Love Him, Hate Him, But Molyneux Makes Good Points...

[MiTT3NZ]

(...and he's a Shenmue fan btw)

SOURCE: Games Industry International

22Cans' boss talks about the Wii U and Xbox SmartGlass

22Cans founder Peter Molyneux is busy with the launch of Curiosity on mobile, but he took time to talk with IGN about Microsoft's SmartGlass and Nintendo's Wii U. Molyneux admitted he was excited by the technology, but remained skeptical about using tablets and television in concert for gaming.

“The thing about the SmartGlass is that the tablet is a thing that you have with you all the time. Now, in that sense, I understand completely as a consumer and I'm excited to see what these guys do with it. But I do have a problem with it. I now have a screen in front of me on my lap and a screen up on the wall that I'm looking at. Which one should I be looking at? Should I be looking up at the big screen and down, or at my lap and up? Should I be checking down on my lap every few seconds? What's going to incentivize me to move my eyes from the wall to my lap?” Molyneux told IGN.

“I think what people do when they have multiple screens is something very simple. They will listen to the big screen whilst distracting themselves on the small screen. That's not what SmartGlass and Wii U are talking about. They're talking about producing an entertainment experience that you're engrossed in.”

“The psychology of making a game is hard enough because plasma screens are so big now. It's hard enough to get the player to move their eyes from the center of the screen to the borders,” explained Molyneux. “Getting people to move their eyes from the screen down to their laps is incredibly hard. There has to be some huge motivational thing like the words coming up, 'Look at your GamePad now.' If you're going to do that, from a design perspective that sounds a bit clumsy and complex.”

The split in attention isn't the only reason Molyneux is down on Nintendo's new console. He also slammed Nintendo for not having a compelling selling point behind the console.

“I struggle to see anything amazing coming out of Nintendo. There are a few, “Oh, that's smart,” but there's nothing that makes me rush out as a consumer to buy the new device. I'll give you a great example of how tech should be used. It's what Nintendo did with the Wii when it first came out. They introduced motion control. They were one of the first companies to introduce motion control and they had a fantastic Wii Sports Game. As soon as I picked up the controller and started waving it around, I got it. I already understood it. But I'm not sure there's a same sort of application out there for Wii U. I think to myself, 'Well, what's the reason to get it?'” he said.

The full interview with IGN is available here.

[Segata Sanshiro Jr.]

It should be noted he's never made a DS game.

[Bluecast]

Because riding a horse with kinect was such a brilliant and amazing future classic. FIREBALL!

Not to mention how much DS failed

[MiTT3NZ]

Who was talking Fable: The Journey? Nintendo fanboy gettin on the defensive again...

Anyway, he pretty much covers that remark about the DS in the bit about massive TV screens. Two small screens side-by-side are a lot easier to deal with than a huge screen on one side of the room, and then a smaller screen in your hands or on your lap. With the DS it's a slight eye movement, with the Wii-U it's a full-on neck movement.

This might be Nintendo's plan though... get neck pains playing games with the Wii-U, realise you're unfit, get fitness games for the Wii.

I'll never understand the instant automatic hatred towards Molyneux. Let's all just ignore good sense and sit around sucking eachothers dicks instead...

[MiTT3NZ]

He was trying to invalidate Molyneux's opinion without reading the article properly.


EDIT: Where the fuck did that post go?

[KiBa]

Wow. Pop goes the weasel.

[Kenny]

As stated, the DS screens are close enough together to switch at the twitch of an eye.

Now how does that compare to physically nodding my head up and down to switch screens with the Wii-U, exactly?

[Segata Sanshiro Jr.]

Where are people putting their TV's?

I had to play ZombiU on a 32 inch screen just over a foot away. It was a pretty sharp difference between the TV screen and Game console and even while trying to rush, it wasn't confusing which screen I had to look at since to do anything on the big screen with the small screen I needed to hold it up. The whole idea behind using the pack, was that the player is leaning down to look into the bag, so the players eyes are on the gamepad. Even at such an incline I only had to move my head slightly. What actually made the experience fun was that when focusing on the gamepad I was exposed on the TV. Zombies kill in 1 hit, and if I did not pay attention I was done for and that created some intensity.

There was no visual reason to change from one screen to the other, because there was a gameplay incentive. I chose when to move from one to the other.

Molyneux questions the reason someone would use both medias then he isn't developing a game for two screens which is one of the first things you think about when developing a DS game. Thats why I said what I said. When you play Mario and Luigi: Bowser's inside story , the reason you use both screens is because the game was developed in that way, if they were next to each other or 3 feet away there are still prompts that tell the player if they are controlling Bowser or the Bros.

It just shows limited thinking which is funny, because for all the great ideas Moly has (so many that I myself participated in Molyjam) he's never actually been able to ever follow through. Seriously, I love Fable, but what it proves isn't that a new system exists, but that PC playstyles can be popular on consoles. (Seriously lets look at Gothic, Crusaders of Might and Magic, and Soul Reaver. Is Fable a massive change to those concepts?)

[MiTT3NZ]

There's a difference between testing a game and just some random, regular person playing a game. You're practically engineered for this kinda shit, Molyneux's talking about normal people. Not industry heads or owt.

[Bluecast]

Mitts are you angry today? You know I am no fanboy unless you don't know the definition, and you seem to be rather defensive in two topics towards me? Get enough sleep?

Edit don't interpret that as I hate him. Honestly never had any feelings towards him. Just that he spouts his mouth too often. I mean he did try and make Milo. Pedo's dream game. I don;t hate him at all I just find it hard to take anything from him seriously. So I shrug it off as one of those "Oh you!" pictures on the internet

[MiTT3NZ]

Whether or not he spouts his mouth doesn't really matter. If he's making points, points which make perfect sense, then there's nowt wrong with that. The only exception to that rule is alex ferguson. And that's coz he's a cunt.

[Bluecast]

I only played a few minutes of Rayman Legends and loved it and gave it no thought when it had me switching. I do know most early games will tack on the screen even if forced and not needed like Wii,DS. However sure there will be game swith good uses. Shared some ideas before. There are good ideas with it. Still I am more a traditional controls person. In certain conditions alt controls can work really well and in fewer cases be ideal. Still I just prefer buttons. Like I love Gravity rush but some of the motion stuff and touch screen stuff was forced on. I played a demo of Epic Mickey 2. Was fun but clearly ws meant for Move. It annoyed me I had to aim the pointer at a button prompt just to use the button prompt. Other than that traditional worked just fine for aiming the paint and thinner.

Side note my fave controllers of all time i the Genesis Six button and Xbox360 pad. Worst ever. N64.

[Riku Rose]

The guy has a passion for what he does and I think the industry benefits from that. He may not make games for everyone but he always want the medium to move forward. It's the same reason I like David Cage. Sure he may like himself a bit to much but he cares about games.

[OL]

^^I dunno, I always got the impression with Cage that he knows he couldn't hack it in other mediums and actually gain any notoriety with them, so he keeps his sights on games -- the "virgin" entertainment medium -- where peoples' expectations for story and characters are a little lower than they are for movies, tv, or novels.

Agreed about Molyneux though.

[Who Really Cares?]

Pete has passion but sadly that was ruined by himself and MS. Still pissed that MS told him/Lionhead they could only release either Fable or BC.