Peter Molyneux on the Future of Touch Control

Acclaimed game developer Peter Molyneux is hard at work with his new studio, 22 Cans, developing his next big game. While Molyneux is busy designing a series of interactive experiments, beginning with Curiosity, he has kept abreast of the developing game industry as it branches out to growing platforms like mobile, free-to-play, and social. He's had a chance to check out the Nintendo Wii U, as well as Microsoft's SmartGlass.

Thus far, he has reservations about tablet gaming.

Molyneux talks about the challenges that developers face when trying to create true multi-screen gaming experiences.

IGN: What do you think of the multi-screen experience that’s evolving with tablets and with the new Nintendo Wii U and Microsoft SmartGlass?

Peter Molyneux: The thing about the SmartGlass is that the tablet is a thing that you have with you all the time. Now, in that sense, I understand completely as a consumer and I’m excited to see what these guys do with it. But I do have a problem with it. I now have a screen in front of me on my lap and a screen up on the wall that I’m looking at. Which one should I be looking at? Should I be looking up at the big screen and down, or at my lap and up? Should I be checking down on my lap every few seconds?  What’s going to incentivize me to move my eyes from the wall to my lap?

In a way, part of me is excited by this. But part of me is worried that this is a bit of tech which us tech boys get really excited about, and until I see some really great uses of that SmartGlass or the Wii U GamePad, the jury is out for me to be honest with you. I can see it if I’m watching a football game that the scores would come up on the SmartGlass. I’m all there for that. I can see if I’m watching a TV episode and it gives me some background on the actors. I’m kind of there, but I can do that on the internet already. The real use for me is how it’s used as part of the entertainment experience, and then that divided attention that you’re demanding of a player is going to be really challenging to balance well.

IGN: Do you think also it could be a generational thing in the sense that you and I are both older, but there’s a younger generation that does currently watch TV and play on a tablet or a smartphone or a PC all at the same time?

Peter Molyneux: That’s a very interesting point, but I think what people do when they have multiple screens is something very simple. They will listen to the big screen whilst distracting themselves on the small screen. That’s not what SmartGlass and Wii U are talking about.

They’re talking about producing an entertainment experience that you’re engrossed in. So you’re not typing an email while watching TV. You’re playing a game while watching TV on the GamePad and that’s where my problem comes in. I know I need it when I’m watching a football game. I need SmartGlass to do my emails or check Twitter or distract myself, especially when the things are at a low point in the plot. But that’s not what SmartGlass or the Wii U are about.

It’s about giving you a second screen into the same experience, and that’s where I’m a little bit challenged. I agree that the younger generation has the ability to switch very fast between different things, but that’s not what we’re talking about. We’re talking about them being in the same experience. I just think it’s like a lot of tech out there at the moment. There’s a huge amount of tech out there at the moment, including the cloud -- and the cloud has been around for some time -- and it’s not until we get the great applications that actually use that hardware and delight us with those experiences, that we’ve really appreciated its value.

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.

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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.

IGN: As we look at the upcoming launches of three new consoles, what role do you see them playing in this evolving gaming ecosystem?

Peter Molyneux: Consoles have a very tough time ahead of them. The main issue is that existing console manufacturers are so embedded into the standard retail model in that they spend two years developing a game and then they push it out to retail stores and they’re done. They get a huge amount of money and then they move on to the next sequel that takes another two years. That world is gone forever.

Retail is still an important part of the console business, but a lot of consumers are starting to move to things like the iPad and to digital distribution. People don’t want to go down to a store and buy something that they can buy online just like they don’t want to go down to the store and buy music anymore. The console manufacturers have these two big problems. Their existing business model of development and investing in multiple million dollar development projects and then launching and having this marketing shock and awe campaign. Plus the fact that the technology that’s out there in every consumer’s hands through tablets and phones is now more accessible than ever, and their consoles are stuck in the basement or they’re stuck in the living room. That’s hugely challenging for them.

When you look at the number of units that Apple and Android and Motorola are able to make, the power of tablets and phones are going to exceed the power of consoles very soon now. That’s a problem for console manufacturers because if they’re lucky, over five years they’re going to sell 40 or 50 million devices. And if they’re very, very lucky they’ll eventually -- over a lifetime of consoles -- maybe sell 100 million. That is a drop in the ocean when you compare it to the number of smartphones that are in the market today, and then a tiny drop in the ocean when you compare the number of smartphones that are predicted in the market in the next few years. Just the scaling cost of producing hardware or the penetration of it means that they’ve got a real pricing issue.

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We gamers love our games.

On the plus side, they have a very loyal following. We gamers love our games. We love setting up our gaming locations. We love going into them and inviting our friends.  So they have some loyal fans, but they used to be on the cutting edge of innovation. And they just feel like they’ve fallen back a step now and the people at Apple and Android have taken the crown of innovation from them.

John Gaudiosi is a freelance writer that, among other things, travels the world.

Source : ign[dot]com

Peter Molyneux's Curiosity Now Available

After many months of speculation, famed game designer Peter Molyneux's Curiosity is now available on the iOS app store.

Gamers have known for some time the basic premise of the app. Curiosity presents gamers with a gigantic cube made of of many millions (or perhaps billions) of smaller cubes. Participants worldwide can chink away at the cube block my block, cooperating to reveal what's underneath each layer.

