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Molyneux Says He Struggles To See Anything Amazing Come Out Of Nintendo

Acclaimed developer Peter Molyneux has confessed to IGN that he struggles to see anything amazing come out of Nintendo and its forthcoming Wii U console. Molyneux says there’s glimmers of greatness, but there’s nothing that makes him say I have to go out and purchase the device. He went on to commend Nintendo for its immensely popular Wii console, but admits he fails to see the mass market appeal of Wii U.

IGN: What are your thoughts on what Nintendo is doing with the Wii U overall?

Peter Molyneux: I struggle to see anything amazing coming out of Nintendo. There are a few, “Oh, that’s smart,” but there’s nothing that makes me rush out as a consumer to buy the new device. I’ll give you a great example of how tech should be used. It’s what Nintendo did with the Wii when it first came out. They introduced motion control. They were one of the first companies to introduce motion control and they had a fantastic Wii Sports Game. As soon as I picked up the controller and started waving it around, I got it. I already understood it. But I’m not sure there’s a same sort of application out there for Wii U. I think to myself, “Well, what’s the reason to get it?” Do you see what I mean?

IGN: I do. I’ve tried out a lot of the launch games and outside of the Nintendo games like NintendoLand and Ubisoft’s Rayman Legends and ZombiU, there’s not a lot of innovations. And I did find it challenging, even while standing at the kiosk, focusing on both screens.

Peter Molyneux: There you go. I had exactly the same experience. I played those games and I thought, “That’s cute.” But the psychology of making a game is hard enough because plasma screens are so big now. It’s hard enough to get the player to move their eyes from the center of the screen to the borders. When you’re designing a game for a plasma screen you’ve got to really flash the corners of the screen. You’ve got to get movement in, otherwise people don’t notice anything in the corners. Getting people to move their eyes from the screen down to their laps is incredibly hard. There has to be some huge motivational thing like the words coming up, “Look at your GamePad now.” If you’re going to do that, from a design perspective that sounds a bit clumsy and complex.

102 thoughts on “Molyneux Says He Struggles To See Anything Amazing Come Out Of Nintendo”

  1. I fail to see anything amazing coming out of you, Mr. Biggest-Disappointment-of-this-Gaming-Generation… COUGHfable3COUGH

      1. I’m glad the irony wasn’t lost on anyone. I fail to see anything amazing come from his general direction. What a turd.

        1. Looking at both screens is bad for your eyes and unhealthy, the less movement we have and the more we stare and fix our eyes to the center of the tv the better!

          OH WAI- IT’S TOTALLY THE OPPOSITE.

          It’s actually a good and healthy thing to have 2 screens for the average gamer. In fact, it’s good to anyone.

          And no, you don’t need an alert popping up in the tv every time you need to look at the gamepad. I’ll give an example:

          ZombiU: If you are accessing your inventory or a bow or a sniper, you know you need to look at the gamepad, you don’t need a message to it. It’s something you learn as you progress. It’s common sense to check back at the tv to see if nobody is around, thus, good tension for a horror game.

          In a possible Metroid game: When using the scanner, x-ray vision and etc with the gamepad you know you need to look at the gamepad as well. Why? Coz you motherfucking pushed the button to active the screen. LOL you inputted a command, you should be smart enough to know what it does. You won’t be braindead like: OMIGOSH WHAT TIME THE SCAN WILL POP UP, OMIGOSH I HAVE TO KEEP CHECKING MY GAMEPAD COZ I DUNNO WHAT TIME IT POPS UP!!!

          Retard Molyneux.

    1. I believe that should be better stop criticizing the guy by argumenta ad hominem and take into account one very relevant, key point addressed: it is truly difficult to move eyes from one screen to another. I’ve been repeating this for years. It is painful to say, but Nintendo Wii with its movement controls was way more innovative than Wii U and its tablet control is.

      1. …If people want to deveolp a game ALL WRONG. Yes. That could be a hastle. But if they actually do it right and use that looking between the screen and the controller correctly, like Zombie U that time is used to invoke terror on to the player. WHICH IS AWESOME. And dont even get me started on games that have Multiplayer and use it like they do in Nintendoland… This controller is the best thing to come out of the gaming industry in a LOOOOONG time.

