Peter at the University of Southampton

Peter Molyneux OBE (born 5 May 1959 in Guildford, Surrey, UK) is a computer game designer and game programmer, responsible for well known "God games" Populous and Black & White, among others, as well as "Business Strategy" games such as Theme Park and most recently, The Movies. In August 1997 Peter left Bullfrog Productions to establish a new development team, Lionhead Studios. Molyneux was inducted into the AIAS Hall of Fame in 2004 and was honoured with an OBE in the New Year's Honours list announced on 31 December 2004. He was awarded the title of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in March 2007. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 455 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (778 × 1024 pixel, file size: 216 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 455 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (778 × 1024 pixel, file size: 216 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... The University of Southampton is a university situated in the city of Southampton, on the south coast of Great Britain. ... The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions; in decreasing order of seniority, these are Knight Grand Cross or Dame Grand Cross (GBE) Knight Commander... Events Rome acknowledges Cunobelinus, King of the Catuvellauni, as King of Britain. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Year 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... , For other places with the same name, see Guildford (disambiguation). ... Not to be confused with Surry. ... A computer game is a game composed of a computer-controlled virtual universe that players interact with in order to achieve a defined goal or set of goals. ... A game designer is a person who designs games. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Black & White is a computer game developed by Lionhead Studios and published by Electronic Arts. ... Theme Park is a simulation computer game designed by Bullfrog Productions, released in 1994, in which the player designs and operates an amusement park. ... The Movies is a simulation game created by Lionhead Studios for Microsoft Windows and subsequently ported to Apple Mac OS X by Feral Interactive. ... Bullfrog Productions was a UK computer game developer that was founded in 1987 by Les Edgar and Peter Molyneux, and was one of the entrepreneurs of video gaming. ... Lionhead Studios is a United Kingdom-based computer game development company led by industry veteran Peter Molyneux, and acquired by Microsoft Game Studios in April 2006. ... Since 1998, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) has annually inducted into its Hall of Fame video game developers that have made revolutionary and innovative achievements in the computer and video game industry. ... The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions; in decreasing order of seniority, these are Knight Grand Cross or Dame Grand Cross (GBE) Knight Commander... is the 365th day of the year (366th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of Arts and Literature) is an Order of France, established on May 2, 1957 by the Minister of Culture, and confirmed as part of lOrdre National du Mérite by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. ... March is the third month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ...

Lauded as one of the world's most brilliant and inventive game developers, Molyneux has nevertheless acquired a reputation for issuing over-enthusiastic descriptions of games under development, which are found to be somewhat less ambitious when released. The most well-known case of this was with the game Fable, released in 2004 without many of the features talked about by Molyneux in press interviews during development. After the release, Molyneux publicly apologized for overhyping the game^[1]. His role has also changed from designer and developer to more of a publicist and executive producer role. Though credited in part for lending his name to several recent projects, Molyneux is in fact not the principal designer of Fable, The Movies, or Black and White 2. Fable is a video game for Xbox. ...

On the 6th of April 2006, Lionhead Studios was bought by Microsoft and now forms part of the Microsoft Game Studios. At E3 2006 Peter Molyneux gave several interviews in the press, in which he stated that "now his Lionhead Studios is part of Microsoft, they're more independent than when they were an independent developer^[2]. Microsoft Corporation, (NASDAQ: MSFT, HKSE: 4338) is a multinational computer technology corporation with global annual revenue of US$44. ... Microsoft Game Studios (MGS), branded with current logo and moniker in 2002 (formerly the Microsoft Game Division or Microsoft Games), is a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft Corp. ...

In July 2007 he was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Science by the University of Southampton. D.Sc. ... The University of Southampton is a university situated in the city of Southampton, on the south coast of Great Britain. ...

Before Bullfrog

Peter Molyneux began his career in 1982 by distributing and selling floppy discs which contained video games for Atari and the Commodore 64. The company was called Tauras, which was founded by Molyneux in 1982. Little did he know, there was another company named Touras, only with an "o" instead of an "a". Molyneux figured this out when a computer company mistook his software for the other company's in 1983. However, Molyneux pretended he was the manager of that company after what he calls a "devil and angel" experience, with the two opposing forces on either side of his shoulders telling him to either tell the truth or pretend to be the other company. He decided to lie about being the president of Touras in order to earn extra money, although this eventually got him into trouble the following year^{[citation needed]}. After only two years, Molyneux's company Tauras declared bankruptcy in 1984. He would later remark on this experience with the Good Angel and Bad Devil material in Black & White. Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ... This article is about computer and video games. ... This article is about a corporate game company. ... The Commodore 64 is the best-selling single personal computer model of all time. ... Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar). ... Black & White redirects here. ...

