This is Bowerstone, circa Fable III. Little late to catch the steampunk bandwagon, sure, but clock-powered bad guys and RPGs with trains and moustaches are always appreciated.

In an interview at the PICNIC Conference in the Netherlands last week, Molyneux's interviewer basically stipulates that there will be no Natal support in Fable III. Rather than move on to the rest of the question, Molyneux goes out of his way to correct the record, and then some.

Here's a transcript of Molyneux's relevant remarks, beginning with his questioner saying Fable III will not incorporate Natal.

I never said that.

I am going to say it's going to use a controller. But I've never said it's not going to use Natal.

And obviously what would probably happen if I started talking about this is you would see a little red dot appear moving on my forehead. And then as I would start to speak the words then there would be a shot, gunfire, and I would be assassinated. Quite clearly it is that sensitive.

But let me give this to you absolutely straight. I have not said that we're not going to have Natal in Fable III. All I have really said is it is a controller experience. That doesn't mean there isn't going to be Natal.

Do you really think ... knowing me ... I wouldn't want to use something like Natal? I mean that's just mad, man.

The entire video is here - the beginning narrative is in Dutch but the interview is in English. The relevant Natal comments begin about 7:00.

Big thanks to reader Rowan for the tip.

Interview Peter Molyneux [PICNIC 2009] [Game Kings]

It'll include both the game's downloadable content packs (Knothole Island, See The Future), and while there's no release date or US pricing available, we do know it'll be £40 when it's released in the UK.

[via Eurogamer]

It'll launch on September 29, with the game broken up into five chapters. The first chapter will be free, and when you get to the end of it, you'll be given the option to pay to download the next chapter.

Molyneux says each chapter has a "natural break", so you won't get any sudden interruptions in your experience. No word on pricing as of yet, but we do know it'll be compatible with Fable II's DLC, Knothole Island and See the Future.

What good is E3 hype if none of it comes true?

To get you ready for this E3, we've subjected ourselves to re-living the major press conferences of last year's big show. We've pulled all of the predictions, promises and other verbal constructions Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony used to get you excited about their console. And we've seen what became of all those thrilling statements.

Microsoft, your E3 2008 promises are being checked today — exhaustively.

Background: The Microsoft press briefing occurred on July 14 in the West Hall of the Los Angeles Convention Center. This showcase lasted more than 90 minutes.

Big Money From Hardcore Games

Don Mattrick, Microsoft's senior vice president of interactive entertainment business (i.e. he's the Xbox boss), starts hyping Fallout 3, Resident Evil 5, Fable II and Gears of War 2: "Combined these games represent over a half a billion dollars in projected sales. And they will drive console demand in the coming year."

Verdict: Let's see. Gears sells two million in its first week, so that's about 120 million right there. Fallout 3 sells 4.7 million copies in less than a month, so that's about 282 million. We're over 400 million and we're not even at Fable or RE5, so we'll stop counting now. Good first prediction, Don Mattrick!

A Lengthy Fallout

Bethesda lead game designer Todd Howard demos Fallout 3 and says: "This is a huge game with over 100 hours of gameplay."

Verdict: Sure, that sounds about right, though the main content in the game could be finished in about 40 hours.

Fallout DLC TBD

Howard: "We're going to be doing substantial downloadable content for Fallout 3 and it will be exclusive for the Xbox 360 and Games for Windows."

Verdict: True! All three DLC packs are now out for both platforms, and are not out on PS3.

Resident Evil 5 Release Date Confirmed?

Jun Takeuchi, producer of Resident Evil 5, says Resident Evil 5 "will be available in a simultaneous worldwide release in North America and Europe on Friday the 13, March 2009." (Screen showed March 12 2009 for Japan).

Verdict: Incorrect, sir! RE5 came out a week earlier than promised in Japan, on March 5.

Fable II Would Be Awesome

Peter Molyneux, creative director of Lionhead Studios, hyping Fable II: "You've never experienced anything like the dog in a game, but what I want to show you is the ability to play co-op over Xbox Live" [Verdict: OK, kind of hard to disagree]….The story will be great. [Verdict: That's subjective, Peter] … Your son grows. Your children will grow up with you [Verdict: Possibly misleading; those kids don't grow up]… Fable 2 will be out in October of this year [Verdict: Correct!]