        And as for the games that he talked about… Again Zombie U seems to do it well… You use the controller to get weapons and have a map and things like that, and when there is something to look at on both screen, they use that to scare the crap out of people example being when the person is trying to figure out the code to open a door on the gamepad while on the screen there is a zombie inching closer to you. THATS SCARY SHIT. While you want to watch the Zombie and make sure you dont die, you really cant if you want to live.

        He said something about Rayman too… WHY IS HE LOOKING AT BOTH SCREEN. They’re the frikin same thing. Same for Mario, just focus on the screen that your supposed to be on and BOOM. Its fine. And I cant imagine a deveoper wanting a player to look at both screen at one time anyway… THATS STUPID.

        and as far as it being sloppy and telling the player on the screen to look at the controller. AGAIN if they’re smart there will be a way around this, a sound, or a flash or something on the screen some notification with out actually saying HEY LOOK AT ME. Ughhh come on people.

      2. Deranged. We’ve been doing this for nigh-on a decade on various iterations of DS. We also do it every day when fiddling with the stereo in the car or looking at the dashboard to check our speed, and *nobody* complains about this being difficult (good lord, talk about dumbing-down “difficult” to heretofore unseen levels of farce).

        Also, following Molyneux’s ‘logic’ (which you think is grand, apparently), large screens were also a bad idea because you have to take their dimensions into consideration when designing a game by “flashing” the corners. (Note: that’s a complaint against large screens, in case you hadn’t noticed, so maybe we should have stayed at 4:3 in his cloistered little world, eh?)

        The point is, Molyneux can’t get his head around the idea (nor can you, apparently), even though there are already over a thousand games that make use of dual-screens, which managed to be the *second-best-selling gaming hardware of all time*.

      3. Yes, that probably is true. Motion control was more innovative, this will be fun. I will buy it, but you are probably right about the degree of change and innovation

    1. “Molyneux Says He Struggles To See Anything Amazing Come Out Of Nintendo, Laughs Ensue”

      Should be the title of this story.

        1. That site is a hell-hole that I don’t wish to delve into…..any chance you could just provide a TLDR of his thoughts on the Fart Pass *cough* ‘scuse me, smart glass?

          1. Don’t go all hipster about IGN. Right now it has info you’re interested in, so go there, read it and move along.

  2. He has a legitimate point, but at the same time, the Wii also had a bit of a learning curve. DS/3DS the same way. I have a feeling that we’ll get used to playing (the games that need it) with the controller a little higher, so there’s not as much disconnect. Only time playing with it will tell, and not tethered to the system in a noisy convention hall.

  3. Molyneux? Really? That guy still has a job? He’s the shittest developer ever, he’s a pretencious prick who delivers nothing but empty promises and a broken game. Fable is the worst RPG ive ever played, its boring, and fucking stupid. Amd that Cube thing is just an embarresemt.

      1. Its fucking crap. 3 especially. But even 1 and 2 are boring as hell, theres no depth what so ever, the characters are uninteresting, the story is crap and you have the most monotonous gameplay ive ever seen on an RPG. When a game like Prototype has more variety, you know they fucked up

        1. I agree with you. But we can’t sadly deny the fact that some people who’ve not played proper RPGs enjoy it. If you read what I said to the end I said that it is “maybe because they have never played other rpgs” that they like it. And that is not a good grade, but we can’t still deny that the game sells. It is obvious why he has a job, his games sells, they are shitty, but they sell, just like CoD. It is shitty games for the mainstream market (a.k.a. “Hard-core” gamers) and those games doesn’t need good stuff, they need to be as dull as possible to not overload their weak minds with pure awesomeness. I do not like to say it, but that is what sells today, don’t shoot the messenger :'(

          1. Oh i know that, and i wasnt shooting the messenger xD obviously, if they havent played another rpg, then yeah but i guess thats the same with any genre really

    1. Also, his points are just stupid. “I dont see any innovation”. Yeah, its not a big step in gaming, although it still opens up a ton of possibilities. But lets face it, it a shit ton more than what everyone else is doing, especially that company’s cock you love to deep throat so much. They havent innovated at all. Oh kinect? It has no practical use for a core gamer, and it doesnt even work properly. And as if he knows anything about innovation. That stupid Milo or whatever it was called. Yeah, pretty impressive you can pass a note in real life and he’ll recognise it and take it into the virtual world, but that has no use what so ever, and it never saw retail.
      And lastly, if you think plasma tv’s (seriously, fucking dumb point), are such a big deal, because you have to look at stuff (still dont get it), make your games look attractive first, Fable is a buggy piece of crap, that always has fog because you can render the game.
      Lastly, and hilariously, Fable has some of the most stupid game mechanics ive ever seen.
      Just watch this, explains it all:

      http://youtu.be/oSaw85bliyQ

      1. Sorry, but I am not one of the trolls on this page if you belived that. I dislike Mircosoft probably as much as you do. But let us not deny that Fable (sadly) sells to people who have never touched a real RPG (and probably never will because they are too “casual”) that was what I wanted to point out. That is why this guy still has his job.

