Molyneux promoted to creative director of MS games

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Microsoft has promoted Lionhead boss Peter Molyneux to creative director of Microsoft Game Studios in Europe.

Molyneux will oversee the creative output of all internal studios as well as Microsoft's third-party development partners, acting in a leadership role to help ideas come to fruition as well as ensuring better communication and understanding within the group.
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Full article at GI.biz.

The actual role is similar to Harrison's old one of bringing game development teams together in ideas and technqiues.

I'm very uncertain about this! Molyneux track record is patchy, with loads of unmet promises. He's said himself he gets carried away. In this role, will he bring out creativity (something Bullfrog onwards he's done fabulously well) or really help the teams gel, or be a PR nightmare overselling MsGS titles? Or both?!
 
Peter is a visionary. He makes mistakes, he's human, even big ones, but with each mistake he's pushing gaming beyond the current boundaries.
 
Interesting development! He knows his weaknesses and I think he's learned from them. I think he is a good match for Microsoft, much like the army can be a good match for other people who lack discipline. ;)
 
Well considering the push MS is giving Natal, it's hard to imagine a bigger proponent of the system than Molyneux.

You basically have a potential control system outside the current console control "box." And so you need someone that regularly thinks outside the "box" to push it.

I'd imagine his just to push and expound on ideas to the various devs, and the devs job is to take what they can out of that and see what's reasonably useful or can be reasonably implemented.

PS - I still wish he'd never sold Bullfrog to EA. /sigh... I want Dungeon Keeper 3. Another Magic Carpet. Syndicate 2. A proper Populus follow up instead of that 3D travesty that EA released, etc...

Regards,
SB
 
Fran said:
Peter is a visionary. He makes mistakes, he's human, even big ones, but with each mistake he's pushing gaming beyond the current boundaries.
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No. Fable 2 wasn't more than a direct sequel to Fable 1. Good games, sure, but nothing remarkable, nothing groundbreaking. Don't get me wrong; Molyneux's history pre-Lionhead is unmatched. I've loved and obsessed about every single game of his from his Bullfrog days -- but that was 10 years ago. My current opinion and lack of faith is because of the string of unmet promises ever since Lionhead.
 
obonicus said:
No. Fable 2 wasn't more than a direct sequel to Fable 1. Good games, sure, but nothing remarkable, nothing groundbreaking. Don't get me wrong; Molyneux's history pre-Lionhead is unmatched. I've loved and obsessed about every single game of his from his Bullfrog days -- but that was 10 years ago. My current opinion and lack of faith is because of the string of unmet promises ever since Lionhead.
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I don't agree with you, but having given three years of my life to Fable 2, I'm obviously biased :)
As I said Peter makes mistakes, and sometimes promises more than he could deliver cause he really loves his job and what he's doing, but I think it's undeniable that each game, success or not, adds something to the Industry and tries to bring something new.
 
Fran said:
Peter is a visionary. He makes mistakes, he's human, even big ones, but with each mistake he's pushing gaming beyond the current boundaries.
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Peter is MS' very own crazy KK sometimes. :p

Congrats Peter, pls push Natal and Milo hard. I want an AI to be my NXE for the next xbox.
 
tha_con said:
Congrats to him, hopefully he doesn't get too ambitious for MS, lol.
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Actually, I have a feeling MS wants him to be overly ambitious. MS has always had a reputation of being overly conservative or stuffy or what have you. A company of spreadsheets and powerpoint slides rather than a truly innovative company despite them sprearheading (through R&D) some actual innovations.

Well other than Ballmer doing his antics. :p

So, in a way, I think MS wants Molyneux to push potentially unrealistic ideas and visions. To push both MS and to push the boundaries of public perception of MS.

Whether it'll work or not? Who knows. Maybe with a corporation the size of MS fully behind him, Molyneux might actually be able to fully realize some of his crazy ideas.

On the other hand, maybe his crazy idea's will end up being more than even MS can handle. :D

Regards,
SB
 
Ugh, I never got this Molyneux cult. As far as I can recall the man hasn't made a truly good game since Populous. And it's not as if I haven't tried hard to like stuff like Black and White and Fable.

