[Volsung]

I'm of two minds on how easily OWI could outsource a new game. Although I think having a "creative core" that stands independently of technical problems and day-to-day minutiae would be advantageous, OWI has always made sure that their story-telling wasn't hindered by rough gameplay, and it seems to me that quality control could become a major issue, even when dealing with a good, professional developer. And as someone said earlier in the thread, a lot of the companies that have already been named are more interested in creating their own IP than in creating a game they would have little to no content control over.

On the other hand, developers bid for the right to make games for movies all the time. If the Oddworld movie is successful, I don't think finding the right developer will be a problem. Who it will be, I couldn't guess. Mostly because I don't follow that too closely.

It seems to me that an mmorpg is unlikely, considering the character-driven nature of the games up to this point. Although it would be fun to mess around in the Oddworld universe, I'm perfectly willing NOT to have the universe watered down by unimaginative for-profit-only projects, however. I don't think that's really going to be a big problem, but I thought I'd mention it.

As for Fangus; even though it was being developed on the same engine as SW, and Stranger was a great game, I'm pretty pleased they dropped the idea. The concept art on Xav's site seems to intimate that there were people in it, which OWI had said would never occur. I get that they wanted a bunch of bipedal humanoids in order to set Stranger apart in SW, but even so, the character designs were weaker than in AO. Fangus looked to continue that trend, which I found potentially disastrous.

Finally, I think Ubisoft Montreal makes great games. The Prince of Persia series was great (despite some glitches) and the Assassin game they're working on now looks really interesting. I wouldn't have been upset if Splinter Cell was never conceived, but that's just because I think military games are jacked. (For my own taste)