Acclaimed game designed Michel Ancel has co-founded Wild Sheep Studio, a new independent development house in Montpellier, France with a 15 person team working on its first title, however the Rayman and Beyond Good & Evil creator has not severed his 25 year tenure with Ubisoft, reportedly retaining his role at Ubi Montpellier as a creative lead on "select projects".

When pressed on the matter by Eurogamer, Ubisoft confirmed that the long awaited follow-up to the critically acclaimed 2003 adventure game Beyond Good & Evil was one such project, offering one of the few official mentions of a sequel since it was originally teased back in May 2008.

"In many ways, BG&E is an inimitable game - it appeals to all generations of gamers and is an inspiration behind many of Ubisoft Montpellier's past and future games. It's still far too early to give many details about this new title, but what we can say is that while Michel and the team at Ubisoft Montpellier are working with the core tenets of BG&E, they're developing something that aspires to push past the boundaries of a proverbial sequel and leverages next-gen technologies to deliver a truly surprising, innovative and exceptional game. The entire team is excited about the direction this extremely ambitious project is taking, and we'll have more to share later, as it progresses."

No further details were offered on the debut title from Wild Sheep, other than that it would be an "original game".

There haven't been any significant developments on the long-awaited Beyond Good and Evil sequel since the May 2009 teaser trailer, other than confirmation that it is reportedly still in the pipeline. Ubisoft have reminded us that they haven't given up on the franchise however, with the release of a new trailer for Beyond Good and Evil HD, a graphically refreshed port of the original Xbox title aimed at current-gen downloadable platforms.

In addition to giving fans the opportunity to play the critically acclaimed game, Beyond Good & Evil HD online will allow players to unlock achievements and trophies by discovering new secrets in this masterpiece adventure game.

Perhaps we're just remembering the original too fondly, but the enhancements don't appear to be all that significant. Nevertheless, it's a undoubtedly a great adventure game that probably deserves a little more attention that it initially received. Check out the trailer here on AusGamers.

Beyond Good & Evil HD is due on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network some time in 2011.

While fans of Beyond Good and Evil might have been left out in the cold with the game's sequel seemingly being developed at such a snail's pace; it's very existence something of a disputed point, Ubisoft have decided to offer something of a lifeline.

Turns out sometime next year they plan on re-releasing the critically acclaimed original as a digital download for both Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network, in gloriously re-visualised form, thanks to a high-definition make-over. No other details beyond that are currently available, but we should have a release date for you and info on any changes to gameplay once Ubi give us some more juicy info. So fans of Jade and Peyj - stay tuned.