G-pinions

Shock of all shocks. Turns out that the two most interesting things at GDC this year were PC games, not half-assed next-gen news or a somewhat underwhelming new Zelda trailer. Usually, you'd sooner find me scalding my retinas with hot coffee than playing or talking about PC games (maybe I'm just mad that I can't play Half-Life 2), but these are worth hearing about (and they could potentially be console games too). The first one comes from everyone's man-of-sheer-ambition, Peter Molyneux. Playing Molyneux's games are can be likened to ordering a pizza; having the person at the pizzeria describe exactly how and why it's going to be the best pizza ever made, a whole new kind of pizza even, and then having Lou Malnati's arrive at your door. It's really good goddamn pizza, but hell, it's still pizza. Read the whole article I linked to if you like, but please pay special attention to the last bit, the one about a project of his called "The Room". It's basically just a tech demo as it stands, but it seems like the type of thing that could be turned into a really fascinating "game". The kind of thing I expect some next-gen software to play around with, not just the same old ferret with a glossy new coat. Give it a read.

The second game comes from Sim-everything creator Will Wright. While The Sims might not be a particularly great game to everyone, you're a blathering moron if you don't respect it as incredibly forward-thinking game design. And, as usual, it seems his ambitions have grown exponentially larger with his newest project, Spore. So damn big, in fact, that there's no way I can summarize it into a couple of sentences. Just read the article. It's the kind of thing that makes your expectations for games grow just from reading about it. If he can pull it off, and I have little doubt, it could mark the the first big step in game design in quite some time. If not the biggest step ever. The way he envisions it's use of the internet - just brilliant. Just...read the article.