Gears of War 2: For The World

Cliff Bleszinski, design director at Epic Games: "Gears of War 2 will be available worldwide November 7, exclusively on Xbox 360."

Verdict: True if you count the U.S. and Europe as the world; untrue if you consider Japan part of this planet.

Sony To Be Crushed

Mattrick: I'm so confident in our momentum and our bright future that I'm willing to declare here today that Xbox 360 will sell more consoles worldwide this generation than PlayStation 3.

Verdict: Too soon to say, but so far so good for Microsoft.

A New - sort of - Xbox 360 Coming Fall 2008

John Schappert, vice president of Xbox Live, software and services: "I'm excited to announce today that for the first time in history a consumer electronics device will be completely reinvented through software… When people around the world turn on the Xbox 360s this fall they will be greeted by an entire new interface, an entire new dashboard, creating a brand new Xbox through the magic of software."

Verdict: The New Xbox Experience did indeed go live in the fall, transforming the Xbox 360 from the inside out.

Avatars Will Be Great, Omnipresent

Brendan, last-name-less Rare software design engineer, describing the NXE's Avatars: "You'll see them in the dashboard when you turn on the system. [Verdict: True] You'll see them in your friends list. [Verdict: Yep] You're going to see them in games all over the place and you'll see avatars on websites. [Verdict: We're counting Uno Rush and a Kingdom Kieflings once apiece, ok? Seems that we've got Avatars in a little more than 10 games so far.]

Avatars Will Have Lots of Clothes

Chris, last-name-less Rare producer: "Really, the number of clothes is ultimately going to be limitless. You can expect to see new clothes released in the same way you'd go into a shop and see summer fashion and the winter fashion, you're going to see the same thing here."

Verdict: True. New clothes keep getting issued for Avatars.

Prime Time Is Coming Soon

Schappert: "I'm going to take us to a new channel, Xbox Live Prime Time which we are unveiling today and rolling out this fall [Verdict: No, make that some forthcoming month in 2009]… This fall you'll be able to play along with all of Xbox Live either as the One, the One Hundred or one of the thousands that watch and play this huge prime time game. And the best part, you'll all be able to win real prizes… Instead of just checking to see what's on TV this fall you'll turn on your Xbox 360 to see what's on Live. [Verdict: Whoa, whoa, slow down there John. Xbox Live Prime Time still isn't live, nor is its launch game show, 1 Vs 100, which is, at least, now in beta.]

XBLA Games Coming

Schappert Announced Geometry Wars 2 for "next month"; Galaga Legions announced as 360 exclusive for "next month," Portal Still Alive coming in the fall "with brand new levels and achievements," coming to Xbox Live Arcade.

Verdict: All accurate predictions.

And South Park Too

Announcer in short promo for South Park Xbox Live Arcade game: "Coming exclusively in 2009…"

Verdict: No sign of it yet, but there is plenty more of 2009 to come to keep from the unnamed Announcer to be known as a Liar.

Community Games coming

Schappert: We will launch Xbox Live Community games this fall as part of the New Xbox Experience.

Verdict: True

Netflix 360 Will Be Big

Schappert: "Xbox 360 will be the only game system that lets members who are also Netflix subscribers instantly watch more than 10,000 movies and TV episodes more than doubling our current content offering."

Verdict: Seemingly accurate, though we haven't counted to ensure that more than 10,000 movies and shows were added.

Netflix Watching Will Be Communal

Schappert: "I'm thrilled to announce that you can share your movies and tv shows with your Live party. We all can watch TV and movies together."

Verdict: Uh-uh. This was cut.

GTA DLC Will Be Huge Part Of 360 Fall '08 Line-Up

Shane Kim, corporate vice president of strategy and business development (but at the time he was running the gaming part of Xbox: After hyping coming of Prince of Persia, Tomb Raider, Mirror's Edge, Pro Evo, Call of Duty, Tomb Raider, Need for Speed, which all came out, [Verdict: True], he said, "The release of the first downloadable episode for Grand Theft Auto IV later this year promises to be another huge event for Xbox 360 and Xbox live." [Verdict: Ugh. We think he meant to say "February 2009," not "later this year."

Lots of 360 Games Coming

Kim: All told, by the end of 2008 more than 1000 games will be available for the Xbox 360.

