You can't spell ruthless without ruth.

Ruth is a bitch.

At least she provided her employees with a bounty of fruit and grain as an alternative to coffee and donuts...

Oh god, she really is the devil.

Grow up, everyone.

A social network about a social network? I'm guessing that TAS won't need to be discussed externally, simply because it's a discussion in it's own right.

I can't find the original quote on the oddworld.com website, but when the Xbox announcement was first made, Lorne and Sherry did a FAQ where they clarified that they're not anti-corporation or even anti-massive corporation, just anti-evil in any form.

Yes. Except that he's also described it as a gaming platform. My guess is that the social network part of things is him using a current catchphrase and we shouldn't look too hard in to it. You could call WoW or TF2 social networks also, after all

Note the fact that he hasn't used the word 'site' at all. He's just talking about online social networks.

Like I said, if ideal circumstances are in place we could ream him with a good question and answer round come Spring. Of course, I'm being very presumptuous. We may not see Lorne at all, and if we do, I'd feel like a real asshole approaching him like a speculative journalist trying to get some dirt.

Dunno. It's up in the air at the moment.

OHHHH SNAP

Lorne's political/moral stances may be contradicting and downright confusing, but he's a creative genius so I'm cool.

He's a Californian, ffs. Are there any Californians that aren't leftist to the point of screwy hypocrisy?

Yes. Many of them. California is a freaking big state. You just tend to hear more about SF and LA than all the rest of it.


Also, he's originally from the East Coast.

When did he move?

Wikipedia would imply that it was some time between studying at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California.

Still sounds to me like he was predisposed to highly leftist environments his whole life. Regardless of how many people in CA don't adhere to the stereotype, Lorne still does.

I don't disagree with Lorne's political views really, I'm just playing devil's advocate. He could be a real twat and I'd still love his work, as is the case of many of the creative folks I emulate.

Well I guess something is better then nothing, even if nobody knows what the hell is going on at least something is going on...I guess. I just hope we're not waiting for months for another update.

Is his hair going grey?

Gaaaabe! Buy OWI already. Lorne's finally lost it.

While I have my doubts about it's sellability given the way people have reacted, I think on the odd chance it breeches the market it might work.** I went from being enemies with some girl 'cause she kept stealing my hat and lunch, to being best friends 'cause our rents made us have a sleepover or something to sort things out. I can't really remember that well being 7 at the time.

**Then again i was seven, I think children have different perspectives on forgiveness.

My rents have to get paids.

I thought you owned your house Mat.

Oh dear, what has Pilot talked you into?

Also, to the points about gaming networks: Steam worked out fine.

Admittedly, the above scenario is far more likely.

Where has he?

I was also wondering that, but figured that you guys had had enough of my smart ass comments in OD for a while.

No, people just started saying he was talking about basically a game with socially networky component. I checked everything he said in both videos and in answer to the question and found nothing. I also checked the trademarks from a while back, and while it mentions online gaming with user-generated content, it also talks about
i.e. Facebook

I guess it isn't clearly articulated, but I read this as incorporating a gaming aspect.

It seemed to me as if he was just referring to his past experiences in the field of video games, using it as an analogy. It doesn't sound like this is going to be a game to me.

Honestly, I'm not sure as to whether he's saying that this platform will attract the abovementioned type of person (one who contextualizes their angst in the real world...), or if he's saying this is what the users of such a site will be doing, I.E. they'll be contextualizing their angst in the real world and connect it to the angst that they display in game experiences. I don't think it's a game, but I thought that the social network part might connect with game experiences somehow. Now I've confused myself.

Edit: Also he starts by mentioning a global base of users that do these things. Why not say people if he was speaking broadly?

Lorne's announcements have become increasingly vague as time goes by. I guess we'll know for sure when and if it launches.

I'm glad I wasn't the only one with a total WTF reaction...
Not that it'll be bad, but it does seem a bit, well, "odd"... (sry, I had to.)
When I finally saw an update on Oddblog I was extremely excited, then extremely confused. Whatever Lorne's doing, he should stick to finishing at least one new thing first. At least a useful update, please! All I'd like is a simple acknowledgment from Lorne that he isn't just letting OW or CS sit in a mental basement collecting dust...

It does seem like Lorne is taking on more projects than he can handle.
I don't know how invested he is in each one, but I sincerely doubt he has the manpower or the resources to work on them simultaneously.

I've always had the impression that he's got some grand plan rather than a muddled bunch of ideas, but I guess it's a bit of both. Either way I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for now. I hope the next Oddworld doesn't become the new Duke Nukem Forever though :(

Not really. As far as we know, he's not working on either CS or the Abe movie at all. That would be like suggesting that he's still working on Hand of Odd and Munch's Exoddus.I can't pinpoint an exact quote, but it's the impression I got from previous interviews where he expressed opinions on the future of gaming. I could be wrong.

So they're officially on hold then?
Good lord.