This is the end of oddworld (No it's not)

[Abe16]

I agree, EA is refusing to advertise Stranger? I don't think it's fair either.

[Leto]

If an Oddworld movie was released, I would think it would have Brazil*-esque success and downfalls. It would have a few faithful followers, but in the box office it would hardly be a success. Now, if Fangus was a movie... Different story.




*Brazil- a Terry Gilliam flim, not the place. I strongly suggest you view it.

[The Slog]

If OW is gone... I will cry my eyes off :'(

[The Slog]

I agree, EA is refusing to advertise Stranger? I don't think it's fair either.

I think the same aswell

[Voodoo Hand]

Dear Slog,
There is a very cool button at the bottom of the frame labeled "EDIT" .If you
have a second brilliant comment that comes to mind just after you have made a post, give the EDIT button a try. Otherwise you will be labeled a braindead
double poster and a heinous spammer , and then, of course , you
will be ripped to shreds by rabid dingos or D I , depending on who gets to you first.

Have a nice day.

[Pzak]

If an Oddworld movie was released, I would think it would have Brazil*-esque success and downfalls. It would have a few faithful followers, but in the box office it would hardly be a success.

I'm not sure I would agree. If the story was told so it could relate to today, with likeable characters, it could be very successful. Look at Shrek, Robots, Finding Nemo, the Incredibles....... as long as it was told well and appealed to a large audience with no prior knowledge of OW, there is no reason it couldn't be well received.

I think that even a moderately successful movie would give them the clout to press on and branch out. That would spawn merchandise and games.

What we want is a bigger, stronger OW, who can't be forced to compromise on the story, art or quality. Right now, they just don't have the resources to branch out to other mediums, and can't even get recognition for one of the best games ever produced (SW).

I have seen the trailers and cut scenes for all the games, and IMHO, they could rival anything that Pixar could do.

[Xavier]

they could be a serious rival to Pixar of cource!
I think they should not start with a too non-human character, people seem to related to the hero

that's why Abe would be great!

[Oddish]

Dam EA! Indeed. First they make b & w text booklets, and now this. Before I didn't know EA was bad publisher, but heres proof. Good thing they changed with publishers.

I don't have a problem Lorne Lanning making movies, infact that would the best thing ever! But I knew when OWI still were making Quintology games, that one day when the qunitology is done, they will do motion picture such Abe's. But now all I can see is just movies, however no news about the Quintology games continued bieng made., that's the worrying part. But an Abe movie is like youz says would be an Oddfan dream, and Lornes.

i have serious doubts that Oddworld can be pitched to a major studio .
Do you think that it has that much drawing power?
Tomb Raider is the only title that comes to mind that has had any cross-over success , and let`s face it Abe ain`t no Lara Croft.
Will the general public flock to see a non-violent green guy preach about the evils of industrialization and it`s effect on the environment and society??

As much as i hate to say it, Fangus has a better chance of making the big screen than Abe dose.

Lanning may be clever , but i don`t know if he`s that clever.

The only way i can see Oddworld games ever comming back is if the movie thing
crashes and burns, because don`t believe that the " think tank of OWI" can do
both at the same time.
But that`s just me.

I might Have to disaggre. Oddworld and crew made Abe a very likeable character, and it aint just story with a hero that saves the day, it has a bit more, it shows an inportant message in the whole story that needs telling, about greed and power, and crutery and selfishness. A bit like the Simpsons, except they add alot of humor and irony. I think movie will appeal to the to the awdience, becuase of it's strangenesss and interesting world, and great storylines with depth, atleast to the more of the intelegent bunch.

Well it depends who you are and what your interested in becuase there's point makeing movies which is the same genre that most people would want to see, some poeple like much rather want to see different types of films. (I think I gettin a bit lost here) To be honest, Abe's Oddysee movie would definitely appeal to me.

Speaking of genre, what genre do you think AO moive would be? Adventure?... Na'h...

[MojoMan220]

UPDATE!
Gamespot does a Q&A with Lorne:

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/04...s_6122481.html

I was disappointed that there were no questions about Fangus, but relieved to find out that they still plan on making games along with television and movies.

There is also more explanation of EA's marketing (not marketing) of OSW.

[Oddish]

Great find Mojonman!

I'm glad thier games plans aren't dead. Prehaps this is great news for Lonre able to use the technology that he has to produce high qualtity TV. It's ture, the next- gen consoles will have higher costs to produce games. Doing TV/film now is more of a cheaper way to get the good awdience.

[Abe16]

Can this help? i found it. http://www.dailygame.net/news/archives/003854.php

[Dipstikk]

Since Oddworld's only a thinktank now, do you think we'll be seeing some outside voice talents besides Lanning?

[odd chick]

Since Oddworld's only a thinktank now, do you think we'll be seeing some outside voice talents besides Lanning?

Hmmm...I'm not so sure about that, but it could be possible, I suppose. I'm not sure if it would be such a good idea, though. It would be cool if there were people that no one had ever heard of doing the voice work, but heaven forbid if famous actors are hired to do voice work! I wouldn't like that idea. =/

[Dipstikk]

Well, not like the big-wigs of hollywood, but people who have experience in voice work. Don't get me wrong, I adore Lanning for doing all that, but there were a lot of places in each of his games that I think could have been done a lot better.


On the note of "Not having big-wigs playing voices":
I could see Jeff Glenn Bennett playing the voice of a Slig or Glukkon, but not someone like Bruce Willis.

[Leto]

I'm not sure I would agree. If the story was told so it could relate to today, with likeable characters, it could be very successful. Look at Shrek, Robots, Finding Nemo, the Incredibles....... as long as it was told well and appealed to a large audience with no prior knowledge of OW, there is no reason it couldn't be well received.