Verdict: Too tired to count this one, but we are not encouraged by the fact that the ESRB as of today lists only 703 rated games for the 360. Was he counting Community Games?

Fun Games For Families Too

Kim announced Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts, Viva Pinata, BK XBLA, Scene It Box Office Smash, You're In the Movies — all of these games are coming this holiday exclusive for Xbox 360. Also from Kim: "You're In The Movies will include an Xbox Live Vision camera when it ships this holiday.

Verdict: Correct!

Guitar Hero World Tour Will Be Great, Launch New Rock Stars

Kai Huang, co-founder of Red Octane, out to hype Guitar Hero World Tour: "On disc we're going to ship with the greatest number of master tracks ever from some of the best bands of all time, more than 85 songs with tons more at launch and beyond [Verdict: True].. Our new music studio in Guitar Hero: World Tour is going to for the first time let people make and share music from around the world. This is going to revolutionize the way people create, share, discover and play new music. And with GH Tunes when that launches it's going to be the premiere online distribution platform from where a community of aspiring artists are going to become the next big rock stars." [Verdict: Kinda hard to verify, but we're going to say…not yet?]

And GH Will Have REM

Huang: "Guitar Hero World Tour owners will be able to download an REM track pack featuring three songs from their new album before anybody else."

Verdict: True

And Metallica

Huang: "Metallica is joining forces with guitar hero in a huge way… for the first time in music and vg history. Metallica's highly anticipated new album death magnetic is going to be offered as downloadable content in its entirety at the same time the album is released. First for Guitar Hero 3 in September and then again when Guitar Hero World Tour launches in the fall."

Verdict: Not only true, but proven to be an understatement with the recent launch of Guitar Hero: Metallica.

Lips Will Be Fantastic

iNis founder Keiichi Yano, hyping the holiday launch of the Xbox 360 karaoke game Lips: "It's breaking new ground by being the first game that lets you sing from your own music collection. It's going to be great. Imagine plugging in your Zune or your iPod into your Xbox 360 and singing along to all of your favorite songs. [Verdict: True, though not without complaints from reviewers that not all iPods synced with the game] Lips is also going to be the first game ever to feature these wireless mics that light up with your music performance. And these guys are also motion-sensitive so I can do stuff like this (cymbal hit) even when I'm not singing. So it's going to be fun Lips will ship this holiday featuring best songs from many regions and genres inclusion rock hip hop country r and b, pop a lot of your favorite artists you guys love to sing to. [Verdict: The rest was spot-on.]

Lips Will Be REALLY Fantastic

Kim: Lips is definitely going to be the gotta-have-it gift for this holiday for everyone.

Verdict: Oh, come on. Lips might have been fantastic, but he didn't really mean that, did he?

Rock Band Sort of Exclusive

Kim: Rock Band 2 will premiere exclusively on Xbox 360 this September.

Verdict: True, since he meant it would be a timed exclusive.

Rock Band 2 Will Have Rose, Dylan, ACDC

Alex Rigopulos, co-founder, Harmonix, discussing Rock Band 2, said, there would be 84 songs on the disc, every single one of them a master recording. He said Axl Rose's Shackler's Revenge will premiere in RB2, as would Bob Dylan's Tangled Up In Blue and ACDC. And, he said, "the soundtrack will also include 20 bonus tracks available for download in the fall."

Verdict: All accurate.

Rock Band 2 Will Also Have Fine Print

Rigopulos: "We've made all of the downloadable tracks from the original game forward-compatible into Rock Band 2.. furthermore, if you own the original Rock Band you'll be able to export almost all of those tracks into the Rock Band 2 game as well. So no need for disc-swapping… by the end of this year I'm happy to announce there will be over 500 songs available for play in Rock Band 2.

Verdict: True, just note that he said "almost."

Square-Enix Will Have Three RPGs For Xbox 360

Yoichi Wada, president of Square-Enix: dropped some release dates for Infinite Undiscovery — September 2, in NA, 9/5 in Europe, 9/11 in Japan and Asia — Star Ocean for the spring, and Last Remnant for November 11 with a TBD for it coming to Games For Windows.

Verdict : Wada nailed it.

