"Wheelman" has had a long and not-so-smooth history, to say the least. It started production at Midway's Australia studio, only to moved to Newcastle in the UK, where it was then re-started a third time when the publisher decided to do all its development in Unreal Engine.
Then there's the film tie-in. Three years ago, Variety wrote an article about Midway's deal with Paramount's MTV Films label to simultaneously develop a "Wheelman" film. The plan back then was to release the game and film, both of which would star Vin Diesel, simultaneously in late 2007. MTV was going to produce the game's soundtrack, sell in-game advertising, and provide significant marketing support.
From Xfire: "Video game enthusiast and Hollywood superstar, Vin Diesel, has taken his talents to video games numerous times. We've decided to rank all of his games from the worst to the best."
“Ranking every game with Vin Diesel from terrible to bad”
Fixed the title for you.
Obviously too young or ill-informed to pass judgement. Honestly, Orchard. You just mugged yourself off. Starbreeze Studios' The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay is a very well-known classic.
Butcher Bay was great. From the prolog, fist fighting, knife fights and story. The immersion of the whole package really uped the criteria of what a cutting edge game was back then. I would like another adventure with Riddick, but it would have to be triple A status to live up to Butcher Bay.
In this episode of InRetroSpect RAW, Dan, Pete & Kris argue over which games demand a sequel. Hear Pete confuse us with Prince of Persia timelines, Kris drops the ball with an unprecedented late swap and find out which game makes Dan threaten to leave if it isn’t included.
Remember everyone, Sega thought it was a better idea to invest in Aliens: Colonial Marines than Shenmue 3.
I never played the Shenmue games, but I've always wanted another Valkeria Chronicles on a main console. So I'd be happy to lend you all my pitchfork when you rise up against Sega.
Game Informer - When Wheelman was announced back in 2006, the project was full of promise. It had big star Vin Diesel attached along with his boutique development house Tigon Studios (which also worked on the great The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay). It was tied to a film of the same name and the stories would weave together. Over the years to its 2009 release, however, publisher Midway's financial problems kept getting worse, and the film counterpart never got off the ground (much like Midway's failed attempt to tie a movie to 2006 game Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run). Out of all the turmoil, primary developer Midway Studios - Newcastle somehow managed to turn in a fun popcorn flick of a driving game with ridiculous, yet exciting Hollywood-style action around every turn.