In 1984, Molyneux began working independently after hearing about the popularity of video games, without realizing that that same year was "The video game crash of 1983" - the year when bad video games flooded the market. In spite of this, the computer video game industry was still doing fine, so that's when Molyneux decided to go into video game programming. His first attempt was a game called Entrepreneur, which was a simulation game about managing money and starting businesses. Year 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar). ... This article is about computer and video games. ... ET for the Atari 2600 is considered by many to be emblematic of the crash along with the Atari 2600 version of Pac-Man. ... For the sequel to the computer game Entrepreneur, which has no article of its own, see The Corporate Machine. ...

Peter appears on Bad Influence!, an early 90's ITV show about videogames.

At that point, the simulation game was a very rare genre that wasn't well known in a time when you could succeed in programming a game about stick figures. Molyneux thought his new idea would revolutionize the video game industry. He told his postman that he was expecting a lot of fan mail as soon as the game was released. Unfortunately, Entrepreneur didn't give him the success he wanted; instead he received just two letters from his mother congratulating him on his new video game. The game had only sold two copies, which of course were purchased by his mother. After 1984, Molyneux went back to the computer industry to create more floppy discs. Image File history File links BI_peter_m_shirt. ... Image File history File links BI_peter_m_shirt. ... Bad Influence! was a factual television programme shown on Children’s ITV that looked at video games and computer technology. ... Centuries: 1st century BC - 1st century - 2nd century Decades: 40s - 50s - 60s - 70s - 80s - 90s - 100s - 110s - 120s - 130s - 140s 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 Sometimes the 90s is used as shorthand for the 1990s, the 1890s, or other such decades in various centuries. ... For the sequel to the computer game Entrepreneur, which has no article of its own, see The Corporate Machine. ... Namcos Pac-Man was a hit, and became a universal phenomenon. ... Year 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar). ...

It wasn't until 1987 that he decided to re-approach the video game industry with the foundation of the company Bullfrog. Year 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays 1987 Gregorian calendar). ... Bullfrog Productions was a UK computer game developer that was founded in 1987 by Les Edgar and Peter Molyneux, and was one of the entrepreneurs of video gaming. ...

In this period, Peter worked with David Hanlon, Simon Hunter (game sound developers), and Andrew E. Bailey (game programming) on games like Druid and Dragons Breath.

Games

Pre-Bullfrog

• Entrepreneur (1984) (Designer/Programmer)

Year 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar). ...

Bullfrog Productions

• Fusion (1987) (Designer/Programmer)
• Populous (1989) (Designer/Programmer)
• Powermonger (1990) (Designer/Programmer)
• Populous II: Trials of the Olympian Gods (1991) (Designer/Programmer)
• Syndicate (1993) (Producer)
• Theme Park (1994) (Project Leader/Lead Programmer)
• Magic Carpet (1994) (Executive Producer)
• Hi-Octane (1995) (Executive Producer)
• Gene Wars (1996)
• Dungeon Keeper (1997) (Project Leader/Designer)
• Populous: The Beginning (1998)

Year 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays 1987 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar). ... Powermonger is a real-time strategy game developed by Bullfrog in 1990. ... Year 1990 (MCMXC) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar). ... Populous II: Trials of the Olympian Gods is a computer game in the Populous series for the Amiga and Atari ST computers, developed by Bullfrog Productions. ... Year 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the 1991 Gregorian calendar). ... The Syndicate series was a series of violent isometric science fiction computer games created by Bullfrog Productions. ... Year 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar). ... Theme Park is a simulation computer game designed by Bullfrog Productions, released in 1994, in which the player designs and operates an amusement park. ... Year 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar). ... Magic Carpet is a video game released by Bullfrog in 1994. ... Year 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar). ... Hi-Octane is a racing game released in 1995 for the IBM PC, Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn developed by Bullfrog and based upon their earlier Magic Carpet game code. ... Year 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full 1995 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ... Dungeon Keeper is a PC strategy game released by Bullfrog Productions in July 1997. ... Year 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1997 Gregorian calendar). ... Populous: The Beginning - is the third of the PC strategy god games of the Populous series, developed by by Bullfrog Productions in 1998, and often considered the definitive version. ... Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ...

