Oddworld Inhabitants; Alive, Dead or Dying?

[hidden]

I happen to have my eye on a no. of countdown sites, and various other sources inclusing insomniac games. They're always updating their info on the progress of their games and they had a very juicy interview with Lorne just over a year ago on their full moon show.
It's worth a look if you haven't already seen it; http://www.insomniacgames.com/podcas...022_032008.php but the point is they do tell people what they are doing, they're about the same age, and they're still going strong.
Nothing i say is going to make a difference to how much is revealed though. Guess we'll just have to grin and bear it.

[Crashpunk]

Really sorry to say but OWI went downhill ever since MO, The bastard Halo series won the public back in the day of the Xbox and OWI losed a lot.

OWI are Alive. there making Citizen Siege, it'll be out in the next 100 years... i hope

[STM]

nice 1 m8, if could see how much we all wanted this he might hurry up lol ya no whatll be funny, one day in like 2030 or something you here an article about one of those old things called the Ps1, one of the games abes odysee, (a distant memory) well OI is bringing out an all new movie!!!

[Al the Vykker]

The best advice I can see for getting OWI's name back from the fringes is to rerelease Abe's Oddysee and Abe's Exoddus over Xbox Live Arcade and take advantage of those same gamers that made their series a hit. Advertising through XBL or other gaming venues is a great way to get the word out, or even reminding people what your company has accomplished in the past... I suppose Lorne's plan might conversely be reliant on not being pigeon-holed into one category and having the stigma of being only for "gamers." It is my opinion however that there needs to be some sort of marketing blitz or ARG let alone some shred of information to garner more interest in Citizen Siege and OWI.

It is quite sad though, just the other day I found the old holiday cards that OWI used to send out to the fans...those days seem long gone.

[Nate]

If they were planning on converting the Abe games to XBLA, it might actually be a good idea to hold off on releasing them until a month or so Wage Wars or CS comes out. That way, they could create buzz for their new properties via their old ones.

[drag0nbane442]

I happen to have my eye on a no. of countdown sites, and various other sources inclusing insomniac games. They're always updating their info on the progress of their games and they had a very juicy interview with Lorne just over a year ago on their full moon show.
It's worth a look if you haven't already seen it; http://www.insomniacgames.com/podcas...022_032008.php but the point is they do tell people what they are doing, they're about the same age, and they're still going strong.
Nothing i say is going to make a difference to how much is revealed though. Guess we'll just have to grin and bear it.

There is already a thread on this interview. You can find it here: http://www.oddworldforums.net/showthread.php?t=13271

[Mac Sirloin]

If they were planning on converting the Abe games to XBLA, it might actually be a good idea to hold off on releasing them until a month or so Wage Wars or CS comes out. That way, they could create buzz for their new properties via their old ones.

But I want them noooooooow!

[Xavier]

Me too, but Nate has very valid point there

[used:)]

I'm pretty sure he was being sarcastic.

[Wings of Fire]

There is already a thread on this interview. You can find it here: http://www.oddworldforums.net/showthread.php?t=13271

Why isn't this cunt infracted yet?

[Nate]

I'm pretty sure he was being sarcastic.

I'm pretty sure I wasn't.

[used:)]

I'm pretty sure I wasn't.

I was referring to Kastere.

[STM]

hmm i tink dat the xbox re-release is a good idea but the game idea is very specilaist, if today, u never heard of abes odysee and new nothing about it would you honestly get it? honestly

[Mac Sirloin]

I was referring to Kastere.

I was serious. I fucking love AO and AE.

I'm debating going downtown right now and finding a cheap copy of AO for PS1.

[used:)]

I thought you were making a stab at Havoc with the whole "I want it noooooow!" thing. My mistake, but thanks for the rep!

[Egic]

Im guessing no one knows anything about the game? Apparently it is online, do you think that means it has online features or it is an MMO. If it is a MMO, I can guarantee you it will be epic fail.Im sure there smart enough (I hope) to realize that they shouldn't even be thinking about an MMO.. Today at school we watched a video about what climate change would do to the earth in 2050, and it got me thinking about citizen siege. If they do it right, it could be a really good movie.

[Nate]

I think perhaps you should clarify what you mean by 'MMO'. If you mean MMORPG, then I wholeheartedly agree. On the other hand, given that 'Massively-Multiplayer-Online' doesn't describe a genre, shooters, strategy games, shooter games, sports games and pretty much any other genre can come under that label. In which case, Wage Wars almost certainly is an MMO and I disagree with your presumption that that will automatically predestine a Fail.

[Zukan]

What I can tell from whatever info I've gathered, OWI is possibly working on a (free?) online multiplayer experience that pays its way through micro-transactions. If the game indeed is used within the context of their Citizen Siege movie, I have a feeling it's going to be set inside the Wage Wars colosseum we've seen in the concept art. This is interesting because it presents a myriad of different game design choices without having to compromise the story of the film. We could be blasting our way through the arena as much as we wanted and it would still make sense to the film once it's released (the game was going to be released first). It could very well be an online fighter/shooter with minimal RPG elements (skill/stat upgrades)? I don't know, but you can see the possibilites a setting like this enables the developer.
The people at DICE are working on a free online Battlefield game (FPS) that will pay its way through micro-transactions. It's free to play but you'll have to pay up to buy new costumes and what not.
It sounds like a similar model to what Lorne was talking about in the GI interview.

Either way the game seems to be very action-oriented judging by the way it's been advertised through concept art.
I mean this is a pretty good strategy when you think about the market today and the appetite for action games. Wage Wars seems like a pretty violent go balls out, killing game. You take that and accompany it with a passive narrative told through a socio-political thriller, and we have ourselves an interesting combination. It's a pretty clever way of solving the gameplay vs. cutscene problem we have in most games.
All of this of course, is just mere speculation, but I have a feeling there's more people than just me who have been thinking along similar lines.

I should also add that this is not to be confused with their next Oddworld game they also seem to have in the works. I have no idea what they could be planning for that game.

[AlexFili]

MMOs that are cheap to run make millions worth of profit.

[Xavier]

What I can tell from whatever info I've gathered, OWI is possibly working on a (free?) online multiplayer experience that pays its way through micro-transactions. If the game indeed is used within the context of their Citizen Siege movie, I have a feeling it's going to be set inside the Wage Wars colosseum we've seen in the concept art. This is interesting because it presents a myriad of different game design choices without having to compromise the story of the film. We could be blasting our way through the arena as much as we wanted and it would still make sense to the film once it's released (the game was going to be released first). It could very well be an online fighter/shooter with minimal RPG elements (skill/stat upgrades)? I don't know, but you can see the possibilites a setting like this enables the developer.
The people at DICE are working on a free online Battlefield game (FPS) that will pay its way through micro-transactions. It's free to play but you'll have to pay up to buy new costumes and what not.
It sounds like a similar model to what Lorne was talking about in the GI interview.

Either way the game seems to be very action-oriented judging by the way it's been advertised through concept art.
I mean this is a pretty good strategy when you think about the market today and the appetite for action games. Wage Wars seems like a pretty violent go balls out, killing game. You take that and accompany it with a passive narrative told through a socio-political thriller, and we have ourselves an interesting combination. It's a pretty clever way of solving the gameplay vs. cutscene problem we have in most games.
All of this of course, is just mere speculation, but I have a feeling there's more people than just me who have been thinking along similar lines.

I should also add that this is not to be confused with their next Oddworld game they also seem to have in the works. I have no idea what they could be planning for that game.

That's actually how I'm seeing OWI's future too... Even if I'm wondering how they will manage to add interesting content via micro transactions and still keep the killing game balanced and fair.