Gamescom 2009 Episodic Fable II and Sim-like Fable III thoughts
On the heel of Sony’s conference, Microsoft held a presentation of sorts to announce some exciting news for fans of the Fable series. More precisely it was Lionhead Studios that was holding the conference. Peter Molyneux had some good news to share regarding Fable II and Fable III.
Fable II was a great game when it launched last year. The game let you live a life of a hero on a journey to seek revenge. Along the way, you could get married, have kids and then neglect them like in real life as well minus the dire consequences. Peter Molyneux, the enigmatic creator behind the series announced that gamers that may have skipped Fable II can now purchase the same game in episodic format.
Gamers will be able to download the first episode for free and if you like it you can buy the rest of the episodes. Pricing has not been confirmed yet but my guess is that each episode will cost 800 MSP, which is $10 for those without a Microsoft point conversion calculator.
I think its a smart move on Molyneux’s part by offering the first episode for free. It’s the age old marketing strategy used by street vendors – “your first hit is free.” I thoroughly enjoyed Fable II despite the fact the target audience was the casual crowd.
Molyneux also announced Fable III during his power point presentation and showed the first trailer for the game. He explained that in Fable III he wanted to take things one step further than Fable II. He indicated that in Fable II adding the dog and having you play as the hero was the next evolution from the first game. In Fable III you will be king and ruler of Albion. You will have to make tough choices and decisions that could impact the land.
You can eradicate poverty by giving all of the gold in your treasury to the people or you can be a stingy tyrant. In the beginning you have to gain supporters and work other factions to lead a revolt for the throne.
The whole concept sounds very Civilization-ish and less action-RPG. However, with no actual gameplay shown its tough to say if you will be spending majority of your time making decisions and earning money or getting some action. I suspect as a king of a country you can no longer go off on your own to do quests and adventures. It will be interesting to see if Molyneux can pull off Fable III without falling into the Sims trappings.
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46 Responses to “Gamescom 2009 Episodic Fable II and Sim-like Fable III thoughts”
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August 20th, 2009
what else will be announced for ms
August 21st, 2009
……………
August 21st, 2009
d’oh! lol
August 21st, 2009
Zzzzz……Zzzzz…..Zzzzzz
August 21st, 2009
Hey Roca check your (blorge net) messages and write me back?
August 21st, 2009
I loved Fable 2, cannot want for Fable 3!
August 21st, 2009
being king sounds cool and having so much responsibilty with protecting your land is an innovative way of keeping the game fresh kutos ms
August 21st, 2009
2010 is looking good for M$
August 21st, 2009
“you could get married, have kids and then neglect them like in real life as well minus the dire consequences”
I LOL´d at this statement.
August 21st, 2009
@ Akaro,
Are you getting the Slim?
August 21st, 2009
But the most important question is: will you be able to still fart on people in Fable 3?
August 21st, 2009
man this thread is dead!! move on to the next article.
August 21st, 2009
I’m super excited for BatMan! I haven’t bought a new PS3 game since Infamous.
I wish publishers would have moved titles to the summer instead of early 2010. The summer drought was really bad this year. Early 2010 is going to be crazy, but I bet there will be another summer drought next year also. They just don’t seem to get the idea.
August 21st, 2009
I played the Wet demo last night off the European store.. You guys should check it out..how should I put it? …its very Quentin Tarentino-esque.
August 21st, 2009
It felt more like “the Path of Neo” or “Stranglehold”
I like the game overall…too it is going to be overlooked by all other holyday titles.
August 21st, 2009
I payed it also. The wall-running mechanic is a little stiff, but asides from that it’s great! I loved the theme and music. The controls worked pretty well. I like the fact the the slow-motion kicks in automatically.
If they released it during the summer, it would have been day one. I’ll probably have to hold off for a while, but I do want to get it.
Kill Bill is my favorite movie of all time btw..
August 21st, 2009
Heat is my fav movie (never get tired of watching it)
August 21st, 2009
Roca:
It does have a nice price tag now, but I want to see how much would it cost here. I usually buy hardware when me or some friend go to the US on vacations. When that happens I´ll grab the opportunity for sure.
August 21st, 2009
where are you from?
August 21st, 2009
I´m from México.
August 21st, 2009
Amazon doesnt ship to Mexico?
August 21st, 2009
Don´t know, let me check out.
August 21st, 2009
good question… not sure how that would work with the exchange rates also. Would it be better pricing or worse?
August 21st, 2009
It does ship to, but the rates are not very compelling:
$30 per shipment plus $7 more per lb. It seems the Slim is 7.05 lbs so it would be aprox. $380 for the Slim only. I don´t know if there is any tax I am not aware of.
August 21st, 2009
$80 more still better than a plane ticket to the US.
August 21st, 2009
True to that, but if the trip is done anyway buying the console and some games at US retail price is quite tempting.
August 21st, 2009
Fable 3 looks awesome.
Amazon tells me I should have the slim in my hands on the 26th, this coming Wednesday… sweet.
August 22nd, 2009
“Fable 3 looks awesome.”
All i saw was a teaser trailer….do you see a gameplay video or something?
August 22nd, 2009
No, just going off my impressions of the preview here:
1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3175660
I think it would be novel, at least for a while, to use Natal to slap some people around and perk up my women in game, maybe grab some punk up by the neck and slam him into a wall…
Barnabe,
“The summer drought was really bad this year.”
