Otto going to rehab.
Aside from the release of the Greatest Hitz in November, the rest of the year was stale for the band. There was virtually no relevant talk of Part 2. While Durst did numerous interviews, mostly with MTV, he seemed to simply repeat what had already been said, and provided no new insight on the album or its release date. He began speaking more and more of his interest in acting and directing, and less about releasing the album. Wes Borland seemed to be working on his solo effort in the meantime.
Eventually, Wes Borland shed some light on the situation, saying on his MySpace that the band had to write three records worth of material before they had gotten to a place where vocalist Fred Durst was happy with the music. They then recorded the music twice. Once with Sammy Siegler, and once with John Otto. Fred did vocals on six out of the 13 songs recorded, and for some reason stopped. Borland stressed the fact that lots of music had been recorded, but it was Fred's fault in not recording any vocals.
Soon after Borland's outbursts, Fred Durst appeared on MySpace as well, and contradicted what Borland had said. Durst insisted that the band was completely fine, and that the album was coming out after all.
Durst then took the stage to speak about the album. He continuously reassured the fans that the album was definitely coming out. The problem was that around this time, he was getting ready to direct his first movie, The Education of Charlie Banks. This meant that the band itself would continue to be on hiatus for months. In his free time, Durst went on the band's MySpace and talked about things such as the direction the album is supposed to go in, how he continually was writing lyrics, as well as posting several unreleased tracks every once in a while so that the fans would keep faith in the band.
Late in the filming of the movie, Durst stated that he would begin editing and recording vocals for the album in Los Angeles on August 7.
Soon after, some fans were in contact with Gabe Karon, a close friend of the band who has been known to go on tour with them, and releases home videos of the band he calls 'G Movies'. Gabe stated that the guitar, bass, and drums for the album are finished, and that only the vocals remain. Apparently, Durst had been editing his movie during the day, and then working on vocals for the album with DJ Lethal at night.
There has been little word from the band themselves, except for Fred Durst, who simply stated the vocals were 'coming along fine'.
On September 10, 2006, Fred Durst stated that he was thinking of possibly changing the title of the album. Currently it is still The Unquestionable Truth (Part 2) but Durst says there are also several other possible titles.
In early 2008, pictures were put on the website of Fred Durst and Sam Rivers recording bass with the date being February 4, 2008.
It has also been confirmed that Kid Rock and Three 6 Mafia have worked on The Unquestionable Truth (Part 2) and will be appearing on the track "Don't Test Me".
The band are to make their first public appearances together in many years during a reunion tour across Europe in Summer of 2009. Little word has been spoken about an album release, however.
Dr. Dre' Detox
Detox is the upcoming third and final studio album by rapper and record producer Dr. Dre. The album was planned for a June 2008 release. In June 2008, Snoop Dogg announced that Detox was completed and that Dre is in the process of determining which songs will be featured on the album, adding that the end result would be worth the wait.
Dr. Dre first mentioned Detox to the press around 2000, it was originally due for a 2004 release, but was not completed. Dr. Dre wanted to concentrate on producing for artists that were on his Aftermath Entertainment record label.
The Beach Boys' Smile
Smile is an album by the Beach Boys, and perhaps the most famous unreleased rock and roll album of all time. The project was intended by its creator Brian Wilson as the follow up to The Beach Boys' influential album Pet Sounds (1966), but was never completed in its original form. The project was resurrected in 2003 and a newly recorded version was released by Beach Boys composer and leader Wilson in 2004. During the 37 years since its cancellation, Smile had acquired a considerable mystique, and bootlegged tracks from the never-completed album circulated widely among Beach Boys collectors. Many of the tracks that were originally recorded for Smile were eventually placed on subsequent albums.
Video games
Games that were ultimately canceled
;Sonic Xtreme
"Xtreme" was announced by Sega in 1995 to be the killer app for their Saturn console in 1996. A trailer was released at E3 1996, but the release date was moved from the Holiday Season to Summer 1997. After another release date move, and Sega announcing that the Saturn would be discontinued after its failure, the project was ultimately cancelled. The reasons for its cancellation were Yuji Naka threatening to quit Sega if the development team did not get the engine for NiGHTS, Sonic Team cursing the game, and the project leader nearly dying after getting sick due to his commitment to get the game finished. Although it was canceled for the Saturn, the project is still being developed for download on the PC.
