We've heard much over the past year about Factor 5, from their U.S. studio closing to the talk of the German studio working on multiple Wii titles. But now, rumors have surfaced that both Nintendo and LucasArts are sitting on two completed Factor 5 titles, both new installments in popular franchises from both companies.

The NeoGAF reveals the resume of one Kevin Reilly, wherein he says Factor 5 was his most recent place of employ, and that he "was working on an unannounced casual title for the Nintendo Wii."

The following excerpts were posted from the resume', with NeoGAF's emphasis in bold:

My main duties were to implement missions based on the activities outlined in the design doc. Most of what I did was to create fun missions/activities using object placement. We had "design kits" which were essentially just a group of assets that were made to function with certain mission types. How they were placed throughout the environment determined the experience given to the player. For example, if a mission was to destroy a number of targets I would vary the mission by changing the number, type, and placement of the targets. The missions were designed to be played in 5-15 minute increments and players had a wide variety of activities to choose from.

...

I loved working on this project because it taught me a lot about designing for casual players as opposed to my previous experience designing for the hardcore players.

...

Further resume' digging reveals the following from Drew Langlois:

SHIPPED TITLES <----- Shipped?!?

-Title Classified- March 2008 to Dec 2008
Developer: Factor 5
Platform: Nintendo Wii
Publisher: Classified
Lead Systems Designer on a casual title for the Wii.

-Title Classified- Aug 2007 to March 2008
Developer: Factor 5
Platform: Nintendo Wii
Publisher: Classified
Lead Designer on a 3rd person shooter featuring ground and arial [sic] combat.

The NeoGAF poster asserts that the first title is likely what Kevin Reilly was describing above, and "likely published by Nintendo," while the second is "Clearly a Rogue Squadron title published by LucasArts."

One more resume', belonging to a Ryan Bond, states:

Associate Producer, Engine Tech / Tools / Tech-Art / Build Engineering / Production Test: FACTOR 5, INC.
LAIR(PS3)
UNANNOUNCED WII TITLE 1
UNANNOUNCED MOVIE TIE-IN (PS3, 360, WII) <----- Superman
UNANNOUNCED WII TITLE 2
UNANNOUNCED LICENSED TECHNOLOGY PACKAGE (WINPC).

Further in, a post quoted the blog "Gone is Gone states that in addition to folded licensed game publisher Brash Entertainment, "Nintendo and LucasArts were their other two major partners," but both were afraid that their money would be used to pay off the outstanding debts left by Brash's void, as well as a danger of Factor 5 folding with neither title completed.

The U.S. chapter of Factor 5 folded, with the permission to develop the two games transferred to the German side, who then licensed the development to WhiteHarvest LLC-- the new studio formed by the members of of Factor 5 U.S. In addition, they were said to be contracted by Electronic Arts for a third title-- a Wii port of Double Fine's Brütal Legend.

Unfortunately, Brütal Legend reportedly marked the beginning of the end for them. EA is said to have wanted it available to ship around the same time as the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions, but "technical and quality concerns" prohibited that from being possible. EA pulled the plug, leading to WhiteHarvest LLC had to lay off most, if not all of their employees.

However, Achim Moller of Factor 5 GmbH recently assured that both of their other Wii titles could have been released in 2009, indicating that Rogue Squadron and Pilotwings have been finished. Moller admits, nonetheless, that Factor 5 is unsure whether both of these titles will see a release, suggesting that either Nintendo or LucasArts are not confident on publishing their Factor 5-developed game.

So, any/all of the above is true, the question is whether or not Nintendo and LucasArts might release either project, or if they are doomed to wander the dark void forever. I certainly wouldn't mind seeing a new Pilotwings, though at this point, I'm even willing to settle for the other two on Virtual Console.