Im not saying anything, says Lionhead boss Peter Molyneux, moments before a bout of verbal diarrhoea regarding Dimitri. Youve got to love the man.
This time his boundless enthusiasm has lead him to what he believes is a new dawn in AI. Since Black & White, weve been thinking a lot about AI, said Molyneux. Lionhead was founded with that thought of AI in mind. In terms of the core or the theory of the AI, weve moved from Black & White onto a project called Dimitri, which Ive been tantalising you about for a long time.
Tantalising is right. We still know very little regarding what Dimitri actually is, apart from the overarching concept that it allows the player to relive their individual life, which, on the face of it, sounds like some bizarre Zen torture method.
Dimitri was always an experimental thing, which is why I never showed it. And then it moved from that experiment to a moment in time that happened six months ago when a discovery was made, and this discovery has been so exciting that it has lead to Lionhead focusing on it and sculpting a game around that.
I think that discovery is so significant, he continues. This discovery has led us to start a game and that game will be on the front cover of Nature magazines and Science magazines.
Bold claims indeed. Molyneux himself is prone to making very large statements early on in development and falling short with the end product, so its best taking what he says with a pinch of salt. But I hope he keeps doing it.
The way I see it, its rather refreshing to see the boundaries always being pushed when so many of the big releases are in fact sequels, spin offs, or (increasingly) revivals. So carry on Peter, carry on.