The Movies Preview [PC]

[bapenguin]

Gamespy (http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/the-movies/614858p1.html?ui=rssFeed) has a preview up of Lionhead Studio's upcoming Sim/Strategy/Art Game, The Movies. Once my stars were ready, we could start filming. Now much has been written about the game's moviemaking tools, and to be fair, they're pretty impressive. The game comes complete with over 8,000 scenes, props, backdrops and special effects that the player will be able to use in order to create amazingly complete movies. During our demo, we watched the director put together a scene from a horror picture that looked like it came out of a Hammer House of Horror picture from the mid-'50's. As we watched, he slowly made alterations to the film, adding in a fog machine, then different lighting, then some other graveyard props. He then used some nascent computer technology (the game year was 1982) to replace the guy in the rubber monster suit with a more realistic looking werewolf. The effect was uncanny; all of a sudden the scene had gone from a schlocky piece of junk to a viable piece of early John Carpenter work.

Can't wait for this one.

[[HATE]MyLife]

I'm really excited to play this one. Is it too much to hope that Molyneux actually wound up delivering for once?

[Racknahm]

I can finally fufill my dreams of making that zombie porn scifi epic starring Corey Haim.

[AgtFox]

MyLife']I'm really excited to play this one. Is it too much to hope that Molyneux actually wound up delivering for once?
From what I have been told, Molyneaux has had little to no overseeing duties on this game. In fact, I guess the Executive Producer of The Movies has never met Molyneaux as of yet.

[Gitaroomaan]

Wasn't this supposed to come out in June? Now it's October? Gah, I need it now!

[Nesta]

This is one of those games that is either going to be absolutely shit-hot...or really, really suck.

/hoping for the shit-hot myself

[Deadend]

I think it's awesome that you can tell that it's a movie set, and that the lizardman is a guy in a rubber suit, as in games it's easier to make a Lizardman than to make a guy in a lizardman suit.

[MosBen]

Anyone that says Molyneaux needs to deliver "for once" really doesn't know what they're talking about. The last couple games that he's had a hand in may not have lived up to the hype, but the man has created some of the greatest classics in gaming.

[Varsity]

I'm definitely interested in the presentation, and if the moviemaking is as flexible as it appears...oh mamma.

[Undertakr]

Not to defend Moly or anything, but Black and White IS awesome, it just got feature creaped to death. It is way too ambitious. If they had simplified the training feature of it, it would have totally kicked ass. Most of his other games were great too, just overly complicated with amazing technology for the time. Unfortunately, he tries too hard and then succeeds at his insane level of details and that tends to over-complicate his games.

I've been walking the Movies game for a few years now and this one looks like the shit. The stuff I saw at E3 last year was mind blowing, so this is totally on my top 3 list to check out this year.

Then I'm going to march over to the ESPN sports booth and tell them their QA sucks rocks. :)

[[HATE]MyLife]

Anyone that says Molyneaux needs to deliver "for once" really doesn't know what they're talking about. The last couple games that he's had a hand in may not have lived up to the hype, but the man has created some of the greatest classics in gaming.

I'll give you Dungeon Keeper and Populous. Classic games there, true. Hell, I'll even throw in Syndicate Wars. Regardless, since he's been with Lionhead, he promises the world and delivers poop.

[MosBen]

I'd add Magic Carpet and Theme Park to those. I'd also say that while his Lionhead stuff has been somewhat dissapointing, and he really needs to reign in his proclivity to hyperbole, but they were far from poop. Deeply flawed? Sure. But I just finished playing through Fable with a friend of mine and it was fun for what it was. It wasn't what Molyneaux said it was going to be, but it was a fun hack & slash RPG.

[[HATE]MyLife]

a fun hack & slash RPG.

Okay, so maybe it wasn't poop per se. You'll have to excuse the hyperbole. I guess I can sum up my overall opinion in one word:

"Meh."