One of the classic games from the OG Xbox era was a 3D platformer that kind of came onto the scene in hopes of giving Microsoft an optional mascot. Things didn't quite work out for the platforming hero because Master Chief took that honor, but Microsoft is giving the under-appreciated IP another chance on the Xbox One.
Over on the Xbox website, the company announced that Voodoo Vince, a 3D platformer that came out back in 2003 from Beep Industries is making a return in the form of an HD remaster for the Xbox One and on Steam for PC.
Microsoft will be handling the game's distribution on the Xbox One through the ID@Xbox program, while Beep Industries has taken to Steam Greenlight to seek community votes to have the 3D platformer approved to appear on the Steam storefront.
Over on the Xbox website designer and founder of Beep Games, Clayton Kauzlaric, explained how it was tough even getting the original Voodoo Vince greenlit to appear on the OG Xbox, but eventually Microsoft agreed to publish the game. Kauzlaric is currently a creative director at Microsoft but he never forgot about Vince.
According to the post, the game couldn't be made backwards compatible for the Xbox 360 due to the team using custom proprietary code that didn't gel with the 360's architecture. Years later Kauzlaric decided to remaster Voodoo Vince to give gamers this gen an opportunity to experience the platformer, so him and a small team have been slowly working on an HD remaster and plan on re-releasing it on the Xbox One through the ID@Xbox program headed up by Chris Charla.
The HD remaster is far enough along that there are plans to have it release in early 2017. If the game is passed through Greenlight in time, I imagine it will also launch in early 2017 on Steam for PC as well.
The game isn't just higher resolution textures and sharper anti-aliasing, they've retooled the game so that it runs at a native 60fps, along with offering wide-screen support, native 1080p resolution and they rewrote the core engine from the ground up to support new texture streaming and high quality rendering effects that weren't around during the OG Xbox era.
They released a trailer to give newbies, casuals and those who were too young to remember Voodoo Vince an idea of what the game will look like for the newer generation of gaming. You can check it out below.
Complimenting the new HD visuals is also quality of life improvements, such as Xbox Live profile support, activity feeds and achievements, as well as the missing rumble feature that never made the cut in the original game.
According to Kauzlaric, the actual gameplay mechanics will stay the same. They won't be mucking up Vince's animations or control schemes because that's something they felt gamers found enjoyable back then and they wanted to keep it the same for the newer generation of gamer on the Xbox One and on Steam for PC. So far the feedback has been quite positive, with a lot of gamers loving the concept of being able to play the OG Xbox classic for today's newer systems.
