Lionhead: Gaming Is Being Reborn on PC!
Is gaming entering a new era on the PC, or is it changing on a whole no matter the platform?
While speaking with Switched during SXSW in Austin, Lionhead Studios head-honcho Peter Molyneux said that games are virtually “being reborn" on the PC. The statement follows his claustrophobic-laced comment about developing games for consoles, saying the process initially gave him a sense of being imprisoned in a box.
But he also added that console development was a nice experience in that the "box" offered nothing more and nothing less. There were no system variants or an infinite number of software/hardware conflicts. On consoles, it's all “set in stone.” However with new hardware heading to the consoles-- Natal and Move-- he said they feel a bit more PC-ish.
"The surprising thing about the PC that’s just starting to happen now, is that gaming is being reborn on the PC," he said. "You’ve got Facebook, everybody’s talking about Facebook games and there’s this company called Zynga and they make games with 88 million people [Farmville]. It feels like the whole thing with gaming is changing radically… and I don’t see why all those others like AAA blockbusters can’t incorporate that sort of level of interaction."
Naturally he goes on to talk about his upcoming game, Fable III. The self-promotion started with the overall picture of gaming within the next two or three years-- how the gaming industry will change the overall "gaming" definition, or at least, redefine the term as we know it now.
"The problem is that the word 'game' just sounds so trivial compared to what we are trying to do," he said. "We are just now at the point to where were are smart enough to create a character that can meet you. Just imagine, a character on that screen who can meet you, engage with you, and see you, and has empathy with you."
For more, check out the video interview here at Switched.
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That's great and all, but you haven't even released Fable II on the PC yet. Does this mean we should be seeing Fable III on the PC at the same time as the console or maybe, even BEFORE the consoles?
Fable IV as a Facebook app? O.o
Gaming reborn, but no Fable 2 on PC, but he sure felt the need to say we have Farmville!
That's great and all, but you haven't even released Fable II on the PC yet. Does this mean we should be seeing Fable III on the PC at the same time as the console or maybe, even BEFORE the consoles?
You have no idea how much that would make my day. So far all i have to look forward to is Crysis 2... Kinda sad
crysis 2 will be epic though...so long as the multiplayer experience is as good if not better than current top notch games
lol PR at its worst they need to learn how to come up with better propaganda
Peter "Hype Pooping Machine" Molyneux.. This guy could talk about such trivial things like drinking water and make people go all crazy about it. I'm never believing anything he has to say again. Please, just listen to him talk about Fable 3 and it's freakin' wardrobe..
Peter "Hype Pooping Machine" Molyneux, you should be working at Apple!
Flash games ugh...how can one put that in the same category as "real games". We have Crysis 2 to look forwards to, Battlefield 3 (hopefully a properly made Battlefield as oppose to BC2), Starcraft II, Portal 2 and hopefully Valve has other games at the end of the pipeline.
What I have to say about PC gaming is really choose carefully who you support when buying. Rather buy a Valve game than some tightly sealed experience game with plenty of DRM.
Hahaha nice one Zoonie.
Yeah I dont really like him either. Such a hype machine. oh by the way, Fable II sucked. It honestly felt like an arcade game when I was playing it.
do you guys realize what just happened?
peter molyneux says that pc gaming is being reborn... and everything this guy says is like complete bs...
...does this mean that pc gaming is really dying? D=
Seriously, if you have a decent PC, you already own a more powerful machine than any console. The only way they can sell those things to PC owners is to make games that PC owners think are great, and then not release them for PC to force you to buy their console. But what is a console if not a rudimentary pre-fab PC that is extremely limited in functionality? PC game makers may complain about "infinite hardware compatibility issues," but if they program their games to take advantage of that very often superior hardware, there is no way consoles can catch up. Consoles are for people who can't afford a decent PC, or for kids who don't know enough to operate one.
Listen buddy, if I released a game with fewer than 10 spells and tried to pass it off as some kind of Action RPG, I would be hung from the gallows.
You're just lucky you got away with it.
