January 2004
Indiana Jones in Odd‐World
There’s really very little news to speak of. The Game Over website has been updated, the Oddworld.com jobs page now includes a mention of the Game Developers Conference in March, Hobo has found Indiana Jones in Odd‐World, the first level of which features Paramites, and thanks to Sapphire I’ve come across a wonderful piece of art that should look familiar.
Sources: Hobo
Atusiya delivers
Forum superstar atusiya@ has provided more than enough news for an update. Firstly, there’s an article at millimeter, the professional resource for production and post, regarding AI technology used to produce Peter Jackson’s The Two Towers. Programs such as Steven Regelous’s Massive and John Alitt’s Grunt (General Renderer of Unlimited Numbers of Things) have enabled WETA Digital to create huge armies of characters (called agents) that interact fully with each other through what they see and feel. The ultimate goodness is that Lorne Lanning represented the videogame industry in the article, and spoke of how code could be used to drive movement in characters. Read Atushi’s thread (along with oddguy’s fabulous summary) here.
Furthermore, atusiya@ has discovered a plethora of Oddworld‐related pages at loonygames, including an interview with Lorne about Munch’s Oddysee from 1998, a report from 1999’s E3 (including three beautiful logos, and information on side projects, action figures and a motion picture on page 2), talk of OWI liscensing the Unreal engine for MO along with a very flattering review of AO, a comparative study of AO and Interstate ’76, and a review of AE. Here’s the thread for that.
On top of all that, Atushi has found a second Abe Babe!
Finally, in our Abe Babe’s recruitment topic, oddguy has discovered an obscure reference to Oddworld Inhabitants in a political article at the San Luis Obispo Tribune. However, I have never heard of an Andrew H. Card working at Oddworld Inhabitants.
Sources: Atusi
We’ll see you over there!
OddBlog has ceased production of Oddworld‐based news reports, and this URL will seldom receive further updates. However, there is no need to fear, as Max and Xavier have not at all packed anything in. Instead, to comply with Oddworld Inhabitants’ legalise and provide the best blog‐based news site for readers, OddBlog v2·0 has been erected at http://oddenc.blogspot.com. We hope to see you there!
OddBlog 2·0
Welcome to OddBlog v2·0! I got tired of fiddling about with frames and not being able to find a host that didn’t have adverts everywhere, allowed remote linking, or whose owner would allow it. Having said that, I do thank Mac for his willingness to host the frameset had he had the time to proceed with the Oddlympics. However, after realising there were other blog‐hosting sites on the Internet, I did a quick scout round and found Blogger, which allows multiple accounts to post on the same blog, and the ability to alter the template of the blog at will—and all for free. There are still adverts, but Blogger deserves them. If you want a journal, I really do recomend Blogger.
That said, you’ll notice I’ve been able to include a permanent link to Oddworld.com as well as the disclaimer at the bottom of the screen. This means OddBlog is now elligable for releasing. However, I want to wait for Xavier to transfer his posts over from the uJournal, so that everything is complete. It shouldn’t take long now: a couple more days tops!
Oddlympics cancelled
Due to time constraints, Mac the Janitor will be unable to start the Oddlympics 2·0 any time soon. He tells me that there may be more of a chance of them proceeding come the summer. Mac offers his apologies to everyone who was looking forward to the venture.
Sources: Mac the Janitor
Oddworld‐Web staff wanted
Oddworld‐Web is looking for new staff, namely in the position of reporting news. Those that are interested can send Abe Babe a PM, or reply to her thread in GD, which also contains further information on the position.
Sources: Abe Babe
Ed Fries leaves Microsoft
Abe Babe has told the Forums that Ed Fries has left Microsoft. Read the article here. Ed seemed to have a close relationship with OWI and Lorne, so one wonders how the relationship between OWI and Microsoft will continue.
Sources: Abe Babe
Game Over
Rick Burgh has uncovered news that Abe and his enemies from Abe’s Oddysee will be appearing in a program called Game Over, which will air this Spring on UPN. The show stars the Smashenburn family who live in a videogame reality populated by ‘real’ cyberstars such as Crash Bandicoot. Voice actors on the show include Patrick Warburton, Lucy Liu, E.G. Daily, Rachel Dratch, Artie Lange, Marie Matiko and James Sie.
The producers’ web log entry for 30th of July reads:
The other big exciting news around here right now is that the good people over at Abe’s Oddysey (and Abe’s Exoddus and Munch’s Oddysey) are working with us to put Abe and a few of his enemies into our first episode. For those of you who haven’t encountered these enormously popular games, let me just say that they are awesome. Also, we got a sneak peak of the new one that’s in the works. I am, of course, sworn to never mentioning to anyone what I’ve seen, but all you gamers out there should be very excited.
According to the same blog, the first two episodes of Game Over have completed production. The official site also has a trailer, and there is an article about Game Over in issues #747 and #748 of Entertainment Weekly (23rd/30th January 2004).
Sources: Rick Burgh
E3
The registrations for the exibitors at the Electronic Entertainment Expo are finnally open! Some intresting things to notice is that:
Oddworld Forums online
The Oddworld Forums are back online due to the tireless efforts of Alcar and Abe Babe. vB3 works a charm, and so far Sydney’s Munch’s Oddysee template is being used, resulting in faster loading times. For those with greater connection speeds, updated (and labouriously re‐created) Industrial and Native themes will be added later, while Sydney’s Honeycomb design will provide another slow‐connection backdrop.
Sources: Abe Babe
Background
As you should be able to see, I’ve added a background to OddBlog, just to help make it look a little less dull. I’ve also constructed a layout that should be able to encompass this page, using up more redundant space and distinctly branding OddBlog as a section within The Oddworld Encyclopaedia. The images in the frameset include the appropriate links and legalise, so all I have to worry about now is writing the code—so perhaps I can launch OddBlog with the new and improved Forums.
Speaking of which, Alcar was today able to upload the entire Forums to the new server and update it to vB3. It really shouldn’t take long before all or most websites, hosts and addresses are up and running again.
OddBlog permitted
Sorry for the delay in news recently, but I’ve been tied down with revision and coursework of late.
Naturally, the most important news right now is that of Abe Babe and Alcar having decided to move the Oddworld Forums to another server and upgrade to vBulletin 3 in the process. Obviously this is fabulous news for Forum users, as it should mean an end to the slowness, lost pages and image replacement issues that have been plaguing us for the last few weeks and months. While this process takes place, fans are being herded to a temporary Ezboard site, at http://pub177.ezboard.com/bowforums.
In the meantime, this means that some sites may not be working. Oddworld Universe, Oddworld‐Web, the browser version of OddChat and the Oddworld Topsite may all not be accesible through this period. The actual Forums URL (www.oddworldforums.net) is certainly not working as I type this.
OddBlog also has good news. Just today I recieved an email from Oddworld Inhabitants’ Fan Legal department, so once I’ve adapted the site to comply with their terms and conditions, I’m going to release the URL upon the world: hopefully at the same time the Forums reopen. That should give us some special panache. Stay tuned: you may even see our updates before I find time to talk about them!