I definitely understand their unwillingness to be under the thumb of a large publisher, and their means to that end, in creating somewhat of a symbiotic web of indie/AA titles and developers. I'm not asking for these promotions to vanish entirely, I just disagree with how they were implemented in this game. I wouldn't have any problem with trailers or demos in the extras section of the main menu. In fact, actual trailers would be much more effective promotions than a quick glimpse of the box art (or whatever the digital equivalent is), and are more likely to be seen by a wide array of players, and not just those that are adventurous or knowledgable enough to reach the secret areas. Thanks to their inclusion by JAW, I may get turned on to a game that maybe I hadn't heard about, or previously wasn't interested in.
My problem with this situation isn't the ads themselves, but where they appear. There are even trailers for other movies on the very DVD I bought to
avoid commercials. I don't mind that, because the difference is that once I press play, it's just Pulp Fiction from then on out. I'd just like to see JAW follow that method.
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These are developers that sacrifice everything (as we did in some cases) to get their games out there. The least we could do was show the world the games exist.
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I truly do respect that. It's great to see hard working independent developers and publishers banding together synergistically. Really my only gripe is that the promotions are inside the game itself. Once I start a new game, I just want to be in Oddworld.
And really, it isn't a really big deal. You could've put them on every single escapee board in the game and I still would've purchased it on day one of its PC release. The faithfulness and the respect for the original truly continues to impress me, and I think that's why the ads struck me that hard. It's more a matter of principle than anything. It's a trend I'd rather not see continue to grow in the future of the industry, and each game that includes them helps that trend to grow.
At the end of the day, it's a small thing, and I have zero doubt that I'll continue to support Oddworld for as long as it's alive. If it were done just a tiny bit differently, and weren't in the gameplay, I wouldn't have any complaints, and I'm sure a lot of people would be a bit happier. Just a small effort of placing them in the game menu would make a big difference to many people. It just seems like a very easy way to score back points with fans with those same principles I hold.
Keep up the good work, JAW. Can't wait to see what's next for you guys, and for Oddworld!