A look into Factor 5’s plans to make a Pilotwings title for GameCube
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in GameCube, General Nintendo, News, Videos | 8 Comments
One of the stronger rumors surrounding Factor 5 back in the day was the possibility of the studio creating a new Pilotwings title for the GameCube. In a new video (see below), Liam Robertson looks into these claims and sheds more light on the situation.
As it turns out, there were in fact plans to have a new Pilotwings entry on GameCube at one point. This initially came about in 2001 when Factor 5 was in talks to work on one of Nintendo’s franchises. The new Pilotwings game would have taken some inspiration from the SNES classic, but it sounds like the project would have turned out into something completely different.
Pilotwings on GameCube was never anything too tangible, however. Other than early prototypes, not much was completed. With pressure from LucasArts who helped fund Factor 5’s work on Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike as an exclusive for the struggling GameCube, it was suggested that Pilotwings should be changed into an official game based on The Right Stuff for the Xbox. And after Rebel Strike’s sales disappointed, Factor 5 began pitching its Pilotwings prototype work to publishers as a flight game that would theoretically make use of The Right Stuff IP. Companies showed a lack of interest, however, and the entire project was eventually shelved.
More: Factor 5, Pilotwings, top
Video: A look into Factor 5’s cancelled Kid Icarus project for Wii
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Videos, Wii | 8 Comments
If you were on the site in 2008, you may recall that there were quite a few rumors surrounding Factor 5 developing a Kid Icarus game for Wii. Of course, we all know now that such a project never came to be.
Liam Robertson has been doing some investigative work as of late in hopes of finding out more about Factor 5’s plans for Kid Icarus on Nintendo’s old console. You can listen to his findings in the video below.
More: Factor 5, Kid Icarus, top
Video shows Factor 5’s canned Wii project Star Wars Rogue Squadron: Rogue Leaders
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Videos, Wii | 8 Comments
IGN has shared a video that shows off Star Wars Rogue Squadron: Rogue Leaders, Factor 5’s cancelled compilation for Wii. If you missed our original post, you can find plenty of information about the project here.
Factor 5 had a Star Wars trilogy compilation finished for Wii, but was cancelled
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii | 16 Comments
During the latest Nintendo Voice Chat episode, IGN spoke with Julian Eggebrecht, who was the president of the now-defunct development studio Factor 5. Eggebrecht revealed details about a cancelled Star Wars trilogy compilation for Wii – titled Rogue Leaders – that was actually finished.
Here’s what was shared:
– Factor 5 was originally working on a trilogy compilation for the first Xbox
– This would have contained Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader, and Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike
– Factor 5 was interested in Wii given the advances of motion tech thanks to Wii MotionPlus
– The team tried resurrecting its cancelled Star Wars trilogy from the first Xbox
– Making the game work on a modern console was only a matter of tweaking the already-existing systems in the half-finished game
“…we had our old trilogy project, which we had fifty percent done, which was basically putting Rogue Leader and Rebel Strike with new content, [along] with fixing some of the mistakes, redoing completely the cameras, and everything.”
– Factor 5 wanted the game to work with the GameCube controller and a few Wii peripherals
– The team “wanted to support every single control that you could imagine.”
– During flight sequences, you could have the Mario Kart wheel control your X-Wing together with the balance board to control the pedals
– There was space combat, speeder bike racing levels, third-person action sequences, and even lightsaber battles making the most of the Wii Motion Plus’ 1:1 controls
– New graphics engine allowed for 60 FPS with a high visual fidelity
“Believe me, if you ever saw it running on the Wii at 60 [fps], it is by far – and I think I’m not overstating that – the technically most impressive thing you would ever see on [Wii].”
– Wii trilogy was finished, but the project was shut down
– The cancellation was because of the financial crisis of 2008 and the fact that the team had taken it upon themselves to self-fund the project in order to claim a larger “piece of the pie” once it was distributed
– Two potential publishers also went bankrupt and LucasArts was having “their own financial woes”
– IGN says multiple companies stepped in to help out with publishing, but financial hardship, legal snafus, and budgetary restrictions ultimately led to the project’s final cancellation.
– Eggebrecht loves the Wii U, but its unpredictable trajectory and licensing troubles make it unlikely
“Maybe sooner or later a hardware spot will be hit again, and we certainly would love to talk to Disney about it. And of course, with J.J.’s [Abrams] comeback to kind of the traditional trilogy feel, I think there’s going to be a lot of commotion around that. I just don’t know if we will be a part of it or not.”
