Maxis co-founder confirms Oddworld return

The co-founder of game developer Maxis, Jeff Braun, has confirmed the development of a new Oddworld game. Braun this week confirmed his involvement with the title, working with developers Oddworld Inhabitants. This will come as a surprise to anyone who remembers the developer's founder, Lorne Lanning, announcing its retirement from the games industry and venture into film production in 2005. "They're such a talented group of people and I really trust their ability to create compelling content," said Braun of Oddworld Inhabitants.

Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee (which came before the most recent Oddworld title, Stranger's Wrath) was one of the titles used to show off the next-gen abilities of the first Xbox, and Braun talked up a "revolutionary new 3D animation system" to be utilised in the new game, too.

"The rendering tools are getting so good now for 3D animation that you can literally create a linear animation and create a video game using the exact same objects," said Braun. "The tools are finally getting to the level where we can come out with a show and we can come up with a game." No gameplay details or platforms were specified.

Don't hold your breath though; according to the Cord Weekly report, a "slow and measured production schedule" means that the arrival of the game is years away.