Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee is one of eleven PSOne games released for the “PlayStation Store for Android PlayStation Certified devices” (ain’t that a mouthful?).
The games, including Oddysee, cost £3.99 each, and are available through the PlayStation Store app. The store is only available in Japan and parts of Europe at the moment, and is only available on supported Sony Xperia devices ( in Japan: Xperia arc, Xperia acro, Xperia PLAY, Xperia NX, Xperia acro HD; in Europe: Xperia S).
Stewart Gilray of Just Add Water has been discussing his team’s work on the Oddworld series in an article posted on IGN today.
The article focuses on two things: firstly, the issues surrounding the PC port of Stranger’s Wrath from last December, and its subsequent HD re-release. According to the article, the backlash from the initial PC port’s issues caused Gilray no small amount of worry:
“Rightfully so, we had our arses ripped a new one,” Gilray says. It got under his skin. He didn’t sleep for two weeks.
“I was terrified I’d killed Oddworld.”
The second part reiterates some of the previously-discussed difficulties the JAW team has had with getting the game published on Microsoft’s Xbox 360 console, including the limitations of the Xbox Live Arcade platform and the requirements of Games on Demand.
A teaser website for Oddworld: Hand of Odd has been put online. According to the page footer, the website was created by Just Add Water. A Whois search confirms that the domain name was registered by someone working at JAW.
The page is currently light on content, featuring only the Hand of Odd logo and some copyright information.
Rusel DeMaria is attempting to fund a third edition of his book, High Score: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games. The original book is now out of print, but DeMaria has found a publisher interested in an updated edition covering the period of 2000-2011.
In an attempt to fund the four-to-six months of research and travel required to bring the book up to date, DeMaria has turned to funding platform Kickstarter, and is offering a rather unique incentive for potential donators.
Along with fourteen other industry leaders, Lorne Lanning has agreed to meet and share a meal with backers who donate $250 or more. This is a Limited Reward of five spaces, with only three of those spaces available as of this writing. The date and location of the meetings is to be determined after the project has been funded.
Stewart Gilray of Just Add Water is appearing today at Platform 2012, a gaming expo being held at the University of Hull.
Gilray will be appearing as a speaker, giving a presentation titled “Oddworld: Past, Present & Future”. The presentation will look at the history of the Oddworld franchise and what its future has in store.
He will then appear alongside Jamie Sefton of gamerepublic.net in a panel about getting into the games industry.
After launching a brand new website, clothing company Insert Coin has put several of their items on sale, including their Oddworld range – shirts which were once £25 are now listed as £17.50.
We don’t know how long this sale will last, so if you’re interested in a discount you had best order soon.
The official Oddworld Inhabitants Facebook page continues to be a great source of Oddworld content, with photographs of two different games running on the PlayStation Vita having been posted last week.
The first photo shows a rather thrilling gameplay scene from Stranger’s Wrath. Unfortunately, the lack of detail prevents any in-depth analysis.
The second image is a little more interesting, as it doubles as the first look at Munch’s Oddysee HD running in real time. The improved textures and higher-detail Abe model can be seen despite the low image resolution, and changes have been made to in-game signs to display controller buttons for the PlayStation.
The photographs were taken around the same time as the games were previewed on the Just Add Water office livestream. It appears that the team are making good progress on porting the games to the handheld platform.
As the month of March marches on, Alf has once again taken the time to answer fan questions.
This round of questions is loosely based around Oddworld society, etiquette and breeding, with a peek into how Oddworld’s industries work.
More questions? Alf will of course return next month, and you can submit your questions via Facebook, Twitter, Formspring or the tried-and-true email.
In a press release posted today, Just Add Water Ltd have announced that they have licensed the Bitsquid technology and game engine to use in future Oddworld titles, including Abe’s Oddysee HD.
The choice to use Bitsquid tech was discussed in the press release:
The Bitsquid engine is designed to have some of the same core functionality and attributes, while being more lightweight and functional for digital download game development.
“The ability to scale and iterate quickly without sacrificing quality is a key component to creating quality games that live up to the Oddworld name and reputation,” said Stewart Gilray, CEO of Just Add Water. “After a good deal of shopping around, we found the Bitsquid engine to have the perfect combination of power and flexibility for our needs.”
The Bitsquid engine is described as “a new high-end game engine, built from the ground up to focus on excellent multicore performance, cache friendly data layouts and advanced rendering techniques.”
There’s a new interview with Stewart Gilray, CEO of Just Add Water, by Christian Donlan at HookShootInc.com
He talks about 3D and Move support for Stranger HD, continuing struggles with the Xbox port, and what’s next for Munch’s Oddysee HD.
Read about it here.