Here’s The Untold Story Of Project Hammer (Video)

Project Hammer for the Wii was one of those titles we thought we were going to get and then it was suddenly canceled. There’s a detailed back story to the development of the canned game which was canceled around 2007 after spending four long arduous years in development. One of the many problems surrounding the development was due to the Japanese management trying to take over the project there were also hints of racism coming into play too. Here’s a roundup of the saddening events that led to the cancellation of Project Hammer.

• After 1080, NST went on to start a new project ( a small team that outsourced concept art, CGI opening, etc)
• The internal name for the project was MachineX
• In 2005 it had reached 75% completion and was nearing completion
• Japanese staff were overseeing the development at the studio which posed cultural challenges
• There were continued arguments and debate between the Japanese management and the NST developers
• At late 2007, it was 4 years in development
• Towards the end, changes were demanded to the environments and then the entire visuals
• This complete change despite mechanics eventually culminated in a more ‘lighter, casual’ visual style that was codenamed Wii Crush
• 2008 onwards, staff left
• Nintendo of America had to carry out a review of staff conditions which recorded a low morale.
• Midway into 2009, a small number of staff still continued to work onto it until it ended
• NCL finally withdrew funding
• ‘Nintendo have made some great games, but with NST it came with a price’

Thanks, Ted and Liam