Seriously, if you have a decent PC, you already own a more powerful machine than any console. The only way they can sell those things to PC owners is to make games that PC owners think are great, and then not release them for PC to force you to buy their console. But what is a console if not a rudimentary pre-fab PC that is extremely limited in functionality? PC game makers may complain about "infinite hardware compatibility issues," but if they program their games to take advantage of that very often superior hardware, there is no way consoles can catch up. Consoles are for people who can't afford a decent PC, or for kids who don't know enough to operate one.
i couldn't have said it any better .... +1
Hmmm..."Lionhead" and that picture for the article don't translate very well. That guy is anything but a lionhead.
IMO blockbuster having PC games=might as well copy them.
molyneux is like emperor palpatine. i swear he just needs to say something, and everyone instantly believes it.
i stopped caring about what he had to say around about the time fable II came out.
I liked Fable and Fable II. As long as you don't believe is initial hype and accept them for what they are: Zelda-style RPG-lite games.
i hope its not dying. i kinda like playing xbox 360 exclusives on reliable hardware.
Facebook games, really? Come on...
I wish the title of the article was "Peter Molyneux says something" so I could have just skipped it.
Seriously, if you have a decent PC, you already own a more powerful machine than any console. The only way they can sell those things to PC owners is to make games that PC owners think are great, and then not release them for PC to force you to buy their console. But what is a console if not a rudimentary pre-fab PC that is extremely limited in functionality? PC game makers may complain about "infinite hardware compatibility issues," but if they program their games to take advantage of that very often superior hardware, there is no way consoles can catch up. Consoles are for people who can't afford a decent PC, or for kids who don't know enough to operate one.
well thanks for clearing some points to us and them +1
Yes, farmville is the pinnacle of all games and is amazing... /rollseyes.
You have no idea how much that would make my day. So far all i have to look forward to is Crysis 2... Kinda sad
Same. Crysis 2 and Fable 3 are the only games I'm legitimately interested in buying over the next few years.
Consoles are for people who can't afford a decent PC, or for kids who don't know enough to operate one.
That actually seems quite ignorant.
First off, it's not the question if you can afford it. Most people could round up $2000 if they had to. There's just better things to spend your money on, so a $200-300 console is perfect.
Console gaming is just easier in most instances (less prone to crashing, not having to worry about DRM [som DRM is unfriendly to those who have 2 DVD drives, constantly online required etc.], no .ini/registry hacks for proper widescreen support etc.).
There are exclusives for consoles worth buying.
Graphics aren't everything. Last I checked, FFVII was pretty fun, and it looks like crap. Sure, Crysis is beautiful, but there certainly are funner games. Even if you have to run 480p (I was playing Diablo 2 recently).
All coming from a guy with a $2000 5770/i7/triple monitor etc. rig.
Yes, farmville is the pinnacle of all games and is amazing... /rollseyes.
I hate Zynga.
"First off, it's not the question if you can afford it. Most people could round up $2000 if they had to. There's just better things to spend your money on, so a $200-300 console is perfect."
well ... if one considers that this 2000 dollar pc will come with screen ... speakers ... all cables and connections needed ... all interface things needed ... or needing yearly subscriptions to get stuff you can get for free off things like steam .... all things that a 300 dollar console wont come with ... plus lets not forget that 30% mark up on games jsut because it is a console game .... i figure with all that and maybe about 20 games that console will come to about 2000 dollars ... only difference is it wont be able to do anything other than games .... where as with a 2000 dollar pc the sky is the limit ... and games will look and run quite alot better than on a 5 year old console ....
"Console gaming is just easier in most instances (less prone to crashing, not having to worry about DRM"
with red ring of death .... 360`s has a 52% mortality rate ... nuff said
DRM is put on to stop the second hand game market ... it is nothing to do with some imaginary war on pirates because many years ago THE PIRATES WON !
"There are exclusives for consoles worth buying."
there are exclusives games on consoles to sell more consoles .... this is not a positive thing it is a marketing desision ....
i am not trying to diss on you .... i just wanted to comment because your post summed up jsut about all the disinformation out there in one spot .... just about the only one you left out was that the pc platform is dead .... something that was said when sega 64 came out .... then was siad when the ps1 came out ... then was siad with the ps2 ... and now siad with the 360 ....
cheers
Peter/Lionhead needs to stop messing around and remake Populous and Powermonger. He'll have $100 of my money instantly.
