Junction Point is an interesting studio; headed by industry legend Warren Spector, the company produced the excellent Epic Mickey during the height of the Wii, which gained praise and commercial success. Sadly, it stumbled with the sequel and the studio was promptly shuttered by Disney.
Had Junction Point been given more time, what other titles could it have produced? We have an answer (of sorts) to that question thanks to the tireless efforts of Unseen64's Liam Robertson, who has uncovered another cancelled title in the form of Project Goliath.
The was a game concept dreamt up by a group of students which - via an unexpected meeting at E3 - got the chance to pitch it to Junction Point, and it focused on Tarek the gorilla and a girl named Ky, with their co-operation being vital to success.
Taking inspiration from the likes of Jak and Daxter, Banjo-Kazooie, Rachet and Clank and Shadow of the Colossus, Project Goliath was intended for the Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360, but it never entered full production and only really existed in the concept art phase. The commercial failure of Epic Mickey 2 and the closure of Junction Point was one of the reasons the project died; the other was the discovery that one of the game's key artists had actually plagiarised many ideas from elsewhere.
Comments 6
As much as I disliked Epic Mickey (loved the concept, hated the execution), I found this to be incredibly fascinating... and sad. What a crappy ending for that project.
🎶Plagiarize! Let no one else's work evade your eyes...!🎶 (Not my song.)
When you plagiarize someones artwork, you have admitted to yourself that you are a hack with less talent.
You can steal an artists idea but you cannot go further because you arent that artist and don't have their vision. You will hit the wall where as the originator can keep rolling along.
As you can see the plagiarized version is inferior. I would guess that all of the other drawings are not original as well and that is because once you plagiarize nobody can trust anything you've ever done is actually yours.
@Priceless_Spork Exactly. That plagiarism revelation wasn't just the 'final nail' in the coffin--it was a team of welders sealing that game's fate.
That was an interesting watch.
The original illustration with the giant turtle looks amazing.
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but... there's a line somewhere, and it was very clearly breached.
What a major bummer. That game sounded awesome.
A pity. It sounded really promising!
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