Fable III Product Details

Released on 18/05/2011

• Ben Kingsley signs on to Fable III

  Over at Eurogamer, they're reporting some exciting news: Legendary British actor Sir Ben Kingsley has signed up to provide a voiceover for Fable III.

  "I'm a voice in a new videogame shortly - Fable III," Sir Ben told CVG in a recent interview. "I'm a wonderful wizard character who is the king of Mist Peak."

  And it sounds like Sir Ben, who first came to prominence as Ghandi in Richard Attenborough's 1982 film, has become quite excited about these new-fangled videogame things. "It's very energising and good for us actors to realise that [acting] is so diverse now. [Games] are as big a jump now as I suppose when cinema was invented, when people went from the stage to the cinema thinking: It's not really acting, is it? Now, it's videogames - and it is acting. It's very demanding."

  Sir Ben's in good company too. The cast for Fable III already includes Steven Fry, John Cleese, and, um, Jonathan Ross.

  The latest instalment in Lionhead's staggeringly brilliant action RPG series, Fable III sees you ascend to the throne of Albion, and then invites you to try your hand at ruling. An Xbox 360 exclusive, it should be out this Christmas.

• Fable III to get Collector's Edition

  Fable III to get Collector's Edition

  Good news for all potential royalty out there: Microsoft's forthcoming king-'em-up, Fable III will be getting a Collector's Edition when it's released this Christmas.

  According to Eurogamer, the limited edition box will be wrapped up and presented like a story book from Albion, the mystical world of Fable. Inside is a pack of Fable III playing cards, a Guild Seal coin you can use to help you decide when the quandaries you're faced with in the game get a little too challenging, and trinkets for the game itself.

  These will be an exclusive Boxer breed of dog to take with you on your adventures, an Aurora set of clothes, a special quest with the Wolfsbane sword as its reward, and a new "family-oriented" location filled with treasure.

  That all sounds rather tempting. Whichever version of the game you go for in the end, Fable III promises an epic fairy tale adventure as you avenge your wronged parent, take back the throne of Albion, and then struggle to rule its divided and wilful populace.

  Fable III hits the Xbox 360 this Christmas. And if like us you can't wait, you can always hammer Fable II in the meantime.

• Molyneux to reveal more about Fable III next week

  Molyneux to reveal more about Fable III next week

  Creative director of Microsoft Games Studios and industry legend Peter Molyneux will be treating attendees of next week's Develop conference to a UK-exclusive demonstration of the eagerly-awaited Fable III.

  The third game in Lionhead Studios' beloved franchise is due to hit shelves later this year, and will form the basis for a presentation titled Fable III: Story, Cast and Simulation. Molyneux will discuss how he and the development team at Lionhead managed to weave together all three of these key strands to create a sequel that more than lives up to the series' impressive heritage. Thereafter, the game will be demonstrated before attendees to show how these ambitions have been realised.

  Molyneux has already spoken openly about the high-profile names providing voice work for the game, which he describes as "the greatest cast that any computer game has ever had." Stephen Fry returns as the roguish Reaver, with John Cleese and Jonathan Ross recently joined by acting luminaries like Bernard Hill and Sir Ben Kingsley. With Simon Pegg and Michael Fassbender also lending their vocal chords to the project, Molyneux's claim might not be too far from the mark.

  You can find out whether Fable III lives up to its creator's billing when it launches on October 26th this year.

• Fable III Preview

  Mark says The F Word. A lot.

  FACT I: Fable II was "rushed, messy and had big design flaws". That's according to the game's own lead designer; Lionhead boss Peter Molyneux.

  FACT II: Despite its chief creator's recent critique, Fable II was actually one of 2008's best games; "a welcoming, colourful, tongue-in-cheek fairytale for everyone to enjoy," which "for such an ambitious undertaking, [was] a huge success." That's according to us. And the vast majority of the gaming press, too, if an average Metacritic rating of 89 is anything to go by.

  The gift of the gab
  

  FACT III: Fable III takes the template laid down by its forebear and runs with it; and, based on my play of the first three hours, Fable III it's a better game in every single way, shape and form.

  Based on the first three hours, Fable III is a better game than Fable II in every single way, shape and form.

  The first way in which Fable III ups the ante is a rather simple one; it gives the main character a voice. Where Fable II's speechless protagonist was something of a cipher for the player to imprint their personality upon, Fable III's Prince or Princess (I went for the Prince) – the youngest child of Fable II's hero – is able to convey a richer emotional range merely by opening their mouth to relate their concerns.

  At Fable III's outset, that means talking to your Butler, Jasper (voiced by none other than John Cleese!), your childhood sweetheart Elise (or a male alternate if you play as a female lead) and the Palace's head guard, Sir Walter, about the increasingly dark machinations of Albion's King – your elder brother, Logan.