Nice try to break a paradigma, but you need to work harder, Mr. Molyneux.
Games are not about interacting in a Facebook kind of way at all IMO, is about content and different options for the gamer to choose from. Different technologies we can get in the mix is also a great benefit from the PC world (Nintendo being the exception right now), but this aspect has been forgotten in almost all new games these days (Mouse + Keyboard all the time, and some wheel + pad love).
Cheers!
You have no idea how much that would make my day. So far all i have to look forward to is Crysis 2... Kinda sad
There is Fallout 3 1/2 or 4 coming this fall, PC for sure. Dragon Age was good but believe it or not because they way the controls are I recommend it for the consoles.
Mass Effect 2 was good, PC this one.
with red ring of death .... 360`s has a 52% mortality rate ...
i just wanted to comment because your post summed up jsut about all the disinformation out there in one spot
Talk about mis-information? People have been touting that magazine poll as if it were gospel. When it comes to console failure rates, one of the worst sources you could possibly use (besides manufacturers trying to cover up their mistakes with double speak) would be a magazine's web site informal poll with a fan-base which is most likely polarized, and would have the fanboys voting just to make it look worse.
While the failure rates have been dismal, 30% is a lot different from 52%, even if neither are acceptable. I can guarantee that PC parts manufacturer's over the years have let some doozies slip by as well with terrible failure rates.
While this dates back to 2006, the PC/Notebook area isn't squeaky clean either (and Garnter is an unbiased source):
http://www.gartner.com/press_relea [...] 64_11.html
Which shows in 2003 that notebooks had an average failure rate of 20% in the first year.
Sure, I build my own PC as well, which will help reduce failure rates.. but that doesn't mean that video cards never heat up and fail (which for me last happened to my GeForce 8800 after less than a year in a well ventilated case), or that hard drives never puke. Remember the IBM Deskstar fiasco, I just happened to have a 60GB Deskstar that took a puke quite a few years ago as well.
So yeah, hardware failure sucks no matter what platform(s) you decide to use, but MS is hardly the first company with a terrible hardware failure rate, which has gotten much better as the newer revisions have been released. The PS2 had a pretty dismal failure rate to begin with as well, I replaced mine twice.
what about all those "console exclusive" games?? dont i have he rights to play those games just cause i dont have a PS3 or 360??
and no...i dont want to play farmville...i want to play "god of war 3" and "final fantasy XIII" :|
$2,000 dollars? Hmm. My system (of course parts of it came from other's, but let's just look at what I have right now):
AMD Phenom II X3 720 BE - $100
Gigabyte Motherboard - $25 (after getting $20 off for buying my Phenom)
Memory 4 gigs - $90
Video Card HD 5750 - $140 (cheapest I could find on Tiger Direct. Cheaper than New Egg)
DVD RW/R - $40
Hard drive (2x350gb) - $160
Monitor 17" LCD - $140
Case - $40
Total cost: $735
Wow. That's some $2,000 rig!
These are the prices I paid for them when I purchased them over the past couple of years.
if one considers that this 2000 dollar pc will come with screen ... speakers ... all cables and connections needed ... all interface things needed ... or needing yearly subscriptions to get stuff you can get for free off things like steam .... all things that a 300 dollar console wont come with ... plus lets not forget that 30% mark up on games jsut because it is a console game .... i figure with all that and maybe about 20 games that console will come to about 2000 dollars
Most people who buy a console already have a tv (you know, the screen and speakers), the console itself comes with all the connections you need for a standard setup, including the "interface things" (controller). And $50 PC games are $60 360 games, so that would be a 20% markup, not 30%. And in order to game with friends instead of needing a second PC and a second copy of the game, all you need is a second controller. And your $2000 dollar PC didn't come with the 20 games either you know.
"Console gaming is just easier in most instances (less prone to crashing, not having to worry about DRM"with red ring of death .... 360`s has a 52% mortality rate ... nuff said
Could you please list your source for that number? In any case, the newer ones seem less prone and it was a free fix.
As a side note, please at least attempt to use proper writing conventions for longer posts. It makes things easier to read, and adds to your credibility.