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).

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.

The page is currently light on content, featuring only the Hand of Odd logo and some copyright information.

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.

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.

We don’t know how long this sale will last, so if you’re interested in a discount you had best order soon.

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.

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.

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.”

Read about it here.

The Greenlight Summit is an event for people working in the entertainment industry, featuring speaker presentations, Q&As, pitch sessions and masterclasses; and will be available to attend online.

The two were confirmed as speakers at the event in a list posted on the ConceptArt.org forums.

Stranger’s Wrath HD, which was released December 27th on the US PlayStation Network, was listed as number eight in the “op 20 PSN and PS3 Full Games” category, beating the likes of Crysis, Shadow of the Colossus and Call of Duty 4.

The handheld version of the game will make use of the Vita’s back touch panel, may feature exclusive achievements and will possibly run at 30 frames per second (lower than the 60fps console version).

Munch’s Oddysee for Vita was also mentioned briefly, with Gilray saying that touch controls were being implemented in a similar way to Stranger.

The three images were added over Thursday and Friday. In the first image, the creature is not recognizable, but the second and third images provided a more close-up look, allowing people to identify the creature.

Scuba Toads were originally intended to appear in Stranger’s Wrath as oarsmen for Stranger’s boat (and can be seen in this promotional image released during development), but were cut late in development because “their arms were too short”.

The irrepressible Lorne Lanning joined GameCity live from Oddworld Inhabitants HQ in Berkeley, California for ‘From The Desk Of…’ in which he examined the Oddworld legacy, the future of Oddworld Inhabitants and the HD remake of his critically acclaimed game Strangers’ Wrath. Oh, and the ‘weaponisation of pop media’. It was powerful stuff.

Filmed at GameCityNights, Nottingham, UK
April 28 2011

February’s Fan Art section gives us 11 new images, including a model of Abe and a Glukkon tattoo. However, the highlight has to be the fantastic video of the opening cutscene of Abe’s Oddysee, remade entirely in Minecraft.

This month’s Dear Alf features a veritable avalanche of queries and questions, no doubt a result of the Mudokon’s seasonal absence. Wild Glukkons, Mudokon milk, and slog rearing get a look-in, among other subjects.

You can still send in fan art and questions to Alf, through Facebook, Twitter, Formspring or email.

Video and screenshot comparisons bewteen the original Xbox version and the new HD remake are made while Gilray explains the challenges JAW had to overcome in order to get the game running smoothly in 720p and 60fps. It’s a bit heavy on tech, but a great read nonetheless. Other interesting tidbits include the MIA Xbox360 version and JAW’s optimism towards finishing the rest of the Quintology.

Protest Mode

Oddworld Inhabitants is currently undergoing unscheduled blackout in protest of SOPA and PIPA. We’d link you to the Wikipedia articles on them, but, well…

Please try back in 0 days, 23 hours, and 30 minutes
(on Thursday January, 19 at 10:49 am).

Sorry for the inconvenience.

And good news for PlayStation Plus subscribers! Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath HD will be 30% cheaper than usual for a limited time! Starting on January 17 in North America and January 18 in Europe and Australia, this special offer runs for two weeks, so if for whatever reason Stranger’s low price is too much for you, check this deal out!

The biggest new feature is the live webcam, which broadcasts a 24/7 feed of the JAW offices over the internet. To celebrate, the team have announced a caption competition, encouraging fans to send in screenshots of the feed with funny captions. A copy of Stranger’s Wrath HD for the PS3 is up for grabs as the prize, with the winning submissions being announced on February 1st.

The post, made on the official Steam Forums, reiterates the changes made to the game (including the updated graphics, UI, difficulties, and foreign-language subtitles), and also details specifics exclusive to the Steam version of the game.

Notably, the game has a tentative release date of March/April 2012, will be thoroughly QA tested (in response to complaints of last year’s initial PC release containing numerous bugs), and will feature new achievements not included in the PS3 version of the game.

Stranger HD PC will also use DirectX, instead of OpenGL (likely a result of compatibility issues between OpenGL games and ATi graphics cards).

The 35-minute video is a brief showcase of the game, featuring the Looten Duke bounty mission. Overall, the Giant Bomb team seem to have a fairly positive view of the game.

Don’t miss this insanely cheap opportunity to complete your Oddworld collection or gift some friends! Heck I’d gift this to my enemies!

Eurogamer’s review late last month was overwhelmingly positive, and it seems that opinion is shared by most critics. TheSixthAxis.com, PSNStores, ShopTo News, Electronic Theatre, Console Arcade, GotGame, This is My Joystick! and Blast Process are among the websites to weigh in on the title and all are thoroughly impressed, with scores averaging around 9/10 or 4/5.

A general complaint seems to be some minor technical issues, but reviewers have made it clear that these are minor and do not detract from the experience at all.

Electronic Theatre seems to hold the most critical opinion of the game, saying “while fans of the original will love the visual overhaul, those expecting a brand new PlayStation 3 aesthetic may be left wanting”. Despite this, they still award the game a healthy 82% score, stressing that the game’s quirks are down to it being “still fundamentally a six year old videogame”.

Overall, opinions so far are very positive, with most reviewers being especially pleased with the quality the game is for its price.

Development on Stranger HD was announced as completed last month, when a complete list of all changes, additions and upgrades was posted on the JAW website. Since then, it has been reviewed by Eurogamer, who gave it an overwhelmingly positive reception.