  It's here that you'll get to sample Fable III's deeper, murkier and more impactful moral compass – not that your first choice alludes to it too much. With Albion's underprivileged underclass demonstrating loudly, but peacefully inside the castle grounds, you're asked whether or not to sign a petition to help improve their living conditions, to relatively little consequence either way.

  Cause-and-effect

  Mere minutes later, however, you're being forced by Logan to pick between killing the rowdy rabble's ringleaders, or letting Elise die. It's a world away from the relatively transparent black/white cause-and-effect of Fable II; there really is no right or wrong – though we were assured it's a choice which will have lasting repercussions later in the game.

  After that brisk, eventful opening the big success of the next hour or so is the way in which Fable III teaches you the many facets of gameplay whilst at the same time setting out the wider quest which lies before you.

  You'll get to dress up as a giant chicken on one of the funniest Fable quests ever.

  For starters, you'll need to unlock your hero powers, which means a trip to the, err, trippy Road To Rule (hello again, Theresa!), where you unlock chests that give you spells and various stat bonuses. Then you'll need to acquire a weapon, which you do from perhaps gaming's most elaborate pause screen – an entire chamber named the Sanctuary, with different rooms for equipment, clothing, the newly-enhanced map and co-op (more on that later).

  These weapons can actually grow WITH you, reflecting your actions and changing to look holier-than-thou or decidedly evil along with your character, depending on your actions throughout the game. The map, meanwhile, lets you fast-travel to different areas and see which properties you own without jumping between menu screens.

  Do the funky chicken

  Next up, you'll need to start gaining the following of Albion's inhabitants in order to overthrow Logan. So, off you go to the Dweller camp, where Walter throws you some gold and implores you to buy some Dweller clothes. Newly suited up in activist-baiting animal furs, you get to meet the Dweller Leader Sabine, who gives you three tasks to accomplish before he'll even think about trusting you; and so off you go into the merry town of Brightfall where you will, amongst other things, take a job making pies, and dress up as a giant chicken on one of the funniest Fable quests ever.

  Doing all of that gives you enough cash to purchase some mercenary gear and infiltrate their camp to do battle with their leader. Once he's defeated, things all go a bit BioShock, giving you the choice of slaying or sparing him. There will be a knock-on effect either way; you can be sure of that.

  Co-op has been overhauled for Fable III, allowing players to wander vast areas independently, share gold, and even get married.

  That's about as far as I made it into Fable III, and it left me eager to play more. What I didn't get to see was the game's Big Hook, actually getting to become the king-ruler of Albion – which if my chats with various Lionhead staffers are to be believed, will happen half way through the game, between seven and ten hours in – the entire length of Fable II's story arc.

  So yes, Fable III is bigger than Fable II. It's also more emotive, more compelling and more structured, in a similar way to how Assassin's Creed II improved on its original; fusing its many features much more tightly to the narrative, making for an altogether more enjoyable game.

  Masterpiece

  That refinement even extends to online co-op which has been overhauled considerably for Fable III, allowing players to wander vast areas independently (complete with their own dog), share gold, and even split their wares 50-50 by getting married, replete with an elaborate lakeside ceremony and Xbox Achievement.

  In short, every criticism of Fable II has been addressed with Fable III; and as I mentioned at the outset, that was no bad game either. With Halo: Reach, Kinect and Molyneux's masterpiece all on the way, the last four month's of 2010 are going to be a bumper period for Xbox owners. And that, my friends, is a FACT.

  Preview by: Mark 'Saved the Girl' Scott
  Preview Published: 18.08.10

  Published: 18/08/2010

• Fable III Preview

  It's storytime once more...

  And so our story begins. Again. Clearly, Peter Molyneux likes stories and he likes games. That's why he keeps trying to make them better. For all his wide-eyed conceptual promises that haven't exactly panned out in the final product, there are dozens more ideas that he's crammed into the gaming sphere, changing it for the better every time.

  For Fable III, he's continuing to refine and explore what gaming means in the 21st century. He's done away with health bars and the archaic notion of "lives". He's given you a pet dog and trail of optional breadcrumbs to make sure you don't get lost. This time, he's giving you...a butler?

  Well, you are the king of Albion now, but a handy manservant (voiced by John Cleese, no less) is far from the only innovation you'll find. While Fable III looks almost identical to its predecessor on the surface, the underlying mechanics have been given a right going over.

  Adapt and grow

  The idea of "levelling up", for example. Part of the RPG fabric for decades, but in Molyneux's hands it's become more organic, more to do with the game adapting to how you play than you clawing your way up some arbitrary scale. If you have a favourite sword, the more you use it, the better it gets. The way you use it will affect the way it improves. The same is true of spells, guns and other items. You can then trade these unique items with other players online.

