Voodoo Vince is getting remastered for Xbox One and PC

The game's creator leapfrogged backwards compatibility on Xbox 360 due to 'convoluted custom code.'

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Voodoo Vince creator Clayton Kauzlaric announced that a remaster of his game will come to Xbox One and PC in early 2017 (via IGN).

In a blog published on Xbox Wire, Kauzlaric set up his announcement by going into detail on Voodoo Vince's development history. "I pitched the concept for nearly a year before Vince found a home with the perceptive and tasteful folks at Microsoft Game Studios. They said no too. Twice. But I kept coming back. Each time I showed up with a more fleshed out design and, eventually, a playable prototype for the game. I also convinced a group of otherwise sane individuals to join me."

Following two years of work and wooing Microsoft, the team at Beep Industry found Voodoo Vince a home on the original Xbox in 2003. The game never gained traction; Kauzlaric pointed to the fact that the console had already peaked, and that his game got lost in the shuffle of other titles.

Kauzlaric lent some perspective on why Voodoo Vince never received a backwards-compatibility update for Xbox 360. " Our engine used some convoluted custom code that made Vince ineligible for Backward Compatibility during the Xbox 360 era so Vince seemed destined to remain in the past."

A few months ago, Kauzlaric got to thinking about Voodoo Vince and decided to give his game a second chance. He gathered a few staff members and broke ground on Voodoo Vince: Remastered. The updated edition will sport modern accoutrements like widescreen visuals and 1080p resolution running at a buttery-smooth 60 frames per second.

"The gameplay is mostly untouched, though. That was important to me," Kauzlaric said. "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."

Voodoo Vince: Remastered will be released on Xbox One and PC in early 2017.

Long Reads Editor

David L. Craddock writes fiction, nonfiction, and grocery lists. He is the author of the Stay Awhile and Listen series, and the Gairden Chronicles series of fantasy novels for young adults. Outside of writing, he enjoys playing Mario, Zelda, and Dark Souls games, and will be happy to discuss at length the myriad reasons why Dark Souls 2 is the best in the series. Follow him online at davidlcraddock.com and @davidlcraddock.

From The Chatty
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    October 5, 2016 1:20 PM

    David Craddock posted a new article, Voodoo Vince is getting remastered for Xbox One and PC

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      October 5, 2016 1:22 PM

      That's amazing! Just a couple weeks ago I was lamenting the fact that poor Voodoo Vince was trapped back on the OG Xbox. Super! :)

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      October 5, 2016 1:26 PM

      HELL YES!!!!!!!!!! this is awesome, one of my favorite platformers. My wife even plays a ton of voodoo vince.

      This is great!

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        October 5, 2016 1:35 PM

        OMG YES! Same man I love that game as well, they need to do Blinx: The Time Sweeper next as well that game was EPIC!

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          October 5, 2016 1:36 PM

          Oh yeah!! Blinx was great.

          The OG xbox had some great games

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          October 5, 2016 3:39 PM

          I'd love to see the two Blinx games rebuilt from the ground up with better controls and such

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            October 5, 2016 5:24 PM

            Exactly ^^^^ same, also I really wished that Voodoo Vince was a re make instead of a remaster :( beggars can't be choosy though.

            Lets hope Vince sells well and maybe MS will do some new re makes for its such a waste to leave all alone crying int he dark. The IPs need some love that is for sure, I have a good feeling it may happen.

            I think Yooka-Laylee is going to help out a lot once it drops, MS will see its success which will help as well.

            Will see hey, fingers crossed man... fingers crossed :) \m/

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          October 5, 2016 5:25 PM

          Oh Blinx was such a neat game

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            October 5, 2016 5:30 PM

            To me its the greatest time gameplay mechanic platformer(or game) ever made, it was way ahead of its time and hard core underrated for what it achieved. Don't know any time game that was better?

            Its a classic, for some reason I liked 1 way better than 2(2 was not my bag). Sort of like BUG! on the Sega Saturn it owned but I disliked the second it just was not BUG! the first one is a gem.

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        October 5, 2016 5:41 PM

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      October 5, 2016 2:48 PM

      Shameless bump because its awesome.

      My fav part of voodoo vince I think was the town square area where you had to figure out how to get the horse to kick you.

      The abandonded plantation house was fun too

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      October 5, 2016 3:08 PM

      I'm really glad this is coming back. I liked the original and felt like the game didn't deserve to disappear like it did.

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      October 5, 2016 3:13 PM

      Fuck yes. This game deserves more recognition.

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      October 5, 2016 3:34 PM

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      October 5, 2016 5:41 PM

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