Lionhead Studios

• Black & White (2001) (Concept/Design Leader/Programmer)
• Fable (2004) (Designer)
• Fable: The Lost Chapters (2005) (Designer)
• The Movies (2005) (Executive Designer)
• Black & White 2 (2005) (Lead Designer)
• The Movies: Stunts & Effects (2006) (Executive Designer)
• Black and White: Battle of the Gods (2006) (Lead Designer)

Black & White is a computer game developed by Lionhead Studios and published by Electronic Arts. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... Fable is a video game for Xbox. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Movies is a simulation game created by Lionhead Studios for Microsoft Windows and subsequently ported to Apple Mac OS X by Feral Interactive. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Black & White 2 is a video game developed by Lionhead Studios and published by Electronic Arts. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays full 2006 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays full 2006 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In development

• Fable 2
• An Unknown Project

Fable 2 is an upcoming role playing video game for the Xbox 360, in development by Lionhead Studios and will be published by Microsoft Game Studios. ...

Media fame

As one of the industry's leading and best-known figures, Peter has appeared on countless television shows while also being the "go-to" interviewee for any video gaming news discussion or documentaries. He's been repeatedly interviewed for shows that include: Gamesmaster, Game Over, Games Wars, Gamezville, Bad Influence!, Gamepad, CHEATS, Gamer.tv, Rapture, Games World, Blue Chip, LanJam, Ultimate Gamer and GameStars. These however are just the UK productions, and there are a huge host of international broadcast media outlets that have also interviewed Peter since Populous first debuted. This article is about the television series. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Gamezville was a computer games show broadcast on Sky One that ran for two series during the years 2003-2004. ... Bad Influence! was a factual television programme shown on Children’s ITV that looked at video games and computer technology. ... // Overview Gamer TV is one of the worlds longest running and best watched weekly television series about video games. ... Bob Mills and Dave Perry present The Eliminator in Series 3 of Games World. ...

Peter had an entire episode of G4's games retrospective series Icons devoted to him, during its third season. More recently, a comprehensive two part interview was filmed of him during the 2006 Brighton Games Developer Conference by leading UK website Eurogamer^[3]. G4 is an American cable and satellite television channel originally geared toward male viewers aged 12–34, devoted to the world of video games and the video game lifestyle. ... Icons is a documentary TV show on G4 that used to focus on the history of a video game franchise, a video game company, a video game genre, a video game character, a video game console, notable moment in video game history, or a notable person in the video game... Eurogamer homepage Eurogamer is a Brighton-based website focused on video games news and reviews. ...

An impersonation of Peter, performed as a recurring character by Consolevania cast member, Michael Hoffs.

He is also reportedly^[4] due to make a small cameo appearance within the forthcoming film Hot Fuzz, due to writer/director Edgar Wright being a huge fan of Peter's games; in particular Syndicate. Image File history File links C1. ... Image File history File links C1. ... Impersonation is when someone or something tries to seem like someone or something else. ... Consolevania is a video games TV show filmed in and around Glasgow, Scotland. ... Hot Fuzz is a 2007 British police action/comedy film written by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright and starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. ... Edgar Wright at Comic Con in San Diego Edgar Wright (born 18 April 1974 in Poole, Dorset) is an English film and television director. ... The Syndicate series was a series of violent isometric science fiction computer games created by Bullfrog Productions. ...

Peter has also been impersonated on the internet television show Consolevania by cast member Michael Hoffs. He first appeared in episode 1.4 and also showed up in the first season's Christmas Special. He is probably not set to re-appear as Michael has seemingly left the production. Consolevania is a video games TV show filmed in and around Glasgow, Scotland. ...

References

1. ^ Peter's apology for Fable's hype
2. ^ Kikizo interview
3. ^ Eurogamer's interview
4. ^ Report of appearance in Hot Fuzz

External links

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• Peter Molyneux on Bad Influence! - Early Magic carpet footage
• MobyGames' rap sheet on Molyneux
• The Worlds of Peter Molyneux from Wired.com
• Keeper Klan's article about Peter Molyneux
• Peter Molyneux's Fable - Interview with game designer Peter Molyneux about his Xbox game Fable from Geartest.com
• MP3 audio interview with Peter Molyneux from public radio show / podcast The Sound of Young America
• BBC News UK - Call of honour for UK games maker
• Joystiq interviews Peter Molyneux of Lionhead Studios
• NextGen Interview: How to Make Great Games
• A CVG interview excerpt about the other project
• photo: god talking to Peter Molyneux
• BBC Blast interview with Peter Molyneux