  You can assign different spells to each of your hands, casting them together to create hybrid effects. You can charge up a sword strike with one button, and keep plugging away with a pistol using another. The dog can now sniff out specific objects or people, rather than occasionally ferreting around for random items. There are dozens of small, brilliant ideas, seamlessly woven into the game so that you hardly notice them until they're pointed out. Then, of course, you wonder why we ever did things any other way.

  It's the pause menu that Molyneux is really proud of, though. Pause menus are boring, he declares, and instead gives you sanctuary ? a physical gamespace where John Cleese waits to comment on your performance, and different antechambers allow you to tinker with your clothing and inventory in peace. Your butler will even lay out costume suggestions, based on how you're doing or where in the game you are, but you're free to make your own ensembles, dye them as you see fit, and go into battle in a lime green frock coat with orange britches. Weapons are laid out in similar fashion, while spells can be studied and tweaked before trying them out for real in the game.

  Living, breathing

  Perhaps most impressive is what's happened to the map. Next to useless in Fable II, it's reinvented here as a living, breathing overview of the gameworld at any given moment. Set in the centre of your sanctuary, it looks for all the world like something out of Molyneux's earlier hits, Populous or Powermonger. Zoom in on the map and you can see who's walking around, fly over the roofs of every building in the game, and buy them there instead of traipsing up to the front door to carry out your landlord duties. You can even find new quests, and check in on events in progress. It's amazing to see, and addictive in its own right.

  Typically for a Molyneux game, it's all too easy to fill the page just by listing the ideas, but since the story remains top secret, that's all we have to go on for now.

  Yet even just by glimpsing these peripheral features, it's clear that Fable III will continue the mercurial developer's trend for pulling game design apart, throwing out the ideas that have outlived their usefulness, and putting it all back together as something both familiar and utterly surprising.

• Gamescom 2010: Fable III Preview

  FACT I: Fable II was "rushed, messy and had big design flaws". That's according to the game's own lead designer; Lionhead boss Peter Molyneux.

  FACT II: Despite its chief creator's recent critique, Fable II was actually one of 2008's best games; "a welcoming, colourful, tongue-in-cheek fairytale for everyone to enjoy," which "for such an ambitious undertaking, [was] a huge success." That's according to us. And the vast majority of the gaming press, too, if an average Metacritic rating of 89 is anything to go by.

  Bigger, better, more... Fable'er
  FACT III: Fable III takes the template laid down by its forebear and runs with it; and, based on my play of the first three hours, Fable III it's a better game in every single way, shape and form...

  Read the full Preview here!

• Metroid 3DS on the way?

  Metroid 3DS on the way?

  If you've already finished Metroid: Other M, the brilliant Wii-exclusive sci-fi action game, and you're itching for further adventures of intergalactic bounty hunted Samus Aran, help is potentially on the way. A very unlikely source has suggested that there's a new Metroid game planned for Nintendo's forthcoming 3DS handheld.

  Eurogamer's reporting that the story started with TV legend Jonathan Ross, who was replying to a Twitter follower who said that he was hoping for a Metroid game to be announced at Nintendo's 3DS press conference that's scheduled for this Wednesday.

  Ross, who's expected to host the event, said, "I think you're going to be pleased then..." Hmm. If there is a new game in the works, the smart money's on Metroid Dread, which is a project that's apparently been in development for a long time, with Advance Wars creators Intelligent Systems, and Metroid daddy Yoshio Sakamoto behind it.

  You can count on us to bring you any news of Metroid - and all other 3DS reveals - following this Wednesday's big news splurge. In the meantime, though, it's worth remembering that Jonathan Ross has been right before. He is, after all, the man who accidentally announced the existence of Fable III on Twitter a while ago.

• Peter Molyneux awarded the BAFTA Fellowship

  Peter Molyneux awarded the BAFTA Fellowship

  
  

  It was announced this morning that popular British game designer Peter Molyneux is to receive the BAFTA Fellowship.

  
  

  He is the third figure from the video game industry to be inducted into the illustrious list of fellows, joining Will Wright, Nolan Bushnell and, most recently, Shigeru Miyamoto. He becomes the second recipient of the honour this year, after it was bestowed upon Christopher Lee at this year's British Academy Film and Television Awards ceremony.

  
  

  Molyneux is perhaps best known these days as creator of the Fable series, though arguably his most successful creative period came as head of Bullfrog Productions in the mid-Nineties, with a string of innovative and critically-acclaimed releases like Populous, Syndicate, Theme Park and Dungeon Keeper.

  
  

  After founding Lionhead Studios, Molyneux designed the Fable and Black & White series, as well as being heavily involved in the development of PC title The Movies.

