Concept illustrator Stephan Martiniere worked at Midway Chicago until August of 2008. Some time before he left the company to work at id Software, he inked concept art for a game titled "Hero," spotted by Siliconera on Mr. Martiniere's website. Midway, as you likely know, went bust over the last few years, with some titles being picked up by other publishers and some games in-development being put on permahold.
Only one image of Hero is in the portfolio, but it indicates possible characters Hero might've explored -- an adult figure holds a sword in one hand and a child's hand in the other, while an ethereal being floats above both figures in a ruined Chicago (as indicated by the Chicago Transit Authority sign). That sounds an awful lot like the plot of Lone Wolf and Cub to us (minus the whole Chicago thing), so we're clearly sad to hear it never came to be.[Image credit: Stephan Martiniere]
Reader Comments (20)
Posted: Jan 3rd 2011 1:35PM PR0F3TA said
80% of time concept art looks and feels alot more cooler then the game would have actually been... can't say i even heard of this one.
Posted: Jan 3rd 2011 1:59PM Richard Jae said
A good example of that would be the awesome Epic Mickey art.
Reply
Posted: Jan 3rd 2011 2:09PM FriedConsole said
@PR0F3TA
Yeah everyone's imagination goes wild with a canceled game. Like the canceled Stephen Spielberg game. People inject a lot of cool concepts that probably wouldn't realistically work out. People keep saying "potentially" it could be awesome and the evil corporation shut down the artistic vision but the probability is that it would have sucked.
No better example is Spore. People injected all this cool stuff into the concepts that were being touted but when the game was released people realized the concept is cooler than actually playing it. Most canceled games probably would end up like Spore. They are almost better canceled so gamers can say "what if" and feed into their belief that corporations just don't get the artistic vision of game developers.
People running corporations aren't morons. They will cancel a game if they don't see a cool concept being a feasible game that can get good reviews and be profitable.
Reply
Yeah everyone's imagination goes wild with a canceled game. Like the canceled Stephen Spielberg game. People inject a lot of cool concepts that probably wouldn't realistically work out. People keep saying "potentially" it could be awesome and the evil corporation shut down the artistic vision but the probability is that it would have sucked.
No better example is Spore. People injected all this cool stuff into the concepts that were being touted but when the game was released people realized the concept is cooler than actually playing it. Most canceled games probably would end up like Spore. They are almost better canceled so gamers can say "what if" and feed into their belief that corporations just don't get the artistic vision of game developers.
People running corporations aren't morons. They will cancel a game if they don't see a cool concept being a feasible game that can get good reviews and be profitable.
Posted: Jan 3rd 2011 1:36PM King Johngie the Fourth said
Hmmmm my interest is piqued...Tell me more.
Posted: Jan 3rd 2011 1:37PM Enosoma said
Awesome artwork.
Too bad I never really enjoyed many games from Midway, cept for maybe Mortal Kombat.
Too bad I never really enjoyed many games from Midway, cept for maybe Mortal Kombat.
Posted: Jan 3rd 2011 2:09PM Jack Kevorkian said
@Enosoma Midway was the world's greatest pinball table manufacturer ever.
Reply
Posted: Jan 3rd 2011 4:23PM Chibi Chaingun said
@Enosoma
Midway was great in the arcade space. I also liked them during the N64 era. Liked, not loved. And as someone mentioned, their Bally/Midway pinball games were top notch.
Reply
Midway was great in the arcade space. I also liked them during the N64 era. Liked, not loved. And as someone mentioned, their Bally/Midway pinball games were top notch.
Posted: Jan 3rd 2011 1:44PM einhanderkiller said
The concept for this game and features they were aiming for were actually really cool. I saw some gameplay and it didn't look bad.
Posted: Jan 3rd 2011 1:44PM Fata1Stryke said
Any other info on this? The art is pretty cool, I'd be interested to hear more about it.
Posted: Jan 3rd 2011 1:59PM lxromero said
not just any city, chicago
Posted: Jan 3rd 2011 2:01PM RENEgadeRSO said
The ruined city is Chicago as shown by the Chicago Transit Authority sign above them. That alone makes me want to know if there could be a continuation of this work.
Posted: Jan 3rd 2011 2:09PM Jawmuncher said
I'm Mainly sad well never get a psi-ops sequel.
That game even ended with a cliff hanger.
Way to screw me over midway....I still miss you though
That game even ended with a cliff hanger.
Way to screw me over midway....I still miss you though
Posted: Jan 3rd 2011 5:52PM CommentGuy said
Ok so it's a picture of a really dark alley, who gives a shit?
Seriously what is it with people getting a boner over game art..christ
Seriously what is it with people getting a boner over game art..christ
Featured Stories
Super Joystiq Podcast 004: 38 Studios meltdown, Gravity Rush, Civilization 5: Gods & Kings, Dragon's Dogma
Posted on May 25th 2012 3:30PM






