Loinhead

From Sam on Lionhead’s blogs:

There is an email from GAME doing the rounds on the internet, claiming that the LCE has been further reduced. This information is incorrect; there are no further cuts in the Limited Collectors Edition.
The Developer Diaries and Soundtrack were never going to be a part of the bonus DVD, these can be downloaded for free. The diaries from Xbox LIVE marketplace (or here)  and the soundtrack from http://www.sumthingdigital.com, and enter “FableCollection” promotion code.  This will be available beginning October 6, 2008 @ 9am PST. (I am sure there are future plans for additional tracks)
You will get the game in the LCE that’s for sure, the issue with the Hobbe, cigar box packaging and Fate Cards is beyond everyone’s control. I don’t have any other details on that.
The videos that are on there are brand new and never-seen-before. The Making of Fable II is based on footage that was filmed over two years, it’s unlike most Making of features and a little bit of the footage you will have seen in the video diaries.
I don’t know why GAME send that email and I also don’t know why sites publish this without checking with us or Microsoft first.
WHO COMES UP WITH THIS STUFF?

The album with Fable I and II tracks in now available for listening.

Videogamer.com got in a pretty big interview with Molyneux a while ago and have just released the second part. (Part 1.) Apart from that thing about a PC version of Fable II, there’s not much more in there. Part three next week.

From Sam on Lionhead’s blogs:

And here we go, a brand new video diary for you to look at and listen to! Make your way to our Diaries page to download it or make your way to the Xbox LIVE Marketplace.
Head On Over to Xbox LIVE Marketplace for the Chance to Listen In On “Fable II”
Lionhead Studios Releases Episode 7 of Video Diary Series: The Music and Audio of “Fable II”
Three weeks stand between gamers and their quest to become a hero. “Fable II” will be available exclusively on the Xbox 360 in North America on Oct. 21. In celebration of this occasion, today Lionhead Studios and Microsoft Game Studios released episode 7 of the popular “Fable II” video diary series to Xbox LIVE Marketplace. In this new episode, the team takes viewers on a behind-the-scenes visual and audio tour from Bratislava to London, where music, sound effects and voiceover dialogues breathe life into the colorful art and animations of “Fable II.”
See interviews with various members of the audio development team, including head of music Russell Shaw, who discusses the process of music development in “Fable II,” and hear the audio design team’s humorous quips as they imitate sword and battle cry sound effects, just two of the 9,000 unique sound effects in “Fable II.” Curious to hear the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra play a score from the opening scene of “Fable II” or understand how the team painted layered ambient sound effects onto the “Fable II” map? All this and much more can be seen and heard in this episode, so head on over to Xbox LIVE Marketplace to download the video diary!

The “Music and Audio” episode has been released.

From Sam on Lionhead’s blogs:

We are happy to announce the Fable II game is in manufacturing and confirmed for Oct-21 in North America and Asia, Oct-24 for Europe.
However, due to supply chain issues, we are revising the Fable II Limited Collector’s Edition and the estimated retail price will be reduced from $79.99 to $69.99* USD in North America or as applicable in your market.   *These are estimated retail prices; actual retail prices may vary worldwide.
The premium box, five printed fate cards, and Hobbe figure will not be available as part of the Limited Collector’s Edition.  We apologize for any inconvenience. 
The Fable II Limited Collector’s Edition will now include the following content at this discounted price:

• Fable II game disc


• Bonus DVD with new ‘Making-of’ Feature


• Bonus in-game content (requires Xbox LIVE®)




• ‘The Hall of the Dead’ Dungeon


• ‘The Wreckager’ Legendary Cutlass Weapon


• Spartan armor and energy sword

To further show our commitment to the faithful fans, we have created a special Fable album for free download for a limited time!  This includes a wonderful selection of Fable 1 music and 3 brand new tracks from the upcoming Fable II soundtrack.
Go to http://www.sumthingdigital.com, and enter “FableCollection” promotion code.  This will be available beginning October 6, 2008 @ 9am PST.

Videogamer.com has a second part of its mammoth interview with Molyneux, but is just sitting on it for a few days, doling out snippets of info. (In the first part, Molyneux did the Fable 2 quality u-turn.) This one is too juicy to pass on.

If you recall we didn’t release a PC version of Fable immediately. I don’t think we even announced it immediately. There’s no announcement either positive or negative on a PC version just yet.

You see you said all the maybes and mights there, I’ll leave that with you! But these are the sorts of things as you can imagine I get into an enormous amount of trouble for. I have to be very careful!

Purely speculatively, it would be stupid for Microsoft to announce a PC version before the 360 version comes out, since then people might wait for the PC version instead of rushing out to buy. So they wouldn’t announce pre-release on way or another. Best timing for such an announcement would probably be … post-Christmas sales. So, look out for the real announcement then. (See our old analysis.)

But at least, in classic Molyneux style, we have a really, reeeeally suggestive hint here already.

You saw it here first.

GayGamer.net has a video interview with Molyneux, asking him questions about things like same-sex couple adoption and getting gay with NPCs in Fable 2.

Videogaming247.com has asked Molyneux some reader-asked questions. The first one’s BC-themed, and the answer, for once, is interesting: it was Fable or BC at one point, and Fable wasn’t always going to be a clear winner.

Has it [BC] officially been canceled or is it still ’suspended’, and why was it suspended?

This is a long time ago now, actually. It must be the back end of 2003, I would think. Basically, it was for a couple of reasons. One is that Microsoft has some very good reasons, and also Lionhead had to focus itself on one or two things. Otherwise we were getting too diluted, our efforts were getting too diluted.

And we had to pick between BC or Fable. We couldn’t do both simultaneously: it was just impossible for us to do that and maintain any quality at all. So we literally almost sat in a room and debated which one it should be, and some people thought it was going to be BC and some people thought it should be Fable that was going to be shelved, and in the end it came down on the side of BC being put on the shelf.

That’s all that’s done. We’re not saying it’s never going to come out. Currently it’s still on the shelf, but so many people ask about it and I find it absolutely fascinating that they do, because in a way some people here and at Microsoft said, ‘You know, we just don’t quite understand what the BC game’s all about.’ But everybody seems so enthusiastic about it. It really fascinates me.

Anyone still interested in BC?

From Sam on Lionhead’s blogs:

There have been a lot of interviews on several different gaming sites as of late, but one that I really enjoyed was the one with Ian and Mike about the Art in our (little) game. It’s up on Eurogamer (link) and it’s a 3 whole pages sweet.
Lionhead Video Diary 7 is finished and has been submitted to the Xbox LIVE Marketplace. Hopefully it will be out soon (a little bird whispers within a week). If you can’t wait that long, may I suggest you take a look at the following video interview from Gaygamer.net): Eight Questions about Fable II with Peter Molyneux.
I have been in London these past few days working on a new video (this one is really big and important) and we’re trying to make it something SENSATIONAL. There. I said it.