With the success of Beyond Good & Evil, fans of the game have been begging for more. The original was released in 2003 and received wide critical acclaim but little commercial success.

Michel Ancel, Rayman creator and man behind the original Beyond Good & Evil, has said in an interview with French magazine JeuxVideo, “I am working on Beyond Good & Evil 2. We have been in preproduction on the title for a year, and we’re currently doing market research. But for the moment, it’s in the early stages, and Ubisoft still hasn’t agreed to it.”

Ancel, who still works as a designer for Ubisoft, said that 10 to 12 people were working on the project, and although he didn’t mention platforms or a time frame, he did talk a little about the gameplay. He said, “We want to be in continuity with the first game, with a big variety of levels, lots of emotion in the gameplay, and characters we care about. This time we are dealing with planet Hillys’ future, and the relationship with animals….”

The first Beyond Good & Evil came out on the GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and PC platforms. Gamers played photographer-for-hire Jade, who looks after children who have been orphaned by the DomZ, an alien race which is attacking her planet, Hillys. In her work, she soon discovers a conspiracy between quasi-military force the Alpha Sections, who claim to be helping defend the planet, and the DomZ. It combined action adventure gameplay with stealth elements.

The article finishes by saying that it hopes that Ubisoft will give the project the green light, and that perhaps it will be using the upcoming Ubidays at the end of this month to do so.

Beyond Good and Evil may have not enjoyed the huge commercial success of many of it’s sister Ubisoft titles, however, it does have a very large cult following. Video Games Live added Beyond Good and Evil into their show from their very first performance at the Hollywood Bowl in 2006.

“Beyond Good & Evil is one of my favorite games of all times and definitely one of the most under-rated and unappreciated titles ever. People who have played it fall in love with it and for those who haven’t, you’ll definitely want to check it out. ” Says Tommy Tallarico; Co-creator of Video Games Live. “The music was incredible and very interactive. Add in the beauty of the graphics, the amazing characters and the diverse gameplay, I thought it would be a perfect addition to Video Games Live and introduce thousands of people to a real gem they may have missed out on.”

One need only view a clip from this amazing section of the show to understand one of the reasons why Beyond Good and Evil is so powerful. The music alone gives me goosebumps.

Have you played the game? Are you excited for B&E2?