I think that even a moderately successful movie would give them the clout to press on and branch out. That would spawn merchandise and games.

What we want is a bigger, stronger OW, who can't be forced to compromise on the story, art or quality. Right now, they just don't have the resources to branch out to other mediums, and can't even get recognition for one of the best games ever produced (SW).

I have seen the trailers and cut scenes for all the games, and IMHO, they could rival anything that Pixar could do.

Sorry, I didn't really pay attention to the character comparisons before. I can see it would sort of have the correct CG movie formula... But they better release some dark ones! No cutesy crap.

[Xavier]

Since Oddworld's only a thinktank now, do you think we'll be seeing some outside voice talents besides Lanning?

most likely, Lorne will be the brain, and thus have lots of things to do.
I think he wont have the time to do all the voice acting anymmore

[Nate]

Based on that Gamespot interview, I think it's safe to say that Fangus has been put on the backburner. It may well be the first game they make under the new system but my vibe is that their secret new project is not a game.

[Oddish]

Another artcle by eurogamer.

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=58673

[Xavier]

this article is just a sum up, I mean, there is nothing new in there, isn't it?

overgame did an excellent one too: http://www.overgame.com/page/21439.htm
but it's in French

[Esus]

"It was very disheartening to us," he said, "that we could have a title with a Metacritic.com user metric of 9.6, a game that was praised as being a fusion of filmmaking and video games in terms of being less 'gamey' and more story- and character-driven... and then to see that the largest publisher in the industry had no interest in marketing it regardless of how innovative it was."

True, but I didn't think OWI were being as blatent as that this time round.

[Oddish]

Well I thought the quotes gave a bit of info, but I just found somewhere and posted it here just in case.

I've translated the french artcle, it makes a bit more sense now.

[Sapphire]

There's absolutely nothing new in here, but I just though I would share that comcast.net has a headline about Oddworld's changes on the front page. People are noticing. Perhaps, if OWI feels like enough people are turning heads at this, the public will be more ready for something like a movie. After all, they went almost completely underground for Stranger, and although nobody's really mentioning that as a problem, I think that hurt them just as much as EA's utter lack of marketing. Word of mouth can be a powerful thing, but there wasn't much to spread around. Perhaps this time, we'll get a little more news from them; at least, that's what I hope. I understand that they have to be careful, but sometimes being too quiet can cost ya, so this is, in my opinion, a good thing that people are talking about this and taking notice.

http://www.comcast.net/games/invasio...18/605212.html

[Wil]

[quote=GIGnews, November 2003]Melanie Cambron: As the game industry continues to grow and become more "corporate" in nature, it seems increasingly less likely that unusual projects will fostered. How can developers of unique games like the Oddworld series get a break?

Sherry McKenna: I think that there will always be an outlet for great games to get published just like there is an outlet for indie films.[quote]

It seems as though the video game industry has developed a more serious case of sequel-itis than either Lorne or Sherry could have imagined just one-and-a-half years ago. This is the biggest shame I feel, asides from the Inhabitants that had to find work elsewhere - still, Lorne and Sherry were immensely proud of the Inhabitants, and they were a talented bunch, so I'm sure they'll be alright - because it's something that's actually forced Lorne to abandon, at least in a sense, the medium he felt he could turn around from a dry field of fun to an exciting, artistic and meaningful palette. It means that despite Oddworld's best efforts, they haven't prevented the gaming industry from drying up creatively.

Other than that, I hope the more established indie film industry, be more tollerant of an Oddworld film, even if it's not going to be indie. I hope even more the masses can learn to love it, and hey, maybe Lorne and Sherry will secure a game liscene from it.

[Sapphire]

Well, people are talking about "sequel-itis" as if it hasn't affected the movie industry, too. What was the last big hit you can think of that wasn't a sequel, wasn't based off of a story from another medium, and wasn't a remake of some older (and even not-so-old) classic? Aside from some of the recent horror movies and CG films using almost exclusive celebrity voices, I can't think of a whole lot.

I think this is a problem not only for the game industry, but also for Hollywood, and I hope that Lorne and Sherry don't run to movies only to find the same problems plaguing that arena, too. I hope that his enthusiasm for their original ideas has been rekindled enough that this barrier could be overcome. When he talks about an OW movie, I sure hope it's Abe's Oddysee he means, and not Fangus, or something like that which is more tailored to suit the current low-risk environment.

EDIT: And besides, there's nothing wrong with a sequel, if it's good. Look at Exoddus. That was a brilliant sequel, because it takes up right where Oddysee left off and really enhances the story. If you look at the Art of OW book, you can see that Soulstorm Brew was part of the plan from the very beginning, but they just couldn't fit it into Oddysee, so Exoddus was born. Sequels are not all bad, in my opinion, and seeing more of a good story is always welcomed, for me. There are certain things that just should never have had sequels, but in general, those are things where the sequel feels tacked-on, doesn't carry the original feel of the first one that people liked, and seems there only to make more moolah off of the first one and not to actually continue the story at all. People are already complaining about Doom the movie, because it has absolutely nothing to do with the game's extremely basic premise. I really think Abe's Oddysee could change the idea that has been rightly implanted into people's minds that games don't make good movies. I've been thinking about it for years, as have other people... we all know it could be AMAZING. So, sequels can be a good thing, I wanna make that really clear.

[mudling]

wait, does this all mean that the next movie will be of abes oddysee, or another one of abe's adventures before he found munch? i would like the movies to be set after MO, and the games lorne had planned to be turned into movies, but i guess it isn't as easy as it sounds.

[Sapphire]

We have no idea.

[sligger]

i seen it somewhere that oddworld munches oddysee was falling apart. and that is why they made strangers wrath. ( even if it doesnt have abe or munch.)

[Oddish]

It's not much different, but it has bit more clear info.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...(que)id=117845