JAW also reaffirmed via Twitter that the PC version would be arriving 2-3 months from now.

UPDATE: According to the US PlayStation Blog, the North American release of Stranger HD will be on December 27th.

However, in the blog post detailing the new website’s improvements, there was also a snippet of Stranger-related news, the most notable of which being that the release date will be announced next week:

To everyone hoping we’d be announcing the release date today for Stranger’s Wrath HD, sorry to say that is not the case. We understand it’s been frustrating for many of you not knowing when you can expect to play the game, but these things take time to work out! But we can reveal that we will be announcing the release dates on Wednesday 7th December. In the very near future you’ll also be able to enter competitions to win free PSN download codes!

The release date is also listed as “December 2011” on the Oddworld.com page for Stranger HD.

Written by Liam Jones of Just Add Water, the entry focuses on (re)designing the menus for the game, going from concept to completion – and then back again, as the menu system had to be completely rebuilt due to “circumstances out of anyone’s control”. The art direction was also changed, as Lorne Lanning (“the big L man”) apparently disliked the original’s style.

A simple demo of the original menu design was included in the post.

The final menu was built using ActionScript 1, to accommodate the Flash Player 6 projector Stranger’s Wrath uses.

Besides the visual changes, the site now includes a Downloads section, which currently features several HD desktop wallpapers for users to download; and a revamped Games section, featuring more detailed information about the Oddworld series’ games, including screenshots, trailers and review scores. Just Add Water’s Developer Diaries for Stranger’s Wrath HD have also been added.

Hop on over to the new Oddworld.com to explore the new site.

So yes, Just Add Water’s done us all a real favour here, recovering the best Oddworld game ever made for a generation that either missed it the first time around or is just too lazy to get the original Xbox out of the attic.

The final score awarded is a solid 9/10.

The review also confirms that the price of Stranger HD when it is released on the PlayStation Network will be £9.99/€11.99/$14.99.

Insert Coin have now made the two t-shirts (New Yolk City and Sekto Springs) available to pre-order on their website. They are available in 6 sizes (ranging from S to 3XL), and cost £25. International shipping is available.

The costume will be available to download from November 30th 2011, and is priced at £1.59 / €1.99 / US $1.99 / AUS $ 3.45 / NZD $3.90.

This is the second Oddworld-themed Sackboy costume, with a skin based on Stranger released on November 9th.

A video of the theme in action is viewable on the official Oddworld Inhabitants YouTube channel.

The complete changelog, posted on JAW’s website, is as follows:

Characters

• All 84 character models have been updated with increased polygon counts and higher resolution textures.
  • This includes all three variations of Live Ammo: Those in the environment, those on the Crossbow and those in the General Store.
• Wolvark Sloghandlers now release Slogs instead of Slegs.
• Professor Dimble now has glasses and an academic tome.
• Jo’ Mamma has a deeper voice.
• Environments
• All environments have been given higher resolution textures.
• Most vegetation has been updated with increased polygon counts and/or higher resolution textures.
• A lot of environment is now reflected in water where it didn’t before.
• Pipes and barrels rounded.
• Added Blisterz Booty’s broken crud gun to the floor by his bola’d body, as it is in the opening CG Cinematic.
• Sekto’s Office has been changed to more closely resemble than seen in the CG Cinematic.

Audio

• All game audio (voice, sound effects and music) have been upgraded to 16-bit 44KHz from 8-bit 11KHz or less!
• Support for 5.1, Dolby Digital and DTS.
• New female voices have been recorded for two characters.

Display

• Everything now runs at 720p, 60 FPS, widescreen.
• All UI menus have been updated with a new design based on original unused concepts.
• Textures added to stamina and bounty bars.
• Save game GUIs replaced with standard PlayStation 3 interface.
• New posters now occupy the inventory menu when no bounty is accepted.
• MLAA – Full screen PS3 only anti-aliasing

Difficulty

• All armour upgrades now actually increase Stranger’s health.
• Added difficulty levels to the game: Easy, Medium and Hard.
• In easy mode:
  • Stranger has twice the health.
  • Enemies have half the health and stamina.
  • Enemies’ stamina recovers half as fast.
• In hard mode:
  • Stranger has a third less health.
  • Enemies take a bit more to kill

Unlockables

• 37 trophies: 23 bronze, 8 silver, 5 gold, 1 platinum o 18 of these are brand new, not in the PC port.
• Unlockable concept art and movie extras for completing each region of the game.

Several of the changes are directly related to the PlayStation 3, and could possibly change on other platforms.

The release date has not yet been confirmed, but will be announced soon.

The ESRB have given Stranger a rating of Teen, while PEGI have rated the game as suitable for ages 12 and up.

The ESRB rating describes the game as containing “Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Violence”, and lists PlayStation 3 and PS Vita as platforms. The lack of an Xbox 360 rating suggests that the game may not appear on Xbox Live after all.

the PEGI website has not yet been updated with the remake’s rating, but lists the original Xbox game as containing “Non realistic looking violence towards fantasy characters – Mild bad language”.

After a long series of elimination rounds and nominations, the final awards were determined by a combination of superdelagates and public vote. Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee, released in 2001, made it to the final nomination for the Character Design of the Decade award, but ultimately lost to Shadow of the Colossus (which won the title with 70% of the superdelagate vote).

This is not the first time Colossus has beaten out an Oddworld title for a NAViGaTR award: the 5th annual awards (held in 2005) had Team ICO best Stranger’s Wrath, once again for the Character Design award.

