Molyneux Lays Out Next-Gen Combat at Leipzig

Lionhead Studios founder and notorious self-promoter Peter Molyneux gave a speech today at the Leipzig games convention concerning the evolution of in-game combat in the coming console generation. 1up.com reports that Molyneux sited Street Fighter II as the base model for combat mechanics in games over the past fifteen years, necessitating that an action game avatar have a life meter and be capable of super-human attacks. Molyneux suggested that next-gen combat should incorporate dynamic character reactions to their environment and context sensitive actions. He then showed a demonstration running on the engine from Lionhead’s infamous Xbox role-playing game Fable that included a fight on a stairwell exemplifying environmental influences on an avatar’s moves. Molyneaux insisted that this test footage was not in fact a demonstration of the Xbox 360 sequel, Fable 2.