Make That Four

Wada: "An Xbox 360 version of final fantasy xiii , the latest in the final fantasy series, that has more than 85 milion units shipped worldwide, is planned for release. We believe that releasing an xbox 360 version for Final Fantasy XIII will allow us to provide a game to even more fans in the two regions in North America and Europe."

Verdict: No reason to think this won't happen.

Note: No mention was made during the press conference of 2008 games Too Human, Braid or Dead Space, despite the latter two becoming two of the most acclaimed games on Xbox 360 in 2008.

To Sum Up.... Microsoft did a decent job predicting things, but whiffed big on Rockstar and 1 vs 100. We weren't promised any full games that we didn't get. And most of the hype for upcoming games' features was fair. Plus, they did the awesome thing of predicting that they would conquer Sony, which should be fun to follow in the future. For the sheer number of future-looking statements and overall accuracy, we're giving them a B.

Next Victim: Nintendo

[PIC]

The studio that brought us Black & White and the Fable games has a creative process called "experiments" where anybody in the company can take a stab at developing a game mechanic or a piece of technology to be used in a future Lionhead game. The process sounds a bit more rigorous than Bungie pre-Halo 3; but it yields some pretty interesting results.

Molyneux showed off some of these experiments — ones that worked and ones that didn't quite pan out. We saw two prototypes of the dog from Fable II: the first was a rewards system where you could pet the dog a la Nintendogs (which Lionhead eventually chucked; and the second was a mechanic of having the dog run ahead of the player instead of following behind (the status quo in the final game).

We also saw a host of technical developments — like an aging system that applies a layer of wear and tear to everything in the world (murderizes the rendering rates), and a one-button combat system where the computer decides how the character attacks based on proximity to a target (which sort of made it into Fable II).

But the most interesting thing was a "tech demo" called "The Room" — made with love by Alex, Mark and Dave. As in Mark Healey, Alex Evans, Dave Smith — three out of the four guys that formed Media Molecule which went on to make LittleBigPlanet.

You could see a lot of proto-LBP things in "The Room" — from the textures on the fabrics and wallpaper to the concept of "empowering player creativity" by letting them design their own items to fill the room , everything just screams "Make me into an award-winning game."

But Lionhead didn't. They shelved it.

"This is one that didn't work terribly well," said Molyneux. "They worked on this for quite some time... and they had some really, really cool ideas. All of this was enormously, massively exciting... Each time we looked at it, our jaws dropped every single time. But – at the end of the day, even though this looks really cool and inspired us massively, it wasn't an experiment that really went anywhere."

You're right, sir. Four Game Developers Choice awards, a BAFTA and tons of Game of the Year nominations and wins is nowhere.

But, before you can cry "sour grapes," Internet — you should know that Molyneux said, "Media Molecule [are] some of the smartest people in the world."

Apparently, smarter than him, even.

We also talk about the future of the franchise, what else the team is working on, E3 and cloud computing concept, OnLive. You may have to crank up the sound to hear Molyneux clearly. Sorry about that.

I thought maybe I was in the wrong room, but then Fable II's Technical Art Director, Ian Lovett, started speaking and I relaxed a little.

The lecture — done mostly by Microsoft's Lead Environment Artist, Mark Smart, focused on the transitions that the art and design teams of Fable I had to make to get Fable II up to Xbox 360 visual quality standards. Fable I had a sort of clunky charm — Smart called it "organic" — that was achieved mostly by the art team not knowing where to find assets and not having really any concept artwork to go off of before beginning the modeling process.

According to Smart and Lovett, about 40% of what the art team made for Fable I was wasted. In contrast, Fable II only had to waste about 2% or 3% of the total art created.

This newfound "green" approach came mostly from adopting discipline. The team threw out the old engine and the "pipeline" that artists used to put their creations in the world and built everything from the ground up: engine, software, technique – everything.

"It's quite, well, an aggressive learning process," Smart admits. He says that because everything wasn't even built when the artists had to start working, nobody could even preview what they made before submitting it.

"Typical no pain no gain," he said. "But try to explain that to a bunch of angry artists that can't see what they're making."

Now I understand why they played that blues song about whipping — sounds like Lionhead had a to crack one over their collective ass.