In a post on the Oddworld.com website, it was revealed that players would be able to dress their Sackboy up in full bounty hunter gear; several pictures showcasing the costume were also posted. The LittleBigPlanet website details the upcoming content, describing the costume as a combination of:

• Stranger Hair
• Stranger Crossbow
• Stranger Hat
• Stranger Pants and boots
• Stranger Beard and Nose
• Stranger Skin
• Stranger Poncho

The price of the costume was also revealed, with prices listed as £1.59 / €1.99 / US $1.99 / AUS $ 3.45 / NZD $3.90 depending on region.

The Stranger Sackboy costume will be available for purchase from the 9th November 2011.

The beginnings of the previously-mentioned Oddworld tattoos collection has appeared, with 2 body art images included in amongst the other art.

Characters featured include Caste Raider, Doc Vykker, Blisterz Booty, Sekto and of course Stranger himself.

This time around finds Alf talking about—well, sidestepping—the Muds and the bees, the business families in Oddworld and their negotiations, and cloning.

Given how busy the Oddworld team are, there will likely be only one Dear Alf posted in November. In the meantime, you can submit more questions for the mudokon media mogul through email, Twitter, Facebook, and Formspring.

The interview mostly focuses on the work done on Stranger’s Wrath HD, with Gilray once again confirming the scale of changes being made:

Goodness, we’ve “updated” a lot, actually almost the whole game has been updated, Movies, audio, textures, UI, environments, characters, HUD, visual FX (full MLAA on PS3), We’ve added in a few easter eggs, we’ve fixed a few things that were actually broken in the Xbox version. As for creative freedom, with the UI we went back to the original designs that Oddworld created in 2002 that they couldn’t use on the Xbox. But as they had only designed 4 of the 13 UI screens in the game, we just created the others based on those. Also, we only had Lorne’s approval on one item, the rest was entirely up to us.

It was also confirmed that there would not be a disc-based release of the game in the foreseeable future:

No, unless we end up releasing a boxset in the future. Mainly as, we and Oddworld are small indie companies now, to be able to afford to release on Disc is a MASSIVE risk. You have to pay a lot of money to get your discs manufactured, I think something like $10 per copy, so if you do the maths, having 200,000 copies made would cost us at LEAST $2,000,000 and that simply is not possible for us.

You can read the full interview over at New Gamer Nation.

At 10pm BST on Thursday 27 October, Stewart Gilray will talk to and answer questions from an audience at Antenna, Beck Street. The following day, from 10am to 5pm, members of the public will be able to play Stranger’s Wrath HD on Old Market Square. Participation in both events is free.

GameCity has a long history of cooperation with Oddworld. Lorne Lanning delivered the keynote speech at the inaugural GameCity in 2006, which included his announcing Citizen Siege, and designed the label for GameCity 3’s limited edition brew, Fine Ale Fantasy. Stewart more recently spoke to the audience at GameCityNights Season 2 Episode 4, while Lorne was interviewed by Iain Simons via Skype from Oddworld HQ in Berkeley, CA.

The podcast covered a wide variety of topics, with discussions several times turning to Just Add Water’s current and future projects.

Gilray confirmed that the team would be finishing Stranger’s Wrath HD “in the next couple weeks”, and would also be finishing Munch’s Oddysee HD approximately a month later.

Some of the changes and improvements made to Stranger’s Wrath were detailed. The update will include:

• Every character model has updated polys and textures
• The average number of polys in each character model has jumped from around 1000 to 3-4000
• 35+ PS3 Trophies, including a Platinum
• Completely changed the game’s HUD to match the original designs created by Oddworld Inhabitants
• Re-rendered all CG cutscenes to 720p resolution
• Improved audio, including newly-recorded dialogue for female characters
• Some brand new Easter eggs, including a reference to Munch’s Oddysee and another reference to an unnamed Oddworld game (described as “the game that isn’t Munch or Stranger”)

When asked if the game will run at 1080p, Gilray stated that this was not currently the case but was under consideration. The game currently runs at a smooth 60 frames per second at 720p, but that may not be guaranteed 100% of the time if the game were to run at 1080p.

Although they have a release window they are aiming for, the team are not thinking about release dates, taking a “when it’s done” approach to development. The release date will be finalised in Sony QA testing, and the release date and price will be announced simultaneously. Munch and Stranger will not be released in Japan, at least for the time being.

It was also revealed that in order to meet the release window, the initial release of the PS3 version will not include 3D or Move support as previously announced, but that these features will be added in a patch when ready.

The development of Munch’s Oddysee HD was not discussed much, but the beta was described as “looking pretty good”.

JAW will not be releasing the PC versions of Munch and Stranger on the same date as consoles, citing worries over losing sales to piracy.

Gilray suggested that the PSNation team should livestream Stranger HD during their Extra Life event, although this has not been confirmed as a definite part of the event.

Michael Bross was confirmed to be working on the audio for Abe HD, although whether he was working as a composer or simply in a technical role was not discussed.

The issue of Stranger being released on the Xbox 360 was discussed, with Gilray revealing that Oddworld had been dealing with Microsoft since August last year. When submitting Stranger to be approved for publishing on Xbox Live Arcade, it supposedly took 10 weeks for Microsoft to reply back denying them. Lorne Lanning stepped in to convince them to approve, but in April this year JAW were again told they could not publish the game.

Because Oddworld Inhabitants is now self-owned, the studio is considered to be self-publishing, making the process of getting games published on Xbox Live difficult.

