The Oddworld series is coming back, folks, but probably not in a way you or I expected it to. Just Add Water, the studio behind Gravity Crash, has announced that an enhanced remake of Oddworld Inhabitant's critically-acclaimed and award-winning title Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath is currently in development for PlayStation 3.
The remake, which is set for release next Easter as a digital download via PSN, will be "faithful to the original moolah-chasing epic" while featuring welcome enhancements such as 720p visuals, detailed characters, normal mapping, self-shadowing, re-mastered dialogue, support for PlayStation Move and additional bonus material which is "still to be revealed". In short, it looks like the people at Just Add Water have worked closely enough with Oddworld founders Lorne Lanning and Sherry McKenna to meet or even exceed any expectations fans might have from such a project.
“Since word got out that we’ve been working with Oddworld Inhabitants there have been many rumours circulating about what we’re working on," said Stewart Gilray, managing director of Just Add Water. "Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath is the first project in what we believe will be a long and fruitful relationship. Having the chance to update this great title and release it on PS3 is just a brilliant opportunity, not least for us, but for the fans too.â€
Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath, originally released in 2005 to much critical acclaim, is a third-person action-adventure which lets players step into the world of Oddworld as the Stranger, a bounty hunter tracking down outlaws for moolah. The titled gained a number of awards from the press soon after its release, after which it reserved itself a spot on a lot of annual 'Top 10' lists.
But is this the Oddworld title @AbeMudokon teased us about? I don't think so. Well, it better not be. The only real argument I have is that the @AbeMudokon Twitter account belongs to Oddworld Inhabitants, and that's only a logical conclusion on my part. The new Oddworld website is still "coming soon", so we'll just have to cross our fingers if we want to see Abe again. And that, we do.
Telltale Games, those guys and gals responsible for glorifying LucasArts titles such as Sam & Max and Monkey Island, have confirmed a new episodic adventure coming very soon; and if you couldn't have guessed from the title or image, it's Back to the Future.
Nothing storyline or plot based has been confirmed yet, but going by the art style, one might safely assume that this may be on the level of the traditional graphic adventure we've come to know and love from Telltale Games.
Christopher Lloyd will devote his voice to the character 'Doc' Emmett Brown and Bob Gale, the original screen-play writer for all three films is also on board and working with Telltale.
The first episode in a five part download for XBLA and PSN will be available this winter to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the DVD and Blu-ray boxsets. Going by previous Telltale games which include re-makes of Monkey Islands 1 and 2, Back to the Future is sure to be a hit with me particularly! Great Scott!
In late 2009, Epic Games showed that their highly popular Unreal Engine can run incredibly well on the iPhone. Fast forward to the present day where Apple have held their latest press conference featuring Project Sword, a game powered by the Unreal Engine and developed by Chair. The team that brought us the awesome Shadow Complex has been hard at work making what looks to be a multiplayer game utilising the newly announced Game Centre, a kind of matchmaking service for online iPhone and iPod games. Project Sword is based in medieval times with beefy great Knights beating the crap out of each other with some rather impressive graphics. That may actually be an understatement as Pocket Gamer use the word "astounding" to describe them. The game will come with at least two control schemes; one for the casual types who can drag moves onto their character and another that has gamers swiping fingers on screen to initiate attacks.
Information is still thin on the blood-stained ground at the moment but we do know that Project Sword will be out in time for Christmas to bring a little festive cheer by way of brutal combat.
BioWare's upcoming Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC for Mass Effect 2 is already one full of interest with its re-introduction of Liara T'Soni as a ass-kicking character and said interest piques even further with the add-on's trailer. It features both Commander Shepard and old flame Liara (depending on how you played Mass Effect 1 of course) in a romantic predicament with the full intent to tease. Those not bothered with the soap-operatic love story are equally served a meaty bit of combat and vehicular segments that should hopefully justify the 800 MS Point (£6.85/€9.60/$10) price tag.
I should reserve my excitement for the DLC until September 7th when its released but the idea of revisiting the story of Shepard and Liara that seemed dropped from Mass Effect 2 due to technicalities is hard not to care about.
September 9. That's the date that Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars will be on the iTunes App Store for £5.99. Except that it'll be the HD version, with renovated HD iPad graphics and the ability to have your own music play on the car radio. I haven't played any of Chinatown Wars, but I will be investing in it for my iPad because I think big is better. (In most things. I mean, I wouldn't want, like, a really big thumb or something. That would be awkward while playing games.)
Eurogamer Spain confirmed it today - Europe is getting the shaft, again. Mainland Europe won't be able to make much use of Kinect because the peripheral's voice recognition functionality will be disabled for that tiny corner of the world until spring 2011.
The software behind Kinect will only be able to 'understand' American English, British English, Japanese and Mexican Spanish at launch this November. If you're fluent in any of these languages (or all of them!) but find yourself living in Canada or any of the larger European countries by the time Kinect releases, then tough shit luck. Simply put, activating Kinect's voice recognition won't be possible because of a region-lock on consoles 'residing' in those areas.
We remind you that Microsoft's Kinect for Xbox 360 will release November 4 in North America and Nomber 10 in Europe. We also remind you that patience is a virtue.
01. Mafia II 02. Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days 03. Toy Story 3 04. Red Dead Redemption 05. Wii Sports Resort 06. Just Dance 07. Super Mario Galaxy 2 08. LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 09. Sniper: Ghost Warrior 10. Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands 11. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 12. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 13. New Super Mario Bros. 14. Mass Effect 2 15. Dance on Broadway 16. Wii Fit Plus 17. Fifa 10 18. Need for Speed: Shift 19. Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels Starry Skies 20. New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Last Updated on Wednesday, 01 September 2010 06:09
Quite possibly one of the most fun and most entertaining games I've played this year has made (XBLA) or will make (PSN) a return with, not one, not two, but three pieces of DLC! Yes, Split/Second is back. The DLCs were avaliable from the Xbox Live Arcade yesterday, while it's believed that the DLC will feature as part of Thursday's update for the PSN. Very good news indeed, especially considering two of the packs are free! So, what is to be expected from the DLC?
The Elite Vehicle Livery pack will change the look of certain vehicles including the Brawn, Vixen and Raptor Elite vehicles. The Ryback Cyclone Special Edition pack will consist of a brand new special edition vehicle based on the game's original Ryback Cyclone.
The third pack is The High Octane Supercar Vehicle. It will cost 160 MS points from XBLA or around £1.37 for PSN. The pack consists of three new vehicles and a new livery for the Ryback Cyclon.Â
Black Rock have promised that this is only the first in what will be expected to be a lot of DLC, the next being avalible next month, in which we'll see a brand new environment! A 'major update' will also be avaliable next month.