Even Peter Molyneux had to climb down from his arts-y cloud and learn some discipline: "I'm just going to be mean about our boss here," said Lovett. "He's a fantastic designer, incredibly creative. But like most [designers] he doesn't understand what he's doing [right from the start]."

To save on time, energy and screaming at the art team while the new engine was built, Lionhead decided to render Albion — the world of Fable II — in the Fable I engine, just as a mock-up. It was an enormous help, said Lovett, because it allowed the designers to come up with what they wanted to do in advance so that when the new engine started working, there wasn't a lot of time wasted on "exploring."

The team sacrifice of total design freedom in favor of concept art, pre-rendered objects (called "white boxes") and a little bit of outsourcing paid off, said Lovett. "We are incredibly proud of the end result. We introduced all kinds of new concepts when we were making the game – the idea that we could be organized, the biggest of them – but we managed to produce a game [that sold] just under 3 billion units and won a number of awards. We just won the BAFTA for best action-adventure game."

"Just having something well-planned, well thought out," Smart said, "saved us so much time and effort. And sadness, really, because there's nothing worse than working on a particular thing only to see it put in the bin."

In an interview with industry site Develop, Fable franchise designer Peter Molyneux explains just how bad it got during the creation of the first game: "If I'm honest, on Fable we just burnt people's lives; we destroyed the team. Week after week, month after month, they worked 50, 60, 70, 80 hour weeks. It destroyed their lives and destroyed their marriages. You just can't do that anymore. You can't do it."

That's why, Molyneux adds, he's so proud of Fable II — sure, there was crunch time at the very end of the game's development, but it wasn't nearly as rough as with the first game. So the still-rumored-but-inevitable Fable III should be nonstop happy time — you know, pink children and Christmas, gum drops and lollypops.

Do read the rest of the Develop interview. Molyneux is, as always, incredibly open, saying things like, "The truth is, I think I'm famously awful at developing games. Before, I'd walk into the office, wave my arms and say ‘I've just had a cool thought' — usually after severe alcohol abuse — and that lead us to spending a lot of money very foolishly on things that weren't going to get anywhere."

Lion's Head Part I [Develop via VG247] [Pic]

The Xbox Deal of the Week soldiers on next week with "the beloved RPG classic from Peter Molyneux", Fable. The Xbox Original is being discounted from 1200 Microsoft points to 800, giving players who missed out an excellent reason to experience the game that Fable II apologized for so capably.

During the week of March 23rd, the Battlestations Midway: Iowa Mission Pack add-on gets discounted by 20%, with things picking up once again on the 30th with Alien Hominid's price lowered to 400 points.

See? The Xbox Live Deal of the Week program isn't all bad! Just mostly bad.

Or, as he puts it, "Goodnight all. Must go to bed. Got asked to do voice in Fable 3 tonight. Subarashi. Oyasuminasia. Woss out."

CAUTION: he may be having a laugh (he was, after all, at the BAFTAs tonight and probably enjoying a drink or three with Peter Molyneux), or accidentally be referencing some new DLC. So we'll refrain from getting over-excited at mention of a third Fable. Besides, it's a successful franchise. Of course there will be more of them.

We only point it out because it's nice to hear it mentioned, that's all. Also nice to see that Lionhead haven't lost their zeal for filling their games with top-notch British voice-acting, either.

[Wossy @ Twitter]

Don't believe us? Here she is. It's called "Hal's Rifle". Basically a firearm that looks identical to Halo's classic Assault Rifle, which does 59 damager per shot, fires 24 shots per clip and even has an empty augment slot.

Perfect for those wanting to complete that authentic "Hal" look.

Along with praising Grand Theft Auto IV for balanced combat, driving mechanics, and impressive writing, Schiesel also praises and pokes a few games and companies for their more obscure achievements. He awards Nintendo with "Best Explanation of Why Nintendo Hardly Needs Big Games Anymore" for The Wii, pointing out that widespread acceptance by non-gamers has allowed Nintendo to ignore core fans "For now." Left 4 Dead receives a much deserved "Best Zombies" award. He lists Spore as "Best Disappointment", while giving Molyneux a nod with "Best Vindication" for Fable II.

