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Molyneux, mo' problems

"Time travel is absolutely possible."

Eurogamer Righto. Let's throw one of those reader questions in here: what's the deal with Kinect and Fable III?
Peter Molyneux

OK. Another slightly diplomatic line here...

Eurogamer Line or lie?
Peter Molyneux

Line. Oh look, Ryan [the PR man] behind you is quite wisely shaking is head...

Eurogamer Ryan, did you just make a face when I said that?
Ryan

I wouldn't do that.

Peter Molyneux

So. Erm. We were thinking about doing Kinect stuff in Fable, for the launch of Fable. But here's the problem - and this is not me being in any way a good corporate citizen - I really love Kinect.

Eurogamer [Rolls eyes]
Peter Molyneux

I absolutely adore it. It's a treasure trove of new interactivity. You can see glimpses of that with the Milo experience. And I absolutely adore Fable. While we could do some gimmicky stuff for launch, it would just be gimmicky stuff.

I think there's a real, true pot of gold here. But it takes us two-plus years just to do Fable on a controller we completely understand and know every twitch of. Can you imagine if you wanted to create a real experience, weaving Kinect with Fable? It's going to take a bit longer.

Eurogamer I noticed you're inserting the words "for launch" quite carefully there.
Peter Molyneux

Mm. Clever. Yeah.

Eurogamer That would suggest you're considering introducing Kinect features post-launch - perhaps as downloadable content?
PR Lady

At this point we don't really have anything to announce about that.

Eurogamer I see. So I might say that, but you couldn't possibly comment?
Peter Molyneux

You might say anything you want. And I rely upon you doing that.

Eurogamer You were quoted recently as saying that we shouldn't judge Kinect on the first raft of titles that are released...
Peter Molyneux

No. I don't think you should define Kinect by the first wave of titles because it is a very deep and rich minefield of gameplay. It just takes a long time.

It's like when these things [picks up 360 controller] were invented - it takes a lot of iterations in gameplay to really get the best out of these. And I think that's true with Kinect.

Eurogamer We were talking about you on our AWARD-NOMINATED Eurogamer.net podcast the other week, and saying, well, Peter Molyneux may say that, but look at the first raft of Wii titles. Wii Sports and Wii Play are still the best-selling, most-played Wii titles today. Shouldn't Kinect be held to the same standard?
Peter Molyneux

Yes. But I don't know whether I would say that because... For me, the Wii motion controller, yeah, it's good and it is quite revolutionary. But it is still a controller you hold. There's still this reliance on using the thumbstick and buttons, so it wasn't as big a step forward as something like Kinect.

With Kinect, there really is nothing in your hand. Think about that. There is no button.

The first time I saw Kinect, way back when, intuitively I went back and said, 'Look, just give me something. Give me a little puck in my hand I can use.' That was completely the wrong thing.

I think it's a much bigger leap forward. It's much more like when the mouse was first invented. The first time I used a mouse was on a Mac - up till that point I was just using a keyboard - and I absolutely thought I would never use a mouse. It was slow, it was clunky, the pointer dragged all over the place...

It was only after software engineers got used to it that we had the glory of what the PC is now. So I think it's much more that kind of big step forward.

PR Lady

We're out of time.

Eurogamer OK, quickly then: in less than five words, what is the future of games?
Peter Molyneux

The future... Is great.

Umm... How about... Games are everywhere? Games are everywhere.

Eurogamer You've been working for Microsoft for too long.
Peter Molyneux

No. I think that's true.

Peter Molyneux is creative director of Microsoft Game Studios Europe and boss of Lionhead Studios. He will be delivering the keynote speech at the Eurogamer.net Expo on Friday 1st October. Tickets are going fast, with Saturday's show already sold out, but there's still time to pick a ticket for Friday via the Expo website.

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