        To explain my feelings about Fable: I played the first at my buddys house. I tried it for about 1 hour. I didn’t feel satisfied with what it gave me and never touched it again.

        It is a game made for the stupid masses that sadly is a majority of the gamers today, you know… those who jumped on the bandwagoon when being a geek started to be cool. Those guys buys this game and therefore it sells really good and he gets to keep his job. Simple as that.

        I hate how video game industry has evolved, but please, do not shoot the messenger.

        1. I know what you mean, and again, wasnt a direct attack on you, just Molyneux xD doesnt stop it from being a bad game though compared to everything else

      2. This clearly shows why P. Molyneux hates the Wii U. He thinks having your protagonist go into a physical “menu room” is a good way to implement menus in a game. Clearly just looking down at the controller and tapping the weapon you want is too simple. Ugh!

        1. And if you have to look down. By the time you are half the game you would have learn the pozsition of the icons and select them whit out looking like wen we started playing on pc

  4. Complaining about having to see the entire screen at once? When I was young you had to see beyond the boarders of the tv-screen to even stand a chance, just saying.

  5. Hate to burst your bubbles, but Molyneux had nothing to do with Fable: The Journey (a.k.a. Fable Kinect) aside from the creative elements of Fable. Regardless, I still can’t wait to try Wii U for myself.

  6. Well, like anything new and “exciting”, you just need time to get used to it. And this is true for both of us, Wii players and U developers. Too bad this interview comes from the guy who created Black & White 2, a game that still today feels new and awesome. I’m really sad to see how developers lacks imagination these days. Maybe it’s time for you to change job.

    1. What if I told you that the reason why games are so bad these days is because the majority of the market wants those bad games? Yes, it is true.. Sadly.. They makes what sells and the untrue gamers who populates the gamer community right now wants those bad games.

        1. Unless you are one of the few true gamers out their that can see the truth and only gets stuff that isnt shit. Us who are getting the Wii U because Wii can see its potential. Wii can tell it will be a Smash hit (Especially with Smash Bros lol) Nintendo makes the most quality games nobody can deny that. (Well they could but they would look like an idiot) Granted alot of PC games are amazing to though. But Nintendos 1st party are the most creative games.

      1. Sequels dont help either. AC3 was ok, Halo 4 is pretty great but nothing really new, Borderlands 2 was great, but for me, my game of the year was Dishonored. Its incredible, and its not even trying that hard. Ige played through it 4 times and i still find something new and awesome. And better yet, it doesnt hold your hand once. Its just throws you into it, sooo good

  7. I bet he has an IPhone 5 so he could be in the elite crew that have a new charging cable.
    You buy one each year when there isn’t anything wrong with your phone. It’s been 6 years and I think it’s awesome!!! It’s what I love now plus HD and better online. Get ready to travel in Nintendo’s path once again.

  8. So they asked a Microsoft drone what he thought about Nintendo’s new console and he thought it wasn’t impressive? SHOCKER!

    Why are they asking him anything anyway? What was the last good game he made? Man’s an overrated hack. If you’re in the industry and can’t see the potential of the Wii U, it’s time to retire. Leave luck to heaven.

  9. Haha. So Molyneux completely jumps over the gaming failure that is Kinect, but he can’t see what’s good about the Wii U?

    Hahahahahaha.

  10. Saying that he shouldn’t judge another company because he made one or two crappy game is irrelevant. The man doesn’t seem to have the talent, but he at least has the knowledge; he actually makes a lot of good points that I, an unbiased Nintendo fan, can agree with. So far, the Wii U has been completely uninteresting as a whole; they haven’t PROPERLY announced any decent, groundbreaking games.
    I honestly feel that Nintendo shot themselves in the foot with that system. I WANT to believe that it’s gonna be good eventually, but they haven’t given me any reasons to trust them so far.