Of course it all comes down to the game of the year, and for Schiesel, that was GTA IV. Here's what he had to say:

G.T.A. IV came out in April, and for the rest of the year I kept waiting for some other new game to captivate and refuse to release me the way this masterpiece from Rockstar did. I’m still waiting. Beyond its formidable craft, apart from its well-balanced combat and driving mechanics, what impresses most about G.T.A. IV is its writing. It is one of the few games that even try to take on the real world in any adult way. (Of course, the game’s Liberty City setting is a parody of modern New York.) Penetrating through all the game’s gangster trappings is a hunger to engage with the idiocies, the contradictions and even some of the good things in modern America. After all, someone has to.

This is the moment where one of us stands up and starts a slow clap. You guys sort that out, and we'll join in shortly.

The Zombies Look Better Every Year [The New York Times]

At the end of Fable I, we sat down and we kind of thought, firstly the reviews were... some of the reviews were very mixed. We asked ourselves, "How did we disappoint people?" — with those reviews.

The second thing, the boards were unbelievably passionate about some things. Incredibly passionate and very focused on, "Why isn't there free roaming? I thought there was free roaming, this should have free roaming, it's supposed to be an open world." That was 100%, everybody was passionate about that.

There were some other things that were very confusing. The length of the story was immensely confusing because a lot of people said it was far, far, far too short and a lot more people said, "Actually, it's just the right length, and it was the only game I finished because it was that length."

It's not a massive interview, though there's a lot of discussion packed into four pages, but it's an interesting look behind the scenes — and it's definitely interesting to see Molyneux's position on some of the criticisms aimed at the Fables.

Peter Molyneux: Fable II, From Conception To Reality [Gamasutra]

*Actual LCE does not match picture. Subtract, like everything.

It looks like Peter Molyneux's ability to promise features for his games that never arrive extends in the world of retail box sets as well. (We kid because we care)

Due to a "supply chain issue" the Fable II Limited Collector's Edition will no longer include the premium box, five printed fate cards and Hobbe figure, Lionhead Studios today. To make up for the missing feature set, the collector's edition will now run for about $70, instead of $80.

The Collector's Edition is expected to hit on October 21 in North America and Asia and October 24 for Europe and will include:

* Fable II game disc
* Bonus DVD with new ‘Making-of’ Feature
* Bonus in-game content (requires Xbox LIVE®)
o ‘The Hall of the Dead’ Dungeon
o ‘The Wreckager’ Legendary Cutlass Weapon
o Spartan armor and energy sword

Lionhead is also giving away a Fable album they created for the game as a free download. The download includes a selection of music from Fable 1 and three brand new tracks from the upcoming Fable II soundtrack.

To grab the music go to this link starting on Oct. 6 and enter “FableCollection” as a promotion code.

Rumor has it that Molyneux is currently working on Denis Dyack II, which is said to feature more realistic gameplay, and possibly a dog.

Hold on a moment...I just actually read the full article instead of skimming it, and it turns out that Molyneux simply feels sorry for the flack that Denis Dyack is catching over Too Human.

"I feel sorry for Denis Dyack because you know, I think a few things were said wrong, there was that really unfortunate showing at E3 a few years ago. Everyone got on the bandwagon of saying things about Too Human. Now I've played it and, you know, it's a good game. It doesn't deserve a lot of that harsh criticism.

It all makes sense now! Molyneux of course caught a lot of flack himself when he released Fable on the original Xbox, a game that decidedly did not live up to his creative vision. You can see where I could get confused.

I kind of apologised at the end of Fable 1 about actually saying things that didn't end up in the game. I've tried to be really really careful about what I show and I think everything I've talked about in Fable 2 you can now play in there, so that was really important. But what I realise over time is that talking about a game before it's released is a dangerous game.

Sort of like writing out a news post before fully reading and understanding the source article, which I would never, ever do.

Peter Molyneux: 'I feel sorry for Denis Dyack' [Videogamer.Com]

I can tell you definitively that there is absolutely an acorn and it does absolutely grow into a tree. And it is actually part of the story now. We decided we got into so much trouble over acorns and trees that we are going to make it part of the main thread of the story in "Fable 2".

Xbox Originals Manuals and Controller layouts (and free themes and picture packs) [Microsoft]

"To get tough and frank questions from gamers is what I am looking forward to this Friday. I don't mind whether they are about Fable 2, Lionhead's other games or the industry in general." said Lionhead boss Peter Molyneux.