April 2005
Lorne explains why no Fangus
Computer and Video Games’s Graeme Boyd has interviewed Lorne Lanning following the recent news that OWI will be downsizing, moving to Emeryville and outsourcing production of Oddworld television and film media. Nothing much is revealed, but Lorne comments on The Brutal Ballad of Fangus Klot and reinforces his view of OWI remaining a property development company.
Credit goes to Oddish for first finding this article.
Sources: Oddish
Lorne clarifies OWI’s role in future Oddworld
G4’s ‘Ten Minutes with Lorne Lanning’ interview has been posted by Coury Turczyn. Lorne elaborates on the reason he ceased internal game development and clarifies the role Oddworld Inhabitants will play in the development of future Oddworld projects.
Sources: Coury Turczyn
G4TechTV interviews Lorne
UnforgivingEdges points out that Lorne Lanning was interviewed by G4TV. The interview will be aired again the 4/24/2005 on 12am ET / 9pm PT.
A transcript will hopefully be posted over here.
Sources: UnforgivingEdges
Oddworld Customer Survey
A Oddworld Customer Survey has been posted on Oddworld.ea.com. This is the place to tell what you tought about Oddworld Stranger’s Wrath and the Oddworld Universe.
Sources: Oddworld.ea.com
Lorne wants to develop cross‐media entertainment
Lorne Lanning has been interviewed again, this time by GameSpot. It is now clear that Oddworld can still be featured in games, but also on TV and in movies. Oddworld Corp. doesn’t die, it will simply use a different approach to reach more people.
Thanks to Angalok for the head up.
Sources: Angalok
Lorne describes videogame climate to The Hollywood Reporter
Lorne has been interviewed by The Hollywood Reporter regarding OWI’s ceasing internal games development, the current videogame industry climate and financing that led to the decision, and, briefly, the lack of commercial success for Oddworld Stranger’s Wrath. Mr Lanning speaks to Paul Hyman on the growing dependence on so‐called sequel‐itis and liscence‐itis, attributing the fear of innovative material to increasing game production costs and, consequently, heightened risks of bringing out new IPs.
Although no details are given concerning Oddworld Inhabitants’ next project, Lorne indicates that the first Oddworld feature film is just around the corner, stating that it is ‘a film that we currently own all the publishing rights to.’ No word is given over to The Brutal Ballad of Fangus Klot, and while Majesco have not indicated that any such title or Oddworld project will be present at E3 (credit goes to Esus for finding this), Lorne says that ‘We’ll stay focused on multimedia content, really solid concepts that would make great games, great TV, great movies.’
Confirmation was also given that the team have created non‐Oddworld ideas.
Sources: The Hollywood Reporter
Alf takes leave from the Rehab
Alf has informed Oddworld fans and Rehabbers that he is taking a sabbatical to travel Oddworld in search of ‘the most exotic teas, the most outlandish tabloids, and all things odd.’ While he is away, the Rehab will be closed, so we can expect there to be no Oddworld.com updates until he returns. Alf thanks fans for their dedication and patience, and in return we wish him the best of luck for the future.
Sources: Alf
Stranger and Master Chief battle for supremacy
The guys of Stuffo have a huge problem! They must determine who would win in fight—Stranger of Oddworld Stranger’s Wrath or Master Chief of Halo. The problem isn’t an easy one, thus they wrote a 4 paged article about it. Help them out and vote (for Stranger, ahum…).
Thanks to sligster for posting about on the forums.
Sources: sligster
UnforgivingEndges’s radio programme transcribed
UnforgivingEdges’s show was aired yesterday, but the online streaming server was down, so he posted on the forums the transcript of his interview with OWI Production Designer Silvio Aebischer. A very good read for everybody! Hopefully more of the show is coming soon.
Sources: UnforgivingEdges
Date set for UnforgivingEdges’s Oddworld radio programme
UnforgivingEdges posted on the forums to announce that the date for his Oddworld Show is set. It will contain:
- Commentary on the Oddworld games
- News about Oddworld Inhabitants, their plans, the new game(s), and the future of the franchise
- An interview with OWI Production Designer Silvio Aebischer
It will be aired Wednesday, April 6th, 10:30 AM Pacific Standard Time. You will hopefully be able to stream it over here. (Click on the ear to listen)
Sources: UnforgivingEdges
Jameson Durall describes level design process
Oddworld Stranger’s Wrath game designer Jameson Durall has two interesting features on his personal site. ‘Design Process’ describes the steps Oddworld Inhabitants go through to create a fun, interesting game level, while ‘Jo Momma Design’ demonstrates the method used to construct the Jo’ Momma boss encounter. Note that the first three images of the ‘Design Process’ feature are actually taken from the development of Fangus! Thanks go to Mr Durall for permission to post about them.
OddBlog has finished updating its news archives, so feel free to browse the last year‐and‐a‐half of Oddworld news.
Sources: Jameson Durall