Humans?

[DarkHoodness]

Something I noticed while watching the beginning of Havoc's livestream, 'cause it looks so out of place. This appears on a noticeboard in one of the secret areas (I'm loving the extra details they've thrown in). Is it an easter egg or cameo of one of JAW's future productions, or is there a very human-like species on Oddworld now?

[Varrok]

According to gamespot, these are advertisements for real game(s). Also, without it the review score would be higher, it seems

[Holy Sock]

I think this is what Lorne was talking about: indies banding together and promoting each other in their games.

I'm pretty sure they only appear in the secret areas.

[STM]

Yeah I mean...that's really fucking silly.

Grr, we hate capitalism, grrrr! Let's use our billboards as in-game advertising and break immersion, grrr!

[DarkHoodness]

That's a really strange decision. It's good to help other indie games, and advertising them in-game like that is clever, but yeah, at a really high cost to game immersion. It doesn't work. :S

Maybe they could've advertised them with a "promotions" option on the menu or so for curious players to check out and maybe look through a selection of trailers.

E: Actually I remember an old Sierra game which included a trailer for one of their other games on the disk. Shame that doesn't work with DLC games.

[Varrok]

I hope they'll cut this nonsense for the PC version.

[HOMINIX]

In-game advertisements. I saw this in a livestream, and I am absolutely appalled. I assume it's Sony's doing, as all the games that are in-game ads are for the PS4, but in this game especially, given the game's themes...

I can only hope that the original Oddworld ads (Elum Chubs and the like) appear untouched (meaning WITHOUT real-world advertisements) in the ports to other platforms.

I hope you guys at JAW/OWI didn't have anything to do with the decision, because it's painfully ironic to shamelessly plug other games in this of all games; that of strong anti-big corporation themes.

Just think of playing New n Tasty 17 years from now, (the way we play Abe's Oddysee to this day) tainted with images of real-world games that few people remember? As an art piece, it's pretty disgraceful.

I hate for my first post to be such a negative one, but this just struck me too hard.

I love you guys at OWI and JAW, and I hope the future releases of New n Tasty to other platforms will come product-placement-free. I eagerly EAGERLY anticipate this game for the PC or PS3 (whichever releases first) as I don't own a PS4.

[Holy Sock]

HOMINIX, I'm pretty sure you're overreacting a bit here. Lorne specifically talked about indies helping each other out and promoting each other. Why only other PS4 indies? presumably because the game's on PS4 and it makes sense.

I imagine the Xbox One port would advertise a few indies on that platform. The same with PC etc.

It's really about indies helping to promote each other since they do not have the marketing budgets to really promote themselves.

Sure, I personally thought, like Dark Hood, that there would just be a promotion option in the menu. but I believe they are restricted to the secret areas, anyway.

EDIT: Maybe it's a misstep in regards to immersion but i don't see it as hypocrisy or losing their integrity. Helping out fellow indie developers doesn't seem to be shameless plugs, imo.

[DarkHoodness]

It's worth pointing out that it's hard to know these days which indie games are worth your time or not (Steam is flooded with sub-par indies as well as good ones) - Having other good indie games promote you is a good way of standing out from the crowd.

It's a good idea, just they should keep it separate from gameplay.

E: That way you know it's an ad for a real-world product and then it can't be confused with the in-game universe if you aren't aware of internal promotions like this.

[STM]

I dunno I mean hang on a sec guys, yeah it's kinda dumb for immersion, but you don't need to make out like it's a game breaker. It's not 'shameless plugging'.

Damn, it sucks that on this site if you make a negative point you end up having to clarify ten minutes later to distinguish yourself from the background whining.

e: fucking speedy shits everywhere gdi.

[HOMINIX]

Holysock, there are other ways to promote other indies, and yes, my reaction is passionate because this series is very close to me. The idea of the original Abe's Oddysee having in-game ads for other PS1 games is unbearable to me. It was a game that was good enough to be thoroughly enjoyed far past the relevancy of any advertisement it could have possibly had. You've got to think of the long-term impact of that kind of decision.

Aside from all of that, this game doesn't take place on Earth. This breaks immersion and generally lowers the experience.

[HOMINIX]

Trap, I'm just disappointed with the hypocrisy, and when I play New n Tasty in 2031, I don't want to see advertisements for "Secret Ponchos" in the middle of the game. I have a lot of love and respect for Lorne Lanning and Oddworld Inhabitants, and what they stand for, and that's why I hold them to such a standard.

[Holy Sock]

Aye, there are other ways but I don't think this is at all contradictionary to the message of the game or whatever. And it would be very different if they were promoting games back in the PS1 era.

I can understand that the method of promoting and helping out other independent developers is arguable but I can't agree that this is a poor decision morally or demonstrates any sort of hypocrisy.

