Sources close to NST allege that the studio's first-party Wii game
Project H.A.M.M.E.R. has been canceled,
IGN reports. The team has apparently moved on to one or more "expanded audience" projects --
more minigames? The ill-fated action romp was previewed during
E3 2006 (in playable form), and then dipped below the radar, stamped with a "TBA" date on Nintendo's press site. IGN speculates that a supposed initiative to redesign several "traditional" titles to cater to casual players forced Nintendo to rethink
Project H.A.M.M.E.R. Perhaps the Ninty think tank deemed the hack-n-smack unfit for mainstream tastes.
Nintendo has yet to issue an official statement or change the "TBA" status of
Project H.A.M.M.E.R. on its site. Despite the corny plot -- hammer-wielding cyborg saves U.S. from "killer robots" --
Project H.A.M.M.E.R. was (
is?) expected to provide a relatively unique gameplay experience (like,
um, some actual violence) for Wii owners.
{ Jun 14th 2007 at 6:28PM } 
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jared @ Jun 14th 2007 6:31PM
Speaking of Wii games that never existed in the first place, how do we think Sadness is doing these days?
Striderhayasa @ Jun 14th 2007 6:32PM
Not surprised. It didn't look all that great to begin with.
2ez @ Jun 14th 2007 6:34PM
I thought it looked pretty sweet. Thats too bad. Hopefully Nintendo doesn't dive too deep into the "expanded audience" games.
Kenny @ Jun 14th 2007 6:40PM
I really hope this isn't true. I'm sick of mini-games and casual games. I could live my whole life without playing another mini-game ever again, and I'd be better for it. I was looking foward to the new experiences the Wii would bring, but why does it have to be at the expense of hardcore games? No more mini-games, for the love of God.
I mean, I want video gaming to become more mainstream, but I didn't know this would happen. As a longtime gamer, I'm gonna need something more substantial than Cooking Mama and Big Brain Academy. And another thing, I'd like a REAL Rayman game. A platformer. Not a mini-game compilation.
Ian Von Porter @ Jun 14th 2007 6:41PM
All they need to do is call it Super Mario HAMMER... and it will sell a million copies.. guaranteed!
Joshua @ Jun 14th 2007 6:44PM
Kenny (#4), I agree.
cc123 @ Jun 14th 2007 6:47PM
"expanded audience" = casual gamers, which of course means Wiini-game shitfests.
So Nintendo is dropping original IPs to make casual games now. Keep defending them and worshipping their sales figures cause they sure look out for you gamers...
thewiicast @ Jun 14th 2007 6:54PM
http://www.thewiicast.com/2007/03/disaster-day-of-crisis-and-project.html
Russell Carroll @ Jun 14th 2007 6:55PM
How is removing a game that wasn't all that great and isn't anyone wanted to play anyway bad?
Seems like people are taking opportunity to voice displeasure over mini-games, but that is a different topic and may or may not be related.
The issue here is the rumor of canning a game. Why was it canned?
Theory 1: IT was going to be the best game ever, but Nintendo thought a more casual game would be better?
Plausibility: Low
Theory 2: IT wasn't that great, so the team got reassigned to something that was going to be better...which just so happened to be more mass market...in this case.
Plausibility: Higher
It's not like a great game has been canned. If you played it, you would agree that after 3 or 4 swings of the Wiimote the game lost any real appeal. "So I can hit things...and?"
Guess it is easy to mourn for a game before it was reviewed and panned. If only Geist hadn't been released we could mourn for it as well.
Meloche @ Jun 14th 2007 6:55PM
I hope it's not true. I love mini-games/casual games. But we need more big games. Really. With new IPs, preferably.
AnonyMack @ Jun 14th 2007 8:34PM
this is BS at its finest. oh well. another game that is > a minigame that wont come to wii. ugh.
Mr Khan @ Jun 14th 2007 7:12PM
This game did look a bit generic, but could've been good
I just hope the same fate doesn't await Disaster
And i also hope the game with more mainstream appeal is a sequel to wave race (hey, it would have more appeal than project hammer, and it would be awesome, mainstream appeal doesn't necesarily mean more minigames)
shirizaki @ Jun 14th 2007 7:19PM
@9.
