Today, Microsoft Game Studios and Lionhead Studios announced that the highly anticipated action role-playing game "Fable II" will ship to U.S. retailers on Oct. 21, 2008 and European retailers on Oct. 24, with subsequent release dates throughout the rest of the world in the coming months. Combining thrilling action, heart-wrenching emotional experiences and a genre-bending Xbox LIVE multiplayer mode, "Fable II" is the must-have blockbuster for 2008.
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Peter Molyneux has revealed that Lionhead has another game in the works that apparently came about while they were experimenting with things for Fable 2. He wouldn't get down to specifics, but being that it's Peter Molyneux, Ripten is sure he wanted to talk a big game but some lawyer had his hands on the restraining-bolt controls off camera somewhere.

He did say, however, that he's always looking for a challenge, stating:

"I've always been fascinated by challenges and I've always said to myself 'One day I really should do a sports game', simply because it's such a genre that's locked in stone – we [developers] know how we do sports games and we don't do them any other way, and that is a real challenge to me. Same with things like, you know, driving games."
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Microsoft today announced that Collector's Editions of Gears of War 2 and Fable 2 will ship together with the regular versions.
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Legendary head of Lionhead Studios Peter Molyneux has said he feels sorry for Denis Dyack, the developer of upcoming Xbox 360 exclusive Too Human.

He told VideoGamer.com: "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. But as soon as something starts it's very hard to turn the tide and pull it back again. Unless you've got something in your back pocket to say "Ahaa, but what about this?" then it's really really tough."
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Console Monster writes: "The conferences may have come to an end, but new content is still being added to the Xbox Live Marketplace. Here is the full list for Thursday 17th July 2008:

Name: MS Briefing - Gears of War 2 Announcement
Price: Free
Availability: All Xbox Live Regions except Germany

Name: E3 MS Briefing - Resident Evil 5 Announcement
Price: Free
Availability: All Xbox Live Regions except Germany

Name: E3 2008 MS Briefing - LIPS Announcement
Price: Free
Availability: All Xbox Live Regions..."
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One of Microsoft's big Xbox 360 games for this year is Lionhead's Fable 2. The game is due for release this October, but can gamers expect a demo before that date? According to Peter Molyneux, the answer's no.

When asked if Lionhead has any plans for a demo Peter Molyneux revealed he wasn't keen on the idea.

"No. I hate demos. What either happens, is you either make a demo that people think is too short or, you know, is too confusing," said Molyneux. "There are a million reasons why they go wrong, very few reasons why they go right. What was the last great demo that you played and then went out and bought the game?"
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Joystiq's Justin McElroy writes: "We had a lot of fun playing Fable 2 last night (more on that in a bit), so we were disappointed when we heard from several Lionhead staffers that the game's main story would take most around 12 hours to complete. It's not that we thought we were getting ripped off, after last night we just hoping the answer would be a little closer to a hojillion.

Also, keep in mind: That's just for the main story. That's not figuring in the time you'll spend gambling, romancing, trying to get fat and all the other side quests that make Fable so Fabley."
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"Microsoft is always quick to mention that they're all about the games, and not so much about fancy new HD formats that have a correlation with the color blue. So just that you have a quick and dirty rundown on what Microsoft shined the spotlight on the most during this E3's press conference, here's a brief recap."
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Console Monster writes: "Microsoft's E3 press conference has come to an end and to celebrate; there is new content on the Xbox Live Marketplace. Here is the full list:

Name: Fallout 3 E3 Trailer
Price: Free
Availability: All Xbox Live Regions

Name: Too Human Gamer Pics Set 1
Price: 80 Microsoft Points
Availability: All Xbox Live Regions

Name: Too Human Battlecry Trailer
Price: Free
Availability: All Xbox Live Regions

Name: Too Human Skill Tree: Human Skills Trailer
Price: Free
Availability: All Xbox Live Regions..."
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Sam, being a little tired which obviously affects his typing, writes,

"So my week has been 20 days long. You a-go tired fe see me face! Working without a day off, late, every night. The diet of Fish&Chips and Chinese or Pizza is getting to me. The work is done, sort of. Not really, but most of it is. What a march this has been!

But that's not the point.

