Peter Douglas Molyneux is a world famous games designer, programmer and entrepreneur most famous for founding seminal games developing company Bullfrog which stormed the 16-Bit computers of the early 90's.
Although starting life as a coder Peter is most known for his concepts and managerial skills and has directed the development of countless classic home computer games which have been ported to many systems.
Peter smashed the scene with the ground breaking God game Populous in 1989. The game was a hit as you the player takes control of an entire civilisation and do with it what you will. The game was followed up by the equally popular Powermonger in 1990 what was a similar game to Populous but with more focus on battle and strategy. Both games had lashings of atmosphere and were great ways to lose a day or two.
Molyneux followed up with Populous II: Trials Of The Olympian Gods in 1991 but it was 2 years later that he broke the mould once again with the seminal assassination game Syndicate.
Syndicate was an isometric real time tactical murder simulator and it was amazing! The game saw you take control of 4 Cyborgs made from kidnapped civilians who have been programmed to do your dirty work. As the head of a multinational corporation playing dirty is the name of the game and these employees are just the ticket for taking out targets, kidnapping valuable assets and generally causing chaos for your rivals. The game's visuals took heavy influence from Ridley Scott's 1983 film Blade Runner and the look is so bang on that you actually feel like you are in that world. Syndicate was also extremely violent for its time. Gunning down a running target or setting fire to an innocent civilian then watching them run around screaming in agony was just too delicious a concept to resist.
In 1997 Peter left Bullfrog to found Lionhead studios who's first, and most famous title was Black & White and the later the brilliant Fable. Peter stayed with the Lionhead for 15 years as well as becoming Creative Director of Microsoft Game Studio before leaving to found a new studio 22Cans with former Lionhead Studios CTO Tim Rance
Peter Molyneux has received numerous awards and accolades over the years including being inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Hall of fame in 2004 and was honoured with an OBE in the New Year's Honours list announced on 31 December 2004.
In July 2007, he was awarded an honorary degree of by Southampton University and in March 2011 he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Game Developers Choice Awards. To further add to his achievements Peter also received a BAFTA fellowship at the 2011 British Academy Video Games Awards.
He often appears in games programmes and documentaries and speaks regularly at retro games conventions.
Not too shabby!
Although starting life as a coder Peter is most known for his concepts and managerial skills and has directed the development of countless classic home computer games which have been ported to many systems.
Peter smashed the scene with the ground breaking God game Populous in 1989. The game was a hit as you the player takes control of an entire civilisation and do with it what you will. The game was followed up by the equally popular Powermonger in 1990 what was a similar game to Populous but with more focus on battle and strategy. Both games had lashings of atmosphere and were great ways to lose a day or two.
Molyneux followed up with Populous II: Trials Of The Olympian Gods in 1991 but it was 2 years later that he broke the mould once again with the seminal assassination game Syndicate.
Syndicate was an isometric real time tactical murder simulator and it was amazing! The game saw you take control of 4 Cyborgs made from kidnapped civilians who have been programmed to do your dirty work. As the head of a multinational corporation playing dirty is the name of the game and these employees are just the ticket for taking out targets, kidnapping valuable assets and generally causing chaos for your rivals. The game's visuals took heavy influence from Ridley Scott's 1983 film Blade Runner and the look is so bang on that you actually feel like you are in that world. Syndicate was also extremely violent for its time. Gunning down a running target or setting fire to an innocent civilian then watching them run around screaming in agony was just too delicious a concept to resist.
In 1997 Peter left Bullfrog to found Lionhead studios who's first, and most famous title was Black & White and the later the brilliant Fable. Peter stayed with the Lionhead for 15 years as well as becoming Creative Director of Microsoft Game Studio before leaving to found a new studio 22Cans with former Lionhead Studios CTO Tim Rance
Peter Molyneux has received numerous awards and accolades over the years including being inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Hall of fame in 2004 and was honoured with an OBE in the New Year's Honours list announced on 31 December 2004.
In July 2007, he was awarded an honorary degree of by Southampton University and in March 2011 he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Game Developers Choice Awards. To further add to his achievements Peter also received a BAFTA fellowship at the 2011 British Academy Video Games Awards.
He often appears in games programmes and documentaries and speaks regularly at retro games conventions.
Not too shabby!
 | Striding forth from his lair at Castle Stareskull on morning, Prototron decided to not reign down terror on the villagers, but instead go back inside, crack open a beer and load up Streets Of Rage 2. One hundred years later, he's still there. A avid music maker (of TERROR!) and retro gamer, he can be found whooping any and all heroes at all manner of SNK-based challenges. |