It's not like a great game has been canned. If you played it, you would agree that after 3 or 4 swings of the Wiimote the game lost any real appeal. "So I can hit things...and?"
That could be said about ANY Wii game. We're asking for something with substance, not little mini multiplayer games. The Wii screams for a gun mod and a port of every light gun game ever made.
Seriously, that's the only genre of games that still need to be played in an arcade.
vidGuy @ Jun 14th 2007 7:17PM
"expected to provide a relatively unique gameplay experience (like, um, some actual violence) for Wii owners."
Scarface, Godfather, Manhunt 2
But yeah, I hope this isn't true, this was one of the titles I was looking forward to trying out. Let's hope this isn't confirmed and that Disaster doesn't join the trash bin, too.
BopBop @ Jun 14th 2007 7:19PM
"relatively unique gameplay experience (like, um, some actual violence) for Wii owners"
Because all the other T and M rated games on the Wii mean nothing? Fighting giant robots with a hammer in this canned crap or strangling someone in the Godfather, which is more violent do you think?
Anyway, this game looks like a Drakenguard with a different setting, no thank you I'll pass.
Daniel @ Jun 14th 2007 7:19PM
This better not be true.
I was looking forward to swinging my wiimote hammer around and kicking some robot ass!
Knowing Nintendo, it's probably just being delayed for improvements because of Nintendo's really high quality standards. The gameplay looked rather repetitious.
Mr Khan @ Jun 14th 2007 7:33PM
That movie's music was taken from Shadow the Hedgehog
Wow
I thought i was the only one out there who slightly enjoyed that game...
Good to know i'm not alone...
teitoku @ Jun 14th 2007 7:39PM
I guess there weren't enough minigames in it to justify the release of a good fun action game.
Cheesy-ass wii.
syco @ Jun 14th 2007 7:52PM
Oh no! Companies are making games you don't have to devote hundreds of hours to grasp! Whatever shall we do! All the adults with jobs will start playing games TOO! It's a travisty! Gaming is doomed!
You guys are being hysterical. This is just a game that didn't pan out. Nintendo is making absurd amounts of money marketing and selling games that are easy to pick up, fun to play, and can be enjoyed by people who have jobs and lives. This is a GOOD THING, and there will still be plenty of complex, immersive, "hardcore" games available for both the Wii and the 360 for people with more money and time to devote to the pasttime than most.
GaryM @ Jun 14th 2007 7:57PM
The Wii controls are crying out for a game like Severance: Blade Of Darkness.
WiiNES @ Jun 14th 2007 8:00PM
Wow.
This is BAD news. Nintendo starts to make an ALL NEW game that is both action and NOT a Mario / Zelda / Metroid spin off and now it is canned?
It was about time that they started making some new games, new ideas to go along side the classic franchises. But hey, lets make room for more FUCKING mini games with MII's. Yes , lets do that.
We dont have enough of them....
If Day OF Crysis is also canned, Nintendo can stick the Wii mote up thier arse pipe!
Casey R Williams @ Jun 14th 2007 8:16PM
It was one of the few wii games that did look good to me. I like my sci-fi armored main characters and my robots and I guess giant hammers. Guess I'll have to get a 360 and Crackdown, see if there's a hammer in there anywhere.
Seriously, though, this answers the question that's been on my mind since launch. Will there be any normal games for this thing or will it just be pick Wario's nose, fry an egg, and neverending foolish ways to waggle the wiimote. Not looking good.
ZapDash @ Jun 14th 2007 8:21PM
Project
H.ard-core
A.nd
M.ature
M.embers
E.asily
R.eplaced
Making Nintendo mainstream one mini-game at a time.
Casey R Williams @ Jun 14th 2007 8:24PM
Day of Crisis was the other game that looked good to me!! I just couldn't name it off the top of my head! That just leaves that new game from Suda Goichi of Killer7 fame, No More Heroes...
