Molyneux explains son's plea to Valve

By Tom Bramwell Published 1 October, 2010

"He's always talking about Half-Life 3."

Lionhead boss Peter Molyneux has explained how a video of his son Lucas pleading with Valve Software to hurry up and finish Half-Life 2: Episode 3 ended up going viral on the internet last month.

Molyneux told us ahead of his session at the Eurogamer Expo today that he had been working from home one day because Lucas needed a babysitter, so Lionhead decided to film a video of him doing hints and tips for a US website promotion in his garden. Once it was over though, Lucas wanted in.

"Lucas has this obsession with making his video," Molyneux told Eurogamer in an interview about his Expo session. "He wants to make his own video, and it's going to involve planes crashing, people dying and the world turning sideways. Quite why the world's turning sideways I don't know. So he said, 'Oh can I record something? Can I be filmed?'

"He turned around to me and said, 'What should I talk about?' and I said he should talk about Half-Life 3 because he's always talking about Half-Life 3. In fact, I was on the phone to Phil Spencer, my boss, once and he grabbed the phone and said, 'When's Half-Life 3 coming out? You're American, you must know.'

"Phil tried to convince him that he didn't want to play Half-Life 3, he wanted to play Halo: Reach, but it didn't quite work."

Unfortunately for Lucas, nobody knows when Half-Life 2: Episode 3 is coming out. Fable III, however, is out on 29th October for Xbox 360 and playable at the Eurogamer Expo all weekend.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000. Follow him on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (41) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Gromit #1 2 years ago

    What a load of crap that was.

    EDIT: Ok I was wrong - what Peter's kid has to say is both entertaining and relevant. Thank you. Tomorrow: how Jordan loves Nintendogs
    Edited by Gromit at 01/10/10 @ 14:10

  • darkmorgado #2 2 years ago

    Hopefully Phil also convinced him that perhaps he should wait until he was a little older before he played Halo, as it is a 15-rated game.

  • el_pollo_diablo #3 2 years ago

    That child is too young to play Half-Life.
    Good work Peter!

    edit: you beat me to it :)
    Edited by el_pollo_diablo at 01/10/10 @ 12:41

  • ZeroAX #4 2 years ago

    Peter you should be proud. Your son has good taste in games.

  • SYS64738 #5 2 years ago

    euromolyneux.net

  • NimbusTLD #6 2 years ago

    Isn't Half-Life 2 a 15 as well? Peter Peter Peter... :p

  • Retro_ #7 2 years ago

    I'm with his lad, Id much rather play Half Life2 than Fable III
    Edited by Retro_ at 01/10/10 @ 12:48

  • UsernamePending #8 2 years ago

    Wow - thanks for the insight. I always wondered why Molyneux's son pleaded to Valve for Half-Life 3. What an unexpected reason! That article sure puts it all into perspective. Thanks again, Eurogamer - this sort of stuff keeps me coming back for more.

  • randompanda #9 2 years ago

    Fucking useless article

  • Haloboy #10 2 years ago

    'My dad's being a bit of a silly person'

    Now if I'd done that with my own 10 year old son pleading to valve directly he'd have gone fucking ballistic. I wouldn't even be able to upload it to youtube for fear of getting banned.

    Peters kid is merely a puppet on a string. Sorry. Eurokid.

  • arcam #11 2 years ago

    As long as my child isn't a mental case I'd be quite happy for him to play Halo or Half-Life at Molyneux's son's age.

    Are you all really that worried about games like that damaging your children somehow?

  • darleysam #12 2 years ago

    THERE WILL BE NO FRIVOLITY ON MY EUROTABLOID! I EXPECT ONLY THE NEWSIEST OF NEWS AND NO CURSORY SHENANIGANS!

  • el_pollo_diablo #13 2 years ago

    @arcam

    Not really no, but ratings are there for a reason. And I suppose that if any of his games ever fall the wrong side of the censors, Molyneux has sort of waived his right to complain.

  • telboy007 #14 2 years ago

    Can you lot just chill out, none of this matters. If there is a PM story, there is a PM story. You don't have to read it. If EG have posted a story that was hinted at in some forum somewhere on the interwebs the other week what does it matter? I don't have the time to trawl through every gaming forum, it is nice to read stuff I might have missed. If they haven't done a review of a game that other sites have reviewed, well go read those reviews instead. If only we just all have a big group hug and get on. :)
    Edited by telboy007 at 01/10/10 @ 13:20

  • Vice.Destroyer #15 2 years ago

    I fear that I am in the distinct minority, but I found that amusing. I can't quite imagine what the majority of you guys, that keep dissing these articles, are expecting on a daily basis. The art of making business is not that exciting. I can well imagine people like Tom and Ellie just coming in one day and saying "You know what? Fuck the internet. They don't appreciate the things that we do to try and differentiate us from the boring websites".

    And then where would we be? Without anything to read during working hours. And how awful that would be.

  • CaptainQuint #16 2 years ago

    If my son was old enough I'd get him to tell Peter to get the fuck out of his dad's face and stop spouting utter bullshit at every possible opportunity.

  • arcam #17 2 years ago

    Not really no, but ratings are there for a reason.

    As a guide to clueless parents I guess? I've played Half-Life and know what content it contains. I suspect PM has too. I think a parent is better suited to judging what their children should play than the BBFC.

  • Fightclubber #18 2 years ago

    What insane human would wanna play the fisher price of fps's rather than the potential god likeness of Half life 3?

  • carlitoswagon #19 2 years ago

    @vICE.dESTROYER

    +1 Too many girls getting their knicks in a twist over these articles. Don't click and don't read if it upsets you so much. Anyway, it's a valid question. When will they release the next episode? Best campaign bar none.