  
  

  Molyneux said it was "humbling" to "be in the company of some of the greatest talents the entertainment industry has ever seen".

  
  

  "I remember back in 1967 watching the first BAFTA awards on television with my family and seeing them being so excited about those accolades," he added. "Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think it would be possible for me to accept one of the greatest honours the entertainment industry has to offer."

  
  

  Following the success of Fable III, there's no word yet on what Molyneux is currently working on, but given the designer's fondness for discussing his projects - often before he's supposed to - details of his future plans surely can't be too far away.

• Peter Molyneux receives BAFTA Fellowship

  The real star of yesterday's BAFTA show was undoubtedly Peter Molyneux. The legendary designer, who's currently the boss of Lionhead, and who can count the likes of Populous, Syndicate, Black & White, Dungeon Keeper and Fable amongst the games he's helped shape, was awarded a BAFTA Fellowship - a prize that sees him joining Nintendo superstar Shigeru Miyamoto, and SimCity designer Will Wright.

  "Every day I wake up and thank the stars that I'm still here now," said Molyneux in an emotional speech. "I love my job so much and I really feel like going home and working harder than I've ever done to prove that I deserve this award."

  He also had a few words for the videogaming press, too. "I'd like to thank the press, by the way, for listening to my stuff,he laughed. orry - I've slightly over-promised on things on occasion. I could name at least 10 features in games that I've made up to stop journalists going to sleep and I really apologise to the team for that."

  We'll forgive you for over-promising, Mister Molyneux - but we couldn't forgive you if you didn't get to work on Fable IIII straight away.

• GAME : Essential Xbox 360 games from 2011

  2011 was full of big releases for Xbox 360, including sequels to some of this generation's best franchises, high definition remakes of classic games and innovative motion control offerings. Here, GAME rounds up five of the must-own 360 titles that no Xbox 360 owner should be without.

  Brothers 'til the end

  Sci-fi third person shooter Gears of War 3 is the explosive finale to the current story arc of one of the biggest and best series in Xbox history. With mankind on the verge of annihilation at the hands of nightmarish monsters, players step into the boots of a military force battling to preserve humanity in the face of overwhelming odds. A tale of brotherhood, harsh realities, sacrifice and redemption, it features an engaging story, breathtaking visuals, meaty gunplay and tactical, cover-based action. The epic story campaign supports four-player cooperative play, and is complemented by a host of cooperative and competitive multiplayer modes for veteran players and rookies alike.

  Get in the race

  Offering traditional controller-based racing as well as the freedom and accessibility of Kinect motion controls, Forza Motorsport 4 is one of the most ambitious takes on the genre to date. With top supercars from over 80 manufacturers and a selection of the world's finest real and fictional tracks, the game features silky smooth racing, realistic physics and effects, gorgeous graphics and stereoscopic 3D support. Community features allow players to create auto clubs with like-minded car nuts, customise and trade rides with fellow collectors, and head out on to the track for adrenaline-soaked showdowns against up to 15 other online racers.

  Global warfare

  Accessible, highly polished and perhaps best described as the gaming equivalent of a Michael Bay Hollywood blockbuster, Modern Warfare 3 is the latest entry in the world's biggest first person shooter franchise. Featuring a globe-trotting campaign that sees players attempting to avert World War 3, it offers access to a range of high tech weaponry and military hardware including remote turrets, predator drones and gunships. The same tools of destruction also feature in the series' deepest yet most accessible multiplayer offering yet, which features competitive online battles across a range of fan favourite and innovative new game modes, plus co-operative challenge and survival missions for two players.

  A classic reborn

  Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is a spectacularly remastered version of the game that launched the Xbox brand ten years ago. Offering a diversity of action, a freedom of movement and enemy artificial intelligence that rivals its modern day competitors, the title's stellar gameplay remains unchanged from the original, but the alien blasting action is supercharged with a lovely high definition makeover, stereoscopic 3D support, Kinect voice control and new multiplayer maps and features. Widely regarded as one of the first great first person shooters on consoles, Combat Evolved lives up to its subtitle even a decade after its initial release.

  Choose your own destiny

  Action RPG Fable III puts the fate of fictional world Albion in your hands as you rally the oppressed, start a revolution and eventually take the throne. The choices and sacrifices you make on the path to greatness create an ever-evolving world of consequences that will be felt across the entire land. Will you play as a hero, villain or someone between, and once you assume power, will you rule with kindness or an iron fist? Playable co-operatively with a friend, the game is brought to life by an all star cast featuring the voice talent of John Cleese, Stephen Fry, Simon Pegg, Ben Kingsley and Zoe Wanamaker.

  Published: 14/12/2011

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