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Molyneux's Milo demo from TED conference now available
Lionhead Studio creative lead Peter Molyneux gave a TED talk last month featuring a whole mess of information about his team's "very big tech demo," Milo & Kate. Milo squashed snails and discovered the garden of his freshly minted New England property -- it was nothing short of moving. Now, through the magic of the internet, Molyneux's TED presentation is available for all to see (just after the break). Learn why snails are replaced with butterflies when you're playing with Kate and how that whole "hive mind" thing works -- no two Milos or Kates are the same, Molyneux claims. Also, you won't want to miss what happens just beyond the 10-minute mark. Check it out.
Fable novel announced, includes in-game weapon for Fable 3
Your friendly neighborhood bookstore's shelves will soon be stocked with yet another game-to-prose adaptation -- this time around, it's a completely original story set in the Fable universe, titled The Balverine Order. The book will be penned by Peter David, who has written roughly a billion novels and comic books, one of the most recent of which being the five-part Halo: Helljumper series. According to Amazon, The Balverine Order is set to ship on October 5. As an added bonus, the book will include a redeemable code which unlocks a heretofore unrevealed in-game weapon in Fable 3. We really hope it's powerful, so when we're playing with our friends, and we're killing stuff with greater efficiency than them, we can say "we guess the pen really is mightier than the sword," and then we'll both share a brief, polite laugh.
Fable 3 crowns a limited edition controller
Limited edition controllers are all the rage these days. Halo: Reach has its own controller (and console!), so it only makes sense that Microsoft's other 2010 darling would get the same treatment. While it might appear that the Fable 3 controller is simply a normal wireless Xbox 360 controller dipped in delicious caramel, Kotaku reports that the design was actually crafted to resemble the Crown of Albion (you know the one). Priced at $59.99, the controller heads to stores October 5, well ahead of Fable 3's October 26 launch, and includes a token to download an exclusive tattoo for the game. Update: Major Nelson has a video of the controller, after the break.
The Engadget Show - 011: Peter Molyneux, Fable III, Milo, BlackBerry Torch, Windows Phone 7
Brace yourselves, humans, because we have an all new, amazing Engadget Show fresh out of the box! For your viewing pleasure, we sit down with insightful game designer Peter Molyneux to get the inside scoop on some of his ongoing projects, from Milo to Fable III. Then, Josh, Paul, and Nilay bust out RIM's latest, the BlackBerry Torch and put it through its paces live on stage. They dive into Windows Phone 7 and do battle with K-mart's Augen Android tablet, and a bunch of audience members walk away with giveaways. Oh yeah, we also have brain-busting music from Zen Albatross and mind-numbing visuals from invaderbacca that you will absolutely want to check out. What are you waiting for? Watch it now! %Gallery-98931% Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Paul Miller, Nilay Patel Special guests: Peter Molyneux Produced and Directed by: Chad Mumm Executive Producer: Joshua Fruhlinger Edited by: Peirre Verna Music by: Zen Albatross Visuals by: Invaderbacca Opening titles by: Julien Nantiec Taped live at The Times Center Download the Show: The Engadget Show - 011 (HD) / The Engadget Show - 011 (iPod / iPhone / Zune formatted) Subscribe to the Show: [iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (M4V). [Zune] Subscribe to the Show directly in the Zune Marketplace (M4V). [RSS M4V] Add the Engadget Show feed (M4V) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically.
Interview: Peter Molyneux talks Kinect, Milo, and Fable 3
Just after Engadget Show host Josh Topolsky finished grilling Peter Molyneux on stage this past Wednesday, we wrangled Molyneux for another interview. First and foremost, we had to clear up what happened to the promise of Kinect in Fable 3 -- and we already told you his answer to that -- but we also wanted to venture into more general discussion. Molyneux spoke openly to us about the potential of Kinect, his personal struggle with promising game mechanics that may or may not end up in the final release, and how the success of Fable 2's episodic release will influence his studio's future.
Be the first to show up at the Engadget Show with Lucky Charms and Peter Molyneux will put you in Fable III! (We've got winners!)
Hey, Peter Molyneux is here at the Engadget Show, and his Fable III demo assistant Dimitri mentioned that he's looking for a box of Lucky Charms, since he can't get it in England. That prompted Peter to make an insane crowd-sourcing offer: the first person to bring a box of Lucky Charms to the Engadget Show will become a character in Fable III. Insane, right? What's more, everyone else who brings a box will get a free signed copy of the game, which is some seriously serious cereal. The show starts in 30 minutes -- we'll see you soon! Updated: See that lucky guy and girl right up there?! Yep, they're going to be characters in Fable III. Congrats, Monica and Jay -- we'll see you in the game.
Fable 3's opening cinematic is chock full of chicken
There is no possible way we could ever prepare you for the Fable 3 opening cinematic awaiting you just past the break. Imagine the worst series of circumstances that could befall a chicken and you're on the right track. It's both incredibly inspiring and sad, with just a hint of The Little Mermaid tossed in for good measure.