But... what the heck does this actually mean? And how does it work? Let's take a look...

This is the first screen you see when you fire up the app. It's wholly white, which obviously blends right in with IGN's page background. It also already sets up the mysterious, high-concept mood:

The stark white screen stays until you tap it. Apparently Curiosity takes your initial tap as a "yes" to the stark question above. You're next told how many people before you have downloaded and fired up Curiosity - a surprisingly powerful and compelling way to get both the cooperative and competitive juices flowing. I was the 335th person to try out Curiosity:

The cube has many layers, but getting to the center won't be easy...

What's more, only one person will get to hit that final block and see what's actually there. I certainly hope they choose to share what they see with the world...

After this enigmatic and oddly compelling into... we're finally here! On the cube itself! So... now what?

You can swipe your finger to rotate the cube, or pinch two fingers to zoom in and out. Zooming in reveals sections that other users have chipped away at that aren't visible from a distance. It's neat to see them slowly materialize.

Users are already beginning to clear away sections of the cube in an ad-hoc form of self expression:

Each layer of the cube promises to have something new underneath. A new color, a photograph, a painting... something that will satisfy each players', well... curiosity. But for now it looks like each side of the cube just has a blue-green layer underneath.

But let's get down to brass tacks. How does curiosity actually work? Blocks are deleted simply by tapping on them. Gamers start with a set amount of coins. I wholly expected to be charged a coin for each block I deleted. I expected them to refill slowly over time, and perhaps be charged real money for extra coins. But it turns out Curiosity actually does the opposite.

Each block you delete earns coins. If you delete blocks rapidly in an unbroken burst of play (work? participation?) a coin multiplier begins to tick upward. At first each block deleted just earns you one coin. But then two, three, and on upward with no upper limit that I could find.

This is a supremely interesting design decision because it means you're earning exponentially more coins the longer you play in one unbroken chunk. A user that deletes 1000 blocks a few at a time will only have 1000 coins. But a user that breaks 1000 blocks in a single chunk could earn 50 times that much currency.

But... what are these coins actually spent on?

The chisels, bombs and firecrackers in the menu above make you a more efficient block clearer for a limited time by allowing you to clear more cubelets with a single tap. These power-ups range in price from a few thousand coins up to 3 billion for the diamond pickaxe. What's a little more interesting is that even accessing the stats menu costs coins - 100, to be precise. Inside, you can see how many cubelets remain on the current layer of the cube, how many users are participating, how many cubelets you personally have cleared and plenty more.

Interestingly, the outer layer of the cube contains 100,000,000 cubelets just on its own. All of which must be cleared one by one. Anyone want to crunch some numbers and figure out how many total cubelets are contained within the cube, if it is solid all the way through?

So, there you have it. A first look at Curiosity from Peter Molyneux's new studio 22cans. The app is both absurdly simple and wildly complex. It's very silly and yet oddly compelling. Perhaps most unusual of all, given the current state of the App Store, is that Curiosity is an entirely free download, with no In-App-Purchases in sight. Yes, the entire experience is 100% free, from top-to-bottom.

Is it a video game? A piece of interactive art? To me, it feels like a commentary on mass cooperation. With millions upon millions of cubes to break, there is no getting to the center without cooperation on a massive scale.

Curiosity also makes me think about the human desire for self expression. The cube's grey face has no instructions in the same way that a canvas of wet sand has no instructions. No one tells you to write your initials in the sand with your finger. Or draw something considerably less benign and more vulgar, if that's or disposition. But it still spontaneously happens, regardless. We all want to leave our mark on the world, even if it is fleeting.

And so it is with Curiosity. Gamers don't need to be told to communicate using the surface of the cube. It just happens. And like messages written in sand, Curiosity's very nature ensures that any message left is fleeting. It will be washed away by the actions of other users, replaced with a new layer of the cube and new engravings.

Until the center is reached, at least. After that... who knows?

Spot something especially memorable on the cube? Add it to our user-powered gallery of curiosity sightings!

Justin is Editor of IGN Wireless. He has been reviewing mobile games since the dark days of Java flip phones. You can follow him on Twitter at @ErrorJustin and on IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Peter Molyneux's Plans Thwarted by NASA

The first game created by Peter Molyneux since his departure from Lionhead is apparently undergoing a name-change thanks to NASA.

The project, called Curiosity, is being developed by Molyneux's new studio 22 Cans and was recently delayed until next month.

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Due to NASA and the Martians we are wondering what we should officially name our first experiment Curiosity...

But it appears Curiosity will never be released, at least not titled as it is, due to the Washington-based NASA being uncomfortable with the game sharing a name with its Mars Rover.

Taking to his Twitter account, Molyneux asked fans for help, writing "Humm there is a problem the the name curiosity, we can't use it because of NASA. I wonder what one word would sum up curiosity:the cube."

The news appeared to be verified when the 22 Cans account posted a similar question, sharing "Due to NASA and the Martians we are wondering what we should officially name our first experiment Curiosity..."

There's already a wealth of suggestions out there, including Cuberosity, but there's still time to share your ideas.

Due out next month, Curiosity will launch on PC, iOS and Android platforms. The game is planned as a social experiment which revolves around breaking apart a giant black cube with the help of thousands of gamers worldwide.

Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Editorial Assistant and would quite like Molyneux to knuckle down on Black & White 3. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter.

Source : ign[dot]com