The co-founders of Big Blue Box--the game development studio that created the Fable franchise--have announced the formation of their new studio, called Another Place Productions. The new studio is also bringing on board several other former developers from Lionhead, the studio that combined with Big Blue Box before being acquired by Microsoft.

Read more: Another indie formed by industry vets »

AAA games flee before The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings and L.A. Noire, fearful to release in the same week as these two much-anticipated games. Smaller, cheaper, downloadable titles and downloadable content are unphased by this, though. On that front, we're getting Sega Rally Online Arcade, the Honest Hearts DLC for Fallout: New Vegas, and Terraria, which I shall lazily describe as "kind of a bit like an action-oriented 2D Minecraft."

If you're somehow not interested in any of those, there's a a colouring-in game on DSiWare and some Wii titles that'll teach you how to read. Read more »

A demo for the PC edition of Lionhead's Brit-tastic RPG Fable III is slated to launch alongside the full game on May 17, Microsoft's Larry 'Major Nelson' Hyrb revealed in the latest Xbox Live Marketplace schedule. Tally ho!

This news is another indication that publisher Microsoft is committed to the PC edition. Over the past few years it's repeatedly vowed to better support PC gaming but failed to deliver anything spectacular. Hopefully Microsoft really means it this time, starting with Fable III. Read more »

The next few weeks of Xbox Live Marketplace content have been detailed by Microsoft's Larry Hryb, including some anticipated XBLA games and discounts on 2K titles.

The twin-stick shooter Gatling Gears will be up tomorrow for $15 (1200 MSP), and Sega Rally Online Arcade will go up next week for a cool $10 (800 MSP). Hryb also tweeted separately that Star Raiders will be up this week as well. Read more »

Citing the importance of giving customers as many choices as is found throughout the Fable franchise, Microsoft Game Studios and developer Lionhead have announced that the PC version of Fable 3 will be available on both the Games for Windows Live Marketplace and Steam at launch.

According to the announcement press release, Fable 3 will be available for pre-order starting today on both digital distribution platforms, each with a special bonus. GFWL pre-order customers will receive Fable: Lost Chapters--the franchise's first title, and only other PC release--for free. Steam pre-order customers will receive the "Rebel's Weapon & Tattoo Pack," which includes "four exclusive weapons and five exclusive tattoo sets." As of publishing, a product page for Fable 3 is only available on the GFW site. The game will also be available at retail. Read more »

Grab your wizard hat and robe, ladies and gentlemen, because Fable 3 has a release date for the PC.

Xbox Live's Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb revealed that the PC version of the Lionhead-developed role-playing game will launch on May 17. Read more »

An Xbox Live Arcade release of the splendid Torchlight and the opportunity to hold eerie chat shows with your friends Live Avatars via Kinect are amongst the goodies revealed yesterday by Microsoft at the ongoing 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show.

Torchlight will arrive as part of Microsoft's 'House Party' event on Xbox Live Arcade, which will see five big releases over five weeks. The others will be Ubisoft's revamped Beyond Good & Evil HD, Contra prequel Hard Corps: Uprising, Microsoft's Full House Poker and PopCap's Bejeweled Blitz Live. It all kicks off on February 16 with Hard Corps. Read more »

If you've booted up Fable 3 today, you might notice the game has received a new title update.

The 5MB patch released this morning on Xbox Live has corrected a few notable issues that some people may have encountered. According to Lionhead, the patch attacks certain quest glitches and some online problems head on--and hopefully they're all down for the count. Read more »

While we can't have fun with the numbers the same way we used to, the NPD Group has released the October NPD listing in its new, 'slimmer' form.

Jumping ahead in the hardware space was the Nintendo DS, taking over after a four-month consecutive hold the Xbox 360 had in the United States. That doesn't mean things are shaky in Microsoft's camp as NPD Group analyst Anita Frazier says that "the Xbox 360 was the only platform to realize unit sales improvement over last October." Read more »

A whole slate of Fable 3 downloadable content has been announced by Microsoft for release on November 23, ranging from dyes and extra hairstyles to a brand new quest.

The main dish on the menu is the Understone Quest Pack for 400 Microsoft Points ($5). Players will venture into Understone, a "mysterious town built beneath the streets of Bowerstone," to find a new quest with one of those akward moral decisions to make. The DLC also adds a replayable shooting range and arena challenges. Read more »

Videogame consultant and columnist N'Gai Croal joins Garnett, Brian, and Jeff on the show this week. Heavy-hitters like Star Wars Force Unleashed 2 and Fable 3 step to the plate in Whatcha' Been Playin? along with hands-on reports from Blizzcon on Diablo 3 and the upcoming custom StarCraft 2 maps. A quick consideration of whether game design stagnates at times by falling in to habits leads off the Warning which moves on to topics including whether derivative design is inherently bad and why we care so much about achievements. And wrapping it up in the Front Page are details on the relaunch of the Games for Windows Marketplace, Zenimax beefing up its development resources with the addition of Shinji Mikami's new Tango Gameworks studio, and more.

Weekend Confirmed Ep. 32 - 10/29/2010 Read more »

When I sat down to start Fable 3 over this past weekend I wasn't quite sure what I was getting myself in to. Over the first two games, the series tried to strike a unique middle ground for fantasy role-playing by merging the requisite vast world with an epic story, while making it easy to get in and play. For Fable 3, I knew designer Peter Molyneux intended to push ever harder to make the game approachable. I was most curious, though, whether his hope to bring out more emotional connections by holding hands with other characters would work and how the grand twist of becoming king and having to cope with the realities of rule would play out.

Read more »

If you've picked up Fable 3, which launches today on Xbox 360, or think you might do so at any point in the future, you should head on over to the Xbox Live Marketplace to download a free downloadable content pack with two new weapons.

The DLC adds the hammer 'Bloodstone Bludgeon' and 'Gusket's Musket' rifle, which will to added your gift queue in the Sanctuary then become available when you unlock weapons in the storyline. This is separate to the free in-game items pack included with new copies of Fable 3. Read more »

Shacknews receives a slew of new screenshots and trailers for upcoming games everyday. The most anticipated titles receive their own post, because we know you're eager to see that content. For the rest, we have the Daily Filter, a place to feature all of the media we add to our enormous database on a daily basis.

Today's Filter features new media for Diablo 3, Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2011, LittleBigPlanet 2, GoldenEye 007 Wii, Medal of Honor, Epic Mickey, Chu Chu Rocket, Sonic Colors, The Sims 3, and Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom. Read more »

In Fable 2, co-op was extremely limited. Players were able to join friends throughout their adventure but were unable to bring their custom hero or four-legged friend along for the journey. In Fable 3--that new RPG that comes out on Xbox 360 tomorrow--it's completely different.