[UPDATE]: EA has confirmed to GameSpot that LMNO is indeed canceled--and has been for some time."EA maintains its relationship with Steven Spielberg but [has] ceased development of LMNO," a company rep told GameSpot. The original story is below.
One of the big stories of the 2007 Electronic Entertainment Expo was Electronic Arts' collaboration with filmmaker Steven Spielberg on two projects code-named "LMNO" and "PQRS." The latter was later revealed to be Boom Blox, the Wii puzzle action game that went on to spawn a sequel. However, the former, an action adventure for the PlayStation 3, has remained in the shadows since development began on it in mid-2005.
Steven Spielberg and EALA VP Louis Castle in 2007.
Now it appears that LMNO has been shelved permanently. Speaking on the gaming blog 8-4's podcast, former EALA designer Jake Kasdal revealed that the project was apparently canceled last year, after he spent two and a half years helping develop the project.
A veteran designer with extensive experience in Japan and the US, Kasdal said that LMNO was a "very ambitious" project with a "very small team," which "spent a lot of time thinking and talking."
He then concluded, "It didn't end up ever taking off…there was a lot of politics and it ended up just stalling."
Kasdal also described his enthusiasm for the project, which was supposed to involve escorting a computer-generated woman through various US cities. He described his duties as being the lead environmental artist on LMNO, which included taking pictures of buildings in San Francisco, which was to be one of the locales featured in the game.