Mr. Miyamoto recently interviewed with GameTM, a UK based gaming publication, where he stated that having worked on "unusual titles" like Wii Fit Plus and Wii Sports Resort has left him with the impression that his creative output will only continue to grow as Nintendo continues to devlop new and interesting ways to play video games:

“In the past five years I’ve been working on such unusual titles like Wii Fit Plus and Wii Sports Resort. Ten years ago I could never have been able to imagine that I would be making games like that. That’s why I can say that the best is yet to come to me.”

Outside of this discussion GameTM also prodded about the highly sought after Wii HD console to which,  unsurprisingly, Mr. Shiggy provided a non-affirmative answer:

“Technology is always evolving and Nintendo, just like other companies, is going to integrate those technologies into our new products as they develop. Whether that be a Wii HD, Wii 2 or an entirely new console, I am not in a position to say at the moment."

Good to see that one of the most iconic men of the video game industry is still optimistic about the future of his career. We hope to see many more Marios, Zeldas, and other creations from him in the near future.

[via mcvuk]

Legendary game designer Peter Molyneux has been notorious for hyping his games up beyond our wildest dreams. He's said things like Fable II being the "best, most complete game I've ever worked on" and that it would "set the standard for which all RPG's are compared." However, in an interview with Retro Gamer Magazine, the designer revealed that this isn't always his intention. In the interview, he spoke about his career, games, and what he has learned over the years from his experiences. Molyneux specifically talked about his biggest game, Fable.

"Fable was another one of those games which people were very excited about, and it was another which was a little over-hyped to be honest with you," he said. "When I did Fable I learned a real lesson about talking to journalists."

Fable, even more so than its sequel, was immensely over-hyped. It was a wonderful game, but it certainly lacked numerous things Molyneux claimed the game would achieve. Many features were cut, and many features he talked about were simply concepts never put into action.

"With Fable and with Black & White, I really was just actually being a designer at this point, saying 'imagine we’re going to have this game feature, and it’s going to do this and this is why we’re going to have it and why it’s important,'" continued Molyneux. "And of course the poor games journalist writes down all these things and it comes across as 'oh my god, it’s going to be amazing' but really they were just words because a lot of the time with Fable and with Black & White I was actually talking, I wasn’t really demoing."

Molyneux said he has learned a lot from his past experiences. He's much more careful about promoting his games, and he said he won't talk about something unless it's actually in the game. "...whenever I talk about a game feature, I’m going to show it and be honest about it, and if it is an experiment, I’ll call it an experiment. I won’t call it a game feature," he stated.

Right now, Molyneux and his team at Lionhead are working on Fable III. He said the game is expected to release sometime in late 2010. The game will revolve around the player trying to become the king of the fictional land of Albion, leading the people to happiness and the kingdom to glory. He promises the game will be something bold, a completely different experience. Players will be given more control over their actions. As king, a player's charisma will be put to the test. Players have to keep their promises in order for the people to accept them as king. "Look at Obama, he's not looking as fresh-faced as he was, is he?" Molyneux said.

The designer has a lot of plans for the third game in the series, but will he deliver? Based on the lessons he has learned, expect to see more show and less tell when it comes to Fable III. Peter Molyneux has made a point not to repeat his past mistakes.

[View with PicLens]

Fable III

In an interview with ThatVideoGameBlog, Shattered Horizon's lead designer Antti Summala (whom we also interviewed not too long ago) hinted that Futuremark might make a campaign out of Shattered Horizon's setting and backstory.

“We’re very interested in using the Shattered Horizon IP in future titles.  We spent more time and effort creating the setting and backstory than many multiplayer only games normally do, and the reception from players and press alike has been very positive. Many players tell us they would love to explore the game world in a single-player campaign.”

TVGB's full interview with Summala should be up sometime next week, so hopefully we'll get a few more details.

I recently had the opportunity to do a brief Q&A exchange with Antti Summala, lead designer of Futuremark Games Studio's latest (and first) game Shattered Horizon. We discussed the development and design decisions in Shattered Horizon and talked a bit about the studio's future plans for downloadable content.

