Talk:Peter Molyneux/Archive 1

Archive 1

OBE

I did some searching and I believe that Molyneux is only the 2nd person to receive an OBE for service to arcade/computer/video games. The first was Jez San (2002), who was recommended by Richard Bartle. [1] Interestingly, Bartle also recommended Molyneux in that same email. [2] --Mrwojo 17:49, 3 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Not a game designer?

I just deleted this paragraph added by anonymous contributor 81.105.29.57.

There has been considerable controversy in recent years over how much actual design work Peter Molyneux does on his games. The number of titles that have been associated with his name over the past 15 years far exceed those of any other celebrity designer. Further investigation into the history of key projects like Syndicate have shown that Molyneux's involvement has often been light or non-existent in many projects associated with his name. [Edge magazine's 'The Making of Syndicate article'] Syndicate is one of Molyneux's best known games, but also one that he actually had only tangental involvement in. In this respect, Molyneux's true role in the games industry appears to have been much more akin to a 'high-concept' executive producer than a nuts and bolts designer like Will Wright or Shigeru Miyamoto.

Molyneux has recently credited himself as 'executive designer' on key titles like The Movies, suggesting a tacit acceptance on his part that he is not really a game designer in the industry-accepted sense of the term.

I think this criticism is unfounded and maybe biased. Reasons:

• Molyneux's credits do not exceed those of any other celebrity designer. About ten titles for which he is credited as designer in 16 years is not really much.
• Syndicate: Molyneux does not claim to have designed it: the credits list him as Producer (see MobyGames). If people say Syndicate is a "Molyneux game", that's their fault, not his.
• The comparison to Shigeru Miyamoto I find especially ludicrous. Miyamoto's name is on dozens and dozens of games. He can not have had deep involvement in each of them. Most of them list him as Producer, just like Molyneux on Syndicate.
• And the notion that he is not really a game designer? Please, that is ridiculous. The games which list him as designer (like Populous, Theme Park, Dungeon Keeper) are all considered ground-breaking and were highly acclaimed.

I think I will add the roles he had in each game's production to the game list, so that it is clear which games he designed and which not. TerokNor 12:32, 8 December 2005 (UTC)

Agreed, the paragraph was very biased. However, it makes me think that the article could be more specific on Molyneux' involvement on certain projects. Lionhead has had multiple parallel productions since Black & White, which has turned Molyneux into more of an inspirator/producer (and company figurehead) rather than a lead designer. Dean and Simon Carter are likely to have done more design work on Fable than Molyneux. The same goes for Mark Webley and Adrian Moore's work on The Movies.

Also, there's also no mention of the cancelled B.C. project. Technitai 15:44, 20 December 2005 (UTC)

-- Molyneux was credited as a producer on Syndicate Wars while at Bullfrog in addition to Syndicate, although I only see Syndicate listed here. Moppet 20:51, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

The comments about Molyneux's design credits are ridiculous in my opinion. He's like Sid Meier, both of them used to exclusively design games, but now both of them just inspire their team or create the outlines of their games. And I'm pretty sure that he's doing more work than Sid, (he practically left Soren Johnson to design Civ IV for example). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.139.219.116 (talk) 04:33, 12 November 2008 (UTC)

Rated

I believe this article warrants a biography class rating of Start, as it's reasonable in terms of his professional life. IMO the obvious elements that are missing - personal life, more detail - are probably not appropriate for a living person... Rivimey 00:54, 5 January 2007 (UTC) rivimey 5/1/07

Theme Hospital

I added Theme Hospital LooieENG 00:44, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

Why did it get removed? LooieENG 21:55, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

Date of Birth

Where has the new date of birth for Peter come from? I added the November 30 birth date, confirmed by his user profile on Lionhead [3] (bottom left). Whether he filled out that date seriously/correctly I don't know, but I've found little information elsewhere. But where has the May 5th date come from? DavidR1991 18:03, 2 March 2007 (UTC)

Bournemouth University

Peter Molyneux went to Bournemouth University, I have seen him in the famous alumni display. I can't find any references on the internet that can confirm this though. - ARC Gritt^TALK 01:13, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

It would be nice for the article to carry something about Molyneux's educational background, schooling, uni, qualifications, etc. I came to the article looking in part for just that, wondering whether he was lso a programmer as much as a designer. Having said that, if there are no real refs available it presents something of a challenge. LSmok3 (talk) 17:37, 15 September 2009 (UTC)

Merge from The Entrepreneur (computer game)

I suggest that content from the article The Entrepreneur (computer game), as that article is primarily about Molyneux's career, and not the game itself. Alansohn (talk) 20:39, 25 December 2007 (UTC)

• I have edited the article to focus more on the game. In the "Importance" subsection, the detour into discussion of his career is used to preface the statement that The Entrepreneur indirectly led him to founding Bullfrog. This is not original research, as the GameSpot article makes the assessment. JimmyBlackwing (talk) 05:06, 26 December 2007 (UTC)
  • I'm not suggesting that the article is OR. I question if there is enough meat to justify a standalone article, and that the material would fit well in the Molyneux article. The recent edits are an improvement, but may not be enough to pass muster. It would seem to me that merging the two articles would result in one better article, with greater context for the game and for its creator. Alansohn (talk) 05:12, 26 December 2007 (UTC)
    • Done at last. Clarityfiend (talk) 07:42, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

Video Games

The article claims he was selling video games in 1982 but didn't hear about their popularity until 1984 - this makes no sense. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.152.210.72 (talk • contribs) 00:19, 17 July 2007 (UTC)

reference

The first reference link is no longer active.--75.45.122.175 (talk) 04:06, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Something wrong with Before Bullfrog

Theres something wrong with this part. According to this Interview (http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/f/fable/themakers.htm) he first published The Entrepreneur and then founded Taurus. What's right now? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.49.22.135 (talk) 16:17, 24 February 2008 (UTC)

Why no mention of the controversy?

