The March 2011 issue of Game Informer (on newsstands February 14) features an exclusive interview with Oddworld Inhabitants president and co-founder, Lorne Lanning, who reveals that there’s more than just one high-definition remake from the Oddworld franchise in development.
“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,” Lanning told the magazine. “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?’”
Just Add Water is known to be working on a high-definition remake of Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath for PlayStation Network and PC; it originally released on Xbox in 2005.
“For Stranger, it’s the same game, but being re-done,” Lanning explained. “All the normal maps and the PS3 rendering tech is being taken advantage of on all the characters and on the environments, so it’s been really cool to see how well that’s coming along. We never had it on [PS2], and the rendering capability of the PS3 speaks for itself, so if we can get the game experience on there, there’s nothing else like Stranger on Sony.”
The Stranger’s Wrath remake was announced as a PlayStation Network-only affair, and later dated for PC. An Xbox LIVE Arcade version has not yet been announced due to size restrictions on the platform.
“We have Stranger all ready to go on Xbox LIVE Arcade, but the answer keeps being no. We’re still talking to them and we’re hoping to work it out.”