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So Peter Molyneux's newest venture 22 Cans has released its first app, the mysterious Curiosity. I think this has already set the tone for what's to come. |
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Oh and bottom left hand corner if anyone's interested in adding to it. If it hasn't already been ruined, that is. |
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:D Everything is better with those. |
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It's weird... and addictive... |
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I really hate what Molyneux is doing with Curiosity. He claims it's an experiment into player psychology but it's not - it's a cash grab, plain and simple. He's taken advantage of his reputation to whip up some hype for a game that provides less in return for player's time (and money, if they are insane enough to spend any cash on it) than pretty much any game I can ever recall. And that, to my mind, is not only bad for the poor buggers actually playing it, but it's also bad for the industry as a whole, since it simply says to the player: "We think you're stupid, give us your money". As a result I have my fingers crossed that it runs out of steam really fast and that the inevitably underwhelming 'secret' at the heart of it is never discovered. |
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You say that but I've yet to see how it's making him any money whatsoever. Unless of course later on they add in-app purchase for the power-ups. |
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Hmmmm. I wonder if 22 Cans will actually make much money. Always got the impression that Molyneux probably made more as the 'industry mouthpiece' or after-dinner speaker than he ever did out of games development. I know a couple of people who've worked with him (both at Lionhead, and even before that at Bullfrog) who claim he's a bit of a bastard really, and really doesn't mind hoovering up the glory on any project he's involved in, even if it's just peripheral involvement (in fact, wasn't that the reason Bullfrog split originally?) The industry as a whole is doing that to gamers though, saying "We think you're stupid, give us your money" - the thing is, the industry is right. There is no bloody way on earth I would've predicted EA would make real cash out of monetizing a product they had already released, a year after its release, offering such a lightweight bunch of content that it beggars belief that people really are that willing to be shilled. Makes you wonder if you're missing something somewhere, and this is how we should all be running our respective businesses. |
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The paid DLC is coming in time though, all they're doing at the moment is trying to build up a user base and plenty of press coverage, then as the momentum is on the verge of slowing they'll allow players to start buying stuff which will ramp up progress again. And if anyone is daft enough to buy the £50k item that'll pay for most (if not all) of the development costs in a single stroke. |
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/clicks |
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So... how's this going, then |
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/downloads People are still chipping away at it. 103 layers down, with no indication at all as to how close to the end that is. |
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Wow, that's even more lame than I expected |
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What exactly were you expecting? :) |
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I guess I expected some pretentious video imparting some attempt at deep wisdom. Instead it's a chance to take some grand role in some game I certainly wouldn't have cared about if I had won*, and would never had heard of if it hadn't been mentioned just now. *Not that I would've played Curiosity, anyway - with millions of players, the chances of being the person to get the winning block are as good as zero, and as we just saw, you didn't have to play to find out what the winning block was anyway. Meh. |
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So, the prize was the opportunity to help 22cans market their next game then. You've got to hand it to Molyneux, he certainly knows how to play the PR game. |
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Interview with the winner. I love this: Game Informer: Bryan, tell us a little about yourself. Bryan Henderson: I'm 18 years old, I'm currently doing an internship for a student newspaper as a graphic designer. I play games quite a lot, since I was very young. My favorite games include Halo 3, Dead Space 3, Assassin's Creed, Battlefield 3, and Portal 2. How long have you been playing Curiosity? How often did you play? I downloaded the game only about an hour before I won, so I feel a little bad. Were you a Godus backer on Kickstarter? I didn't have a clue that it was on Kickstarter. Have you played previous games by Peter Molyneux? I haven't played any of his previous games but I have always wanted to try Fable. Given the nature of Godus and how you'll be shaping it, can you tell us about your own religious philosophies? Well I'm an atheist myself but I'm okay with everyone believing what they want to believe. With regard to Godus, you will have an unprecedented amount of power for a layperson over how players experience a game from a famed designer. What's going through your mind right now? It's very surreal, I'm still trying to take it all in. At the moment I'm not very clear on what I'm going to be able to do, but I do know it's going to be incredible. What has 22 Cans told you so far about your involvement in the project. What are the first things you'll be doing? I know just about as much as the public does, I'm waiting to get more details in the near future from Peter. What questions did you ask Peter Molyneux when you spoke with them? I asked Peter how this was all going to happen and when. He didn't tell me just yet, all he said was he's going to give me more details soon. I can't wait to hear from him and the 22 Cans team. |
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/strikes Godus off the "might be good" list Not exactly Wonka's Golden Ticket, was it? |
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Well, Molyneux was certainly a Wonka, anyhow |
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I actually think, as prizes go, this one is pretty neat! How many chances does a random nobody get of shaping a video game that will likely be played by a huge number of people? Quite tragic for the people that spent so much time on Curiosity though... the winner ends up being someone who just randomly downloads it and has a quick play around with it, and has never played a Peter Molenyoux game before! |
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