New Interview with Lorne at Gamespot
 

Gamespot tries to clear up all the "Oddworld is coming to an end" non-sense with the following interview:

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/04...s_6122481.html

I think this makes it clear that there will be more games taking place in the Oddworld Universe, as well as television and movies. Of course, there are some people who won't understand the big words that Lorne uses, so I'm sure that the recent panic won't cease until a new game actually drops into you people's laps...

at least there wont be anymore panic. the games i wanted to see in the future were:
sligstorm, hand of odd and squeeks oddysee. i wonder if they ever will be made...

excellent find...

so Oddworld will be everywhere, if everithing work as planned.

Actually, I already posted this. God, I sound like such an egomaniac...

Well I already commented on this, but it's great lonres got the techolongy to produce great quality films.

The End of Oddworld?
Lorne Lanning drops GameSpy a line to discuss why he's shutting down his San Luis Obispo development facility and the bold, new direction his company is going in.
By Raymond M. Padilla | March 29, 2005


Lorne Lanning, co-founder of Oddworld Inhabitants, is one of most creative people I've met in the gaming business. His vivid imagination has helped spawn some of the most unique characters ever seen in a videogame (Abe, Munch, Stranger, etc.). His distinct style has helped produce some of the most memorable stories gamers have ever experienced. So I'm sure you can imagine my shock when he called to tell me that he was shutting down his game development facility in San Luis Obispo.


"This is a choice, not a necessity. The choice is a daring one, and not an obvious one to make. We see the excitement of what can be. We think that requires a new model. We want to stay focused on the creative content and taking that to new levels."


One of my Stranger chats with Lorne.


Don't worry Oddworld fans, the company isn't going away. It's just drastically changing the way it operates. As with many innovative minds in the business, Lanning feels that the current model for game development is restrictive. Teams are becoming too big. Technical challenges are stifling creativity. Lanning is going to try doing things a different way so that he and his team can focus on what it does best -- creating characters and stories.

The shift in approach also comes with a physical move. As I mentioned earlier, Lanning is closing development operations in San Luis Obispo. The new base of operations will be in Berkeley, California. Berkeley, with its rich and colorful history, seems like a more suitable setting for a uniquely artistic company. Outside of Oddworld, the only things I know from San Luis Obispo are "Weird" Al Yankovic and UFC's "The Iceman" Chuck Lidell -- entertainers to be sure, but not exactly what I'd call creative forces.

"It's time to take it to the next level and the way to do that is with a new model. New models are in order and new models are necessary. Let's build characters and stories that people will love. Let's put these characters in interesting gameplay. Let's feature them in new media. It's all about pushing that quality bar higher. We'll be doing this with outside parties and businesses. The options and excitement grows exponentially, the more people we work with."

Lanning will keep a relatively small team of core creators in Berkeley, while collaborating with and outsourcing to external talents. His partners will not be restricted to the gaming industry; he'll be looking to team up with people from traditional animation, television, and film. This doesn't mean that he will not be working with traditional game companies; he was quick to point out his positive experiences with Majesco.

Don't mistake this as another "game guy goes to Hollywood" tale. Lanning is a veteran of Rhythm & Hues, an Oscar winning character animation and visual effects studio, so in a sense he's bridging his professional experiences.

Bringing the two sides together should benefit his company. He thinks that a lot of the technological problems developers have are unnecessary. He feels that there's a lot of "universal technology" the developers can use, and a lot of it can cut development time so that creators can focus on telling the best interactive stories possible.


Could that be related to this?

big bro slig #1:yes...that's exactly the Gamespy article that created all the confusion this Gamespot article is trying to disband.

the article you posted had a title similar to "oddworld is coming to an end"

Well, what can one say other than one hopes it all turns out like he wants it to?

I really dont get why he is so confident about the move, I am still very concerned about level design posibly not being done by them.

I guess he just really isnt thinking of videogames right now, he just wants to make stories.

PS:anyone has looked up this "Valve" company and its "steam technology"?..or is that just a joke?

I could be wrong, but I think Valve is the company that made Half-Life and Half-Life 2.

You are correct.

Thank God this whole thing is fixed up. I was getting a little worried about the closing down thing... It would be awesome to see some Oddworld movies or shorts.

Huzzah!

Valve and Steam are not jokes.

Valve is the company that makes or publishes (I'm not sure which) the Half Life titles. Steam is the program you use if you want to buy Half Life 2 by downloading it.

never realy understood how that steam program worked...
it's all about direct download, isn't it?

That makes sense. This way you completely bypass the distributer like EA. No distribution costs and a small time company can compete without bending to the will of the powerfull distributer.

PRAISE THE LORD!

I feel much better. Thank you Angalok...you've made my day.

Horray! So, there will be movies tv AND games!? How much better could it get?

I for one wouldn't really like a TV show... it might ruin the epic feel of Oddworld. It should be done in a movie or a game in my opinion.

I think the question is now no longer 'what?' but 'when?'.

We can probably assume that Fangus has gone the way of HOO and been put on the backburner, considering that Lorne doesn't want to say what the next project is.

I would enjoy anything made by oddworld, I hope they make, I read somewhere lorne was waiting for better technology to like make the quintology so i suspect that AO, AE and MO will be re-made, or made into movies which would be cool.

But if they do make those 3 games into movies i hope they make AE and AO into one movie, cause they take place right after each other.

PS. I heard u could get an oddworld DVD which pre-ordering SW, is there any way to buy the DVD??? cause i got my x-box after SW came out

Only on Ebay

both are the questions of now...
I'd realy like to know what Lorne is planning now, and how much time we'l have to wait to see it.

I'm absolutly curious to see what lorne is going to do now.

I don't know. I still think Fangus is going ahead with Majesco publishing, and someone (probably obscure) programming. Surely he would've dispelled the rumours the magazine article and scan made? Unless they weren't rumours.

according to Jameson Durall's blog, Oddworld is looking to make movies.

It sure sounds like it too. Lorne keeps bringing up the idea of film, and always has.

I'm not concerned with what they'll do next. I'm just concerned with how they'll do it. Lorne is an intelligent man, so I assume he knows that even if his stories are great, if the games don't have great gameplay they won't sell. I was quite confident with OWI's development of games, but I get nervous thinking of Oddworld handing the games over to third parties for programing and the such.

I hope he doesn't stop giving their games the attention they well deserve as well. Surely, Lorne must realize that half the reason people were interested in Oddworld was the stories and the other half was the extremely involved gameplay.

Eitherway, I look forward to Lorne's surprises. I'm sure he's got a few.

From the G4 interview, it seemed like a new game was the last thing on his mind. He didn't seem to have any idea what their videogame plans were. I think TV and film are their current goals.

true... If LL steps out of the VideoGame buisness, it isn't to make directly a new video game.
He's having a break from the videogames buisness now.

BTW: the VideoGames Buisness is absolutly terrible right now.

I'm sort of seeing the move as a way to get more recognised in the business, and raise some more popularity for Oddworld, then he'll go back to games with better support from programmers, developers and the media.

I for one would have to say I agree. I mean, tuning in every Saturday evening isn't really the best way to discover an epic saga, no?

:eek: No! Not straight to DVD and video! Other than that, I feel comforted, the (first) movie and more games when the industry gets better will be on their way, things are looking up. I feel much better than I did after I read the Hollywood Reporter article.

This was on comcast today. Nothing really new http://www.comcast.net/games/invasio...18/605212.html