The team have looked at getting the original Munch and Stranger on Xbox Live’s Games on Demand service, but the requirements include selling more than 1 million units.

Lanning and Gilray are still negotiating with Microsoft over publishing on the 360.

Finally, Stewart Gilray will be speaking at an as-yet unannounced event in November.

Questions this time around poke about in the structure of Oddworld’s capitalist society, dig up some geography, ponder who would win in a fight (it is always a Scrab), and even pry a bit into Alf’s own affairs.

Alf is all done with questions for now, but you can always submit more for Volume 2 through email, Twitter, Facebook, and Formspring.

The interview covers a huge array of Oddworld-related topics, ranging from discussion of the work being done on the Stranger’s Wrath HD remake to speculation on the future of the franchise and the Oddworld universe.

The first section of the interview covers the work done on Stranger’s Wrath HD. Gilray details some of the changes made, including changing the resolution and the HUD, the processing power of an Xbox compared to modern gaming platforms, and the ultimate goal of getting the game running at a constant 60 frames per second. He also notes that there are very few bugs left to fix, and that the game “should be done in 3 weeks”, at which point the team will move onto development for Abe HD.

Another point of interest is when Gilray describes his relationship with Lorne and Sherry. “I spent 3-4 days with them last year at their house in Berkeley and I came away from that with the feeling that, well, that they felt, knew, the game and the brand were in the right hands,” he says.He then goes on to discuss possible future projects, mentioning that both himself and Lanning want to see the Quintology finished, and that Squeak has been discussed.

Overall, it seems as though the relationship between JAW and Oddworld is looking good.

The discussion briefly touches on Abe HD, with Gilray mentioning how the source material will be respected:

we’re not 100% what we’re going to be doing with it yet, all we done know is that we are starting from scratch, in some respects, We’re not just taking Oddysee and making it higher res, the backdrops are now going to be full 3D environments, but the gameplay is still going to be 100% 2-dimensional. It’s going to be the game that Abe was originally, same sound, it’s going to look the same but more. So like, the environments will be living, not just like in the old games where you had an occasional background animation of a barrel going by or whatever.

A question about the negotiations with Microsoft reveals two things: firstly, that the main barrier appears to be Microsoft being unwilling to “commit” to a deal; and secondly, that the JAW team will happily publish on any gaming platforms: “Xbox 360, PS3, PC and Vita….and maybe Mac, other platforms” is the tentative line-up given for Abe HD.

Speaking of future projects:

• The Stranger engine will be reworked into a multiplatform game engine, and will possibly be used “to do one or two different games which we have not talked about yet in the Oddworld universe”.
• Hand of Odd is briefly discussed, with Gilray dropping some clues that the game’s original design documents are being adapted to work in a modern gaming industry; differences in input devices is highlighted as a major consideration.

The interview is rounded off with Ferrol and Gilray talking about the Oddworld universe as a whole, particularly the sheer size of the world Oddworld Inhabitants have created and the potential scope of future stories set in that world.

SG- Yes. There’s a timeline of Oddworld document that covers around 2-3 thousand years of Oddworld time, and the games so far have covered two, maybe three hundred years, so you know, there’s around two and a half thousand years left to explore…

GFB- Kind of like the Old Republic and then the Star Wars films, Middle earth….

SG- Yeah, you know…you play Strangers Wrath and you get to later on in the game, the Mungo Valley area, and there are roads there that have been demolished…where did they come from? All that kind of stuff, so you have to think, the Strangers Wrath version of Oddworld is like the second age effectively, in some respects. And again, Oddworld is an entire planet. The games so far have been based in two different parts of one continent of that planet, so there are other continents on Oddworld, other civilisations and stuff, there is stuff designed and written down, other characters created I mean, we found a document the other day that had, they aimed to have 300 different species. When Strangers Wrath came out they had a list of forty five species, Hand of Odd was ninety five species, so we have all of these species, well, not all of them, but most already designed and written. Yeah, you have Slogs, Slegs, Sligs, Baby slogs, so that’s four species there straight off. It’s all there! It’s this massive wonderful universe to work within. Some might say it doesn’t leave a lot of room to be creative, but I say that it’s easier to start off with a chessboard and design new pieces, than to start off with a blank board and have to design a game from the start. So yes, we have a whole universe that we get to play in.

If your appetite for Oddworld news isn’t fully satiated by these highlights, you can read the full interview over on The GameFreak Blog.

Ferrol was invited to visit to the offices of Just Add Water last Friday, where he was given the opportunity to play the beta build of the game. Overall, it sounds like Ferrol came away extremely impressed:

So basically guys, the game is great. Graphically it looks completely gorgeous, with amazing characters and environments, it sounds brilliant too (all the original sound samples and effects have been quadrupled in quality) and all in all Stewart and everyone at JAW has taken a fan favourite and improved it in almost every single way. I for one, cannot wait for it to be released, and i’m sure, no…I GUARANTEE that if you’re a fan of Stranger’s Wrath and the Oddworld series in general you’ll be more than happy that the series is in the hands of everybody at Just Add Water.

Also included alongside the article are a few new screenshots of in-game footage taken from the Xplosives McGee area of the game.

Interestingly, at the end of the article Ferrol teases that he will be publishing an interview with Stewart Gilray tomorrow, in which “some EXCLUSIVE NEWS you won’t have heard ANYWHERE ELSE” will be revealed.

You can read Ferrol’s full preview here.

