Coming to PSN this Week: Oddworld PSone Classics

[pmac]

Coming to PSN this Week: Oddworld PSone Classics

Posted by Lorne Lanning // Co-founder & Creative Director, Oddworld Inhabitants
OMG! Our baby’s come home! Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee and Oddworld: Abe’s Exodus PSone Classics are both available on the PlayStation Store for only $9.99 each starting Thursday, October 22.
It was only about six years ago that I told our agent at the time, “Larry, don’t you get it!? Our classic Abe games are history. The systems that played them are gone and they aren’t coming back. Ours is a disposable medium and we don’t have a Turner Classics channel.” He looked at me with this defeated expression and said, “Dude, that’s the most depressing thing I’ve ever heard you say.” He believed me, and I too believed it at the time.
Six years later and I have to admit it’s great being proved wrong.
We couldn’t have been more thrilled when we learned that the PlayStation Network was willing to offer our classic Abe games to an entirely new generation of gamers. Finally, gamers who never got the chance to meet and play him when he first came out on the PSone system, will now get that chance to meet the guy who graced many magazine covers and proved the unlikely hero that captured people’s hearts.

We poured years of our lives into both Abe games as part of the love affair that we had with the original PSone system. It was our first character and story to be developed by our new company and I had promised Sherry McKenna, Oddworld CEO, that we would create characters that even she would love. Characters that would make her laugh and that she could be proud of, even though she didn’t care about games. (To this day, Abe is still her favorite)
Gaming seemed such a blank slate of possibilities back then. It was an early super-cool medium with which we could start telling stories of our own. We wanted characters living through stories that might inspire people while still enabling them many hours of challenge and entertainment. We wanted to integrate the best of our previous trade from the visual effects field to delve deeper into the storytelling potential with this exciting, rapidly evolving interactive medium.
We also wanted characters whose score was kept by their karma, not by their number of kills.
We started with Abe, the little chump trapped by the dark side of globalization who would need to find his way (and his soul) through a vast landscape of relentless hazards. He was to be the lovable hero trying to survive heavily armed idiots and hungry critters of the carnivorous kind.
He was designed to cause as many laughs as he would accomplishments, and we wanted him to be remembered.


Now here we are today and because of SCEA and PSN, Abe’s goofy face and doofy walk are finding their way back into gamers’ homes once again. Abe finds a new generation of gamers on PSN, but this time it’s without the costly price of a physically distributed box product, which means Abe is now able to find his way at a ridiculously low price.
We can’t help but feel like Abe is our lost child who has finally returned home. He’s still healthy, he’s still happy, and if you read the forums lately…still holding up after all these years.
Thank you, Sony. (sniffle) You brought our baby home. (sobs)

Source

[pmac]

Couple of comments from playstation blog

When are you going to make a NEXT GEN ABEs Oddworld. This was the best action puzzle game ever!!! Yall need to do an Hd remake or something. I guarantee this game will be a system seller. ABE is the ish…

Lorne Lanning replied on October 19, 2009 at 4:19 pm

We’ve talked about it and would like to do it. We have seriously considered using the Stranger engine to do just this. Some work being done on the tech now. Will see how it goes, but will have to come after our current project.
________________________________________

What about Munch’s Odyssey and Stranger’s Wrath?

Lorne Lanning replied on October 19, 2009 at 4:15 pm

We’re working on a strategy to bring them over as well. May take us awhile, but we hope to achieve what you’re asking for.

[Shin-Ra]

Oddworld Inhabitants' back, baby!

[BlackMamba]

classic game. Surprised more people aren't talking about this

[zombie77]

get em.. here boy. love the oddworld games.

[Psx0005]

Originally Posted by pmac

Couple of comments from playstation blog

When are you going to make a NEXT GEN ABEs Oddworld. This was the best action puzzle game ever!!! Yall need to do an Hd remake or something. I guarantee this game will be a system seller. ABE is the ish…

Lorne Lanning replied on October 19, 2009 at 4:19 pm

We’ve talked about it and would like to do it. We have seriously considered using the Stranger engine to do just this. Some work being done on the tech now. Will see how it goes, but will have to come after our current project.
________________________________________

What about Munch’s Odyssey and Stranger’s Wrath?

Lorne Lanning replied on October 19, 2009 at 4:15 pm

We’re working on a strategy to bring them over as well. May take us awhile, but we hope to achieve what you’re asking for.

I'll hold my breath regarding Mr. Lanning's comments: "Some work being done on the tech now. Will see how it goes, but will have to come after our current project."

This is the same guy who had a lot of disdain regarding Sony's attitude towards Oddworld Inhabitants back in the PS2 days which had them bringing the Oddwolrd franchise over to the other platform camp so we shall see.

I'm glad to see he's happy to see Abe coming back, but just like any businessman, I'd be crowing all about revenue feeding my pockets for the next couple of weeks/months too and say whatever I'd need to say to keep it coming

[Shin-Ra]

Put on your crazy-hopeful praying hats!

Just Add Water, developers of PSN's Gravity Crash have been tweeting hints to the effect of an Oddworld collaboration.

http://twitter.com/jawltd

RT @AbeMudokon: Oh no ... They're going to eat us... #Oddworld

@V_Ben gabbits go well with water, mudokons not so much. Steefs too

Gabbit = Munch's Oddysee
Steef = Stranger's Wrath

Maybe they're porting the two 3D games to PS3? The "Steefs too" part isn't as clear, could just be Munch's Oddysee to start with. Or they could just be pointing out that Mudokons can't swim!

http://twitpic.com/1znf1g hmmmm #secretproject

This is the top left of Abe's paw-moon. And you can just about make out the top of Abe with a little green, and red ponytail.. thing.

Abe's also in Munch's Oddysee so this could be part of the intended PSN store icon.

http://twitter.com/AbeMudokon

@AbeMudokon Hi Abe, got some ps3 news yet?

@KlaasKregel soon

Oh there's a new Oddworld.com coming soon #Oddworld

Stranger's Wrath is the far better of the two 3D games so I hope we're getting that. And quality new games of course.