Tyler Treat: First I want to talk a little bit about the concept behind Shattered Horizon and the development process that went into making it. At what point did you decide that you were going to make a zero-gravity FPS? Where did the inspiration come from?

Antti Summala: We were setting off to create the studio's first game and wanted to set a high standard for ourselves: no clones of popular titles, no cookie cutter concepts. Of the game ideas we had, a zero gravity FPS stood out as something ambitious that very few developers had attempted. We weren't going to invent a new genre, rather we'd give a different spin to the first-person shooter, a game type that's well-established in the world of PC gaming and a favorite of many in the studio.

For our core FPS gameplay we were inspired by many of the recent years' popular PC first person shooters. For breaking that FPS genre, much of the inspiration came from earlier zero gravity games with six degrees of freedom. Zero gravity combat was the key idea from very early on. Using that idea in a skill-based multiplayer FPS was a different take on a genre that had been forgotten for way too long. With this, we had a strong foundation for a game concept.

In contrast, we didn't look to other games for inspiration when designing the setting, visual identity and backstory of Shattered Horizon. We wanted to stand out from the crowd, so we decided to do something different from other sci-fi games and set the game close to home and in the near future. We were inspired by sci-fi books and movies, but real life sources were at least as important: authentic space imagery, documentary material on space programs and personal accounts from astronauts as well as soldiers in 20th and 21st century conflicts.

TT: Was catering to both hardcore and casual FPS gamers something that was important to you? If it was, how did you manage to keep the game accessible to both?

AS: Shattered Horizon is not a casual game or an arcade shooter, although we've reduced unnecessary complexity wherever we could. As a result, the game design is very streamlined: our main design aim was to make zero gravity fun. It's easy to get into and you learn the rules very quickly. At the same time, you need to learn a completely new skill: using free movement in zero gravity to gain a tactical advantage in combat. Hardcore and casual FPS gamers both face the same new challenge.

A key part of making zero gravity fun was making it accessible. We spent more time prototyping the control scheme than anything else, going through several different control concepts and movement models. Most reviews mention the fact that it is very easy to pick up and play Shattered Horizon if you’ve played any WASD and mouse FPS game before. The learning curve for the controls is pretty shallow.

I mentioned the game's streamlined design – an important decision we made early on was to give all players an equal chance in every combat situation. This is important in a game where attacks can come from any angle. The player is never put at a disadvantage by choosing the wrong loadout or joining a team with an unbalanced set of classes. For competitive players this focuses the game on the skill of moving and shooting and rewards those who develop their zero gravity combat abilities. New players will learn all the essential skills quickly, and will waste little time trying to use the wrong class or loadout in the wrong situation.

When it comes to playing the game, you can use some of the tactics you know from other games but if you try to play Shattered Horizon as a regular FPS, you will be an easy target for players who have adapted to zero gravity. We've already seen these tactics evolve during the beta test, and after launch the larger player base have developed zero gravity tactics even further. This emergent gameplay is something we expected to see as a result of giving players complete freedom of movement in an FPS game, and I'm sure the player community will have developed new popular tactics in a few months' time.

TT: This is the studio’s first game. Were there any particular obstacles or challenges you had to deal with during the development process?

AS: The development process had its fair share of ups and downs. We are using an in-house engine and were developing tools alongside the game, and that gave us quite a few headaches.

We purposefully kept our gameplay design lean and simple to compensate for the new challenges of zero gravity combat. After prototyping the controls and zero-g movement extensively, we knew we could pass the obvious hurdle of designing easy controls for six degrees of freedom.

The remaining big challenge was level design. We couldn't rely on prior art in level design - although we took whatever we could use - because a lot of the rules are based on limiting player access. That would have been contrary to our goal of a game with complete freedom of movement. We had to take some risks and make up new rules as we went along.

Our two-month closed beta test proved invaluable as a way to test and improve our level design process. The initial three beta levels were designed to encourage different types of zero gravity tactics. The latest versions of the levels, after several tweaks and changes based on beta tester feedback, have been very well received. We started off experimenting with different ideas, and ended up with a set of rules with which we can confidently design and create new zero gravity levels.