Game developer ADEPT Games, known for its puzzle game Trixel which is available on the AppStore, has announced a partnership with Oddworld Inhabitants on Trixel and Oddworld related content.

It brings us great pleasure to announce that we’ll be collaborating with our good friends at Oddworld Inhabitants on special Trixel and Oddworld-related content, to be detailed in the near future.

We’ll announce specifics about the project in the next couple of months. In the meantime, Adept Games’ Creative Director Daniel Boutros had this to say about the upcoming collaboration:

“I’m a big fan of the Oddworld universe games and team, and I’ve been wanting to work with them on something a little different for quite some time. I can’t wait to show people what we’re cooking up.”

Stewart Gilray of JAW LTD / Oddworld Inhabitants, had this to say…

“At Oddworld we’re always looking at new and interesting ideas in getting the universe out there. When Adept came to us with their ideas and thoughts for a tie in, there was no way we could say no.”

ABOUT TRIXEL

Trixel is a unique logic puzzle game built by Adept Games; a small crew comprising of games industry veterans and new blood alike. Trixel earned 8/10 and above critic review scores across the board, has gained numerous accolades since release, including a Best App Ever 2^nd and 3^rd place finalist in Puzzle and Family categories (2009) and many “game of the week” accolades from Metro UK, T3, WhatTheyPlay and others.

Source

The new HD model follows the release of new Abe, Scrab and Paramite models, first seen last month.

Remember that you can talk to Alf via email, Twitter, Facebook or Formspring.

Many fans of oddworld are disheartened to know that it is unlikley that Microsoft will allow Oddworld games to be released on the Xbox 360.Us as fans have decided to start a petition and let Microsoft know just how much we want Oddworld to be released on the Xbox 360!Please help us get a much loved game on to a much loved console by signing this petition.

Thankyou :)

Various different Oddworld outlets have referenced the petition, including Abe’s, Alf’s, and Just Add Water’s respective Twitter accounts, and the official Oddworld.com blog.

JAW have commented on the difficulty of getting games published on the Xbox Live Arcade several times since the announcement of Stranger’s Wrath HD, stating that they would prefer to publish on the Xbox Live Arcade but are unable to due to a restrictive file size limit. Alf has stated that the Games on Demand platform is an alternative they would “settle for”, but has a requirement of two prior games published on Xbox, which JAW have yet to meet.

JAW have also stated that they will not be delaying the PS3 release of Stranger’s Wrath HD because of the Xbox 360 delays. If this is true, this could mean that the game may not appear on Xbox 360 at all, as Microsoft’s policy on downloadable games is that they will only be allowed if they are released first on Xbox Live, or at least simultaneously with other channels.

As of this writing, the petition has gathered 224 signatures.

The trailer reuses Michael Bross’s ‘Attract’ music from the game’s original trailer and attract mode video, and emulates several original elements in high definition, but is a minute longer in length. The video has been posted on the walls of the Oddworld Inhabitants, Just Add Water and PlayStation Facebook Pages, and has been shared almost a hundred times in an hour and a half.

Stranger’s Wrath HD as well as Munch’s Oddysee HD will be available on PlayStation 3 later this year via PlayStation Network to complete the Oddboxx on PSN, and will later be released on PC and PlayStation Vita. Oddworld Inhabitants are still talking with Microsoft but have not confirmed an Xbox 360 release.

In a statement today, clothing company Insert Coin announced that they have been working with Oddworld Inhabitants to produce official t-shirt designs based on Stranger’s Wrath.

The two designs produced are based on New Yolk City and Sekto Springs bottled water:

The first design is ‘New Yolk City’, inspired by the largest conurbation you romp around in the game. Taking its visual style from the wild wild west – and incorporating a gloriously wide-eyed Clakker – this iconic design is the perfect souvenir after a journey around the Western Mudos!

The second design is ‘Sekto Springs’, which is based upon the 100% ‘authentic’ beverage at the heart of Stranger’s adventure. Refreshing and with a little hint of continental style, this tee is a salute to the world in which the game is set.

No price or release date has been confirmed as yet. Most of the store’s t-shirts are available at around £20/$30.

The developer has also tweeted two photos of a PlayStation 3 home screen (first photo, second photo), showing what appears to be a Stranger-themed wallpaper or XMB theme. The two photos show the same scene—the background of the game’s main menu, the HD reworking of which was recently revealed—but with Stranger—but notably features differences in Stranger’s pose, suggesting that the theme will be animated in the same way as the original menu version.

It looks like someone has taken notice of the large number of fans sporting Oddworld tattoos—in addition to the usual selection of artwork, Alf has put out a call for Odd tattoos, promising a dedicated gallery if enough submissions are sent in:

We’re also starting to notice a number of people with, getting or thinking of getting Oddworld tattoos. We can’t get enough of this dedication, and we want to show the world how much you love Oddworld, so we’re going to have a dedicated skin art gallery just as soon as we have a large enough collection. So if you’ve got Abe on your arm, a Slig on your shin, or a Wolvark on your… skin, then send in photos at the same address!

In a series of Twitter posts, the games developer has announced that they have captured the raw data for the trailer, and are now in the process of editing that data down to a more manageable level.

A tweet by Stewart Gilray seems to confirm that the trailer will be made up of ingame footage, not pre-rendered CGI.

With the game previously being announced as close to Beta, the announcement of a new trailer may signify that the game is close to release, although at this point nothing has been confirmed.

Alf now also has a Formspring account, allowing fans to ask him questions directly.

