In a surprise move, Microsoft is working on a remastered release for the Original Xbox Classic Voodoo Vince. This 3D Action-Platformer used inventive puzzles and unique settings to stand out among the crowd back in the early 2000’s.
It is set for release in Early 2017 and we will likely hear more about this project later this year.
Edit – 10/05/2016: Microsoft Game Studios released an official press statement regarding this announcement.
Oddly enough, I ended up at Microsoft Studios working as a Creative Director in first party publishing. I’ve worked on all sorts of exciting things, from console to Kinect and HoloLens games. I love my job, but I never forgot about my little burlap pal. I also continued working on assorted side projects through my independent studio Beep Games, Inc. A couple years ago I started thinking about updating and re-launching Voodoo Vince myself. My colleagues at Microsoft were really supportive of the idea. We all agreed that the ID@Xbox program is the perfect venue for the game. A small team and I have been quietly working on Voodoo Vince: Remastered for a few months now, and I’m announcing today that it’ll be out for Xbox One and Windows 10 in early 2017.
What’s in the new version? It’s wide screen now, of course, in glorious 1080p and running at 60fps. The rendering engine is being rewritten from the ground up with lots of crisp new textures and rendering effects. Xbox Live was still a twinkle in Microsoft’s eye when VV launched, so we’ve got profiles and achievements. We never finished hooking up rumble in the original game, so yay: We have vibrate-y goodness. The gameplay is mostly untouched, though. That was important to me. Vince moves, animates, and controls exactly like he did in 2003. You can just see a lot more detail in his world when he moves through our twisted version of New Orleans and the Bayou.
It’s great to finally resurrect Vince. Watching him and his world come back to life over the last few months has been a fantastic experience. It feels like coming home. I hope his long-time fans are as glad as I am to see him again. I also hope Vince will make a few new friends now that he’s coming back to the world of the living.