One of the few early PlayStation 3 exclusives that earned a reasonable following but no franchising was Heavenly Sword. Released in 2007 and developed by Ninja Theory, the hack-and-slash title and its lusty protagonist earned mostly positive reviews, but not a second chance at glory.

Though criticized for its short length, Heavenly Sword was still considered one of the best of the PS3's earlier exclusives, and many expected and wanted a sequel to arrive, with the hopes that improvements could be made to make up for the weaker aspects of the first game. However, it appears as though that will not happen, as the project has now been reportedly canceled.

A former employee of Sony, one Martin Binfield, released his CV on the internet, revealing that a Heavenly Sword 2 was in development as far back as 2008. Somewhere along the line the project was canceled for reasons unknown - the resume reads "shelved, 2008."

Heavenly Sword's development team, Ninja Theory, has yet to comment on this bit of information, but this news seemingly contradicts the last year's Heavenly Sword 2 rumor that the sequel would instead be handed off to a different team to finish development.

In addition to this, Binfield, an animator, released a video showcasing some of the animation that he created for the company. The video contains footage from other canceled projects for the PS3, most notable being The Getaway 3, a project shut down around 2006.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-kZAJkJc5s

As well as The Getaway 3, the video also shows two unnamed projects: a sci-fi game and a "lifestyle simulator." Both games seem like ambitious concepts - the sci-fi game showing the player floating through space via a jetpack, while the life simulator just only offers a short cut scene. What either of these games could've been can only be speculated upon at this point.

Is this really the end of Heavenly Sword's sequel or is it a brand Sony needs to bring back?

Sources: VG247, Eurogamer, Martin Binfield