Well-played Nate. I was talking about the game's overall message versus the company's actual practices, but you're right: both can be attributed to a "pro-ethics" attitude. The only defense of my original statement would be both long-winded and, ultimately, erroneous, as you've reconciled what I had missed quite nicely.
Taking what Max said and running with it, I would have to say that it does to some degree spoil the feel of the game, though briefly. Putting an earth product on Oddworld hurts the analogy and perverts Oddworld from a mass of humanities' vices and virtues into a story about aliens, unconnected with our own troubles. But I still didn't really mind.
And that concept of "distilled Humanity Vs. Unknowable Aliens" also hurts some of the licensing possibilities. If Oddworld were leased out it becomes probable that some company or other would include human characters, most notably fighters. It becomes apparent that in order for Oddworld games to work outside of OI, an impossibly large amount of consultation would have to take place. So I suppose I'll never get to play a part in the pre-industrial inter-mudokon wars. Le Sigh.
Which brings us to my last question, which might possibly fit better in the "Ask a question" section. When OI finally gets to the movies, will they still be creating games? Or is Lanning intending on splitting the companies? If the former, I imagine it will be a rather awkward mess to contain, especially with the standards of business they currently maintain. And in the latter, would it be feasible for Lanning to spend his time split between two such demanding jobs without fear of dropping quality?
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