March 2009
TOLshop opens for business
Oddworld Inhabitants will soon be announcing the creation of the Oddworld Store, an online shopping centre where loyal fans can buy Oddworld merchandise and games. Although this may not seem like the greatest thing OWI could release at this time, the store puts an end to scouring eBay for rare whoopie cushions and baseball caps.
Although the Oddworld Store will not be opened for another few weeks, the Oddworld Library has been able to negotiate not only early news coverage but our very own preliminary TOLshop: a tiny preview of the eventual official site to help us celebrate the Library’s official third birthday.
Available now are a selection of five T-shirts in a range of sizes, one based on each Oddworld game and one based on the upcoming Citizen Siege film and games. Hopefully we will be permitted to add more items before the full range becomes available on the official Oddworld Store, but for now you have the option of lending your support for Oddworld Inhabitants with this nifty set of merchandise.
Socially responsible games discussed at GDC09
Lorne Lanning was amongst the big name participants in a panel discussion at this year’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. ‘Stretching Beyond Entertainment: The Role of Games in Personal and Social Change’ was hosted by videogame author/analyst Rusel DeMaria (who wrote the official game guide to Abe’s Oddysee, as well as scores of other titles) with speakers Peter Molyneux, Bing Gordon, Will Wright, Ed Fries (who worked with Lorne during Oddworld Inhabitants’ time with Microsoft), and of course Lanning, and sought to address questions such as how games can be socially responsible and whether they should be.
Transcripts of the session can be found on Shacknews and Wonderland, while commentary and summaries are provided by Gamasutra, NowGamer and GameSpot.