[MrDeflok]

Thanks so much for your help guys! You'd be surprised at how much conflicting information there is out there, thankfully I hadn't been lead too much astray.

Anyway, my draft of the article is done. It's short, but I think does the trick for the general audience (would've loved to write it for Odd fans but it's got to go both ways).

Remember Oddworld? You must. It was a phenomenal success on the PlayStation 1 and even today is highly regarded for its clever design and artistic direction. In fact, if you want a mint-copy of the original game you’d better be prepared to shell out a few pennies.

But how is it that a franchise with three platinum selling titles and a forth which garnered great reviews has fallen into the murky abyss of the forgotten?

We’ll come to that, but I think first and foremost it would be wiser to give a brief run-down on the series so far, and I say so far intentionally as even though there are no more Oddworld games coming soon, there is still a glimmer of hope.

The franchise was actually planned to be a set of five computer generated films from film studio Oddworld Inhabitants. However, during the design process for the first film it was decided that the franchise could be aptly made into a series of five games with numerous spin-offs.

The first of this quintology was Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee, released on the PlayStation 1 in 1996, it proved that 2D platformers would never be obsolete in the face of polygons provided they adapted to the times. Odyssey was designed wonderfully. Its art direction was unparalleled and how it evolved the platformer genre is the thing of fond memories.

It told the story of a young Mudoken named Abe who using mind over matter fought his way through a factory run by an evil corporation who was using his race as a fuel source. Ultimately, Abe brought down the factory and freed the captive Mudokens. The game introduced a mechanic where you could possess enemies in order to get them to flick switches or even kill their buddies. Simply, there was nothing out there quite like it.

Then in 1998 the sequel hit titled Oddworld: Abe’s Exoddus. Though it didn’t add much to the formula of Odysey it quickly became a classic and is the most famous title in the franchise. A feature unique to Exoddus which was the ailing of your fellow Mudoken’s moods. Characters stricken by laughing gas would need to be slapped to bring them to their senses, you could comfort sad characters, or goad them into suicide; even a good old fart would bring a smile and giggle to your friends.

Oddworld then jumped ship from Sony to Microsoft with Munch’s Oddysee which was vastly different to its predecessors being a fully 3D game with breathtaking visuals (for the time). The switch in platforms caused quite a bit of controversy, and many fans forsook Oddworld in light of it. Regardless, it became one of the Xbox’s first “Classic” titles alongside Halo and Dead or Alive 3.

The franchise also entertained some rather uninspired ports on the GameBoy Advance system which were dramatically different and not regarded as part of the central quintology.

The last title released in the planned quintology, actually, in the franchise, was Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath in 2005 for the Xbox. It was originally planned to release simultaneously on the PlayStation 2 as well, however, technical issues prevented the title to be ported in a timely fashion which resulted in EA having it cancelled. After this, EA, the games publisher, decided a title releasing on only one platform wasn’t worth promoting. So instead of the title hitting the Xbox with a bang it hit it with a very T S Eliot whisper. The game was served with mostly positive reviews but many marked it down for not being as inventive as previous Oddworld titles in spite of its critter-based weapon system and fantastic art design.

Unfortunately, it sold poorly and was considered a critical flop.

Lorne Lanning threw in his hat, turning his back on the gaming industry and disbanded the game development side of Oddworld Inhabitants. He decided then, that he would go back to the drawing board Oddworld came from and that Oddworld Inhabitants would create a film like they had originally planned. In light of the new direction the studio took, work on another Oddworld title, Hand of Odd, was cancelled. Hand was going to be a real-time-strategy with online multiplayer set in the Oddworld universe.

Here marks where the game franchise died.

Obviously, many fans were furious, and with good reason; it’s a sad day when a high-quality franchise kicks the bucket. Ultimately, Oddworld died because of the game the industry works, the politics of it all, the separation between developer – the artists, and the publishers – the businessmen. However…

Here marks where the film franchise began (again).

Citizen Siege was born. Currently in production, it tells the story of Earth in the near future after an apocalyptic war with a very strong political and theological angle. Lanning has described Siege as 1984 for the modern-age, a big call. Further details haven’t been released but the fact that the film has no current announced distributor makes that easily justified.

One must wonder why this film isn’t common knowledge amongst the games fans and this is because many publications and websites decided to shun him just when he turned his back on the industry, some even going so far as to ridicule him. It has been said several times that an Oddworld film starring Abe may surface to finish of the quintology but with Citizen Siege being in production it's guaranteed that such a film won't see the light of day for a good while yet.

Despite Oddworld Inhabitants not having any in-house games developers the concept for Citizen Siege was conceived to be both a film and a game with unique storylines which supplement the other. Again, details regarding the game are next to none and many believe that it remains to be seen whether or not a game will ever eventuate. Lanning has stated, however, that he hasn’t sought a publisher for the title to get around the evil necessity of relinquishing creative control on the project. Artist vs Businessman.

And finally, here marks where Oddworld was forgotten.

Though it’s highly unlikely we’ll ever see a Mudoken grace the cover of game any time soon there’s still the Citizen Siege film and game to look forward to as they will likely represent ideas fans of the franchise will be familiar with and echo the unique Lanning vision. And, of course, let's not forget the distant possibility of an Oddworld feature film.

If this glimmer of hope isn’t enough to lift your Oddworld loving spirits, then perhaps a well timed fart from a friend will.

Again, you guys will be mentioned at the end of the article, I'll let you know when that happens!