Of note is that, while there is still no definite release date, JAW does have a planned deadline, and are close to moving into Beta testing:

Right now we’re just finishing up various PS3 specific elements, then we’ll be at Beta. During Beta we will be optimizing the heck out of the game. Currently it’s running at 60fps 90% of the time, we want to ensure that it’s 60fps ALL of the time. As to what can players expect… It IS the same game it was in 2005, we’ve just polished it, lots more polys, much more detailed textures. We’ve doubled resolutions most of the textures in the game, in some cases even more. We’ve pushed out the view distance in some places just to give a much better view of the vistas in the game.

Also, interviewed last week was Michael Taylor, a freelance audio composer and editor currently working with JAW on the Stranger’s Wrath and Munch’s Oddysee HD updates.

In the interview with Nerd Vice, Taylor discussed his past experiences in the games industry (where he has previously worked on various Xbox Indie and iOS games), and talked about his work on the Oddworld HD remakes.

His work includes converting and recreating the original audio files to the best possible quality (Taylor previously discussed his work on Stranger’s Wrath in a Dev Diary posted on JAW’s website).

Taylor also discussed recording some previously lacking female dialogue, the lack of which was brought to the attention of Stewart Gilray by fans; and mentioned that his work was approved by Michael Bross, the original composer for Munch’s Oddysee and Stranger’s Wrath.

Oddworld Forums user lloyd has kindly put together a minisite where you can directly compare old and new by rolling over the images. This comparison highlights the larger field of view, higher resolution textures and higher poly-count character models.

Three more screenshots can be found on Oddworld Inhabitants’ Facebook page, including an updated version of the game’s main menu background.

Some posts from JAW team members on the Oddworld Forums elaborate on the changes made; tda confirms that all of the new character models have been built from scratch (with the exception of a small handful remade from the models used for pre-rendered cutscenes), while Glitch explains the process of ensuring the level of improvement is consistent throughout the game.

Higher resolution images of the new Abe, Scrab and Paramite models have also been posted on the blog of Tom Bramall, one of JAW’s 3D artists.

2011 New Media Film Festival Q & A session with Expert Game Creator Lorne Lanning, Director Spencer Halpin and Producer Ramy Katrib.
Moral Kombat takes a look into the controversial subject of violence in video games and examines the conflict between the game developers rights to create and its potential impact on children.

Click here to watch

Applicants must be fluent in PHP, MySQL and JavaScript, and must be capable of self-managing a large project designed in coordination with the Library Owners. They should be driven to deliver a platform that allows the Library to establish a team of content editors that will serve the Oddworld fan community.

A successful applicant will be tasked with implementing integrated technologies that will include multilingual page support, user account management, a search engine, a wiki editor with version control and lightweight markup, and multimedia galleries. Experience with these is not essential, but is strongly preferred.

To apply, please contact Wil Bunce-Edwards describing your prior experience and explaining your interest in assuming the position. We look forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely,
Wil Bunce-Edwards and Xavier De Coster
Oddworld Library Owners

Lorne Lanning at SXSW 2011

The SXSW ConceptArt.org panel which took place in March 2011 and featured speakers such as Lorne Lanning of Oddworld fame and Jason Manley, co-founder of ConceptArt.org and The Art Department, has now been published online in audible form. Topics discussed, amongst many others, include the rise of conceptart.org, virtual schools compared to traditional curicculums, and the struggles the modern-day artist face while trying to survive the ever-accelerating changes taking place in the industry.

If you’re a digital artist or traditional illustrator looking for information on how to market yourself to the world, this session is pure gold, don’t miss it!

Listen to it here

The event can be visited until November 27th.

Press Release
Neoludica Official Website (Italian)

The developer tweeted and posted on Facebook immediately after Sony’s press conference at E3, which demonstrated the PSVita and its ability to synchronize save games between it and the PS3, allowing players to continue their progress on either device. This feature will be enabled for both Oddworld titles.

Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee and Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath coming to PS Vita this holiday season, with cross platform cloud saves #E3

The developer also confirmed that Abe HD will appear on Vita in the future. What’s more, since Vita is backward compatible with downloadable PSP games, it will also play Abe’s Oddysee and Abe’s Exoddus.

Discuss this story on the Oddworld Forums.

Update: Speaking to Eurogamer, Stewart Gilray added that these ports will make use of Vita’s touchscreen.

“In a way that allows the player to play the same game as a full console title or as a handheld title. It’s also allowed us to improve on the design in terms of being able to affect things directly.”

Elaborating on this, he added as an example: “Abe can pickup a fellow Mudokon by simply tapping the screen, and other gesture-based input”.

Despite Lorne Lanning’s original claim that Abe’s Oddysee would be remade in 2.5D—which Gilray confirmed at GameCityNights was not meant to be revealed until E3—Abe HD might actually be a remake of Abe’s Exoddus, a new adventure entirely, or a blend of the above.

Gilray told Eurogamer, ‘If we do a brand new game it’s going to be two years away. If we do a remake it’s going to be a year away.’

Gilray made four main announcements.

1. Because of the time spent fixing bugs present in the Oddboxx’s original release, the release of Stranger’s Wrath HD has been pushed back until the summer. A small number of higher-resolution characters were showcased, but the delay has allowed Just Add Water to include additional features, such as support for PlayStation Move, 3DTV and automatic uploading of gameplay recordings to YouTube. A mysterious ‘Feature X’ was assured, although its reveal had to be censored last-minute. It is ten letters long, starting and ending with ‘s’. In addition, the game’s menus and HUD have been redesigned to more closely match Lorne’s original sketches for them.