What is the point? Oh yeah! E3, next week. A lot is going to be happening. You'll just have to wait and see what exactly, but if any of you say 'this wasn't worth it' I will chase you and burn down your house. Sic."
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Tomorrow morning at 4:30 a.m. we leave the Birmingham International Airport for the sunny shores of Los Angeles, CA to attend what most gamer's in the country are dreaming about; the 2008 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). In the four days that we will be at E3 we'll be covering such a mass of games, attending many free dinners, and late drunken parties, followed by all-night writing sessions, that we are actually a bit nervous about the whole thing. This is the Super Bowl of our industry though, thus in the end our excitement to have a beer with Cliff Bleszinski outweighs the overall severity of our fear. These are only the announced games we can tell you about, even so this is more than enough reasons for you to come back and spend E3 2008 with us, here at PlanetXbox360.com by bookmarking either one of the two below links. See everyone from the show!
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Speaking to OXM UK, Peter Molyneux revealed new details about Fable ahead of Microsoft's E3 press conference on Monday. This extract confirms details of the henchmen, the HUD-free interface, and celebrity voice actors including Stephen Fry.
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From Kotaku

"Lionhead fan site Loinhead has posted a rather suspicious and alleged Fable II screen shot today, one that it claims originates from an anonymous source. The site cryptically writes "we seem to have found an image in the style of Fable 2 very shortly after the Collector's Edition was announced." Hoax? Semi-clever marketing? Merely intense character customization?"
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TalkingAboutGames writes: "Remember back at this year's Game Developer's Conference when Peter Molyneux announced and demoed Fable II's co-op play and LIVE Arcade tie-in games? That was huge. Fable II will be one of the first retail titles to have full-fledged Arcade counterparts that actually can affect your real game. Dubbed the Fable II Pub Games, the following three titles will be open to you the gamer: Keystone, Spinnerbox and Fortune's Tower. Microsoft and Lionhead Studios today announced the release plans for the game-changing Arcade titles, and what you'll have to do to get them."
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Lionhead Studios and Microsoft Game Studios today announced that consumers who pre-order a copy of the Xbox 360 exclusive, Fable II, at participating retailers worldwide, will be given free access to download the Fable II Pub Games when they are released this August. Available exclusively on Xbox LIVE Arcade, fans can transfer the gold earned in these casino-style mini-games to the world of Fable II, when the game is available later this year.
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Sam writes, "We're pleased to announce the launch of a brand new Lionhead.com website, including new content for fans that are eagerly waiting for Fable 2.

If you are interested in the backstory of Fable, Fable: The Lost Chapters and Fable 2 then we have just the thing for you. We have a collection of lore from different areas of Fable's history, called Tales of Albion. You can read about "The destruction of ancient Albion" and in the future we'll be adding "The fall of the Heroes" and the culture of present-day Albion. The Fragments of the Old Kingdom start with chapter 1. Reign of the Court."

Direct link to Tales of Albion is the secondary link below.
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CVG writes: "If you're a massive trivia fan and loved the original Fable on Xbox, then all our news stories out together won't please you nearly as much as this one. CVG has received a few facts and figures about the sonic side to Peter Molyneux's Fable II.

The audio, or rather vocal landscape, of the game has been recorded at the London-based firm Side. It's latest newsletter reveals that Side cast over 45 actors (aged from 8 to 80) to play almost 200 speaking characters.

'Four of Side's voice directors ensured that all performances harmonised perfectly with Fable II's idiosyncratic world and captured the complexities of its inhabitants. The voice recording ran concurrently in two studios for over three months, amounting to nearly 370,000 words recorded - that's 38 hours of dialogue.'"
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Peter Molyneux has wanted to tell gamers when they can expect his studio's next ambitious Xbox 360 title for quite some time now. Never one to temper the lavish melodrama surrounding his titles, the celebrity designer has repeatedly hinted that his open-world fantasy role-playing game Fable 2 will be out this holiday season, saying at different times that gamers can expect to be playing it "when the leaves turn brown," or more specifically, "when the evenings draw in, and it gets a little chilly, but not very chilly at night."

That's helpful information to be sure, but not helpful enough, to say the least, for the highly anticipated follow-up to one of the original Xbox's best-selling titles. Now, Molyneux may have dropped one more hint as to when the world of Fable 2 will open for occupancy, this time not the least bit circumlocutory. Spotted by the gaming-obsessed souls that call the NeoGAF message boards home, the opening scene of the sixth Fable 2 developer diary gives a not-so-subtle hint that the game will appear on Microsoft's platform in October.
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Console Monster writes: "Make space on your hard drive, there's a lot to download from the XBOX Live Marketplace today. The pick of the bunch is the Don King Presents Prizefighter Demo, closely followed by the free Call of Duty: World at War Theme. Here is the full update for Tuesday 24th June:

Name: Call of Duty: World at War Theme
Price: Free
Availability: Everywhere

Name: FaceBreaker Molotov, Voodoo, Romeo & Ice - Theme
Price: 150 Microsoft Points
Availability: Everywhere

Name: Top Spin 3 Theme
Price: 150 Microsoft Points
Availability: Everywhere

Name: Don King Presents Prizefighter Demo
Price: Free
Availability: All Xbox LIVE regions except Austria, Canada, Ireland, Mexico, Switzerland..."
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Microsoft's Shane Kim has suggested that the 360's gaming line-up for 2008 could surpass last year's success. Kim stated this year's line up is "just as strong, if not stronger" than last year's
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