Games with uncertain production status
;Duke Nukem Forever
Forever was to be the sequel to the 3D Realms first-person shooter Duke Nukem 3D on the PC, which was released in January 1996. Forever was announced in April 1997 and was put on hold on May 6, 2009. The long development period had been put down to lack of humanpower early in the project, game engine changes, content remakes, and team members leaving during development. In 2006, 3D Realms said they were firmly on track to getting the game into production. No release dates had been set since 2001, when they stated that Forever would be released "when it's done." Following Forevers 2001 trailer, 3D Realms had only released a few small screenshots, a minute-long teaser video, and a trailer that was released on December 20 2007. After thirteen years in development, Forever is still unfinished, and with 3D Realms studio's closure due to lacking funds, Duke Nukem Forever is assumed lost.
;Elite IV
It will be a sequel to 1984's Elite, that Braben and his former associate, Ian Bell, wrote primarily for the BBC Micro. Two other sequels, Frontier: Elite II and Frontier: First Encounters, were released in the 1990s, during which time Braben and Bell had an acrimonious falling out.
Features promised for Elite 4 include Newtonian gravity, realistic star systems and the ability to land on planets.
Elite 4 is considered by many to be vaporware, meaning it looks unlikely that it will ever appear. It was first proposed in 1998, and while many games these days can take several years to complete (for example, Frontier took five and a half years) there have been no formal previews, screenshots, press releases or progress reports since. A pair of character screenshots, technical background on a real-time animation system, and a brief discussion of its implications for character nuance, were included in an Edge magazine feature on animation circa 2000. The only details about the game provided by the developers are found in a brief FAQ on Frontier Development's site which does not appear to have been updated since 2001.
In September 2005, play.com had a pre-order form for Elite 4, listed as scheduled for release in September 2006. However, Frontier Developments informed a fansite that play.com's release date was merely speculation on their behalf and that no release date had been formally given. [http://frontiernews.alioth.net/index.php?query&topicElite+4&author=] Elite fans have, at least, taken some joy that this incident and Frontier Development's response implies the game is still in serious production.
;Conker's Other Bad Fur Day
After the release of Conker's Bad Fur Day, RareWare began to make a new Conker game initially named, 'Conker's Other Bad Day' but may have been changed to incorporate a subtitle, 'Getting Medieval'. But in 2002 Microsoft bought Rare from Nintendo, so instead of finishing and releasing the game, Rare remade Conker's Bad Fur Day for the Xbox, naming it, Conker: Live and Reloaded. On September 16, 2008 it was announced that Microsoft cancelled the game Rare was working on, and in a later interview, some of Rare's staff members hinted at what might have been. A petition has been started for Microsoft to jumpstart the project and let Rare complete the game.
;Gran Turismo 4 Mobile
The awaited port of the popular PlayStation 2 racing game, Gran Turismo 4 Mobile, has hit numerous development snags, causing many to consider it as vaporware. Despite this, the series producer, Kazunori Yamauchi, has repeatedly stated that the game is still in development, with the fundamentals completed, but has been pushed back due to the development of Gran Turismo 5. The current rumor is that the title has been permanently shelved. The game now has a release date set for October 1
;Jazz Jackrabbit 3
The awaited sequel for Epic Games' popular platform-shooter Jazz Jackrabbit 2 was developed by World Tree Games using the new Unreal Engine at that time around 1999. Epic Games tried hard to find publishers but failed, and in May 2000 the project was cancelled. Since then the early alpha build of the game has been leaked onto the Internet. Furthermore an unofficial FAQ has been published on the internet on the developers' behalf on .
However, a potential revival of the game is under planning. Cliff Bleszinski has announced that he's still interested in offering the project for sponsoring by publishers. Although he doesn't want to reveal too many details about the game, he has announced a potential idea could be the hero Jazz Jackrabbit getting in trouble with the Turtle Mafia.
Games still in production
;Taikodom
After much hype and an open beta release, the game release was postponed, and the production re-started, nearly from scratch, after poor player reception.
Released games
;Team Fortress 2
This game has been in development since 1998 and was released October 10 2007. After undergoing several drastically different iterations, the game now closely resembles the original Team Fortress, but with significant modernizations, gameplay adjustments and a completely different art style. The game was finally released as a part of The Orange Box, a compilation including Half Life 2, its episodic expansions, and Portal. It was met with positive critical reception.