Still I guess he's got natural match with Microsoft for lofty goals and flawed execution.
 
Florin said:
Ugh, I never got this Molyneux cult. As far as I can recall the man hasn't made a truly good game since Populous.
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What about Syndicate? Man that's an awesome game back then. And Dungeon Keeper is also an interesting game.

Florin said:
And it's not as if I haven't tried hard to like stuff like Black and White and Fable.

Still I guess he's got natural match with Microsoft for lofty goals and flawed execution.
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I'm not sure any of his recent games are flawed in execution anyway. However, I do believe that he over sold his game. But hey, PS3 is a console you're "happy" to get a second job to pay for it. :) It's all PR...it's all PR.
 
Peter makes an interesting point in the Edge interview.

MS has a vast amount of technology at its disposal. For example, the handwriting recognition. The primary focus of this technology for MS is probably OCR applications for Office or interface tech for TabletPC. But Peter saw how this could be used in combination with Natal in a "game". I don't think MS has had anyone like this in a senior enough position before who would have the combination of access to MS's full portfolio of technology and the creativity to recognize the potential in re-purposing technology developed for other applications (completely unrelated to gaming) in games.

I think this could work out well.
 
Yes, if his role includes evagelising existing techs in novel ways, it's a great thing for MS and the industry. Too many fabulous technologies are being sat on instead of applied. We need people to kick the industry into action.
 
Florin said:
Ugh, I never got this Molyneux cult. As far as I can recall the man hasn't made a truly good game since Populous. And it's not as if I haven't tried hard to like stuff like Black and White and Fable.

Still I guess he's got natural match with Microsoft for lofty goals and flawed execution.
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This is grossly unfair.
 
Fran said:
As I said Peter makes mistakes, and sometimes promises more than he could deliver cause he really loves his job and what he's doing, but I think it's undeniable that each game, success or not, adds something to the Industry and tries to bring something new.
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The last Molyneux game I played was Fable 1, so I will ask about it. What was new in Fable 1 and how did it "add something to the industry"?

In my eyes his most redeeming value is how honest he is about what Milo can and can't do and how they go about doing it.

In the short time I have worked in the game industry I realized that most people want to work on something new and have lots of ideas. The difference is, they are not allowed to do it. The real impressive part is, instinctively knowing which ideas translate into a better game and I haven't seen anything hinting that Molyneux is a better judge than others when it comes to such things (especially not when compared to someone like Miyamoto).

I understand that he tries, that he is a good guy and that he is someone developers like to work with but it is just as understandable if some gamers don't trust him and think he shouldn't get more influence.
 
P on the rocks said:
The last Molyneux game I played was Fable 1, so I will ask about it. What was new in Fable 1 and how did it "add something to the industry"?
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I don't understand the hate Molyneux gets on these forums. Same about Carmack-bashing. I guess it's because they come from a PC background, whereas Myamoto, Kojima or Ueda get a free pass due to their console origins.

About Molyneux, my opinion is that he has nothing to prove anymore since the Bullfrog days.
Even then, Fable is still one of my favorite game from recent years.

- Playing an adventurer from his youth to old days
- Sim-like interaction with NPC
- Moral choices define your avatar appearance, and actually change your surroundings
- Strong artistic direction (including the music with Danny Elfman)
- Good fairy-tale story & english humor

Molyneux has been criticized a lot for his interviews where he clearly promised too much. However, I've found that this behavior has been reduced drastically after Fable.
 
I think a lot of people praise John Carmack around here, for good reasons, however you can argue that iD released things closer to tech demos than games at time. (ie more like tech showcase)

As for Peter Molyneux, I'm a big fan of Populous, Syndicate, Dungeon Keeper to name just a few.
(He also made Magic Carpet, Black & White and Fable, and that's not even exhaustive)
B&W was kinda lame, Populous meet Tamagoshi... no thanks, it's not fun to me.

He has good ideas, but he tells too much during interviews.
It's great that he is so excited with his work, but it's just wrong to advertise a different game than what's released.
Now his interviews are fine, I heard there's always someone in the back to prevent him from making "Molynades". (ie talking about things that might not be in the final product.)
 
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