TT: I have to ask about the audio simulation aspect of the game. It’s a really cool feature, especially when your suit shuts down and all you hear is your breathing and pulse. Were you guys halfway through development when you realized “oh crap, there’s no sound in space,” or was it something that was planned right from the get-go?

AS: Once we had the zero gravity concept and the setting of near-Earth space 40 years from now we had to decide how we would bring that world to life – the creative vision if you like. Our aim was to create a realistic space feeling for the player that would be delivered through art direction and audio design.

A completely realistic rendition of combat in vacuum would have meant a lot less work for our audio designer. Obviously there's no sound in space, and we actually considered this option very early on. While a completely silent firefight sounds like a pretty neat and unique idea, it’s actually very hard to play an FPS without any audio cues. This is especially true in zero gravity, where your opponents could attack from literally any direction.

Making the game fun to play trumps realism, but we wanted to get the best of both worlds: great audio that supports gameplay and helps create the right mood, but which also fits in our realistic space theme. As you mentioned, our solution was to give the player's space suit "audio simulation".

For your readers who haven't played Shattered Horizon yet, the idea is that your suit recreates a soundscape based on sensor information of the surrounding environment and detected threats. Audio simulation becomes an essential tool for situational awareness and self-preservation, which you'll notice when an EMP grenade temporarily disables it.

Even so, during the beta several testers kept asking for a "hardcore mode" with no sound. This inspired the Silent Running feature that lets you power down your suit and disable the audio simulation to gain a stealth advantage while sacrificing radar, HUD and maneuverability. This way we've been able to incorporate sound in the game for gameplay purposes while using it to support our realistic space setting.

TT: Why did you choose to go down the digital distribution route exclusively on Steam?

AS: Steam makes it easy for us to deal directly with our players and as we are self-publishing Shattered Horizon this was a very important factor. If we had gone for retail and DVD sales and tried to manage that process ourselves it would have introduced middlemen and a huge overhead in terms of marketing costs, distribution and administration.

As Shattered Horizon is a multiplayer only game that is played over the Internet, digital distribution is a natural fit. We looked around, and determined that the service provided by Valve’s Steamworks program would suit us perfectly. Steam enables us to respond more quickly with updates and content. For example during our beta we put out seven large updates, one per week, and it all went amazingly smoothly thanks to Steam’s update services.

We use Steamworks for some of the back end features of the game. In many cases, this rules out distributing Shattered Horizon through other services. Gamers can support us by buying Shattered Horizon direct from us on the official website as we get 100 percent of the money that way. However, even when you buy from us, you are still buying a key to download the game from Steam.

TT: As you know, there’s been a lot of buzz about dedicated servers (i.e. Infinity Ward) in the news lately. Your game has dedicated servers. Would you like to comment on the topic?

AS: It was an easy decision to use dedicated servers for Shattered Horizon. As the game is a PC exclusive we haven’t had to make any compromises. We can take the best of what the PC offers and make a game that offers the best experience on a PC. Everything, from the controls and the interface to the dedicated servers and our plans for free content expansions, has been designed for PC gamers who love FPS games. The response to this on the forums has been very encouraging. We are reading lots of comments from people who are excited to see a game that has been developed purely for the PC. Currently we are supplying dedicated server code to selected groups and partners but very soon we hope to release it to everybody. It just needs a bit of polish first.

TT: Any chance Futuremark will support mods for Shattered Horizon?

AS: Mods will be difficult for a long time because we are using our own engine and our own tools. I wouldn’t rule it out completely but developing comprehensive modding tools would be almost as big a task as making the game itself. We are very open with our community though and take an active role on our forums and elsewhere. There are plenty of ways for players to tell us what they would like to see and to influence the direction of the game. We are listening!

TT: What are your plans for downloadable content?

Our priority is to support the Shattered Horizon community with new content including new levels and the kind of multiplayer game content you'd expect. These content expansions will be free to all players. People who pre-ordered Shattered Horizon and a selected group of beta testers will be invited to help us test these new expansion packs before they become available to everyone else.

Involving the community like this worked really well for us during the closed beta. Features like Silent Running and The Arc level were added to the game as a direct result of beta tester feedback. We are really looking forward to working with our community to help shape the future of Shattered Horizon.

