Fable II In Bite-Sized Chunks
So NaviFairy mentioned Lionhead's development of Fable III, which probably came as a huge surprise to... um, no one, really. But there's some other interesting news coming out of that camp, which is that Fable II is going to be broken up into episodic pieces for release over Xbox LIVE.
"With the launch of Games on Demand on Xbox LIVE, we have a great tool in place to deliver classic titles in an incredibly convenient fashion," said Phil Spencer, general manager of Microsoft Game Studios. "With the Fable II episodic model, we're encouraging people to experience the first chapter of the game for free, then move onto other chapters when they are ready. It's a unique model and one that will appeal to gamers who've been hesitant to dive full into the original retail release."
That's right. On September 29, you can download the first installment of Fable II: Game Episodes for free on Xbox LIVE. You'll experience childhood in Albion, and growing up in that hole isn't a walk in the park, let me tell you. But it's also a great hook to get you into the game's storyline. After finishing the first chapter, you'll have the choice to then buy the next one, or the entire game. There's five installments, with all the same Achievements, online play and full compatibility with the add-on DLCs Knothole Island and See the Future. Oddly, the episodes are also fully compatible with the disc-based retail version of the game if you enjoy the beginning so much you want to just go buy a copy of the game at the store. Not sure which would be the better deal, though, since there's no pricing for the episodes mentioned in the press release. Just remember you can get it new for about $40, and used prices will vary from there.
It'll be interesting to see if Lionhead is using this as a testing ground to see if this sort of business model can work, and if we might see Fable IV or another title released as downloadable episodes...
Wootini
Posted to Video Games on 21 August 2009
Other stuff like this: episodic content, fable II, free, lionhead, xbox live
