New "God Game"

[ramuhotep]

The technology section of today's New York Times has an article about Peter Molyneux and his latest game Fable. For those who don't recognize the name, he's the creator of Black and White.

If you don't live in the NYC area, you can read the article online at http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/02/technology/circuits/02pete.html?pagewanted=1&th Registration is required, but it's free and generally won't expose you to spam mail.

-- Ray

[vovan]

The technology section of today's New York Times has an article about Peter Molyneux and his latest game Fable. For those who don't recognize the name, he's the creator of Black and White.

Bah. It's sad when people remember you by such games as BnW. How did so much better with say Populous!

Also, Fable is not a god game. It's an RPG. And it's only for XBOX, so that sucks for those of us who think consoles are evil, and PC games are the only ones worth playing (well, and of course, those of us who don't have XBOX for any other reason ;)).

Vovan

[Cironir]

I think Xbox games are relatively easy to port to the PC platform (and vice versa?). Perhaps there's hoping! I won't buy a console (would also require me to get a new TV set), but Fable does sound like a potentially interesting game.

[RSchwind]

I wasn't a big fan of Black and White. I liked everything except the constant training of the creature. I wish that aspect would have been a little less intensive. I spent most of my time trying to teach him not to eat the villagers and poop in the middle of town!

[Eddy]

Yeah really. If I wanted to babysit, I'd borrow someone's kid.

[NSymon]

Bah. It's sad when people remember you by such games as BnW. How did so much better with say Populous!
Vovan

I had no idea he'd done Populous. That was such a cool game.

[Miut]

I tried BnW but ethically I didn't like it. It sat "wrongly" on my shoulders being a "god".

[Nidien]

I like it bnw, but only when i was playing my pet cow, as soon as i pick the monkey all whent to thing air, hehe i miss my cow :P

Populus was similar to settlers, i didnt like it a bit, settlers was good tho :)

[RSchwind]

I picked the cow too. I liked watching him dance.

[vovan]

I like it bnw, but only when i was playing my pet cow, as soon as i pick the monkey all whent to thing air, hehe i miss my cow

Yes, well, I didn't like the monkey, either. I, personally, always picked the Tiger. Did I mention I don't like monkeys any way? :D

Vovan

[Azeem]

I picked the cow too. The cow is the easiest to train.

I think "Black and White" has to be one of the most overrated games ever made. I've even read that Peter Molyneux hired a philosopher to develop the the moral universe of "Black and White". Complete waste of time and money as the effects of your decisions were simply obvious - give stuff to the peons and you're on your way to becoming "good"; slaughter them and you're going to be "evil". Then there was the AI. The reviewers kept over-hyping it. But once the finished product came out, "Black and White" turned out having some of the worst AI. Especially when the creature would do things you don't want it too despite much punishment (such as eat the random villager here and there for no reason) and when the villagers just sit around and do nothing, waiting for you to take care of them like little babies.

No offense to Molyneux fans, but I think that he comes off as pretentious and overly ambitious.

Good thing they're kind of downplaying the hype for "Black and White 2". Perhaps Pete has learned his lesson from the many irritating shortcomings of the first one...

[vovan]

I picked the cow too. The cow is the easiest to train.

I think "Black and White" has to be one of the most overrated games ever made. I've even read that Peter Molyneux hired a philosopher to develop the the moral universe of "Black and White". Complete waste of time and money as the effects of your decisions were simply obvious - give stuff to the peons and you're on your way to becoming "good"; slaughter them and you're going to be "evil". Then there was the AI. The reviewers kept over-hyping it. But once the finished product came out, "Black and White" turned out having some of the worst AI. Especially when the creature would do things you don't want it too despite much punishment (such as eat the random villager here and there for no reason) and when the villagers just sit around and do nothing, waiting for you to take care of them like little babies.

No offense to Molyneux fans, but I think that he comes off as pretentious and overly ambitious.

Good thing they're kind of downplaying the hype for "Black and White 2". Perhaps Pete has learned his lesson from the many irritating shortcomings of the first one...

See, that's exactly why I said it's sad when people like Molyneux are remembered by games like BnW. He is a great designer, but BnW came out thoroughly average. Judging his talents by that game is like judging Sid Meier by F-15 Strike Eagle.

Vovan

[Cironir]

Speaking of "god games", I think there's a true one coming up: "Evil Genius". There's a demo out at Gamershell.com, but I've not looked at it yet. Just read about it, but the theme doesn't really appeal to me. Oh, and B&W 2 is due in spring 2005.

[Azeem]

"Evil Genius" isn't a 'god-game' either. It is a sort of sim game where you're a big Dr.Evil-type character controlling your henchmen, threatening the world, and getting rid of James Bond-like secret agents.

[Cironir]

So, what's the definition of a "god game"? :confused: I'd have put "Evil Genius" into that category.

[Azeem]

The way I classify a "god game" is where you actually play a deity or something close to a deity. The only games that I classify "god games" are Black&White and Populous.

[NSymon]

"Evil Genius" isn't a 'god-game' either. It is a sort of sim game where you're a big Dr.Evil-type character controlling your henchmen, threatening the world, and getting rid of James Bond-like secret agents.

Evil Genius looks like it could be a fun game by some of the same people who worked for Bullfrog (before it was bought out by EA) making games like Theme Hospital, Theme Park and Dungeon Keeper

[Itsatrap]

Molyneux has a long history, including classics like Magic Carpet. He's brilliant but seems to have difficulty putting together a focused experience. Ironically, you might say that Fable is too focused, as a number of hyped features were cut from the final.

The Evil Genius development team includes a number of ex-Bullfrog folks which may explain its similarity to Dungeon Keeper (another Molyneux creation).

BTW, if you don't want to register for an NYTimes login, you can always use the gamers/gamers login.

- Alan

[Cironir]

Magic Carpet is my favourite game designed by him. Strange, since it's not really my genre, but something about that game really "grabbed" me. The experience was intense enough for me to still wish for a remake.

[Josh]

I would concider a god game any game where you have vauge omnipotent powers to control things beyond the realm of a normal mortal (IE "people's lives") With that deffinition I would concider the sims to be a god game.