Lionhead’s reliably quotable boss-man, Peter Molyneux, has been speaking his brains to the BBC. There’s not much to quicken the pulse in 2009, he reckons.

Starting on a more positive note, though, and Mr. Molyneux selects a number of highlights from the preceding 12 months, most notably the Wii which “got even better, more than anyone really thought when it first launched.” The Xbox 360 is also singled out for his lofty praise even, as he rightly comments, it was “put into the shade somewhat” by Nintendo’s console. Meanwhile he has but one word to say about the Playstation 3. “Disappointing.”

Moving on and Molyneux picks his gaming highlights of 2008. “GTA IV was a real moment for the industry. Rockstar nailed how you characterise a game and their engine and cut sequences are state of the art,” he says, adding, “However, only a few people actually saw all the cut sequences because the game was so tough to play. Are we making games too difficult? That's a question the industry has been asking itself of late.”

Media Molecule’s LittleBigPlanet gets a shout out too: “One of my personal favourites was Little Big Planet; superb artistry and a fantastic marketing job by Sony - yet it didn't make the numbers.” Which is all true enough, sadly, and leads Molyneux to question whether Christmas is really a sensible time to risk releasing anything other than a sequel. Fair point.

And so to 2009: “…well, it's all looking a bit dry. All the triple A titles came out this Christmas and while there is stuff in 2010 we can look forward to, off the top of my head I cannot think of anything next year that really excites me,” says Molyneux, miserably, and apparently ignoring of the (admittedly sequel-tastic) bounty in store this year - Street Fighter IV, Resident Evil 5, Bionic Commando, and that’s just Capcom’s lineup for this quarter!

But, concluding more cheerily, Molyneux thinks that game prices will come under increasing pressure in 09 (weren’t they already cheap enough this Xmas?) and says that his own Lionhead Studios might announce a “super-secret” project this year. The big tease…