Fable 3 Message Board

We're not sure who was responsible for controlling the Fable 3 Comic-Con show floor demo shown in the video below, but whoever it was should be ashamed. Not because of all the peasant murder, mind you -- we've all done that -- but for executing the most aggressive flatulence attack we've ever seen.

Despite "generally favorable reviews," there were quite a few people out there who had some serious problems with Fable 2. And to hear Lionhead's Peter Molyneux talk at the Develop Conference in Brighton today, he's one of them.

Molyneux's hour long on-stage presentation of Fable 3 included a veritable smorgasbord of self-deprecating remarks about the problems in the first two Fable games that would be fixed or mitigated in the threequel. For instance, Molyneux lambasted his studio for throwing way too many unnecessary features into Fable 2, even citing a study showing that most people didn't use more than 60% of the available features. Even when a feature was used, Molyneux said, it was often only used once and didn't factor into the larger game enough. For example, "most people did get married, but it didn't mean anything, it was just an excuse to have sex," he said. At one point Molyneux likened Fable 2 to "designing a car with 300 buttons on dashboard when you only need a steering wheel."

If you thought the amount and variety of spoken dialogue in Fable 2 was ridiculous, then the voice statistics Lionhead is targeting for Fable 3 will... um... also seem ridiculous to you.

Speaking at the Develop Conference in Brighton, Lionhead Audio Producer Georg Becker mentioned that the upcoming title would feature about 80 actors speaking over 460,000 recorded words, representing a full 47 hours of speech in the final game. For context, Becker estimated Fable 2 had a mere 50 voice actors speaking a paltry 370,000 words over a laughably short 36 or 37 hours of speech.

Lionhead's latest Fable 3 video depicts an epic fight against a pack of wolves who are endangering a young girl's life, in which the hero transitions effortlessly between the sword, gun, and magic combat styles. Although, given the sheer power at the hero's command, it comes off a lot more like a massacre of some helpless animals.

Peter Molyneux, the king around Lionhead Studios and Microsoft Games Studios' European creative director, told GI.biz that the company is "driving" for Fable 3 to sell more than 5 million copies and make profit "in excess" of $150 million. Molyneux expressed the reasoning behind the parameter: "We have to do that because if a franchise doesn't reach that level it will inevitably wither." Hmmm, "wither" sounds like a long process. Can we still get Fable 4 even if it doesn't hit that mark?

In response to the "massively successful" nature of Fable 2's episodic release, Fable 3 will also release in an episodic format "soon after the retail launch." The first chapter, which is approximately an hour of the game, will be entirely free. You can then purchase the next episode -- for "an extra 2-5 or whatever dollars" -- or the whole game. Molyneux claims the first episode of Fable 2, which released about a year after the game's launch, reached 1.6 million downloads and "$15 million in contribution margins."

One of the most impressive things about Fable 3 isn't the redesigned menu system (it's a room!), the path from revolutionary to royalty (it's like two games in one!), or even the "touch" mechanic (drag a hobo to his death!); instead, it's the release window: this year. For those of you keeping track, that's just two years and five days after the release of Joystiq's 2008 game of the year, which Peter Molyneux told us is a new experience for him.

"A very unique thing about Fable 3," Molyneux said, "is it's been developed in two years. At both Lionhead and Bullfrog, I've never done a game in two years before." And what that means is that Fable 3 looks a lot like Fable 2. But before you run off, screaming something about "sequelitis" and the "creative bankruptcy of the video game industry" we want to be clear: While I, and most of the Joystiq staff, loved Fable 2, we can all agree it would have benefitted from some refinement.

How many things can you spy in the Fable 3 E3 trailer? Spell combinations, new melee maneuvers and ... is that naval combat? Watch for the Fable-y goodness. Stay for the John Cleese.

Ready to drag some slaves back into your dungeon, Fable-style? Well, you'd better be, 'cause Fable 3 is heading to Xbox 360 and PC on October 26. Peter Molyneux hit the stage at this morning's Microsoft press conference and let the release date slip. We'd love to tell you more, but frankly, there's not much else to say. We'll have a new trailer for you (featuring dog grabbing, no joke) just as soon as Microsoft hands it over.