It’s too bad you don’t have a 360 yet, Shadow Complex is making me forget this is usually a slow time for games. It’s like a Metal Gear Solid/Uncharted looking Castlevania, and very addictive…
August 23rd, 2009
CarlB,
I wonder how a side-scrolling game (shoot’em up) is something like Uncharted?
what makes Uncharted good is:
-Best Graphics
-Top notch acting
-superb story/plot
-the Charm of the main character (Nathan Drake)
-smooth gameplay
-its suspense and mystery
-last but not least. the water effect
August 23rd, 2009
Hey mike I downloaded Wet off the PSN and thought exactly the same thing. Loved the look of the red/white/black level.
August 25th, 2009
Roca,
The protagonist kind of looks and speaks like the main character from Uncharted. This game is pure fun, but don’t take my word for it, try it and find out, as the demo is free.
xboxlive.ign.com/articles/101/1014215p1.html
August 25th, 2009
im not trying to argue I was just wondering….but yeah the main character looks similar to Nathan Drake….
Let me know when you get ur PS3, I will sent you the Uncharted 2 beta Code (if you are interested, u dont seem to be BIG on multiplayer though)
August 25th, 2009
No problem… and thanks for the code offer, I’ll give it a shot. Amazon delayed the delivery until Thursday, so I’ll have to wait a day longer.
August 25th, 2009
carlB:
You bought a PlayStation 3 slim? Nice finally you won’t be disappointed add me if you want. UNCHARTED: Drake’s Fortune and UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves are both amazing games i loved the beta you will love them both like everyone has. And congratulation the fun for you is just a couple hours away. Nice dude great purchased.
My PSN ID: Ivan- I got everyone here on my friends list like Roca, Kevo/Sir_Chubs_Alot08, Ghost, Barnabe Jones, phranctoast and more members from here Gamer.Blorge welcome to our world LoL.
August 26th, 2009
You beat me to the punch Ivan, as you and Mike got a 360 before I got a PS3… so I figured it was the least I could do… plus somebody (like almost everybody here and on the internet) said the hardware was better, so I figured when they finally dropped the price, added trophies, and had the redesign it was time for me to move (settled for no BC… sniff- should have listened to the little birdie that told me to get the MGS bundle).
August 26th, 2009
carlB:
The hardware is better. But we still don’t know much about the slim performance under stress level. Gamers play long hours i doubt is gonna be a problem. I will be getting one from Amazon soon too. You can still play PS1 games on it LoL. You can get a PS2 for $59 dollars on GameStop or a new slim for just $99 if you think about you saved a lot by not getting the bundle. Slim $300 PS2 new $100 total $400 and a extra $100 for games.
August 26th, 2009
Wow CarlB
Ivan/Roca done you a little advert –
“Roca
what makes Uncharted good is:
blah blah blah blah”
How can you not buiy it now?
Haven’t you been “influenced”?
August 26th, 2009
Yay carlB get his PS3 in a couple hours. By bye Xbox 360 well at least for a long/huge while or for good. (Gold) Trophy unlocked CONVERSION, On HARD mode single player campaign.
August 26th, 2009
Uncharted 2 WILL be a great game, no doubt about it. No matter where loyalties or preferences lay, Uncharted 2 is shaping up to be a masterpiece.
August 26th, 2009
JofaMang
“Uncharted 2 is shaping up to be a masterpiece”
You guys say the same old same old with every supposedly ‘big’ release.
They usually underwhelm…..certainly in terms of sales at least.
August 27th, 2009
At Sony’s E3 media briefing, an Uncharted 2: Among Thieves gameplay demo was shown early in the conference. Critics were very impressed with the demo, which led to Uncharted 2: Among Thieves to winning the most E3 awards of any game:
Awards
* Game Critics Awards 2009
o Best of Show
o Best Console Game
o Best Action/Adventure Game
* IGN E3 2009 Awards
o PS3 Game of Show
o Best Overall Graphics Technology
o Best PS3 Graphics Technology
o Best PS3 Action Game
o Best PS3 Multiplayer Experience
o PS3 Achievement for Technical Excellence
* IGN AU E3 2009 Awards
o Best Game of E3
* GameSpot E3 2009 Awards
o Best Graphics
o Best PS3 Game
* 1Up.com E3 2009 Awards
o Game of Show
o Best PS3 Game
* X-Play E3 2009 Awards
o Game of Show
o Best PS3 Game
* GameSpy E3 2009
o Best PS3 Game
* GamePro E3 2009
o Gold Medal
* GameTrailers E3 2009 Awards
o Best Third-Person Shooter
o Best Graphics
* Yahoo! Games E3 2009 Awards
o Best of Show
* Crispy Gamer E3 2009 Awards
o Best PS3 Game
* Games Radar E3 2009 Awards
o Most Surprisingly Awesome Demo
* 411Mania E3 2009 Awards
o Best Action Game
o Best PS3 Game
* GOONL!NE E3 2009 Awards
o Best Action Game
o Best PS3 Game
* Platform Nation E3 2009 Awards
o Best of Show
o Best Console Game
o Best Action/Adventure Game
August 27th, 2009
Ivan
Like as if anyone ever reads your sorry lists.
August 27th, 2009
HH
“You guys say the same old same old with every supposedly ‘big’ release.
They usually underwhelm…..certainly in terms of sales at least.”
No really, console preferences aside, I have truly been amazed with what I am seen and heard about the game, including peoples beta impressions. If it was a 360 exclusive I would feel the same, perhaps it is just my sort of game/story.
August 27th, 2009
Fair enough JofaMang…….but you have to admit, surely, that that has not exactly been unknown with some past releases?
August 27th, 2009
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