And, I don't wanna sound like a dick here, but this series is close to pretty much every single person on these forums - if not everyone. I think it's a rather admirable move to use Oddworld to help smaller indies out in this really difficult business.

And, aye, it may be immersion breaking but I can totally live with them since they're confined to the secret areas in the game - which are generally immersion breaking concepts themselves since they interrupt the flow of the story/gameplay and only really exist for those trying to earn trophies and rescue all 299 Mudokons - which are typical video game tasks that break immersion anyway.

I could get on board with promoting them in a section of the Main Menu instead but I still disagree with the argument.

[HOMINIX]

The main menu, I would be fine with. Have a demos/trailers section. It's not the end of the world, I just really hope this product placement isn't in the other ports.

I don't think it's too much to expect the recreation of one of my favorite games of all time to have immersion that holds up to the immersion of the original decades on into the future.

Like I said, this game is a piece of art, and the ads will become obsolete far before the last fans stop playing it. Then, the advertisements will not only break the immersion, but they won't even fully serve their original promotion purposes. And don't worry, my proclamation of love for the series wasn't attacking the validity of anyone else's.

[Holy Sock]

But yeah, if not really arguing against immersion. I don't really share it since a lot of secret areas in games often break the fourth wall but i can understand it. and i mean technically those ads won't become obsolete since those games will presumably still exist. but still, it's an argument I could get behind.

But there's still no moral or philosophical hypocrisy there as far as I'm concerned.

[MeechMunchie]

I sure could use a refreshing SoBe.

[DarkHoodness]

Heh, I'd forgotten about that - At least the ads in N'n'T are there to help other game devs rather than 'cause JAW were sponsored by someone.

[Havoc]

In the entire game I've only seen them like 4 or 5 times. They only appear on score boards in secret areas and very briefly at that, before they go back to normal. I think it's a nice little easter egg and nothing more. Not even advertising, really.

[Crashpunk]

For what I've seen. They only appear in Secret areas, But I could be wrong.

And I personally don't mind them at all. It's a secret in it's self and it's nice to have this little indie cross promotion.

[OWI_Alex]

this little indie cross promotion.

That's exactly what it is.

[AvengingGibbons]

I saw the woman on the info board and asked myself 'who the hell is that?'

I don't think it destroys the immersion. I think it's a clever little trick to promote other indies and it works okay. The only criticism I have is that I have no idea what it is advertising :S

[El Dango AGAIN]

Some people on Twitter are really angry about it, to the point where they claim that it has turned them off the game, which is fucking hilarious. The internet is never going to have a shortage of extremely silly people.

[JennyGenesis]

Is that what the coming soon trophy refers to?

It popped up when I went into a secret area in the free fire zone, and assumed it had something to do with finding a secret area.

[OWI_Alex]

Is that what the coming soon trophy refers to?

It popped up when I went into a secret area in the free fire zone, and assumed it had something to do with finding a secret area.

Yes.

[Xavier]

When I saw it at first in the game I was surprised. That surprise was quickly followed by some laughter. I thought it was brilliant. Ok it breaks the immersion a tiny bit but I don't mind it at all, it's a minor detail and it does not stay on the screen very long. Plus it's only in the secret areas and as Holy Sock already mentioned, those areas already break the 4th wall with the little music and the huge yellow mudokon head. I honestly did not think this could be a problem for anyone at all when playing the game.

And contrary to what some people here say it's exactly what Oddworld is all about. It's about the little guys bonding with each others in order to try to survive in a world currently ruled by the big guys.

[dark_xinos]

Greetings you old frauds!

I noticed the billboards too but I didn't understand that it was an add. I considered it, but didn't see any game name on the board so instead was very puzzled about there being humans in the Oddworld universe.

[Alcar]

Why the hate? Oddworld has always had a sort of 'tongue-in-cheek' attitude to it - I think the half-board "adverts" are done really well. Did they absolutely need them? No. But it fits with the ecosystem of indie developers and the Oddworld ethos.

Alcar...

[dark_xinos]

I'm not hating, but maybe you weren't talking to me. I'm glad it was an add and not humans in that world. Instead, I can easily justify people being fictional creatures in a video game, just like Oddworld is for us

[Connell]

I'm not hating, but maybe you weren't talking to me. I'm glad it was an add and not humans in that world. Instead, I can easily justify people being fictional creatures in a video game, just like Oddworld is for us

That's exactly the justification I came up with in my head. Like some sort of role reversal where humans are the weird alien creatures you control in video games on Oddworld. Isn't the need to justify things for your "head-canon" a curious thing. Or maybe I'm just a fucking weirdo.

[SlagoTheSlig]

This isn't the first time Oddworld has done this, Munch's Oddysee advertised SoBe drinks