With Project H.A.M.M.E.R already cancelled and games like Disaster: Day of Crisis and Sadness going very quiet, the future for original franchises on the Wii looks pretty damn bleak. It's a tragedy then, that a true original in the form of Pollen Sonata has now been scrapped. We covered the game some time ago and the indie title was looking completely unique and intriguing as anything -- a rare game that actually attempted to live up to the Wii's potential. Now it won't live at all.

The game's lead programmer, via a statement on the game's official site, has announced that he is abandoning the project, and it seems highly doubtful that the team will pick up where he left off. For the immediate future, Pollen Sonata is done, and that's a real shame. I was not chomping at the bit for this game myself, but nobody needs to see something this new going down the tube before being given a chance.

I have dubbed 2007 the year that original IPs were becoming fashionable again, so I'm disappointed to see something so fresh go stale. Maybe one day it will see the light of day, but it appears that Nintendo will be relying on well-established franchises and ports for a while longer.

The dream is over. I have decided to leave project Pollen Sonata, as I no longer believe it will be completed.

Things were beginning to run in an engine working on actual hardware, but without strong support from the rest of the team it is meaningless to go on.

Some might go on with the project at a later date, but for now nothing will happen and I'm no longer involved in any eventual continuation of the project in its current form.

I hope that some day I will be able to do something similarly beautiful.

Jimmy

[Via Necros' community blog]