Xbox Addict

Rockstar’s secret Xbox 360 game unmasked

Details of a secret, presumably cancelled Rockstar game for Xbox 360 have emerged, alongside concept artwork.

We Are The Mods was originally created for PS2 at Rockstar’s Toronto studio, but became a next-gen development at the behest of Rockstar New York. Work began on the game in 2006.

According to Matt Kazan, former environment artist at Rockstar, We Are The Mods was an "unofficial" name for the game. Have a look at some of his early artwork here.

Kazan wrote on his own portfolio site: "The project had begun as a PlayStation 2 spiritual follow-up to the earlier hit ’The Warriors’, but part way through the development cycle Rockstar New York asked us to switch Mods from a Sixth Generation to a Seventh Generation development, changing from the PlayStation 2 to the Xbox 360 as the primary development platform. Much of the content here reflects that change, with Mods being the first Seventh Generation project the team had worked on. It was a learning experience for everyone involved. The game was similar in design and style to "The Warriors" but set in 1960’s England at the height of the "Mods" vs. "Rockers" era."

Sounds cool. Kazan also revealed that Red Dead Redemption began life as a PS2/Xbox game.

He explained: "We began our tenure on Red Dead Redemption (known as RDR2 from here) at the beginning of 2008 after we had finished work on Manhunt 2 and Bully: Scholarship Edition. Our primary task at Rockstar Toronto was to redo much of San Diego’s earlier artwork on RDR2, mostly props. RDR2 had began as a Sixth Generation era game, and much of the content we were redoing was artwork geared toward the PlayStation 2/Xbox. San Diego was very specific on what they wanted with each prop, in many cases requesting that we did not modify the geometry on numerous assets (other assets were remodeled entirely, though). They would provide example images and specific texture sizes and time allotted for each asset that they wanted, to which we delivered."