    1. Nintendo hasnt revealed Metroid, Zelda, and such because Nintendo is pissed off at Microsoft and Sony for stealing their shit. Iwata said himself they delayed the announments of 1st party games because they didnt want the competition to make their versions of it 1 year later.

    2. First, don’t beat around the bush. If you don’t believe in it, just say it. Personally, I don’t believe in the WiiU. Second, there haven’t been any “groundbreaking” games in this generation. Sure there are a few that made people turn their heads, but nothing really that turned the industry upside-down. Oddly enough, Fable 3 was suppose to be one of these games, yet looked how that turned out. Also, IMO, the last “groundbreaking” game during a launch of any system would be Halo for the original Xbox.

      1. 1. I’m pretty sure I did say that I don’t believe in it …at the moment. If it felt like I’m running around the bush, I apologize
        2.Skyward Sword, Xenoblade, Mario Galaxy: just don’t tell a few, at least if we go by general opinion. They certainly were innovative and showed that progress can still be made
        3. This is a legitimate point, so I won’t argue against it. It is indeed rare for a console to have a fantastic launch line-up.

  11. Well let him struggle…I’m going to be fine cause I can multitask…crewing gum and walking is hard for some people and I guess his one, o well life goes on WII U baby..WII U

  12. I’d say the evolution of the Fable franchise shows at length how Molyneux’s view of gaming is diametrically opposed to Nintendo’s. I loved the first Fable, but I think Molyneux is never gonna be able to give me the thrills a Zelda game does. I’m not surprised: he does something else, he thinks otherwise, but I’m on Nintendo’s side about innovation.

  13. This man is not worthy of our time. Disregard him. He knows nothing of goat love. I will send precious out to devour his soul. He will return and I will make much loud noise in the dark time of night.

  14. As much as everybody hates him he’s right, the WiiU is such an easy target it makes even Pachter look intelligent when he criticizes it

    1. I’ve had the luck to test-try a good proportion of the launch line-up, and let me tell you the amazing takes less than 3 minutes to just jump to your eyes. There’s nothing to worry about. Wii U is gonna rock, it’s plain to see.

  15. I like Fable 1 and 2 was ok. As others have said I don’t get why they asked him since we all the knew what he’d think. I dont care really he hasnt been relevent for a while and its been 10 Years since he made anything i would care about.

  16. They should add TWEWY to all of the Wii U, and after beating this game, no one would say: it is hard to play with both screens. And pleasseeeee, we have DSes for so long. There is nothing hard to play with 2 screens.

  17. I’d accept his opinion if he was a respected developer that has made good games in his past,but he’s not soo:
    What the hell do you know of ”Amazing”, Molyneux, you’ve created multiple piles of shit that you call games, and 2 mediocre games. If you can’t see amazing out of Nintendo, then stop hyping your piece of shit games, only to have people be disappointed.
    What an arrogant piece of shit.
    Wasn’t this part of the ”Molyneux doesmn’t believe in touchscreens” article? If so, news flash, you made a phone game in which you tap blocks with a TOUCHSCREEN.

  18. This is the guy who made Fable 3, Fable Kinect and then went to say that Smartglass was “promising” while saying the Wii U was trash at E3. I can’t take him seriously, he’s a guy with his head stuck up his own ass because he believes himself to be some kind of visionary after making a few great games. Black and White is probably one of my favorites and I had bunch of fun with The Movies but face it, he looks at himself as the Steve Jobs of video games but he’s far from it.

  19. I kinda agree with him. I was all for Wii when it came out. I sat in line to get one, and I still play it every now and then. But when the Wii U was announced, I just couldn’t get excited about it. I really hoped that playing the demo at Gamestop would make me want one but that only made me less excited. To me, the placement of the buttons to the right analog felt too close. Every time I went to press x, I’d hit the stick. I could adjust my thumb to fix it, but then my thumb would start hurting after a few minutes. If I do eventually get a Wii U, it’s simply so I can play certain games. I don’t see myself caring about how they try to use the touch screen.

    1. Your “thumb hurt”… -__- I have heard many lame excuses as to why someone hates the Wii U, but this is the worst one yet. I can tell you don’t play sports.

