Posts Tagged ‘lionhead’
Lionhead Employee’s Wedding Confirms Fable III
If you hadn’t figured it out yet, there will be a Fable III. Between Peter Molyneux’s fervent love of the series as expressed in every interview along the way, the financial success of a game that almost always guarantees a sequel and the less-than-subtle hint in the downloadable content pack ’see the future’ you should be aware that Fable III is going to get made.
If you STILL need more proof you’ll just have to check out the New York Times. Skip the business section. No, it’s not under science and technology either. The arts? Nope. It’s under the “weddings/celebrations” section. Joshua Atkins, a Lionhead employee is getting hitched Sunday in San Francisco, presumably so he can then sacrifice his wife at the temple of shadows (kidding). In the announcement it lists Atkins as “ the lead game designer for Fable III, a video game series produced by Lionhead Studios in Guildford, England.”
Whether or not it’s a misprint, you should take it as confirmation that Fable III will happen. It’s inevitable.
Molyneux promoted to creative director at Microsoft Game Studios
Lionhead’s Peter Molyneux was promoted today to the Creative Director of Microsoft Game Studios, Europe. Although, Molyneux will still be assuming his responsibilites as the head of Lionhead.
“What you’re not going to see is ten Peter Molyneux games,” Molyneux said. “The value of this role is for someone like myself going in and making those little tiny lights of an idea shine as brightly as possible and ensuring everybody within the organisation clearly understands why we’re making those titles, the purpose of those titles and their importance to Microsoft overall.”
Molyneux will still be assuming the responsilibites as the head of Lionhead.
Read (Blue’s News)
Lionhead giving away signed Fable II branded Xbox 360
Lionhead has recently announced a new promotion they are holding to celebrate the release of the See the Future DLC pack for Fable II. A contest will be held and the winner will recieve a copy of Fable II along with a Fable II branded Xbox 360 signed by the game’s creator, Peter Molyneux.
To enter the contest you’re going to want to head here and follow the directions which prompt you to sign in with your Lionhead account and then click the register button, it’s as simple as that.
Newest Fable DLC Gets Release Date
First off I’d like to apologize for the incredibly dramatic nature of my posting yesterday regarding the upcoming Lionhead announcement. It seems that I was affected by ‘Molyneuxitis’, classified by medical professionals as the ‘pathological hyping of everything’. The announcement isn’t Fable III, a new expansion pack or a spin-off game, but simply a release date for the “See The Future” content pack.
The new DLC pack will be available May 12th for a mere 560 MS points. Once again there will be a free downloadable item that’ll allow those who don’t want the content pack to play online with friends. It’ll be studded with a few pieces of the content however, including jester make-up, a back flip trick for your dog, a soldier helmet and a few other sundries.
There will be even more content in the pack of course, including new quests, a coliseum where players who’ve already conquered the Crucible can test their skills against new challenges (well, as challenging as Fable II ever is) and win new prizes. More legendary weapons are promised, along with a ‘trip down memory lane to the original Fable‘, so it seems you’ll be seeing the past as well as the future. No, there’s no Delorean, but players will be able to customize their dog a little more. If you’re not terribly happy with the shaggy mutt’s overall appearance you can turn him into a bloodhound, husky or dalmatian.
See the Future in Fable 2 DLC
Lionhead has released some fresh information from “See the Future”, the next batch of Fable 2 DLC which Molyneaux teased about a while back.
Not exactly a look at Fable 3, the DLC will have players saving Albion or leading it to ruin, whichever rocks your boat. Whatever you do, you’ll receive a vision of Albion’s future. which may or may not be Fable 3.
There will be two new major quests as well as new items, clothing, hairstyles, and you can even teach your old dog new tricks. Here’s the deal:
The Ghosts of the Snowglobe Quest: Holding a disturbing secret, the small model village inside it was once a real town in Albion. The people who once inhabited it are now ghosts condemned to endless torment until the shadowy threat that cursed them is defeated.
The Cursed Knight Quest: Forever banished to a land beyond the dead, the Cursed Knight awaits a hero who has the strength and will to dress up in convincing costumes, even imitating a hobbe or balverine, to save him from his fate.
The Colosseum: The Colosseum puts even the Crucible to shame. Only the greatest heroes have triumphed here. Players’ abilities will be put to the test to prove themselves in combat once and for all, to win the ultimate in prizes.
The DLC is slated to hit Xbox Live next month for 560 Microsoft points ($7).
Molyneux Talks New Fable II Content
While many developers and studio executives issue simple ‘no comment’ statements when probed or prodded about any aspect of what they’ve got brewing, others like Will Wright and Peter Molyneux are always more than happy to discuss their games, even if only in vague promises of great potential.
IGN sat down with Molyneux at the Game Developers Conference and got his tongue wagging regarding Fable II. Since the game’s release Lionhead has released a single downloadable content pack, which was heavy on new items and short on actual gameplay time. Some of that Molyneux attributes to the fact that work was started on it immediately after the game’s release which meant that they were splitting their focus between Knothole Glade and patching any issues with the game itself.
Now that whatever the biggest issues are with Fable II have been ironed out and Lionhead is free to pursue other projects. Rumors have been circulating that Fable III is already in production and while Molyenux said nothing to confirm that, many things he said confirmed that they’re planning on it. The end of Fable II leaves plenty of loose threads and some of these will be wrapped up in the new premium content pack that will be released this spring.