2. Munch’s Oddysee is also being given a HD treatment, with a number of higher-definition characters showcased at GameCityNights. Set to hit the PlayStation Network in October or November this year, this rerelease of MO will bring all four Oddworld titles to simultaneous availability on consoles, specifically the PlayStation 3. That being the case…

3. The Oddboxx will be coming out on the PlayStation Network. Just like the PC equivalent, it will feature all four Oddworld games, including the HD remasters of Stranger’s Wrath and Munch’s Oddysee, at the same low price!

4. Perhaps the most exciting announcement is the reveal of Oddworld: The Hand of Odd as a new title for release on platforms to be determined, although Eurogamer reports they are looking at iPad, Android tablets, Facebook, PC and Mac.

   Wielding a large bound copy of the game’s original design documentation (circa 1998), Gilray explained that the modern gaming landscape has encouraged them to imagine Hand of Odd less as a Command & Conquer-style Real-Time Strategy and more like Zynga’s brand of social games.

OddBlog will be publishing its own interview with Stewart Gilray in the coming days, to follow up on last night’s announcements and chase all the latest news from the re-emerging field of Oddworld videogame development.

Widely regarded as the best-looking game to grace the Xbox, fans of Oddworld Stranger’s Wrath can rejoice that the long overdue update is complete and will be unveiled at Episode 4 of GameCityNights by Stewart Gilray, Managing Director of Just Add Water, the team responsible for reinvigorating the latest Oddworld title.

From 6pm, Gilray will deliver this month’s Frontend section, delving into the life of a studio head, from his early beginnings to the daily challenge of leading a team of talented developers, and reassuring a vociferous fan base their beloved franchise is in safe hands.

The main event of the evening follows at 8pm as Gilray presents the moment fans have been waiting more than six years for: Stranger’s Wrath with updated and remastered HD visuals and audio. Charting the process of adding shiny bells and whistles to an already brilliant looking game, fans will see the progression from start to finish.

In a distinctly Orwellian moment, Oddworld creator Lorne Lanning will be the eye-in-the-sky as he casts a glance over his original creation as this month’s ‘From the Desk of’ guest, as well as discussing the series’ past, present and future.

GameCity Director Iain Simons said, “Lorne headlined the first ever GameCity festival back in 2006, so it’s great to be welcoming him back. We look forward to hearing his views on the updated Stranger, learning about the weather in Berkeley and sharing in his anticipation of the forthcoming Union of Kate Middleton and Prince William, staunch royalist that he is.”

As ever, GameCityNights will also feature the very best indie developers showcasing their work alongside the latest AAA titles, comedian Paul Butler’s Augmented Vision, A Winner Is You prize competition with generous contributions from Capcom and Square Enix, an impassioned My Game appearance and a well-stocked bar to round out the night.

GameCityNights take place every month at Antenna in Nottingham, Beck Street, NG1 1EQ. Entry is strictly 18+ only, tickets £5 in advance and for students, £6 on the door for the general public. Due to limited capacity, pre-booking via GameCityNights’ website is advised. There is a Facebook Event.

OddBlog will be present on the evening to cover information and happening as they develop. We will also be bringing you an exclusive interview with Stewart Gilray following the event.

Source

Since yesterday, Direct2Drive has extended its 50% sale to Munch’s Oddysee and Stranger’s Wrath, although still only in the Unitied States region.

The latest updates to Stranger’s Wrath have now gone live on Steam, although the latest updates to Munch’s Oddysee can currently only be installed manually.

Stewart Gilray has stated that Munch’s Oddysee and Stranger’s Wrath will be DRM-free on Amazon Game Downloads, Stardock and newly-confirmed GOG.com.

The games are similarly priced on both Steam and Direct2Download, although Steam is currently holding a weeklong 50%-off sale on all Oddworld games and packages. Direct2Download has 50% off the Oddboxx in the United States region only.

Other digital distribution services are expected to upload the Oddboxx shortly, including Stardock, Amazon, GamersGate, and others to be announced.

Source

Shortly thereafter Stewart shared two pictures of Abe Speak (1 & 2) and revealed it is going to be a free app for the iOS. No mention of an Android version yet or when it will be released.

On the week of March 7th 2011, this budget-priced compilation of award-winning classics will finally launch on IGN D2D, Stardock, Amazon, GamersGate and other services to be announced.

To celebrate, there will also be a week-long 50% discounted price sale from the day of release, which will also occur on Steam.

The Oddboxx will come complete with a host of extra features added since the game’s launch:

Munch’s Oddysee:

Additional achievements: A Bittersweet Reunion, Not Mine, Archers at Dawn, A Peaceful Death, Riding High, Zen, Wheelie Selfish, We’re Freeeee, Demonic.

Improved controls and complete control customizability.

Fixed all major bugs and issues, including joypad and sound device errors.

Added launcher with multiple resolution and anti-aliasing support.

Added dynamic shadowing.

Added widescreen modes.

Stranger’s Wrath:

Added Xbox 360 controller support.

Fully customizable controls, including 3rd party control pad support.

Added support for devices with more than 6 audio channels.

Added launcher with multiple resolution and anti-aliasing support.

Added widescreen modes.

Stranger’s Wrath will receive ADDITIONAL enhancements later this year, to be taken from the forthcoming upgraded PSN version. This includes upgraded models, lighting, UI features and a few surprises still to come.

