Oddworld Inhabitants have announced that they will be releasing two Oddworld titles on two platforms next week. The first is Stranger’s Wrath HD, which will be coming to the PlayStation Vita, its third platform to date. The handheld port will be on sale starting 18 December (in North America; Europe on 19 December) for $14.99/€11.99/£9.99 on the PlayStation Network, and will feature some touch controls specifically designed for the Vita. The second title is Munch’s Oddysee HD, which after a long time in development will finally be seeing a release on PlayStation 3. This will be soon after Stranger, releasing on 19 December (in Europe; “late December” for North America) on the PlayStation Network for $9.99/€8.99/£7.99.
Oddworld Inhabitants and Just Add Water finally revealed their new game to the world on September 30, during their live panel at Eurogamer Expo. Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee: New ‘n’ Tasty (named by fans via a competition held by OWI) was officially announced after the team showed off a short video demonstrating pre-alpha gameplay footage. Stewart Gilray delivered the announcement of the game, revealing its official title and detailing some of the changes made (and what will be left alone). New ‘n’ Tasty has been given a tentative release date of Autumn 2013 and initial release platforms of PlayStation 3, PSVita, PC and Xbox Live Arcade, with other platforms being considered as possibilities. The full panel lasted around 37 minutes, with Lorne Lanning taking center-stage to discuss why he started Oddworld, what Oddworld means and what the Oddworld team plans to do in the future – including approaching the games industry from the perspective of a small independent studio and micropublisher. After the announcement of New ‘n’ Tasty, a short Q&A session was held before the end of the panel. After the panel came MudoCon, Oddworld’s very own fan meetup. Fans who attended Eurogamer Expo had the opportunity to meet Lorne Lanning, Stewart Gilray and other members of the JAW team (including Oddworld Library’s own Wil, pictured here with his #1 fan). Attendees were also given limited edition minicards, signed by Lorne with links to exclusive downloads. You can read the full overview over on the Oddworld.com blog.
NOTE: This story was originally written on August 29th. Due to our extensive downtime, some of the story details have changed – several subsequent updates have increased the roster of PSOne games available in North America.
You may have heard about PSOne Classics, the recent addition to Sony’s PSVita which allows players to download and play games made for the original PlayStation console. Well, Oddworld Inhabitants have announced in a post on their website that Abe’s Oddysee and Abe’s Exoddus are a part of the opening lineup, alongside over 100 other PSOne games.
PSOne Classics allows players to buy and download PSOne games and play them on their PSVita. If a player has previously bought a PSOne game through their PlayStation 3 they can simply redownload it or transfer it from the PS3, without having to repurchase the game.
Unfortunately, the regional differences between Europe and America were quite staggering – Vita owners in America initially only had access to nine PSOne games, while European customers got the full lineup of 130. Both Oddworld games were at first only available in Europe, and were not included in the nine available to America.
Luckily an expansion of the catalogue was promised, with Alf happily confirming via Twitter that Oddysee and Exoddus would be coming soon to American Vita owners. Both Oddworld games were made available in North America in an update only a single day later.
As per the announcement last week, today is the day that the PlayStation 3 version of Stranger’s Wrath HD receives a patch, adding in several new features and fixing some known issues.
According to the official Oddworld website, that patch is now available for download in all regions, including America, Europe and Australia. This means that the brand new Move support, 3D support and YouTube video uploading is now available for everyone to use and abuse.
3DTV support
Scour the wilds, ruins and hideouts for scumbag Outlaws with the latest stereoscopic broadcasts from the Mongo River. Oddworld has never had so much D!
PlayStation Move support
Immerse yourself in the action by pointing and firing from your very own crossbow. (Note: Your PlayStation Move controller is unlikely to resemble a crossbow.)
Video recording and uploading
Record your victories, failures and candid moments straight to your PlayStation 3, and upload them directly to your YouTube account.
Brightness & Gamma controls
No need to visit Doc for a new pair of eye-spectacles, now you can change the visibility of the very world around you with our brand new sliders.
Audio fixes
Tired of lazy Townsfolk cutting themselves off mid-sentence? Fed up with soft-spoken Live Ammo? Is the soundtrack to your adventure jolted, often absent? Never fear! Our audio fixes fix your audio!
Increased crosshair visibility
9 out of 10 bounty hunters say they prefer our newer, opaquer crosshair. “It’s so much easier to see!” said excited Corn Jaws of New Yolk City.
Fixed Quicksaves and Autosaves
Before, you could only load full saves from the Load Game screen. But now you can revert back to your most recent AutoSave and QuickSave for added convenience.
Extra subtitles
The accessibility of Western Mudos has taken a step up with the introduction of additional gameplay-relevant subtitling in English, French, Italian, German and Spanish.
Performance Improvements
Ask at your local General Store or Black Market for all available improvements to your experience of life.
An official trailer for the patch has also been posted on OWI’s YouTube channel, clocking in at 1:45 and available in glorious HD.
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.
The official US PlayStation Blog has published a list of the best-selling PlayStation Network titles from January 2012.
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.
In a post on the Oddworld.com website, Oddworld Inhabitants have announced that Stranger’s Wrath HD will be 30% cheaper for PlayStation Plus subscribers, beginning January 17th in the United States and January 18th for Europe and Australia. The deal will last for 2 weeks.
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!
Gaming website Giant Bomb have posted a Quick Look of Stranger’s Wrath HD.
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.
With Stranger’s Wrath HD due for release on the EU PlayStation Network tomorrow, games journalists are beginning to publish their reviews of Just Add Water’s handiwork.
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.