Peter Molyneux on the App Store, RPG design and more
Peter Molyneux foretells the end of the App Store's gold rush in an interview with Develop. "I think there's this opportunity now for game developers," he said, discussing the case of creative director Dene Carter, who left to Lionhead form an iPhone studio. "I think of the iPhone and Facebook and all these types of channels offer a window of opportunity for small developers to experience what it was like in [the bedroom coding era of] the late eighties." Unfortunately, that ends, he says, when big companies start pouring money into iPhone games. "It's inevitable that a Star Wars or Disney game, a five million dollar iPhone project, will be released. And when it does, consumers are going to like it. They're going to say "I can pay 59p for this [indie iPhone game] or I can pay 59p for this [triple-A iPhone game]." He's cultivating creativity in his staff now (giving them less incentive to, say, go make iPhone games) by instituting a one week period in which Lionhead staff can work on whatever they'd like. "And at the end of the week we're all going to come together look at people's ideas, and that's going to form the foundations of what happens next at Lionhead." Speaking about his own game, Fable 3, Molyneux dismissed the most notable features of many RPGs. Most developers took the wrong inspiration from Dungeons & Dragons, Molyneux believes, emphasizing stats and random numbers. "But actually," he said, "the purity and the core element of role playing games is to feel more powerful. That's the true core of them. It's about growing as a character, finding and collecting things, and freedom. What we want to do is amplify those feelings with Fable 3."
Fable 3 for Windows not arriving day-and-date with 360 version
PC gamers will have to delay their journey into the land of Albion for a bit. Microsoft has confirmed today that the Windows version of Lionhead's action RPG Fable 3 will not, as originally planned, arrive on October 26 alongside the Xbox 360 release. "The console and PC versions are now on different schedules as we're focusing on building experiences optimized for each platform," the publisher said in a statement received by Joystiq. "We aren't announcing a ship date for the PC sku at this time, but expect news soon." Although Microsoft couldn't provide us with a revised release date, it did seek to assure those PC players awaiting Fable 3 that it's not game over for that version. "We will be offering PC players the ability to pre-order 'Fable III' for Windows, and in fact, retailers such as Amazon.com and Game (UK) are taking preorders today for the PC version of Fable III," the company said. Still, we don't expect Windows users to deliver a victorious arm pump emote until a new date is set in Bowerstone.
Develop: Molyneux talks Fable 2 problems, Fable 3 fixes
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." %Gallery-95691%
Lionhead talks about Fable 3 voice stats, emotional storytelling
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. %Gallery-95691%
Milo, meet TED: Molyneux demonstrates Milo at conference
Peter Molyneux brought out the big guns to impress the crowd at the TEDGlobal conference: a child stomping on a snail. Okay, maybe it's more impressive when you learn that the child was Milo from Milo & Kate, Molyneux's Kinect-based AI game, and the decision to squash the mollusk was split between demonstrator Dmitri and Milo himself. According to Wired UK's writeup of the talk, Milo encountered snails on a walk, and asked the demonstrator if he should step on it. When Dmitri encouraged him, Milo ended the poor e-creature's e-life. Live tweets from @TEDNews note that Milo hesitated before doing so. The demo continued with Milo going home to eat dinner, getting in an argument, and soliciting some words of encouragement from the player. All of this is significant not because we hate snails, but because this is the first demonstration we've seen of Milo since E3 2009. Molyneux ended the demonstration with the shocking truth that all the world's Milos are going to form a Borg-like hive mind, with the AI data "in the cloud" (as Wired puts it), continually learning from individual interactions. He also revealed a more concrete, game-like narrative for Milo, in which players experience a "tutorial" during which Milo's family moves, with the game opening up afterward to allow you and Milo to explore the new surroundings. [Image Credit: James Duncan Davidson / TED Conference]
Fable 3 combat video is not safe for wolves
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.
Brothers torn asunder in Fable 3 E3 trailer
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.
Fable 3 also conquering lands on PC; Collector's Edition detailed
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!%Gallery-93474%
Fable 3 box art crowned with 'Windows' label
"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." The label, which denotes "exclusivity" on Microsoft's console and PC, was most recently adhered to THQ's atmospheric first-person shooter, Metro 2033. Since this official Microsoft-provided art has now been retracted (from Games Press), you're either looking at an elaborate labeling error or an accidental announcement of Fable 3 heading to PC. 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. Update: A Microsoft representative told us, "We have not made any official announcements beyond 'Fable III' for Xbox 360 at this time," and offered to forward additional information "as it becomes available."
Fable 3 dev diary reveals Jasper the butler, played by John Cleese
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 this 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.
Fable 3 art team working on a menagerie of animals
You may not have been too disappointed by Fable 2's lack 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's not sure whether all of those animals will eventually make it into the finished product, but we hope so -- vultures need to be Touched, too.
Ben Kingsley joins Fable 3 voice cast
If 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. [Image: David Shankbone]
Make babies with a co-op partner in Fable 3
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. %Gallery-85302%
