April 2004
Stranger nominated for 3D Awards
‘Stranger—Oddworld Inhabitants’ has been nominated for the 3D Game Cinematics (non interactive) at the 3D Awards. (And a beautiful picture of Stranger was posted.)
Oddworld Universe relaunches
Forumer paramiteabe is reporting that some video game stores have starting accept reservations for the as‐yet untitled Stranger, the release date of which is still not yet known. A stand‐in box is described, though its validity remains to be seen. The clerk reports that news of the release date will emerge in June.
Alcar has updated Oddworld Universe with pages covering the upcoming game, and three dutifully transcribed recent press articles. Meanwhile, Miss Odd is looking to employ a news reporter for Oddworld Online; details can be found on the Forums.
Finally, GameSpy has an article by Raymond Padilla covering Microsoft’s recent publishing story.
Sources: paramiteabe and Alcar
Mr Shin sends pics
atusiya@ has put some pictures (courtesy of Mr Shin) of the Oddworld booth present at the GDC on his site. Enjoy!
Sources: Atusiya
Oddworld Gets Stranger
Alcar has found a couple of things of interest: the personal site of lead programmer Charles Bloom reveals that the working title for Oddworld 4 is, in fact, Oddworld Gets Stranger, while programmer Thatcher Ulrich has provided images of the Indie Game Jam, attended by Messrs Bloom and Ulrich, along with Ryan Ellis and Jonathan Blow.
IGN has a list of developers appearing at E3, though Oddworld Inhabitants do not yet appear. However, here’s the place to keep abreast of the listing, if you wish.
And, as some of you have obviously noticed, OddBlog now has a features comment, hosted by HaloScan. I have also coded in an announcement bar above the banner to appear when there is important information, such as now that the Forums are down.
Sources: Charles Bloom, Thatcher Ulrich, and Oddworld Universe
Sapphire reports on GDC ’04
We are now hosting Sapphire’s report on Oddworld‐related matters at this year’s GDC.
1Up has also updated their own inferior scans of the cards handed out at the same event.
Sources: Sapphire
Sapphire attended GDC ’04
Having visited this year’s Game Developers’ Conference, Sapphire has been able to provide photos of cards featuring eight outlaws that appear in the upcoming game, which I am hosting along with transcripts of the text.
Hayley has also updated the design of Depths of Oddworld.
Sources: Sapphire
Official site updates, April 2004
Oddworld.com has been properly updated for the month, with a new message on the home page, a new Fan Quote of the Month, updated Dear Alf questions, a new Fan Of the Month, a profile of animator John Hood, an updated Press page (now including a PDF file of March’s Polygon feature), a new Fan Photo of the Month, an expanded skin art gallery (check out Rich Figlia!), and an up‐to‐date listing of available job positions!
Also, a happy birthday to Oddworld’s most proclaimed fan, Alfred Gamble, the inspiration behind our very own Alf.
OWI’s GDC booth
Alcar has uncovered an image of the Oddworld Inhabitants booth at GDC, and found two updated pages at Oddworld.com—the Press Page, which mentions Lorne’s talk on the games industry moving toward an Artisan model of gaming at this year’s E3 and the inclusion of four images from Stranger in Spectrum 11, to be released in October; and the Awards Page, which again references Spectrum 11.
And for our Brazilian readers, here’s an article on OWI’s search for a new publisher.
Sources: Alcar