Xbox Gaming in South Africa

As expected, Lionhead's Peter Molyneux was on show at X10 last night, talking about the features which gamers can look forward to in the upcoming action RPG Fable 3.

Picking up somewhat where Fable 2 left off thematically, the sequel is undergoing a fundamental redesign. "More than half the people that played Fable II understood and used less than half the features in the game," said Molyneux, in reference to some research on the topic. "As soon as you see that you think, 'Oh my God, what a talentless bastard I really am'." So most of that's been chucked.

First off - the HUD's gone. No health bar, no XP, nothing to distract you from what you're supposed to be doing. And what you're supposed to be doing, this time around, is increasing your power, and your influence. The idea in Fable 3 is to call followers to your cause, as you make your way onto the throne of Albion. And once you're there, well, it's all up to you.

There's also some new feature called Touch. Apparently somewhat inspired by cult PS2 favourite, Ico, the game includes a whole lot of holding hands and leading people around.

"Touch is the first thing taught in the game," he said. "You can apply that trigger anywhere, at any time. "Which could be anything from walking your little kiddie home, or dragging someone into a dungeon. While Molyneux remained uncharacteristically evasive about controller specifics, if Natal is going to be integrated into Fable 3 (and we know it is), it's likely to be the primacy expression of Touch.

The combat system has also been massively simplified into a one-button-does-all approach, which is probably going to prompt a lot of raging about "dumbing down". Weapons will now change appearance according to character alignment, and strongly aligned weapons will - hilariously - sing of their exploits when you pull them out.

It also looks like - for the moment, at least - all the co-op features promised and not delivered on Fable 2 should be coming into Fable 3, and without being forced to play henchie. You'll bring your own stuff and pooch into your friends' games.

Along with the new details comes a bunch of new screenshots as well as the first behind the scenes first look at the making of Fable 3.

Fable 3 will be out later this year, with a confirmed 'Holiday 2010' release.

[via Eurogamer]