News Molyneux wants critics to do him a favour

It's a gaming conspiracy! I demand an investigation.... that will end up getting lost in the system for 10yrs and the final results will show the non-gamer was Colonel Mustard in the library with the PC.

 

I wonder if he said that because he knows that the game is going to suck.

 

It is a pre-emptive strike against reviews as he knows thet game will be like Fable 1, a dissappointment and not anything mroe then a mainstream Average RPG for kids.

 

lol, isn't that what I said?

 

Yes, and your point?

 

I feel this is stupid to be honest.

To compare, lets take a car.

It is advertised to be the best car ever developed, it has sports appeal, speed cornering and is easy to drive?

Would you trust a review from a 18 or 16 year old kid who just got his license?

or

A professional racing driver with years of experience on many different cars and has actually raced?

Both would apply, the kid could judge his appeal and taste but cant really argue the racing part because he cant compare it to many other cars out there because it is his first experience.

Both points will count, but with Fable there is an audience that have played many games and they will judge the game based on their previous experiences of what works and what does not.

There are sites that offer conflicting reviews and opinions from lets say a FPS player and a Strategy player.

 

A non-gamer is only so until they are introduced to a game. People like us will read the review and be able to recommend it to family members who traditionally shun computer gaming.

Don't forget that many people are drawn into the market (who traditionally do not play on computers/consoles) as casual gamers by titles such as Peggle.

 

I enjoyed Fable on the PC and I am 29, I finished it twice, this is the whole thing about games, your experience does not count to me, I am the only one that can say if it was worthwhile or not, I have bought so many games that was stated as awesome and yet I lost interest after a few hours.

or

Games that was given low scores and yet I enjoyed every moment it offered. It depend on you at that point in time, how is your state of mind at the point you start, sometime putting a game down and revisiting it after a year gives you a whole more.

 

Why would I care what someone who doesn't play games thinks of it? Of what importance are the opinions of people who aren't part of the target audience?

Or perhaps Molyneux is attempting the digital equivalent of trying to sell cars to 12 year olds.

 

Hmm A non gamer to review eh?
I thought this was on the xbox not the Wii, the spiritual home of the non gamers.

Surely this is hardly the game to drag in a "non gamer" to play games? Someone walking though a store will hardly spot this out of the corner of their eye and go " You know what, I WILL try this! after purchasing a console to play it on! "
The guy hasn't really made a Great game since Dungeon Keeper, some good games yes, just no GREAT games

 

@ Nictron.

You sir make a fine point.

 

Ah the danger of analogies, as it's hard to tell exactly how deep they are meant to be taken. What about if the car in question was advertised as the best mini-van ever developed? Reliability, Safety, and fuel economy. Do you trust a review from a 23yr old mother of 3, or do you still want the professional racing driver?

It all comes down to a question of audience: who is the audience for the game? and who is the audience for the review? Is Fable II being marketed as more of a sports car, or a mini-van? Should a review only be for the audience of readers, or should it try to aim for a broader assessment of the quality of the game.

I'm guessing Peter's comments are more about the variety of the game (and the "open world" concept that it contains). They may have found that most "core" gamers all play the game largely the same way (so it won't feel that open, or full of variety). But only when you see a non-traditional gamer play it, do you see the larger potential of gameplay experiences.

If your review is designed to be an assessment of the games intrinsic quality, then you certainly have to try and look at it through a variety of viewpoints. But if it's just "what will the readers of my site think of this game", then you don't. A reviews purpose, and thus it's content, can vary widely based on the goals of the reviewer and the audience who is reading it. So it makes sense that the content then can vary significantly also.

 

What you should do is indeed have a non-gamer review it, but also have them make a comparison with another game in the genre (you choose) and see how they like that one.
I can see the charm in a game with a low threshold so many people can enjoy it, but if there isn't anything more to it, I'd say he failed.
Thing is, many non-gamers find all the movie tie-in games magnificent, think about that.

 

lol, good point.

 

This is almost admit that the game won't be that great...

If this game is not for gamers, what is it for? Plants? Amoebas?

 

Molyeux once again proves is is a crack pot full of himself. Maybe hes bitter because he cannot make a great game so he settles for watered down mainstream filler.

 

The point is that Molyneux has just created even more buzz than had he not said this....that's how he works.....

 

That's ridiculous. The review is meant to reflect a certain perspective, which is both subjective to the individual and subject to the general type of gamer.

Obviously Molyneux recognises this, but the point is that a 'hardcore' gamer wants a hardcore perspective; a perspective that will most likely mirror their own, so they can judge whether or not they would enjoy the game based on the review.

One turns to different publications for different perspectives. A hardcore gamer might read a review on a site like bit-tech which they expect to approach the game from a similar perspective as their own. On the other hand, the person who's never played games before is unlikely to be reading a site like this. In fact, the person who's never played a game before is unlikely to be looking for game reviews!

 

Actually I think Paul Van Dyk played a concert for the deaf in London. It's just a matter of enough volume, so You can "feel" the music.

But I get Your point.

It's like asking a 10 year old to review a brothel. Bet you a cookie he's in over his head. ;-)

 

I'm reinstalling Populous. Just wanted to say.