This morning, Microsoft officially announced that Fable 3 will be heading to the PC as well as the Xbox 360, confirming news derived from last week's accidental box art reveal. Standard and "Limited Collector's" editions were also detailed -- for $59.99 and $79.99, respectively -- with the latter coming with several in-game and physical items (seen in full after the break).

Since the Windows iteration will only be available in the standard version at retail (for just $50, might we add) and downloadable "exclusively" through Games for Windows Live Marketplace, all PC players will be able to access the extra quest, region, and dog breed that come with the Xbox 360's collector's edition. Between now and the game's fall release, why not take a look through these exciting retail mockups below in our gallery? Oooh!

This morning, Microsoft officially announced that Fable 3 will be heading to the PC as well as the Xbox 360, confirming last week's accidental box art reveal. Standard and "Limited Collector's" editions were also detailed -- for $59.99 and $79.99, respectively -- with the latter coming with several in-game and real life items (seen in full after the break).

Since the Windows iteration will only be available in the standard version at retail (for $10 less at $50, might we add) and downloadable "exclusively" through Games for Windows Live Marketplace, it's unclear whether PC players will be able to access the extra quest, region, and dog breed that come with the Xbox 360's collector's edition. Rather than worry yourself with that, though, why not take a look through these exciting retail mockups below in our gallery. Oooh!

"Dudes, this box art rules!" We would have been satisfied to leave it at that after sharing Fable 3's regal cover art with you, had it not been for the curious stamp at the top: "Only on Xbox 360 & Windows."

Since this official Microsoft-provided art has now been retracted (from Game Press), you're either looking at an elaborate labeling error or an accidental announcement of Fable 3 heading to PC. The former seems likely, but we'll do our best to be royal pains and keep bugging Microsoft for a proper answer. At the time of writing, neither Microsoft US nor Microsoft UK had responded to our calls.

We can't imagine anybody being a better butler than John Cleese. It's not that we've always pictured a life of indentured servitude for the man -- we're just excited by the prospect of hanging out with him in Fable 3. After you've seen the latest Lionhead dev diary, you'll wish you had your own, luxurious Jasper immediately.

Oh, there's also talk of the game's new 3D graphical interface -- but is that played by John Cleese? We thought not.

You may not have been too disappointed that Fable 2 wasn't full of animals (filthy, stinking animals), but Lionhead's Lead Artist John McCormack was, and he tells Beauty of Games that he's making up for it with the next game. "The lack of animals in the Fable franchise is always something that has bothered me," he says, and so in Fable 3, "we've built bats, crows, rabbits, ducks, robins, vultures, lizards, rats, butterflies, moths, insect swarms, dogs, fireflies, geese and we even started on a cow."

Rest assured that animals won't be the only new part of the experience, though -- McCormack also says his team is hard at work on incorporating the new Industrial aesthetic into the game's buildings, morphed weapons and NPCs as well. He says he's not sure whether all of those animals will eventually make it into the finished product, but obviously we hope so -- vultures need to be Touched, too.

Maybe you thought that the Fable 3 voice cast couldn't get any classier, you'd be wrong. But how, you ask? The game already packs the wonderful John Cleese and the inimitable Stephen Fry, you say. Well, guess what? Ben Kingsley, that's what. Oscar-winning, Gandhi-playing, Ben Kingsley. The actor informed CVG that he'll be portraying the "king of Mist Peak," whom Kingsley described as "a wonderful wizard character." He added that acting in video games is "very demanding."

And with that, maybe it's time to forgive Mr. Kingsley for Bloodrayne. Then again, maybe we should wait to see how that Prince of Persia movie turns out.

Still not sold on Fable 3 as an iterative improvement over the last game in the series? Well, you might just change your mind when you hear about the game's latest feature, which was recently revealed in the latest Official Xbox Magazine: When you're not busy building a monarchy and roaming the wild landscape of Albion, you'll "be able to enjoy, ahem, intimate moments with your co-op friend and eventually produce offspring together," according to the mag.

We hope this isn't another one of those "no, really, the trees will grow" scenarios, because this is quite possibly the sexiest thing we've ever heard. Sure, it might lead to some horrifically awkward Xbox Live voice messages, but its raw sexiness is undeniable.

