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Feral Interactive product update (Macworld Expo)
U.K.-based publisher, Feral Interactive made the trip to this year's Macworld Expo, eager to sell its product to Mac gamers. The company's booth holds many kiosks showing Feral's latest -- or in-progress -- ports, including Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy, The Movies, and Imperial Glory.Feral head, David Stephen updated us on the status of its games; Lego Star Wars, Colin McRae Rally, and Fable: The Lost Chapters will ship this Spring. (A few technical glitches that delayed the latter two titles have recently been fixed.)Stephen is also excited about the newly shipped The Movies because of updates Feral was able to make to the PC version. For example, Mac gamers have more format options when exporting completed movies. Also, because Feral wanted Mac gamers to be able to share videos on the PC-game's Windows Media site, the Mac version includes a copy of Flip4Mac's WMV Studio -- normally a $50 utility -- to render in that Windows codec.
The Movies demo out from Feral
I haven't done much gaming in recent years, sad to say; my "sweet rig" was a vintage IIci and three wraparound monitors for Hellcats, my secret vices were Shanghai II and SimCity 3000, and I suppose my peak frag-power was back in the days of Marathon. I've clearly missed a lot of gaming advances, so it wasn't until I caught the video for Jonathan Coulton's iHit Code Monkey on the machinima talk show Tra5shTa1k that I first heard of The Movies. Wow. You can make a music video while playing a game? Where the heck have I been?You might think that a simulation of Hollywood filmmaking would appeal to right-brained creative-thinking Mac users, and apparently Feral Interactive thinks so too: the Mac port of The Movies is shipping now with a demo available for download. Be warned, the disk image weighs in at a nigh-unbelievable 800 megabytes. Perhaps it'd be easier to swing by Feral's booth at Macworld Expo (#4129) and play it there.[via Macworld]
Microsoft's Lionhead acquisition official
The GDC rumour mill had its finger on the pulse where Lionhead and Microsoft were concerned; Microsoft has acquired the British developer, beating out rumoured competition from EA and Ubisoft. It looks as though Microsoft were especially keen to grab Peter Molyneux -- they'll be putting his innovative approach to gaming to use on the Xbox 360 and Vista platforms. This is good news for the struggling Lionhead, although whether it will help Molyneux's games sell any better is yet to be seen. As far as the UK games industry is concerned, international acquisitions like this (and Rare's before it) are interesting -- while there will always be smaller guys going it alone, there's a short supply of big-name British developers who are staying home-grown.
Molyneux's Lionhead cuts staff, axes projects
Lionhead has confirmed recent job layoffs, downsizing its total staff from 250 to 200. The cutbacks also signal the end of some of the studio's current projects. Lionhead founder Peter Molyneux told remaining employees that only two titles, both for next-gen consoles, will continue to be developed. The sequel to Fable—said to be in development for the past year—is expected to be one of those games.Analysts have cited poor sales of Lionhead's most recent PC titles, The Movies and Black and White 2, as primary causes for the decision to resize the studio. Activision, publishers of The Movies, dropped the title last month, destroying hopes for a console port. In addition, rumors have begun heating up that Molyneux is again seeking to sell Lionhead. Microsoft and Ubisoft are the most prominent potential buyers. Although, Microsoft is likely wary of offering the big bucks given Rare's poor performance since the Xbox-maker acquired that studio for $375 million back in 2002.[Thanks, The1]