Why no mention of the consumer controversy over PM's habit of misrepresenting the content of videogames he's working on such as Black and White 2 and Fable. Peter's history of doing this takes it beyond just being overly optimistic, especially given the fact that cut content is often left unaddressed prior to release. --Lucavix (talk) 11:16, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

I agree. Peter is only famous BECAUSE of his ridiculous claims of real-time tree growth and such. To not have it on his wiki page makes it woefully incomplete. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.17.196.172 (talk) 21:33, 13 March 2011 (UTC)

I think there should be a list of all the things Peter said would be in various games, the things that didn't actually make it into those games I mean. He said that women in Fable could get pregnate and they couldn't, but he never corrected himself before the game came out. That's just one minor example to start with. --Valentine82 (talk) 00:40, 31 October 2008 (UTC)

YOu need courses, reliable ones, taht mention the controvery. Also, ALL video game creators promise things and never release. 98.198.83.12 (talk) 20

52, 11 April 2010 (UTC)

There should also be a mention of his personal life- I think his lifelong celibacy is worth noting 92.234.40.178 (talk) 03:50, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

He got married in 2008 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jontintinjordan (talk • contribs) 22:11, 28 May 2009 (UTC)

Sure, but his celibacy holds to this day, so I hear92.235.213.45 (talk) 10:15, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/101/1019820p1.html "IGN AU: Backpedal, backpedal, backpedal. And right now, in most nations it's a case of the people still living in fear of their government, rather than the other way around. Anyway, a bit of a tangent, but – this, Lionhead, is really just a series of passion projects for you. A way to do something constructive about something you clearly love.

Peter Molyneux: Yeah, exactly. It's strange, but it comes back to emotion. If you're playing a game and you recognise some elements in that game world, it brings back that instant connection. I am reading a book called 'One Second After', which is about the destruction of America by the dropping of an EMP bomb.

IGN AU: Hmmm, okay... some interesting parallels there too, I see.

Peter Molyneux: Strangely enough, the book before that was also about America being destroyed – it's not that I've got it in for America or anything, but... [laughs]" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.125.151.247 (talk) 02:37, 1 September 2009 (UTC)

G4

Te way this sentence is worded implies Molyneux worked to get an entire epsiode devoted to him: "Molyneux had an entire episode of G4's games retrospective series Icons devoted to him, during its third season." I changed the order, if anyone knows of how or why he would of engineered the episode to be about him change it back. Da Baron (talk) 17:55, 15 October 2008 (UTC)

I think it may have simply been poorly worded. To say that PM had an episode or series devoted to him could simply mean that they devoted the series to him without his involvement, it reads as if a common linguistic error in the southern United States (where I grew up). --Lucavix (talk) 11:41, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

Project X?

Could project x be milo that was revealed at e3 on june 1st 2009 for the new motion capture device for xbox 360 (project natal)Carrnage93 (talk) 20:11, 1 June 2009 (UTC)

Poker

Anyone who knows this guy will tell you he's an avid poker player and is damn good at it. He even goes to tournaments. It's difficult for me to find a citation for this other than "my mate who works with him says", but it's true. Anyone who can find something, please um, put your cards on the table! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.158.144.243 (talk) 10:07, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

Sir Peter Molyneux?

If he is a 'Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres', 'Chevalier' being the French word for knight, shouldn't he then be referred to as Sir in the article as he is a knight (regardless of the national origin of his title)? BodvarBjarki (talk) 22:51, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

• I don't think so - as far as I can tell the UK is the only country to award the type of "Knighthood" that carries the title "Sir". Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knight#Ceremonial - "Outside the British honours system it is usually considered improper to address a knighted person as 'Sir' or 'Dame'." Dracunculus (talk) 16:54, 1 September 2010 (UTC)

TED talk

There is a pretty compelling TED talk recently (2010.08.18 by my IP-TV), about the Milo virtual boy thing that uses "Natal" and was demo'd at E3.. it's what lead me to look him up and find this page.

I think a link to the TED talk should be added, but I don't have the wiki-experience to know where that would best go, but maybe someone is motivated to watch it (it's pretty cool, though I can believe that he tends towards overhyping, it's still good) and do the proper edits.

(if you delete this section or merge it into the 'milo' section I won't be offended.) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.75.132.51 (talk) 03:48, 11 September 2010 (UTC)

Update.

Someone should update that he was behind Fable III as well —Preceding unsigned comment added by Imadub94 (talk • contribs) 15:02, 31 October 2010 (UTC)

Dungeon Keeper text

I just edited down the text about Dungeon Keeper to remove some hyperbole. The previous text contained two dubious statements. Firstly, the sentence formerly beginning "so technically advanced was Molyneux's coding..." read like a gushing fan tribute; Molyneux was not even credited with coding on this project (according to the credits on MobyGames). I have trimmed this. Secondly, I removed the statement that "many said the concept was in its infancy and suggested it was years ahead of its time", since it is unsourced and, as such, amounts only to content-free cliché. I would be happy to see either of these changes reverted if some references and/or other substance can be added. Stephen lamppost (talk) 21:28, 7 December 2012 (UTC)