It's a beautiful day to be a Joystiq reader and a fan of Peter Molyneux. After years of extensive testing and the (as it turns out, unnecessary) deaths of millions of lab animals, we've finally perfected the Peter Molyneux Quote Realisticator 2007 (sorry about the name, we had to delay it a few times). So now, when Peter Molyneux tells IGN that Fable 3 will feature "the greatest cast that any computer game has ever had," you know it's the equivalent of a regular person saying, "Fable 3 has a pretty darn good cast."

Actually, we're a little surprised his praise is so mild. John Cleese as your butler? Stephen Fry as Reaper? What does it take to impress you, man?

During a one-on-one conversation with writer Frank Rose at South by Southwest titled "The Emotion Engine: Can a Video Game Speak to the Heart?," Lionhead's Peter Molyneux offered some early details on the episodic potential of Fable 3, citing the serial nature of Charles Dickens' novels.

He began by comparing Fable 3's industrial setting to the mid-19th century setting of Charles Dickens' London, calling it a "brilliant time to set a game." "You look at the characters and the world that someone like Charles Dickens developed and you think, 'Well, it would be brilliant to feel like you're walking through that Dickensian version of London with a little bit of darkness.' Those novels, if you don't know them, are very, very dark," Molyneux explained. "They're written in a way that breaks the story up into these episodes. So why don't we do a similar sort of thing?"

Though Molyneux told Joystiq just last week that Fable 2's episodic experiment had been "massively successful," he stopped short of promising similar functionality for Fable 3; however, yesterday, he seemed to suggest they would be doing just that. "So what we're thinking with Fable 2 to start off with, and with Fable 3, we're going to give you the first big episode and then allow you to continue to download new episodes," Molyneux said. "And that's analogous to the way Charles Dickens wrote his books."

Asked if he would be developing these episodes "as you go along," Molyneux responded, "This is the new world of computer games where in fact, a lot of us are now saying, is, 'If we can have a really strong digital relationship with people then that means you don't have to entirely finish your game or your universe or your experience on release.'" Now, before you get upset, appreciate that Molyneux knows how "strange and bizarre" that sounds, so he's got two examples to help you better understand.

Peter Molyneux lives a fearful life. Ever since he promised the moon and failed to deliver with the original Fable, he has been relentlessly trailed by PR ninjas. We were expecting a special Fable 3 reveal during GDC, and Molyneux obliged, but not before checking with PR. During the Fable 3 panel at GDC, Molyneux said that people have referred to Fable as a "Monty Python-esque" game, and so Lionhead decided to recruit John Cleese himself to play your butler in Fable 3.

He noted that Lionhead has record a "vast amount of AI dialogue" for Cleese, whose job as the butler is to "big you up, in a slightly sarcastic way." Unfortunately, Molyneux stated that the rights for Cleese's voice hadn't been secured "just yet," so we didn't get to see Cleese implemented in the demo. He's definitely a perfect fit for Fable though, and we can only thankful that he hasn't run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible.

There was an interesting moment during the Q&A session of Peter Molyneux's Fable 3 panel at GDC this year. When asked if Fable 3 will be released on PC, Molyneux was cagey though he did say that he would 'love' to see the game appear on the platform. He was careful not to raise the ire of Microsoft's "PR police people ... with sniper rifles," but went on to state, "I can say, mystically, that I love the PC." He continued, "I love what's happening to the PC, and I would love to see the Fable franchise on the PC." He concluded that he would want to make sure it was "a truly amazing experience on the PC and that, you know, it's brilliant."

Hardly a confirmation of any actual plans for a PC version of Fable 3 -- and it should be noted that Fable 2 has remained exclusive to the Xbox 360 since 2008 -- but it's clear that Lionhead would jump at the opportunity if given the chance.

Speaking during GDC, Peter Molyneux highlighted Lionhead's strategy for Fable 3, specifically noting that a franchise will die if it fails to grow. "If we don't grow as a franchise, If Fable doesn't get bigger as a franchise," said Molyneux, "then it will eventually die." Lionhead is "very happy" with the success of Fable so far, with Molyneux stating that the original Fable sold "about 3 million" copies, while Fable 2 moved approximately 3.5 million.

