Web site question? want input!

[souled out]

so i dont know about you guys, but i dont even bother reading beyond the first page at www.oddworld.com anymore because most of the changes and interviews i could care less about. i find these forums sum things up much faster than bothering with their latest excuse to why the new game is being kept a huge secret. the photo request pages are a great example.

i hope they do find a way to keep the game a secret, so i can enjoy it more, but here is why that plan cant work.

commercials, magazine advertisements. tv spots, e3, (any other behind the scenes specials), other websites. Advertising in general is what makes secrecy impossible. even if they advertised it with no images, there would still be web pages with pictures and walk throughs the next day.

they may be trying to excite people by keeping it a secret, but i think they would have much more activity, if they were reliably releasing one peice of GOOD info (non spoiler though) per week/month/whatever. (something like a character bio for one of those critters in stranger) but they should pick something that doesnt matter and show as much as they can. people

i know they have their plan and its gonna be a great game, but most of the time (8-9 months out of the year) im just dissapointed with the website.

thoughts? ideas?

[Sekto Springs]

Well, it's not like they're trying to keep it completely devoid of public knowledge. They'll probly spill their guts atleast a month before release.

[Alcar]

Well, they are releasing information to us every month now, in Alf's Anonymous. So far we have one for May (April) and June (May), at:

http://www.oddworld.com/oddworld/com...date0504.shtml
http://www.oddworld.com/oddworld/com...date0604.shtml

Those have provided us with enough information to start theories, etc. I think the information release is great. However, my only qualm was last month. Last month, hardly any information popped up, and Oddworld Universe's news for May had only four or five articles This month we've got a lot more! But I guess they couldn't choose when the blast of information came at.

Alcar...

[Xavier]

I think since the announcement has been made a lot more informations are going to come... I have high hopes for the coming weeks

[Wil]

OWI aren't trying to keep information of the game being released to keep everything in the game an utter 100% surprise, but more to avoid the disappointments fans felt from the exclusion of so much from Munch's Oddysee. They are doing a bang up job of limiting the info we do get, though, so the Kudos of Mudos to them.

[Cloverfield]

I sometimes feel that OWI always get criticised for what they provide on their site. It's like no matter what they provide, there's always going to be someone saying it isn't updated enough, etc.

But I honestly think they are doing a great job with the site. They provide us with montly updates, they answer fan questions [how many companies do that], they have features on those who are working on the game ... and all this is being made available during times where they are keeping quiet on the game. They could just put a big "no updates until Stranger" sign on it and leave it be.

I only follow two game series ... Oddworld and Final Fantasy. I rarely visit other game sites, unless there is a reason to do so. So I am limited with how I can comment, as I don't know what other companies generally do. But I know that OWI has a lot more on their sites than the official FF sites ... the Japanese Advent Children site for example has been updated only twice since Christmas ... as for a US/English site, well it doesn't even exist. And lots of information gets released in the press for this movie.

So, what I am trying to say, is when you take into consideration OWI's minimal information stance, then they are providing a lot of updates.

Abe Babe...

[Esus]

Other game companies I have followed in the past seem to just disappear, popping up for E3, and not updating their websites until whatever game they're working on is completed. Oddworld do so much more than these companies.
Bungie have weekly updates, but generally they're very predictable ("someone gave some -censored- creature some new animations, woot!"), and they don't answer fan questions like OW do.

[Xavier]

I sometimes feel that OWI always get criticised for what they provide on their site. It's like no matter what they provide, there's always going to be someone saying it isn't updated enough, etc.

I think we claimed a large number of time that AIA is just fantastic and that's realy nice to have that insider peek

[drakan90]

I really like the way OWI drip feed information, slowly releasing images of characters, then some more, then the profiles, and then more story etc. It makes you really want to find out whats happening!

[Sekto Springs]

If OWI went and just lit the fuse, and present all the information for us, it would be exciting. Take into consideration that OWI released a branch of information when MO was in progress, and of course it was exciting, but after seeing the game itself we realised that there was very little surprise in store. Also, we can't forget the big move to Xbox and all the original ideas that went down the drain in the process. I think OWI is simply keeping it as secretive as possible, releasing information bit by bit so we can speculate until we get more. Plus, OWI doesn't know what lies in the future, they may hit a block and have to scrap alot, if that's the case, then we wouldn't have much to be dissapointed about because we don't have much. So I'm saying that OWI wants us to be surprised by the finished product but also if a problem strikes there won't be much we've missed.