;Daikatana
The game, originally announced in March 1997, met with numerous delays and fracturing within development studio Ion Storm before finally being released in April 2000. The game has since been known as one of the major commercial failures of the computer game industry.
;Prey
Prey has seen several attempts of complete rewrites starting in 1995, right after 3D Realms finished Rise of the Triad. The main developers always left for different reasons, with the self-made engines turning out to be troublesome . The last incarnation by Human Head Studios with the licensed Doom 3 engine has been successful, releasing the game in 2006, eleven years later with positive reviews.
;Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain
The game was originally called "Syphon Filter 4" and was announced around 2001. It was pushed back several times before its late disappointing release in 2004 for the PlayStation 2.
;S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was first announced in late 2001 and its original release date in 2003 was pushed back several times. It was released in March 2007.
;Too Human
Developed by Silicon Knights, Too Human originally planned for the Sony PlayStation as a 4-disc action-adventure in 1999 before being put in development for the Nintendo GameCube in 2000 and later again in 2005 for the Microsoft Xbox 360 where it was eventually released in August 2008.
;Metroid Prime
Metroid Prime was originally going to be released for the Nintendo 64, but never entered production for that system because Nintendo "couldn't come out with any concrete ideas,"
according to developer Shigeru Miyamoto. The game was subsequently co-developed by Texas-based Retro Studios and important members of Nintendo EAD and Nintendo Research & Development 1, and was eventually released in North America on November 17th, 2002. It released in Japan and the PAL region on February 28th, 2003, and March 21st, 2003, respectively. It was met with high critical praise, wining several awards and warranting the development of 2 sequels.
Blizzard Entertainment
Blizzard has a somewhat infamous reputation, as every game released by the company since StarCraft has been released more than a year later than originally announced, although most players have accepted this practice, as the resulting games tend to have very positive reviews. In recent years Blizzard has stopped including release dates with announcements. Their most notorious title was Starcraft Ghost, which was repeatedly plagued with internal strife and now cancelled. Blizzard has announced that the game is not cancelled, but is indefinitely postponed.
Automobiles
The term "development hell" has also been applied to automobiles - not to be mistaken as a term for concept cars, but for vehicles that either were being developed for production but never produced, or for vehicles which went through many delays before being produced.
Released
:Note: Some models noted here were released into production but have been removed from production. These vehicles all went into mass production at some time.
;Dodge Durango Hybrid
In 2000, DaimlerChrysler said that they started development on a hybrid version of the Dodge Durango, just after the release of the Honda Insight and the Toyota Prius. Dodge claimed that it will have a conventional gas engine powering the rear wheels, and an electric motor powering the front wheels. Dodge originally claimed that it was to be released in 2003, but it never was. Instead, they released a redesigned Durango. The second-generation's hybrid version went on sale in the 2009 model year, only to be discontinued a month later when the plant that produced the Durango closed.
;1998 Eagle Vision
When Chrysler set to redesign its LH cars, they redesigned the Eagle Vision using a nearly different body and components than the Dodge Intrepid and Chrysler Concorde. However, the Eagle Vision was discontinued in 1997, and the Eagle brand was cut in 1998, the same year that the new LH platform cars were released.
As a result, the 1998 Eagle Vision fell into development hell, and sat unreleased. It escaped in 1999, when it was released as the Chrysler 300M.
;Ford Mustang III
With Fox bodied Mustang sales dropping, Ford decided to replace the rear-wheel drive Mustang with an aerodynamic front-wheel driven model. Ford jointly developed the model with Mazda. Ford planned to release it in 1987, but when it was ready for release, Ford was met with many letters of protest from Mustang fans. Development was done by 1987, and when then Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca first heard about it, he desperately wanted it, as well as the Jeep brand. As a result, this became the driving force behind a Chrysler buyout of American Motors in 1987. Chrysler originally planned to release the Grand Cherokee in 1988, but Iacocca ordered instead for the Dodge Caravan and Plymouth Voyager to be redesigned, As a test bed for this model, a special edition 50th anniversary Sable was released with the chassis and drivetrain of the LTS. which used innovative high-temperature sodium-sulfur batteries. Although Chrysler and General Motors released their electric vehicles to the public, the Chrysler TEVan and General Motors EV1, respectively, the Ecostar dropped out of public sight as Ford focused on other projects and was never released.