He added that he hopes that 25-30 percent more people will play Fable 3, explaining Lionhead's plans to craft Fable 3 as more of an action-adventure title -- a genre which tends to perform better than RPGs. The overall goal for Lionhead is to sell more than five million copies of Fable 3. According to Molyneux, Fable 3 needs to sell that many in order to "be part of the big boys, the big blockbusters."

How will Lionhead rope in that many new customers? Read our full coverage of the Fable 3 GDC panel to find out.

click to visit the new Albion
Peter Molyneux has made it clear that Fable 3 is ditching as much of the 2D interface from Fable 2 as possible. Speaking at GDC, he finally showed us exactly how Lionhead will achieve this. According to Molyneux, Microsoft user research revealed that a majority of Fable 3 players understood fewer than half of the features in the game. "We're creating content that people literally don't care about," said Molyneux.

To help rectify this, Fable 3's menu system is managed entirely from within the game world. When players pause the game, their character is instantly warped to a chamber with different rooms that serve different functions. Molyneux specifically demonstrated the dressing room, where players will change clothes. Molyneux contrasted the process with that of Fable 2, in which changing outfits was like "going in the morning and choosing index cards to choose what you wear."

During his panel at GDC 2010, Lionhead's Peter Molyneux revealed that Fable III will include some form of Twitter support. Molyneux discussed the game's experience system, noting that the most important thing in Fable III is to acquire followers. We've heard that before, but then Molyneux said he was going to give the audience a "clue" about a new feature, but that he wasn't allowed to say more. Said Molyneux, "I Twitter now and, you know, I've got followers on Twitter. That's an interesting mechanic, and we integrate that into the Fable experience."

True to his word, Molyneux didn't drop any further hints, but considering that followers are akin to experience points in Fable III, we're assuming @conanobrien will soon rule us all.

Remember when Lionhead and Microsoft decided to make the collector's edition of Fable II much, much less appealing by removing the sweet little Hobbe figure? Now is your chance to make that right, thanks to a Fable III merchandising survey posted by Lionhead. The survey asks users to rate different categories of merchandise, based on how much said merchandise is desired. Do you want book? Coffee mugs? A nice T-shirt, perhaps?

Of course, the answer is no. You don't want those things. What you want is collectible Hobbe figurines. Preferably with mix-and-match accessories. Also, just remember that we would never influence our readers for personal gain. Now go ask Lionhead for some Hobbes.

If there's one thing we could've used in Fable 2, it would've been a more fleshed-out co-op system. Sure, we could see our friend's orbs floating about Albion and we could even invite them to play as a one-off character in our world, albeit one unable to collect experience or have any lasting impact on our game. As you might image, Lionhead's head lion Peter Molyneux is ready to deliver just that in Fable 3. Molyneux told the 4Guys 1UP podcast: "I heard you all about co-op. You want to have your own hero come into the world. Okay, fine, you can have that definitely."

Detailing the system further, he admits that the player's dog and weapons will also be available in co-op. "When you come into my world, you come in as your hero, with your dog, with all your unique weapons, self-crafted weapons. I heard you -- you don't wanna be tied to my camera, you wanna go off and do your own thing in my world. Fine, fair enough." That said, he warns about "consequences" from bringing in said friends to your own version of Albion. "It means careful who you invite in, 'cause they can screw the whole thing up, man!" And then, when the possibility of using the new "touch" functionality comes up, things take a turn for the weird. "Yes you can use touch with your co-op partner. Yes you can walk down the street hand-in-hand. Yes you can drag your co-op partner to your dungeon and see what happens. Absolutely." Keep in mind, folks -- what happens in the dungeon stays in the dungeon. Rawr!

Ready to see a few seconds of Fable III in action? Ready to see Peter Molyneux and other Lionhead staff tell you how awesome it is? Check out the first developer diary of the game above.

