Ex-Lionhead staff defend Fable: The Journey
Lionhead’s Fable: The Journey is looking to be one of the more hardcore-focused Kinect titles released on Xbox 360, but not all gamers are happy with the motion-controlled switch in the latest edition of the series.
Ex-staff from the team have now stepped in to defend the title, which now finds itself without studio figurehead Peter Molyneux. Simon and Dene Carter, who recently left the studio to form indie dev Another Place have come to the game’s aid.
“It’s unfair that game’s getting a lot of stick,” Simon Carter said. “It looks great. What they’re trying to do, by marrying core gaming with Kinect, is obviously tricky. It’s a difficult control mechanism to get into core gaming. I think they’re doing a great job.”
“Why there can’t be room for a Kinect side spin-off of the Fable franchise I don’t know,” Dene Carter added. “That seems a bit odd. I can’t think of any good reason why that would not work. If this was a Mario thing for example, if this was a Mario shooter based on the Wii controller, nobody would go, ‘That’s a terrible thing. That should never have happened. That’s a betrayal blah blah blah vitriol vitriol.’
“But strangely enough Fable seems to be treated very differently from that. We all know it’s a franchise. We all know it’s a brand. The fact somebody wants to do something a bit different with that brand while we’re waiting for the next big game, that doesn’t seem like something people should get too angry about. If you don’t like it, don’t buy it.”
Seems simple enough.
“If they were talking about the core franchise, I would have an awful lot of time for that. It’s more the fact that they’re complaining about a different team doing something different based on the franchise. If it was called Black & White shooter I don’t think we’d have had the same level.”
Simon added: “When Mario Kart came out, nobody was going, what?! There’s no jumping! That’s not the next Mario game! What are you talking about Miyamoto! I hate you! I’m going to burn your house down and kill your children!”
The Journey doesn’t have a release date right now, despite being revealed all the way back at E3 last year.
Ex-staff from the team have now stepped in to defend the title, which now finds itself without studio figurehead Peter Molyneux. Simon and Dene Carter, who recently left the studio to form indie dev Another Place have come to the game’s aid.
“It’s unfair that game’s getting a lot of stick,” Simon Carter said. “It looks great. What they’re trying to do, by marrying core gaming with Kinect, is obviously tricky. It’s a difficult control mechanism to get into core gaming. I think they’re doing a great job.”
“Why there can’t be room for a Kinect side spin-off of the Fable franchise I don’t know,” Dene Carter added. “That seems a bit odd. I can’t think of any good reason why that would not work. If this was a Mario thing for example, if this was a Mario shooter based on the Wii controller, nobody would go, ‘That’s a terrible thing. That should never have happened. That’s a betrayal blah blah blah vitriol vitriol.’Seems simple enough.
“If they were talking about the core franchise, I would have an awful lot of time for that. It’s more the fact that they’re complaining about a different team doing something different based on the franchise. If it was called Black & White shooter I don’t think we’d have had the same level.”
Simon added: “When Mario Kart came out, nobody was going, what?! There’s no jumping! That’s not the next Mario game! What are you talking about Miyamoto! I hate you! I’m going to burn your house down and kill your children!”
The Journey doesn’t have a release date right now, despite being revealed all the way back at E3 last year.