Alf answers a selection of fan questions in this brand new Dear Alf, just like in the old days.

This month’s Fan of the Month is Terry Garret, a 23 year old mechanical engineering student. He has beaten Abe’s Exoddus multiple times using only the game’s sound effects, the occasional tip from his brother and a unique trial and error method he honed to perfection. Terry Garrett is completely blind.

You can send in your own Oddworld-related art to: alf [at] oddworld.com

Link

The Smithsonian American Art Museum is putting on a new exhibit: The Art of Video Games! For six months the prestigious institute will be showcasing 80 titles from 40 years of video game history, and from today until April 27, 2011, the public can help choose which games will have the honor of appearing.

Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee is up for inclusion, facing Metal Gear Solid and Crash Bandicoot: Warped for selection as the representative of the Action Genre on the original Sony PlayStation. As Oddworld fans we know you want to vote for us, so go now to the voting website, look at the Transition Era (Era 4) and let them know how artistic Oddworld is!

The Art of Video Games run from March 16, 2012 to September 30, 2012 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC.

Note that at the moment the ArtOfVideoGames.org can be very slow to load but voting is possible if you have enough patience.

Thanks to Nate for the heads up.

Thanks to OddHunter for the heads up.

Stranger’s crossbow has reached the fifth position on Elitenoob’s Top 10 most unique weapons compiled by Josh Lobo.

Abe has ended at the very top of Thirteen1′s Greatest VideoGame Escape Artists list, beating Left 4 Dead’s survivors, Rayman and ‘Splosion man.

Not bad at all!

GameCityNights takes place at Antenna, Beck Street, Nottingham, on the last Friday of every month at 6pm. Admittance is £5 in advance, £6 on the door, over 18s with ID. To book your attendance go to www.gamecity.org

Source: PlatformOnline

Abe HD is going into production. It’s basically Abe’s Oddysee being redone in a 3D physics engine as a 2D side-scrolling platformer. So the way Just Add Water wants to approach it, we thought was very smart; they are not trying to reinvent any wheels. It’s like, ‘Can we make that experience in a new engine, with new tech, in the old way?

A release date for the Abe’s Oddysee remake has not yet been announced but more information regarding the game and future Oddworld plans will be revealed in an upcoming issue of EGM available on newsstands February 14th.

Source: EGM

Discuss this news on the Oddworld Forums.

The updates include the following bug fixes and new features:

Stranger’s Wrath

Fixes

1. Fixed performance issues.
2. Fixed save game permissions issues. Save games and config file are now saved in “Program Files” to “\Documents\Oddworld\Stranger’s Wrath”.
3. Fixed controls “sticking” issues.
4. Fixed tutorial text – Camera mode switch button text.
5. Fixed turorial text – Camera reset button text.
6. Fixed broken achievement “Mine your business”.
7. Fixed incorrect texts being displayed in controls Layout screens.
8. Fixed 5.1 and 7.1 audio.
9. Fixed Mouse lag.
10. Fixed issue with only 1 of 3 dialogue lines working in Jail house.
11. Fixed first person view on nVidia boards.

Changes

1. Added screen resolution selection to launcher.
2. Added v-sync option to launcher.
3. Added joystick selection to launcher.
4. Added customisable controls.
5. Added support for third party “generic” joypads.
6. Added widescreen suppport.
7. Re-authored Keyboard “layout” screen in options.
8. Removed automatic joypad detection.

Munch’s Oddysee

PC Update #1

• Fix crash issues
• Fix sound issues
• Broken achievement fixes

Another update for Munch will be released in a couple of weeks, with a load more fixes and additions.

There are still some compatibility issues with Stranger’s Wrath and ATI graphics cards. If you are experiencing graphical issues with the games, contact Just Add Water [info AT jawltd.com] and send them your system specifications.

You can discuss the updates on the forum.

Abe’s voice, performed by Lorne Lanning, is number two on Xboxer360.com‘s Top Ten Computer Games Voices.

A little Q&A has been held on Oddworld’s Facebook page along with a batch of new pictures from the upcoming remastering of Stranger’s Wrath on PS3.

Finally, Lorne Lanning is once again in the judging committee for Ballistic Publishing‘s EXPOSÉ.

Even tough some testing has been done on the games, some gamers are experiencing technical difficulties. If you have a problem too be aware that the guys responsible for the ports are listening to you and are working on patches to fix those bugs. You can either post your problem over on Oddworld.com or on their Facebook page.

Source: AlfMudokon

Discuss on the Oddworld Forums

The games will be released on Steam on the 20th of December, 2010.

Note that during the first 24 hours of release, the game will be sold with 50% of its marked price discounted. After this and until January 3rd, a 25% discount will apply to the marked price. Go on oddworld.com for more info.

Thanks to K100 for the heads up.

The OddBoxx is officially coming this 2010 Holiday season!

This means that all four Oddworld games, are going to be released on PC, including Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee and Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath.

Alf has been an intermediary between Oddworld Inhabitants and Oddworld fans since before OWI controlled their own official website, but hasn’t been seen since he went on sabbatical in April 2005. Upon his return Alf is seeking followers on Twitter.

Alf is not the only Mudokon on Twitter, his friend Abe having started tweeting in May this year.

Credit to Michael on the Oddworld Forums for spotting this.

The entire discussion has recently been posted on Youtube: Part 1 & Part 2.

Thanks to Zukan for the heads up.