  • PearOfAnguish #20 2 years ago

    "He's always talking"

    Well, at least peter knows for sure he's the father.

  • riz23 #21 2 years ago

    I enjoyed this news story. Much more interesting to read than "Bobby Kotick says EA are naughty and EA says Bobby Kotick is the devil incarnate"

  • DAN.E.B #22 2 years ago

    I must get my nephew to beg Valve to release L4D 3 at some point.

  • MiniAmin #23 2 years ago

    Molyneux's son is adorable.

  • space_ace #24 2 years ago

    why are they always referring to hl3? is it ep3 or hl3? we need to know :)

  • WiseNail #25 2 years ago

    I don't generally comment on these articles (and I'm sure I'll get negged for this), but I find the number of people who bang on about under age gamers and age ratings to be a bit tiresome. I'm 41 years old with a 12 year old son who I have allowed to play Halo Reach. He, like his vast network of friends, is polite, well balanced and understands the difference between what is real and what is make believe.

    Sure there are a number of ignorant and bigotted individuals on XBL and PSN, but not all of them are under the age of 18. Also, to those of you making noise about this, can you really say that you never had a drink or watched a 18 rated film before you came of age? Have you also never watched a pirated movie, gone over the speed limit while driving or done anything which would be considered breaking the law?

    Sorry to get on my high horse, but if some of you without children have them later in life then you may see things a little differently.

    Never thought I'd agree on something with Peter Molyneux...
    Edited by WiseNail at 01/10/10 @ 15:19

  • thubie #26 2 years ago

    Those game and movie ratings sucks monkey balls.
    I watch those bloody movies when i was 6 and i think i did fairly well at life.
    I did not fucked up 10 people with a gun because i played killer instinct when i was 10.
    Those ratings should be a warning for the parents and not the kids but yeah knowing todays parents they dont give a fuck about what their children plays. My dad was btw against me buying killer instinct but i said to him yeah yeah whatever it's my money i worked and saved it so i can spend it.

  • mcreddie #27 2 years ago

    Haha

    "No, Daddy i don't want to play your poncy medieval game, i want to play Half Life!"
    Edited by mcreddie at 01/10/10 @ 14:32

  • Whitster #28 2 years ago

    All you haters realise your not paying for this website right, and no ones forcing you too look at it?

  • UsernamePending #29 2 years ago

    @the hater-haters:

    EG already covered the original story here:
    [link url=http://www.eurogamer.net/videos/molyneux-gets-son-begging-valve-for-hl3
    ]http://www.eurogamer.net/videos/molyneux...[/link]

    This article seemed designed to explain why "Son of Molyneux" did the video. Perhaps I was too rash and do need to take time to consider why such a lad would do such a thing. I really had never thought he'd do it because he liked the previous game and wanted to be in front of a camera.

  • arcam #30 2 years ago

    Really, it's a shame that the only 'celebrity' developer we have is Molyneux

    Tim Sweeney, John Carmack, Tim Schafer, Gabe Newell, Ron Gilbert?

    Anyway, what's so good about famous developers? Most games are made by teams, so it's better to have famous development houses.

  • geeza2020 #31 2 years ago

    @WiseNail - I agree totally with your post, right up to the horribly condescending last paragraph which made you sound like a stuck up fool. But in essence, I agree with you.

    edit: I'm glad you understood what I meant. I still agree totally with what you were saying though so kudos for the initial points.
    Edited by geeza2020 at 01/10/10 @ 16:52

  • WiseNail #32 2 years ago

    @Geeza2020

    LOL - I suppose it did a bit, so I've hopefully improved what I was trying to say. I knew there was a reason I don't normally comment on this site...

  • darleysam #33 2 years ago

    arcam, I think he meant UK developers. Let's face it, Molyneux's probably our biggest name, and Lionhead are based in Guildford which makes it nice and easy for EG to hook up an interview, I'd bet.

    Criterion need to make bigger promises.

  • mcbain23 #34 2 years ago

    Cmon Gabe let's have a response of some kind.. from your son if possiible.

    Hold on, that's presuming he's er, you know. "done" it. at least once.

  • tinyspark #35 2 years ago

    Is that his real son or is it Milo 2.0?

  • Gideon813 #36 2 years ago

    Peter's kid obviously knows what a great game HalfLife 2 is. I totally agree with him!

  • Tad59 #37 2 years ago

    Well done Pete! That's great parenting letting a kid play Half Life..

  • FladgeMangle #38 2 years ago

    I think the whole games industry is lucky the baying hounds of the mainstream press hasn't run with this.

    "Leading industry figure encourages own son to play violent games"

    Yeah yeah, you might think you know best but Half Life 2 is rated too old for mini-molly to play. As a parent with gaming children, I'm surprised that he even knows about it, let alone craves it. Half Life 2 is a great game, just not one for young minds - and with good reason.

    His actions were not only irresponsible, they were stupid. In light of this (and some of his comments about Fable 3) the man clearly needs a reality check, not a pat on the back.

  • Rubakai #39 2 years ago

    FladgeMangle - would you share your reasons about why his kid shouldn't be able to play HL? The number on the box is only a number made up by a bunch of people who may not have a clue, you never know I sure havent met them and I doubt you have.

    I'll make the decision based on playing the game thanks and I would let my child play any of the half life games.


  • Caimbeul #40 2 years ago

    Well they have taken far too long for what is supposed to be episodic content. it is a joke to be honest unless ep3 is going to be a huge game.

  • Grayvern #41 2 years ago

    The argument about human faces is a fallacy that is dragging the world into a pit of darkness, that videogames buck the trend that has ruined politics can only be for the best.