Things have been better for the Xbox 360. Sales are slowing, third party-exclusives are few and far between, and the console is starting to show its age, being technically outdone by more and more games for the PlayStation 3. Still, Lionhead founder Peter Molyneux doesn’t believe that the best days are behind Microsoft’s machine – in fact, he thinks we haven’t seen them yet.
When asked at last week’s Develop conference if his team had become completely familiar with the 360’s architecture, he responded: “You’d think that would be true, but the problem is that with great knowledge comes great opportunity – and there’s your problem. If you know the GPU so intimately well, you’re not going to say: ‘Oh, that’s not any problem any more.’ You’re going to push it harder, and that’s what we do.” He then went on to say that areas in his company’s next title, Fable III, will be four times as large as Fable II with advanced lighting.
While Lionhead and other developers like Bungie certainly are more familiar with the 360 than others, it is becoming clear that perhaps the console’s graphics are being elapsed by what is expected from the modern era of gaming technology. So perhaps it’s now time to look beyond the need for better game technology, and instead look towards better game design.
Now, certainly, the idea of improving game design THROUGH the use of better technology is the traditional way of doing things. But Fable II, despite being technically astounding, was not only endearing due to the technology that it used, but its way to emotionally attach the player to the world and the people around them.
It also goes without saying that this point, but look at Nintendo. The Wii’s power is a drop in the bucket compared to what the 360 can do – but on occasion, it can create gorgeously-crafted, fully-realized worlds on the Wii without the apparent need for high-definition technology.
The old adage of “size doesn’t matter, but what you do with it” applies here. Microsoft’s console is a technical beast, but simply pushing what it can do on that level isn’t going to create successful software. In short, Molyneux shouldn’t be worried about how to make his games bigger, but how to make them better.
