Peter-Molyneux posts

Populous is still considered to be one of the truly great PC games of all time. Designed by Peter Molyneux for his former development studio Bullfrog, the game was released back in 1989 and is considered by many to be the first "god game" where the player is controlling events and characters on a massive scale as a unnamed god figure.

During a panel at GDC 2011 this week that looked back at the making of the game, Molyneux surprised the audience by demoing a very early version of FeedMe, a version of the original Populous that supports a whopping 256 players. Our sister site Joystiq reports that the demo had some issues before Molyneux was able to get it running but the fact that he is even working on such a game in his spare time is pretty cool. There's no word yet on when, or even if, anyone will play this game.

Peter Molyneux is going to be hard to miss when it comes to picking up awards next month. The creator of classic PC games like Populous, Dungeon Keeper and many others is already set to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award next week at the Game Developers Choice Awards at GDC 2011.

Now comes word that the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) will also be honor Molyneux with its Academy Fellow honor during the BAFTA's annual game awards to be held on March 16. In a statement Molyneux states, "I remember back in 1967 watching the first BAFTA awards on television with my family and seeing them being so excited about those accolades. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think it would be possible for me to accept one of the greatest honours the entertainment industry has to offer."

PC gamers are still awaiting the promised PC port of Molyneux' latest game, the RPG Fable 3, from his Lionhead Studios team.

Peter Molyneux, one of the true pioneers and innovators in the PC game industry, will be honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award during the 2011 Game Developers Choice Awards ceremony. The event will be held on March 2 as part of the 2011 Game Developers Conference.

The UK native Molyneux co-founded Bullfrog Productions in 1987 where he helped to create a number of classic PC games including Populus, Syndicate, Dungeon Keeper and many other titles. He left Bullfrog and founded Lionhead Studios in 1997 which made the Black and White titles and The Movies for the PC. While he has moved away from the PC platform in favor of the Xbox and Xbox 360 with the Fable RPG series, Molyneux will return to the PC platform in 2011 with the planned release of a PC version of Fable 3.

Sometimes kids are just so darn cute. Such is the case with the young son of famed game designer Peter Molyneux. While you would think it would be cool to have the creator of Populous, Syndicate and other classic PC game titles, this kid obviously has one game on his mind and oddly enough it's not his dad's upcoming Fable III.

In the above YouTube video we see the kid pretty much beg Valve to release Half-Life 3. Hey, we are all for that happening. Whether its titled Half-Life 3 or Half-Life 2 Episode 3 or whatever Valve wants to title it at this point, this child represents the dream of finally completing Gordon Freeman's saga. So Valve, it's your move.

[Via VG247.com]

After Lionhead Studios released their RPG Fable II for the Xbox 360 as a full retail game, the developer released it again as a series of downloadable episodes via Xbox Live. Now Gamesindustry.biz has announced (free registration required) that Fable III will be getting a similar re-release via download sometime after the full game.

Lionhead Studios' head man Peter Molyneux states that the episodic release of Fable III will let the player check out the first chapter for free and then purchase the remaining episodes. Molyneux has high expectation for sales of Fable III, which will be released for the PC and Xbox 360 on October 26. He states, "We are driving to sell more than five million units and to make a profit in excess of $150 million."

After lots of evidence that a PC version was indeed in the works, Microsoft has finally admitted that the upcoming Xbox 360 RPG sequel Fable III is also coming to the Windows PC platform. The game from developer Lionhead Studios, will be released via retail stores for $49.99 "this holiday" and will also be available via download on the Games For Windows Live client.

As we have mentioned before when this story first started as a rumor Fable III will be the first major retail PC game Microsoft will publish since the PC port of the original Gears of War game came out in late 2007. Unfortunately PC owners won't be able to buy a special Limited Collector's Edition of Fable III like their Xbox 360 counterparts.

Update: Microsoft has sent over word that while the PC version of Fable III won't get a retail Collector's Edition, PC owners of the game will be able to purchase and download in-game content that will be included as part of the Xbox 360's Collector's Edition. Specific content and pricing for the PC DLC has yet to be announced

Sometimes you just need to sit down, slide a floppy into your A: drive, and enjoy gaming retro style. We know this all too well! That's why we have a list of the best and brightest from days long gone. These are some of our favorite games of all time, and we're sure that you'll love them as much as we do, if not more. Welcome to Boot Disk, and enjoy the retro ride!

Peter Molyneux is known for his grandiose statements and his involvement with several of the most famous gaming franchises out there. Populous was a game he worked on, as was Theme Hospital, Fable, and Dungeon Keeper. However, perhaps the best-known example of his excessive hyping is the real-time strategy game Black & White. While it was certainly built up in the eyes of the public far more than it should have been, Black & White is hardly a bad game. In fact, looking back, it's a classic that got hammered initially, but only grew more and more likable as it aged. While that describes a lot of games, it fits Black & White the best.

The team at Lionhead Studios has mostly concentrated on making console games for the Xbox 360 in the last few years but its founder Peter Molyneux started out as a PC game designer, making classic games like Dungeon Keeper and others. However, in a video chat with our sister site Switched Molyneux stated that the PC as a platform for games is getting a second life (so to speak).

And just what is causing this rebirth of PC games? Facebook. Molyneux feels that the massive player success of games like Farmville shows that "gaming is being reborn on the PC." He adds, "I don't see why all those others like AAA blockbusters can't incorporate that sort of level of interaction."

Earlier this month we reported on rumors, based on a job application, that the upcoming Xbox 360 fantasy RPG Fable 3 from developer Lionhead Games might also be coming to the PC. Microsoft's official response to the rumor ("We have nothing to announce at this time.") was not a confirmation but it was not a denial either. At GDC 2010, Lionhead's head man Peter Molyneux had a panel chat about the game and during the Q&A session the PC port rumor came up.

According to our sister site Joystiq, Molyneux is quoted as saying, "I love what's happening to the PC, and I would love to see the Fable franchise on the PC." He was apparently afraid to get more specific than that, saying that the game's publisher Microsoft had "PR police people ... with sniper rifles." Of course they do.

Microsoft hasn't released a retail PC game since their port of the first Gears of War game in 2007. But are they planning to prep a PC port of Lionhead Studios' upcoming fantasy action-RPG Fable 3? A job description spotted by Kodugamer.com hints strongly that is indeed the case. While the actual job recruitment page has since been changed to "Unannounced Project" Kokugamer.com took a screenshot of the original page before it was altered.

As described, the job is for a network programmer who would port the network code for Fable 3 from the Xbox 360 and PC while also allowing both ports to work together. Cross-platform play between Xbox 360 and PC games is also something that hasn't been done recently.

The original Fable game was indeed released for the PC in 2005, a year after its release on the original Xbox game console. However Fable 2, released for the Xbox 360 in 2008, was not ported over to the PC. Fable 3, where you play the son or daughter of your character from Fable 2, is scheduled for a fall 2010 release for the Xbox 360. We have emailed Microsoft for comment about this new development.

[Thanks Mikko]

Update: Big Download has received Microsoft' official comment on this story: "We have nothing to announce at this time."