Home Gaming Oddworld Creator Calls Consoles "a Step Backward"

Oddworld Creator Calls Consoles "a Step Backward"

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Oddworld creator Lorne (Lawn) Lanning has been speaking about why he thinks that consoles are a step backwards and not what he was excited about years ago.

Lanning has the following to say:

“Personally, I think the consoles are a problem. Years ago I was excited about consoles, but anything that makes development more expensive rather than better, faster, cheaper, I think is a step backwards. When I look at what’s happening, it’s a bit disappointing because the consoles are running into a place where affordable games are having a rough time getting out there.”

I guess that all the big money and schedules are starting to add more and more pressure to a lot of smaller developers that aren’t graced with huge budgets. Is he right though?

A lot of us are all gaming fanboys, we love it all but we also love to see technology progress and get better. The main reason that I turned to consoles was because I was tired of having to keep my PC up to date so that I can play the latest games. Now I get home with my shiny new game, pop it in and run it the way that the developers intended.

It seems that Lanning is targeting a market that is more interested in customisation and a lot of sharing options, saying:

“PC games also allow people to build their game as they chose. There’s a big difference between spending $50 or $60 on a game and hoping I love it and buying a game for $5 and then buying additional content for that game, so by the time I have invested $50 in it I really love it and I’ve personalized it a lot more to what I’m interested in.”

Hello.

Hello.

Follow me.

Ok.

[Who knows where that comes from?]

Source: 1UP

Last Updated: September 9, 2008

8 Comments

  1. Brett

    September 9, 2008 at 16:55

    He mentions smaller games that you can customize but doesn’t seem to mention Live arcade and PSN games. Pain is a good example, you can buy that for about R75 and then purchase new characters for R25. How is that not the same thing?
    Now they obviously aren’t full retail games but that option is there

    Bretts last blog post..Oddworld Creator Calls Consoles “a Step Backward”

    Reply

  2. Nick

    September 9, 2008 at 17:03

    And he forgets that some people dont want customisation, some people enjoy just having a decent package. I used to be big into customisation but lately i find myself wanting things thought out and planned for me and put in a pretty little package for me to play without needing me to add more time to it.

    Reply

  3. Goose ZA

    September 9, 2008 at 17:06

    Abe’s oddyssee was a great game. Wish they’d bring out something new. There aren’t nearly enough platformers on the 360. I wish I had a PS3 for LBP

    Wait. Ok. Follow me.

    *jumps on elum and rides off into the sunset

    Reply

  4. koldFU5iON

    September 9, 2008 at 17:14

    I think it’s not about smaller games, Oddworld is no small game, and had plenty to hold its self up against other big names I think the refrence is more towards being bigger developer, it seems that in today’s gaming market you have to sell your studio (blood sweat and tears) to a publisher like, Activision, Ubisoft, EA, Microsoft, etc. to actually get anywhere and by doing so you loose a lot of profit that you would have got from doing it yourself. however the expense of production and marketing or getting the correct equipment before actually selling (the developing costs) is what is killing the smaller guys.

    Reply

  5. bokka1

    September 10, 2008 at 05:58

    The two Abe games on the PS are still some of the best games that I played. It stood out as a 2D game in a 3D crazy world.

    Reply

  6. Banana hammock

    September 10, 2008 at 07:44

    Spot on, small devs can’t create big games in today’s market. They have to team up with a big publisher or go console exclusive, either way your balls are in someone else’s handbag.

    Reply

  7. abe

    September 10, 2008 at 09:28

    I hate those two games, the reason everyone pronounces my name wrong 👿

    Reply

  8. Anna

    September 11, 2008 at 07:07

    😐 Lorne (Lawn) Lanning actually seems to encourage customization…

    http://www.home-entertainment-news.co.uk

    Reply

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