Movies in turnaround on consoles, to expand on PC
Post on Lionhead's site says the show might go on, however, Activision won't be in credits; PC expansion also alluded to.
The film and game industries have a lot in common: huge investments, huge risks, and huge potential profits. When things go awry, however, the film industry can always recoup in the home video market. Games, on the other hand, often live or die within their first month of release.
Had Activision had the chance, it would have sent its PC game The Movies straight to video. The game, which was lauded by critics, performed poorly in retail when it was released late last year. Consequently, during its earnings report, Activision announced that subsequent console versions of the game would be scrapped.
Now it appears that the game's developer, Lionhead Studios, isn't ready to close up shop on the console project. In a post on the official The Movies forums, a member of Lionhead's development team, known as "Sam," writes, "Activision will not be publishing the console version of The Movies, but that does not mean the project is dead."
Don't start popping popcorn yet--it doesn't mean that it's alive and kicking, either. Aside from Fable, Lionhead front man Peter Molyneux's games, which include Black & White and Populous, are largely designed with a PC interface in mind. PC-centric games such as The Sims have also seen the sales of their console counterparts fall off greatly--generally because the controls don't always translate well. After the poor retail showing of the PC version of The Movies, it would be a huge risk for a publisher to take on the console editions.
PC movie fans need not fear, though. Sam's post goes on to say that Lionhead is "as dedicated to The Movies as they've ever been; an expansion pack is currently in development (which will be announced very shortly), and we are continuing to support The Movies Online." No other details of the expansion were announced.
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Developer: Lionhead Studios
Genre: Business Strategy
Platform: PC
Release Date: Nov 8, 2005
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27 Comments
There making a new the movies game for the PS3, 360 and maybe wii......(08 or 09)
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AAAAARGH!!! Give me the console versions!
Ill do anything! (Except commit suicide or kill people or pay over 5000 Danish money)
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Most games don't even last 10-15 hours.
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I can understand that a big-time publisher would abandon a 3RD party project for its own sake. Lionhead Ltd. isn't a big developer, the only good game they made was Fable, black & white 2 was half-assed just like the mvies
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Fun for the first 10-15 hours? Well, that is better than most games that aren't even fun for the first 10-15 minutes.
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The Movies is exactly like Molyneux's other games - fun for the first 10-15 hours, enough to get the press to write great reviews. But the game is amazingly shallow. There's only 1 scenario for the tycoon mode, with no difficulty level. So once you finish, there's no point in playing again. You don't actually make movies, you simply splice together canned scenes. Unless you do voice overs yourselves, the actors recite the same line over and over (in 4 years they could only record 2-3 lines for each gender?).
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Good for the consoles if it does indeed come out on them, but I'm waiting for the expansion pack now!!
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Maybe if the expansion pack does well they can make the console version also I would like that.But I think I will just get the PC game just was never a fan of PC games.
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The Movies was good fun. And this news item is about the movies, it is not about fable, that despite missing certain promised things was still a solid game none the less, or about B&W. So basically every one who didn't play it should please just stop whining now!
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i glad and hopefully it comes to home systems.
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I always hate how people tear apart Lionhead because Fable wasn't what Molyneux said it would be. Its not the staff's fault that Molyneux got a little over anxious. Fable didn't have as many features as you'd hoped, get over yourself. Lionhead is a fine studio that is a fine counterpart to most games nowadays, they at least give you free choice in the matter.
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AW c'mon bring it to the 360!
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while LIONHEAD might've only had a few titles of note; you do realize that Molyneux and many of his staff in Lionhead go further back than just Lionhead (to be honest i'm thinking a lot of you don't)....and when you go back, they put out some of the best games on the PC. I don't think Molyneux is quite at Meier or Wright's level, but nonetheless.
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I still havent played it. the concept is very original, i have to get it and support them
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This game deserved better...
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I really respect Lionhead Studios, they are the developers of some great games. I think that it was very sad that the game "The Movies" was caned for the consoles. It's great that they are still supporting the project. I hope that they can include some cool features so they can make some profit from the game.
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What The Movies needs is more depth in its movie making. Give me more options on movie genres. Where is the Fantasy genre??? I want to make my own Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter movies. The management aspect was fine in the game. Now they need to make the actually moviemaking part of it deeper, more involved.
I think that the hokey way the movies actually play is what detracts from the game. I mean the movies that you make now are "cute" at best. Lionhead should remember that game geeks LOVE to modify, tweek and control every aspect of their games.
Casual games just play the Sims. Serious games make their Sims do their taxes.
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no idea what your talking about i've had more fun with the movies than any other game in a good long time
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this is great news i haven't played the full game yet only the demo but i loved it i hope it will live up to my expectations
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The Movies on the PC is very addictive, though the actual movie making is a bit underwhelming (the tycoon game rocks). I hope that this expansion pack can fix some of the movie making aspect, if only giving me much better scenes and stuff. Personally, I would love to see some fantasy sets in there.
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lion head WERE a good developer then there was a lot of faulse promises made for fable and not one of them was true, then they canceled a promising looking game B.C. then black and white 2 was a let down
tut tut
R.I.P lionhead
lest us remember the good times
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I hope that they redeem themselves in a later project because Black and White is their best game so far.
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i hope, since they arent doing console versions anymore, that they concentrate on fable 2.
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It's just like the movies . . . now if we can just get confirmation on Indiana Jones 4
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cool, I hope it comes to consoles.
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Funny thing Lionhead Studios is crappy developer anyway.
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[This message was deleted at the request of a moderator or administrator]
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