TT: Any idea on when we might see DLC come to fruition?

AS: We’ll be making an announcement about our plans for the first content expansion soon.

TT: Aside from extending Shattered Horizon, what’s next for FGS?

AS: We are now working full time on creating the first expansion pack for Shattered Horizon. We hope to develop and release more great games but supporting and growing Shattered Horizon is our priority.

TT: Much thanks to Antti for taking the time to answer our barrage of questions. You can check out our review of Shattered Horizon here. It's available now on Steam and at the Futuremark Store.

TRU-Jennifer: Are you considering dedicated servers for the PC gamer in the near future?

Mackey-IW: Our main focus right now is on making sure the game will work well when it is released (on all platforms).

Ryan-IW: With balancing weapons, we strive to make sure each weapon recoils close to how it would in the real world. A good amount of us here at IW go shoot regularly and have hours of range time. The recoil we have in game is reflective to that of real steel firearms.

Porschy: Will you guys ever rethink about making a possible dedicated server patch after the initial launch? BTW I LOVE U GUYS <3

Vince-IW: We feel the PC game is great in it's current form. We put a lot of work into IWnet in an effort to make the PC experience better for our users. If there is a need for somthing more in the future we will address as needed.

Ryan-IW: The one level that EVERYONE loved in Cod4, All ghuillied Up, Is there a level similiar to it? or better worded, is there a sniper level haha? On November 10th, you'll see what we have in store for you! It's gonna be one **bleep** of a ride.

rnrmusic55: you said IWnet was created to help stop piracy, what do you say about the Xbox 360 version leaked and shared on torrent sites?

Vince-IW: IWnet was designed to make the MP experience on PC easier and more balanced.

Stringarray: Will IW ever consider developing games on the PC to support dedicated servers, be it MW2 patches or future endeavors? Just curious if dedicated servers are on the radar anymore.

Mackey-IW: Our goal is to provide the best experience for our users, so nothing is ever "off the table". We are always evaluating our options.

thajuggaloz: Is there a possiblity IW will release Dedicated Servers in a future patch? I am in a large international COD clan and IWnet/9vs9 will be impossible for us as a group to play together.

Vince-IW: We can't predict the future... yet.

Mackey-IW: To sportfan91 We are currently focused on launching the game.

krm2014: Will the IWNET multiplayer system compensate for the undoubtly low ping that the host computer will have for the other players, or will the host have an advantage over the other players? Also, going back to clans...Is there a way to have more than 18 people in a server, because my clan has at least 100 members and we like to get 20-30 on our servers at the same time.

Mackey-IW: Games cap out at 9v9. The software has great latency tolerance. See above!

maniac1969: Vince, there are 178,000 voices that say you need dedicated servers for the PC. COD4 is the bigest online game in history! Why in the world would you take away dedicated servers and change the whole MP experience for us? And Mackey, the PC version with dedicated servers is already the best experience the way it is!

Vince-IW: All I can say is that we changed it to make it a better and easier experience. Also, not all of the names on that list are legit.

Mackey-IW: 402 signed it 4 times I heard.

kaRMa: Please give me a direct answer. On the PC version. Are all games hosted by players, and is there a 5 second delay when host migration is in effect?

Vince-IW: yes.

N2DEEP: I run lan parties for PC, how will you be able to lan without internet access and no dedicated servers as you could with cod4?

Mackey-IW: We can play at work on our lan by doing private match and there is no lag.

will0812: Do you honestly think you have improved the PC version with IW.Net, you cannot claim the gameplay is smoother, as dedicated servers are much more efficient.?

Mackey-IW: Yes, we believe MW2 is better than CoD4:MW. The reason iw.net exists is to improve the gameplay for our users.

As you can see, things aren't looking good for those hoping for IW to implement dedicated servers anytime soon.  They also didn't address the Party Chat feature for Xbox 360 users (though the question wasn't even brought up by the community, so IW isn't fully to blame).  While Infinity Ward pretty much avoided going into detail on every question dealing with dedicated servers, they didn't downright deny the possibility of future patches that might include them.  As always, time will tell...