Casey R Williams @ Jun 14th 2007 9:23PM
OK, last comment... About this being a game that didn't pan out, I have a hard time with that judging from the video that shows a game that's fairly well along (getting the control working would probably be the hardest part). This isn't one of those in-development-for-10-years kind of games that you have to cancel before the company goes down the tubes. They should find another publisher or just put it out as is on the VC.
hvnlysoldr @ Jun 14th 2007 8:36PM
NDF assemble! It's time to summon Nintendoman! NES!
http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/06/14/by-our-consoles-combined-you-are-a-nintendo-short-cuts-entry/
zwarrior @ Jun 14th 2007 8:54PM
Pathetic. Catering to casuals is BS, they arent devoted and will get bored or move on to the next "big" thing faster than hardcore gamers. Quit kissing their butt Nintendo, wtf.
zwarrior @ Jun 14th 2007 8:54PM
#9 Russel, Geist is decent and creative in its own right. We don't praise it but you don't hera everyone calling it a big failure because it wasn't, it showed a modest effort, and I think H.A.M.M.E.R. was in a similar, if not, better situation than Geist was.
#5 is point on, if this game had Mario in the title, no way Nintendo would can it, Ninty is thinking way too business wise with their softwares and taking very few, or any risk at all. H.A.M.M.E.R. gets canned but Mario and Sonic Olympics is still around? BS!!!
Hashbrown_Hunter @ Jun 15th 2007 4:51AM
this is disappointing and, if this rumor is true, then my hypothesis would be correct: Nintendo has a bigger focus on trying to make casual games, that they may end up abandoning the hard-core.
This is one of the reasons I'm hesitant on buying a Wii. I do think it's a refreshing approach to gaming but this may be one of the reasons that end up making the Wii a fad (if it does).
vc @ Jun 14th 2007 9:03PM
I was at E3 when Hammer was semi-shown. It looked like arse. This was a good cancellation.
samfish @ Jun 14th 2007 10:12PM
Damn, I really hope this isn't true. This is one of the games I had some major interest in, regardless of the platform.
Big, big BIG mistake...and there's no way any one in their right mind can defend Nintendo over this, ig the reason it's supposedly been canned is true.
Still...I hope it's just a rumor and nothing more.
Matt B @ Jun 14th 2007 10:27PM
You better listen up nintendo. Samfish is never wrong. Except for things brought up by him on other consoles he doesn't own.
Justin @ Jun 14th 2007 10:57PM
Nooooooooooooooo Anybody want to buy my Wii?
Peter Davis @ Jun 15th 2007 3:12AM
if nothing else, im mourning the loss of a new IP, something which seems rare these days among the ranks of Nintendo.
but to make a complete statement, im mourning the loss of a game that looks great and looks like a shit-tonne of fun.
Mikeo @ Jun 15th 2007 6:02AM
Hey, wasn't THIS that you guys bought? WANTED? And hard-headedly justified for it for 250$?
Happy hoping your rest of your console life for good, mature titles not just by violence (what the Wii has now), but by plot, direction, what it makes you think... "It's WAAAAY too RISKY!"
Nintendo should just die as a publisher and shift it to a 2nd party relationship. They literally suck at chances.
The game was definitely unimpressive compared to say, Too Human, but with refinement it could be the "RE4 to GC" for the Wii. Nintendo obviously saw the budget charts and now is scrambling for a much higher return rate with kiddie casual games with literally no difficulty. Uhh... I mean Wii BEAUTY!
BTW, this... from the "saviors" of gaming. Sheesh, Nintendo fanboys are catching up with Steve's worshipers nowadays.
Gurei @ Jun 15th 2007 7:06PM
Many of us migh enjoy the revolutionary inovation of wii games and its controls,minigames are fun whatever but without any REAL MEAT ,i am talking of real content to play through,the wii will end as just a gimmick,a litle toyjoke.
3D party developers might be nintendos onlys call for more new real games,as it seems N doesnt care about doing any beside the mario/zelda/metroid thing .