      1. ….Actually I do. Used to play baseball, play basketball when I can and I do some weight training. I’ve got big hands and the gamepad is uncomfortable. I NEVER said I hate the Wii U. In fact, I said “I really hoped that playing the demo at Gamestop would make me want one”, then mentioned the possibility of getting one. I understand (not really) that you feel the need to defend Nintendo at all costs. But this isn’t one of those times. Please take your assumptions and lack of reading comprehension to another comment.

  20. (Massive amounts of sarcasm) This guy is a genius, I mean he created a game where all you do is tap on a box for f*cks sake… (serious moment) This guy is a stinky old turd sandwich, and he can keep making crappy games for phones and eventually die a douches death

  21. i think is is going to be hard. The cost of making games these days and the Wii U has all the controller options, the one screen, the Wii-motes and that Pro controller. And from the ads and the demos it seems that the designers don’t really know how to use it. I see the players just looking at the controller screen, Nintendoland, Super Mario,Rayman ect..and not the TV screen most of the time. ZombiU seems to know how to use it, using the screen for its menu. But then if you want to have another player for it, you have to have the Pro controller.

    I bought the Wii U and ZombiU but then I’ll see how it looks for the future of the system. Prob be selling the system soon. Besides, the games coming out are already out for other systems and on the original Wii (basically the same, Mario, Rayman..)

    And Xbox is coming out with their own touch controller screen next year, its just a netpad. Have to say, people tend to follow Nintendo with their ideas.

    1. Xbox 720 wont be till 2014. As machinima stated Microsoft missed the production date for building it this year. They had a chip that was sent to the west and apparently the 720’s preformance was horrible so Microsoft has to make a new chip and send it to the west so it can get tested in the 720. But since they missed the production date that means a 1 year delay on the 720. But lets be honest. Halo 5 and 6 are the only reasons to get the 720.

  22. The act of dividing the players attention between two screens is actually utilized in Zombiu as a distress factor. It’s more realistic then a menu popping up, you actually have to look somewhere else, as in real life, when trying to go through your inventory and stuff like that. Not to mention, are they both completely oblivious to how many screens the majority of people are used to seeing and comprehending on a daily basis now? I think we’re used to embracing two screens by now. They must have forgotten about the DS series of handhelds as well.

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  24. Peter Molyneux, I have failed to see you produce anything amazing. Your recent fable games sucked. You are an over-hyped piece of crap.

  25. Not going to lie…never heard of this guy. So I take what he has to say as I would an “Annoyomous Source” I dont give a damn. Must be a Nintendo Hater. Nintendo in HD, Free online that beats XBL and PSN. Kick ass Gamepad. New Smash Bros. How can anyone not be excited for Wii U. Seriously.

  26. When you learn to ride a bike it is a challenge. Not a very complex and hard challenge just somthing you aren’t used to. Once you get the hang of it, riding a bike becomes fun and easy. Now playing the Wii U with the new Pro Controller is like riding a bike. Once you get used to it, you will be having the TIME OF YOUR LIFE!!!

  27. How much is getting paid to say that? He sounds like a politician, making himself sound like he is basing it off facts. He wouldn’t know innovation if it as a robot that served him on a silver platter, balancing on a tightrope in 5000 miles-per-hour winds in alternating directions.

  28. I honestly don’t care what Molyneux says. Nintendo has done it all at this point; as he states Nintendo has done it the revolutionary motion controller while the other companies were quick to follow. I mean what else can nintendo do at this point? Revive virtual boy? That game system gave people headaches. I mean damn at least Nintendo is trying to be innovative (and has been successful), I have yet to see anything innovative from Microsoft that’s original, and hell at least Sony tried with the damn eye toy. Ninten’s already came up with practically all the innovation thought of for video game controllers. The only thing left that I can possibly think is a controller in the form of a glove, and a new unspecified console comes with a pair plus a wireless sensor bar. That’s all

  29. You’d have to be pretty remedial to get frustrated looking at both screens. That’s all I’m saying. Ok so Nintendo didn’t make a system for the slow. Sorry.

  30. On the point of the difficulty of pad to TV cooperation with the player, I can see what he means. I know I just tried the Wii U for the first time and while I absolutely loved it, I did find it hard to figure out I had to look at my gamepad to play in Rayman. When I’m playing I game I only focus on the screen so having to focus on two (without too much indication) can be quite difficult.

  31. Pingback: Wii U – Ubisoft – Rayman Legends Levels E3 Trailer | The Career Advisor

  32. Pingback: IGN Reviews : Nintendo Land Review – IGN Reviews | The Career Advisor

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