;Ford GN-34
Ford began a project in the mid 1980s to build a 2 seater "fun car", which was to compete with the Pontiac Fiero and Toyota MR2. Ford had jointly developed an engine for this car with Yamaha, which they locked in a deal with to produce. However, by the late 80s, popularity for the "fun" cars decreased dramatically, and Ford abandoned the project.<ref name = "SHONTELL" /> To use up the engines, Ford put them into the Ford Taurus, thus creating the high performance SHO model.<ref name = "SHONTELL" />
Role-Playing Games
Dragon Fist
After starting his own company, Green Ronin Publishing(GR), Chris Pramas announced that GR had been given (or purchased) back the rights to the wuxia-inspired Asian martial arts movies influenced AD&D add-on rule-set and campaign world that he originally wrote for TSR/Wizards of the Coast; and that GR would publish a new version of the game.
A forum was soon set up at the GR web site (www.greenronin.com) where speculation about which rule-set would be utilized soon arose. Several times during 2004-2006 GR made announcements regarding the game's progress or details regarding its form, but no game has of yet materialized.
Dragon Fist has had a troubled history right from the start. It came right in the transition between AD&D and the (then) new Third Edition rules. This meant that Dragon Fist was never published on paper. It did reach the general public as a free PDF download for a limited time, before it was removed from the WotC website.
Recently, it has fallen between chairs again, in the aftermath of Green Ronin's troubles with a distributor, and because Green Ronin changed its plans for which rule-set to use.
As of 6 September 2006 the Dragon Fist forum at the Green Ronin website has been locked with the words: "As the game is currently still being developed, and because frankly there's nothing to say about it and this forum is currently only being occasionally used (and then only to complain) I'm locking it up for the time being. The Dragon Fist forum will re-open when there's information about the game that can be shared."
Other
SAMPA extension
An extension of the ASCII-based phonetic alphabet SAMPA for Japanese and Korean has been announced as oming shortly since June 2003, but as of January 2008 it is still marked the same way.
The official webpage of Vangelis, "Vangelis Information World", first appeared in 1995, and was advertised on the back of the Oceanic CD. It is "under construction" since then
X-Japan World Tour
The World Tour for X-Japan has left its fans largely in the dark since its inception (mainly in the Western part of the world). It was first announced after X-Japan's 3-day reunion show at the Tokyo Dome. It was originally announced via X-Japan's MySpace page on July 5, 2008 that X-Japan would play at an unspecified venue in Paris, while on September 13, 2008 X-Japan would play at Madison Square Garden. One month later, a show at the Taipei World Trade Center would be added for August 2008. On June 8, 2008, due to health problems from the drummer, Yoshiki, all dates were postponed. Eventually, the Paris show was rescheduled for November 22, 2008 at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy. Tickets were set to go on sale sometime in early September. However, an announcement on all of X-Japan's websites (Japanese, French, Korean, English (UK), Thailand, Taiwan, and Hong Kong) as well as its MySpace page announced "Due to circumstances beyond our control, the sale date for the tickets to the French concert, opening show of the World Tour, has been postponed.", as of October 30, no tickets have gone on sale for the show (yet tickets have already gone on sale for some of the shows which were just recently added to the tour. Such as the Taiwan, Thailand, and Korea shows). The week of September 14, 2008, Yoshiki went on a PR campaign across Asia. Starting in Japan, and visiting Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, and Seoul. Announcing tour dates at all those cities, sometime in 2009 (two dates were announced for South Korea). Since then, no word has not been announced for a starting ticket sale date for the Paris show, nor a new date for the Madison Square Garden show.
Recently, a website called Yoshikidiscovery.com which was looking for participants to help spread the word about Yoshiki in the United States said "and make sure to not miss the X Japan US tour next summer!". No official statement from X-Japan nor Yoshiki about the site or a rescheduled date for U.S. shows has been made as of October 30, 2008.
Trillian Astra
The follow up to Trillian 3, first announced November 21, 2006, has yet to meet general release to the public. The multiprotocol instant messaging application has been in a constant state of refinement for months, though allowing some external users into a beta test.
Trillian 3 held a similar fate: at one point, the developers placed the moniker "Soon(TM)" on their website to acknowledge the constant delays.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu