Legendary game designer Peter Molyneux feels sorry for Denis Dyack of Too Human fame, saying he’s been in Dyack’s position and knows how easily pre-release publicity can spin out of control.
Dyack, president of Silicon Knights, has attracted a considerable amount of attention to himself recently, much of it negative. In response to heavy criticism of the oft-delayed Too Human, which was originally unveiled at the 1999 E3, Dyack posted a message on the NeoGAF forum claiming he had such great faith in the game that he would allow his account to be tagged “Owned by GAF” if it failed to succeed.
In July, Dyack followed up that move by saying in a 1Up Yours podcast that gaming forums are damaging to the industry in the long run, a comment which failed to endear him to users on NeoGAF and other forums. He also managed to raise eyebrows across the industry by suing Epic Games over what he claimed was a misrepresentation of the capabilities of the Unreal Engine 3 and Epic’s refusal to properly support it.
But in an interview with VideoGamer.com, Molyneux expressed support for Dyack, saying his own experience in similar circumstances gives him a unique perspective on Dyack’s actions. Calling Too Human a “good game,” he said, “What I realize over time is that talking about a game before it’s released is a dangerous game. You can just say a few things wrong and then it’s like an avalanche.”
“I feel sorry for Denis Dyack because you know, I think a few things were said wrong, there was that really unfortunate showing at E3 a few years ago. Everyone got on the bandwagon of saying things about Too Human,” he continued. “Now I’ve played it and, you know, it’s a good game. It doesn’t deserve a lot of that harsh criticism. But as soon as something starts it’s very hard to turn the tide and pull it back again. Unless you’ve got something in your back pocket to say, ‘Aha, but what about this?’ then it’s really really tough.”
Too Human is set for release on August 19. VideoGamer’s full interview with Peter Molyneux can be read here.