Molyneux introduces the "extreme morph" system, which allows players to show their alignments in dramatic ways at the press of a button. His example? "You're walking along and someone upsets you.You can press this expression, and out of your back appears these huge angel wings. A shaft of light comes down and shines on you. Everyone around you steps back, and, 'Oh, my goodness!' You're showing your true character."

The Fable III peak also briefly introduces the weapon morphing system and the "touch" system, and it features several shots of people being stabbed, sometimes with interesting-looking weapons. Good stuff.

Microsoft has just sent off a handful of screens for the upcoming Lionhead adventure, Fable III. Featured in the images is a gruff-looking anti-hero, who has clearly lost more than a few followers from a slew of evil decisions. The pirate-hat wearing character isn't all bad, though; one image shows the gun-toting maniac playing with his son. We presume, that is. Unless of course kidnapping is a brand new Fable III feature.

Receiving a live demo of Fable 3 from Lionhead, er ... head and Microsoft Games Studio boss Peter Molyneux during today's X10 event, we learned that it, in his words, "is all about power and uniqueness." Well, that and Charles Dickens. (More on that in a sec.) Yes, the game is up, running and actually looking pretty far along at this point. But Molyneux was much more keen to talk about some of its new gameplay mechanics than anything involving graphics, sound or other trimmings.

First up, he revisited the premise of the game. It's set in Albion, which -- as we noticed right away -- has become heavily industrialized. You play as the son or daughter of the hero from Fable 2, with Molyneux confirming that you can import your saved game from that title, but that it "will make minor, not major, changes to the story." The game's structure will have you starting out as a "nobody," getting people to believe in you and eventually starting a revolution. About half-way through, you'll be the king or queen of Albion.

The Albion in the demo could certainly stand a change in ownership. It's smoggy, grimy and the streets are full of the homeless, poor and starving. The factories are full of everyone else, including children as young as five-years-old. Molyneux says that all of this is inspired by the works of Charles Dickens; in particular, Oliver Twist. As bad as it is, he promises you'll eventually have the power to change it all, should you choose.

Can gamers expect a tie-in product similar to Fable II: Pub Games for Lionhead's upcoming Fable III? Microsoft's Peter Molyneux told attendees at X10 that something was in the works.

Molyneux wouldn't detail the tie-in, only teasing that the product is "a really cute, very very cute 'outside of Fable III' experience that I'm not talking about." Molyneux, who felt a need to reiterate how adorable the "experience" will be, proclaimed: "It's really, really cute. It's not Pub Games." Sadly, whether the "really cute" experience would be a Xbox Live Arcade release wasn't confirmed. What is confirmed, however, is that this thing should be pretty ugly. No. Wait, forgive us. We're pretty sure he said cute.

Lionhead community manager Sam Van Tilburgh recently teased his Twitter followers with a pair of less-than-140-character missives. Tilburgh spent this past weekend "writing storyboard summaries for two new Fable 3 videos," which will apparently "come out when we show Fable 3 for the 1st time at an event next month in SF." Of course, for that second Tweet, we're assuming "SF" stands for San Francisco, and not a much smaller venue, such as "Sam's Foyer." We're not certain what event Tilburgh is talking about -- it's possible that Lionhead might be planning its own event to introduce the world to the flatulence-simulating technology its discovered over the past year. Regardless, we're not too far off from seeing more of Fable 3, and that fills us with joy. [Via Eurogamer]

Lionhead boss Peter Molyneux isn't just pushing the curve on Xbox 360 with now-confirmed Project Natal support in Fable 3; during his speech at the annual BAFTA gathering, the legendary designer revealed his intent to integrate a "in-game shop" within the game world, enabling players to purchase premium items without disrupting the game experience. In its report on the presentation, That VideoGame Blog noted that Molyneux had suggested special weapons, for example, could be sold for about £1 ($1.70).Also mentioned were plans to offer "travel" to new areas of the game world (think Fable 2's DLC destinations) for a fee. Molyneux thankfully didn't suggest that such things as tattoos, hair dye and the like -- which were purchased using the in-game currency of Fable 2 -- would be for-pay in its sequel. We imagine that getting the town crier to announce you as "Supreme Ruler of the Universe Who's Better Than Anyone Else at Fable 3 Ever" will carry a modest fee.[Thanks, Rain!]