It’s titled See The Future and it will give some hints at the future of the Fable story. This isn’t an official announcement but Molyneux says they’re not done with Fable II yet and to expect more content. This pack set to add more to the game and not only more clothes or weapons. It’s said to add entirely new gameplay features, new things to do and ‘new challenges’.
Fable 2 sells 2.6m copies
With the announcement of more DLC for Fable 2, developer Lionhead has now revealed that the popular Xbox 360 RPG has sold an impressive 2.6 million copies.
Since Microsoft announced that Fable 2 had sold 1.5 million copies in its first month — thereby becoming the fastest selling RPG on the Xbox 360 — the game has reached sales of 2.6 million, surpassing the sales of the original Fable, which has sold around 2.5 million units to date.
DLC Review: Knothole Island
It’s simple enough to avoid paying full price for a game; borrow it from a friend, trade old titles in, buy used or auction-hunt on eBay. Unfortunately this isn’t an option with downloadable content, so gamers always have to ask themselves if the bonus content is worth the cost. In the case of Lionhead’s ‘Knothold Island’ content pack recently released for Fable 2, the answer is a definite yes.
I wouldn’t recommend the content pack for someone who’s relegated the game to trade-in status and is hoping it’ll breathe life back into it because the quests it adds aren’t terribly long. Put in an hour or two and you’ll be able to explore pretty much anything the island has to offer. Where the content really comes in is expanding the possibility for a player who hasn’t purchased the game yet, or has only put in a little bit of time. One of the big appeals of Fable 2 is that since they did away with armor you can choose your garb to fit your style of character; black-garbed assassin, swashbuckling pirate or powerful sorcerer. The content pack gives you some interesting style options to round out the content.
It puts in some more assassin pieces, allowing you to complete that set, as well as more scandalous options if you’re interested in the fighting bar wench idea. There’s a suit of armor for anyone desiring a more medieval look to go with that battle axe, and a couple staves if you’re looking for a complete wizardly theme. The Halo assault rifle nicely rounds out the full Master Chief gear, although like the sword it’s sadly underpowered. In addition to the weight loss potion there are other beverages that’ll change your character’s appearance, making them taller, brawnier, even removing scars.
There are some interesting augments available but nothing is quite so nice as the augment remover. It doesn’t allow you to remove augments from legendary weapons but you can take out an augment you regret using. By far though the best feature for anyone who’s completed the main quest and gone the route of absolute good is that you can get a certain furry friend back.
Fable 2 patched, bugs get fixed
Many users have experienced several glitches and bugs in Fable 2. Lionhead addressed these problems, but hasn’t resolved any of them. Today, the long-awaited patch has been released, fixing issues that have been plaguing players for a long time. Here is the list of fixes:
- The Ritual/Monk’s Quest — Fixed the issue with the Abbott becoming unresponsive if you leave Oakfield before he finishes talking. This will fix the problem if you’ve already hit it, too.
- Rescuing Charlie/Rescue My Baby — after rescuing Charlie, you are now able to interact with objects
- Guild Cave chest — resolves any issues with previous inability to retrieve items unlocked from Limited Collector’s Edition, website or Chicken Kickin’ game. If you’ve already hit this bug you should now get your items.
- The Spire (Pt2) — no more issues with ship captain being unresponsive
- The Hero of Skill (Pirate King) — you’ll no longer get stuck during Hero of Skill quest (Bloodstone)
- T.O.B.Y./Trouble In Bloodstone — you’ll no longer get stuck during T.O.B.Y. quests (Bloodstone)
- Your child — will no longer be chosen as an assassination target
- Furniture Shop in Albion (Bowerstone) will now always have something for sale
- Additional unspecified fixes
The delayed DLC for the game will be releasing next week, so the patch is just in time to check out Knothole Island.
Read (1UP)
Fable II DLC Gets New Release Date
Lionhead is ‘clearing up some confusion’ regarding the release date of the Knothole Island downloadable content pack for Fable II. I find myself somewhat confused as there didn’t seem to be any confusion before this. Previously they had announced that the content pack which adds a new area, quests and some content including more Assassin gear, Knight outfits and collectible items would be released on December 12th.
It seems that they’d hit some kind of snag or had some error in the communication department as they’ve changed the date. It’s now going to be out on December 22nd, just in time for the holidays if you were planning on buying it for a friend or were hoping to get a few hours in before you had to head off to family holiday celebrations.
Lionhead Working on Fixing Fable 2 Bugs
It’s sad to point out how console gaming has turned into PC gaming, what with huge day one patches coming out now, but that’s not my job. My job is to report that Lionhead is working on fixing game-breaking bugs in Fable 2, which was released just a couple of days ago.
Following complaints about freezing glitches, lost experience points, missing gold and more, the studio responded that it is “watching and listening to you [the fans], and are looking into all serious issues that are bought to our attention.”
"Some things slip through the net during development, especially when a game is the size and scope of Fable II," Lionhead noted. "Again, we can only apologise for this issue, but we are doing our best."
No release date was given for the patch.
Microsoft: Rare and Lionhead are Safe
Hoping to allay fears surrounding the fates of studios Rare and Lionhead, Phil Spencer, head of Microsoft Game Studios, commented that the work of both the studios is “incredibly important to Microsoft.”
He was referring to the sudden closure of Ensemble Studios, the much vaunted developer of the Age of Empires series.
Both Rare and Lionhead have been criticized for not producing any solid franchise other than the ones it had pre-MGS days. Lionhead’s Fable 2 just went gold, and Rare is working on releasing a Banjo and Kazooie sequel for the Xbox 360.