Vaporware: The Greatest Video Games Never Made

It used to be that two guys in a basement could churn out a video game over the course of a month or two, wrap it up, ship it out, and make millions. Today's games, however, require far more personnel and money to get off the ground, let alone release a finished product. But even if the project is well funded, there's no guarantee that a project won't become vaporware. Vaporware, for its technical definition, is "a product, especially software, that is promoted or marketed while it is still in development and that may never be produced" (1).

The fact is that as many games get to shelves, many more never make it. Most start and stop without nary a ripple in the public consciousness; but the vaporware we see is often products that are endlessly promoted, tease and promised, but still stubbornly refuses to come out for years. Sometimes, vaporware materializes, but most times, it fades into oblivion and irrelevance. While all software has its big vaporware stories, here are the greatest hits of video game vaporware.

Half-Life 2 Episode 3
Wait: 3 years (and counting)
Half-Life 2 was a 2004 first person shooter that is commonly considered one of the genre-defining games of video gaming history. To continue the story past the initial release, developer Valve decided to release smaller, episodic content; rather than a long campaign with a long wait between releases, the idea was to have smaller, several-hour chunks on a regular release schedule.

That was the plan, anyhow, one that Valve has not kept up to. Episode 1 was released in June 2006 (2), but Episode 2 did not ship until October 2007 (3), and Episode 3 has no release date, let alone any more released materials beyond concept art.

StarCraft: Ghost
Wait: 8 years (and counting)
StarCraft is known to most players as one of the finest (if not the best) real-time strategy games ever produced. Many were leery, then, when developer Blizzard announced it was crafting a shooter game for consoles based in the same universe. Many more, however, wanted to see the StarCraft universe up close and personal. So fans eagerly waited... and waited... and waited. The original developer Nihilistic Software ceased development, passing on chores to Dirty Ape Studios in 2004. A year later, Blizzard bought Dirty Ape, but the game never showed. In 2006, it was put on indefinite hold; while not technically canceled (4), the general consensus is that the game will never appear.

Hero's Journey
Wait: 11 years (and counting)
Hero's Journey has been in development since 1999. It's a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game, or MMORPG for short. Had Hero's Journey come out when it was supposed to, people might remember it. As it stands, World of Warcraft came out 2004, while Hero's Journey developer Simutronic was twiddling its thumbs. And now, Hero's Journey appears to be at a standstill.

Things were looking great, for a while. It garnered accolades in press and expo showings all throughout 2005 and 2006. Simutronic suggested much of the delay was waiting for graphics cards to catch up to their vision (5), but in the five years since, nothing significant has developed. The main web site hasn't been updated since September 2009, so this project might have just fizzled out.

StarCraft 2
Wait: 12 years (and counting)
Remember that StarCraft? Koreans are still playing that game competitively, but it's long been showing its age. Players waited for news of a sequel... and waited, and waited some more. Blizzard turned out games like WarCraft III and World of WarCraft before finally announcing the hotly anticipated StarCraft II on May 19, 2007 (6). And after that... delays and disappointments. By mid 2008, the game was only one-third complete, (7) and Blizzard decided to split the game's campaign into three separate $60 installments.

The delays and slights didn't stop there. Next, Blizzard removed LAN support from the game, effectively locking all multiplayer options into its own Battle.net online service (and removing one of the prime reasons the original was always used at tournaments). By 2009, the beta had not materialized, and it was only in late February that a closed, not open, beta finally began. It's possible we'll see StarCraft II in 2010, but it's unlikely-and it may not be the game players have be waiting more than a decade for.

Duke Nukem Forever
Wait: 14 years (and counting)
If one is collecting a list of video game vaporware, one must include Duke Nukem Forever. Duke Nukem 3D was a 1996 first-person shooter that featured incredible graphics for the time, adult content, and a wise-cracking protagonist. The game was a hit, making its developers at 3D Realms tons of cash. It's no surprise that a more ambitious sequel, Duke Nukem Forever, was quickly announced.

Duke Nukem Forever's target release date was no later than mid-1998, but a technological arms race began to create a series of delays. Rather than use the rapidly-aging Build engine of Duke Nukem 3D, 3D Realms went and licensed the Quake II engine. Progress on the game did not begin until well into 1997, making a 1998 release unlikely. While Electronic Entertainment Expo 1998 showings of the game impressed critics and gamers, designer George Broussard wasn't happy with the progress. When a new Unreal engine hit the market, 3D Realms switched over, essentially starting over.

The world changed as Duke Nukem Forever slowly chugged along. By 2001, it was becoming something of a joke, and while footage of the new game released at that years' Electronic Entertainment Expo impressed, there was still no clear release date. Publishing rights for the game turned from GT Interactive to Gathering of Games to Take-Two Interactive.

By 2003, progress on the game had stalled: only 18 people were working full-time on the game. Because 3D Realms had tons of cash, they could essentially tell Take-Two to take a hike as they worked. Eventually though, they ran out of money, and had to go to Take-Two for the funds to complete the game. The publisher was understandably leery, and in May 2009 3D Realms ceased development. Whether or not the game will ever come out is unknown, but after more than a decade of troubled development and high hopes, it deserves its title as king of video game vaporware.

References
* (1) "Vaporware | Definition". Dictionary.com. Accessed April 12, 2010.
* (2) "Half Life 2: Episode 1 for PC". 1UP.com. Accessed April 17, 2010.
* (3) Remo, Chris (June 15, 2007). "Valve Confirms Episode Two, Team Fortress 2 Launch Date". Shacknews. Accessed April 16, 2010.
* (4) Totilo, Stephen (February 13, 2008). "Blizzard Explains Why 'StarCraft Ghost' Wasn't On The DICE Canceled Games List". MTV. Accessed April 17, 2010.
* (5) Long, Andrew (July 7, 2005). "Spotlight: Hero's Journey". RPG Gamer. Accessed April 17, 2010.
* (6) Park, Andrew (May 18, 2007). "Starcraft II warps into Seoul". Gamespot. Accessed April 17, 2010.
* (7) "Starcraft II - Not Happening in 2008". Games On Net. Accessed April 14, 2010.