Speed Freaks 2 (unreleased sequel to Speed Freaks)

Okay, so I was looking around on the web portfolio of Phil Plunkett, and I looked in the Speed Freaks (using the European title for Speed Punks) section, and I found this interesting image;

As it turned out, there was going to be a sequel to Speed Freaks, and it would have featured snow levels. However, it never went beyond the prototype stage, due to FunCom Dublin becoming defunct in the early 2000s.

I know that some of you might not like its game for how the gameplay was like, but I loved the game since I was 12 years old.

So far, I hadn't found anything else of this unreleased sequel.

What are your thoughts on this?

 

Never played the original, but after watching a video of the gameplay it looks like a fun game. Especially like the drifting action going on during turns. This prototype image looks very holiday seasonish. How appropriate. May have to pick up a CD and run it on ePSXe. Nice and cheap on Ebay.

 

Yeah, Speed Punks is a fun game, and once you get used to the physics system, you'll be able to play it just fine. It's even cooler when you play it with other people!

Man, if only FunCom Dublin hadn't shut down, we would have had Speed Punks 2!

 

Same goes for an old favorite of mine, Dethkarz.

 

I would have wanted to play a snow level, at least one of them, from Speed Punks 2, if an actual working prototype is out there somewhere.

 

Threw some mails out there and started getting some replies. Seems it was stopped because of some rights issue with Sony. Got some names and people to track down but hopefully I'll be able to get more info. Funcom Oslo didn't have any direct dev involvement at least.

 

@VerticalE That would be appreciated

EDIT: I commented on that image of that loading screen, and I got a response from Phil Plunkett. He said that after finishing Speed Punks, he and the SD Team had a lot of ideas for Speed Punks 2, so they worked on it and some levels for it with snowy levels and theme park racecourses that really pushed the limits of the PlayStation. However, it was in a time when Sony was transitioning to the PS2, and FunCom being more focused on MMO PC games, so Speed Punks 2 never came out. He also mentioned that he has a VHS of the game somewhere, isn't that cool?!

 

What would be cool is to see that VHS tape dumped to Youtube.

 

I certainly hope that Mr. Plunkett has that tape somewhere and put the footage up on YouTube