Those of you who love the Fable and Fallout franchises yet hate the light of day and/or leaving the cozy confines of your humble abodes will be glad to know that both Fable II and Fallout 3 are now available via the Xbox 360’s Games on Demand digital download service.

Pricing varies by region, so you’ll wanna review that here, but other than that all you need to know is that both titles can virtually be yours if you demand them to be…which is pretty awesome.

Sup everyone, hope you’re enjoying your week thus far and chiming in with your thoughts on this week’s Member BattleCry topic: The Most Disappointing Games of All-Time. Now, as you may have heard me say on previous editions of our EpicBattleCry video podcast, I’ve come to develop a love/hate relationship with the Fable series…Peter Molyneux does an AWESOME job of making the game SOUND great, but once I’ve picked up the sticks, it’s felt like just a little something was missing. Well, EBA Axe Head fatninja expresses his own disappointment with this rather popular franchise in today’s Member BattleCry, so hit the jump to find out why the Fable series is considered by some to be more of a myth than a legend.
Read the rest of this entry…

By Lorin Baumgarten

Welcome back to my weekly musing on subjects great and small related to gaming. This week I am, once again, soliciting your thoughts on a topic that we haven’t heard much about in the gaming press, but one that is, at the very least, intriguing. The tried and true trio of talk show hosts brought it up on this week’s episode of EBC during a conversation relating to the state of digital distribution. It was offered up for discussion in the context of Fable II and the forthcoming digital release of that game. To be honest, I hadn’t heard about this plan, devised by Microsoft and Lionhead, until hearing about it on EpicBattleCry. None-the-less, it is a fascinating concept that deserves some scrutiny and discussion. It is the distribution of game content as episodes.
Read the rest of this entry…

Spears to the front and march! Its time for another edition of EpicBattleCry! This week, we check on the new Resident Evil 5: Alternative Edition, run down details on the new Matt Hazard title, sneak deets of Modern Warfare 2’s first map pack and lack of a pre-release demo, and ponder the new Xbox 360 holiday bundles headed our way.

With Super Street Fighter IV announced, and Fable II now available as piecemeal downloads, we take a look at the reality of digital distribution and work over the pros and cons of this emerging business model. So the long-promised ‘Rocktober’ is here and its time to start figuring out what we’re gonna score this month and what we’re gonna pass. With titles like Demon’s Souls, Tekken 6, DJ Hero, Forza 3, Borderlands, Brutal Legend and Uncharted 2 headed our way, its going to be an expensive four weeks.

The Battle Cry of the Week goes to all the righteous souls who didn’t buy a PSPgo, the Brutal Legend demo going public, Alpha Protocol (now being delayed to 2010) in the hopes the extra time will make the game extra awesome, and seeing more developer tools and custom mods making their way to consoles.

Read the rest of this entry…

Remember back during GC when Fable III was announced along with Fable II Episodes, the “try before you buy” version of the popular 2008 title that allows gamers to experience the mind of Molyneux one pre-paid chapter at a time (with the opening chapter being free to ALL XBL members). Well, the Fable II Episodes have today launched via XBL and those of you who haven’t yet experienced the game can now test drive your way through Albion to see if its your bag. Pretty cool concept if you ask us (well…me anyway), although the actual pricing of the individual chapters is curiously missing from the official press release. We’ve got an official description of the content for ya after the jump if you’re interested.
Read the rest of this entry…

Lionhead’s Peter Molyneux has announced Fable III, exclusively for the Xbox 360, which will be coming our way during the 2010 holiday season. The game will ” explore the journey to rule, with you in pursuit of a kingdom” while offering up the ability to play as your child hero from Fable II. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Molyneux project if there weren’t some lofty (and wordy) expectations placed out of the gate, and Fable III doesn’t disappoint as it promises that “themes of heroism, leadership and consequence are taken to a grand scale as you fight to unite a divided people.”

Additionally, Moleyneux announced the launch of Fable II: Game Episodes, the digitally distributed, episodic installment of Fable II, which will debut Sept. 29 with the release of the first episode for free download exclusively on Xbox LIVE. In the first episode, players will experience childhood and the trials of being a young adult in the world of Albion. After completing the chapter, players have the choice to then purchase the next installment or the entire game (in select regions). Fable II: Game Episodes delivers the entire Fable II experience in five consecutive instalments, with all the Achievements, challenges and excitement of the disk-based game, as well as full compatibility with the previously released Game Add-ons, Knothole Island and See the Future.

Interesting.

You can see the debut trailer for Fable III after the jump along with a rather detailed description of both newly announced projects. Enjoy!
Read the rest of this entry…

Welcome back Axe Heads! This week we kick things off with a look at the new gameplay trailer for Bioshock 2, wax nostalgic about the classic arcade platformer Shinobi heading for Xbox Live Arcade, run down the details on the See the Future DLC for Fable II, and check out the wicked-cool teaser site for Assassin’s Creed 2.

Continuing in our ongoing series of rants on DLC, we take a look at the latest news out of Capcom in the wake of the Resident Evil 5 Versus Mode DLC and the question as to whether or not you own the games you buy. We also run down the announcement that the PS2 classic Shadow of the Colossus is being adapted into a film and diss on hollywood in gaming.

The Battle Cry of the Week goes to DLC coming out before the actual game, wishes a happy birthday to Commander Shepard, pumps fist-to-air over the Batman: Arkham Asylum Silent Walkthrough vid, and calls out copycat games for crowding the shelves with crap.

Remember to sound off below and each week we’ll pick a new comment to be the next Member Battle Cry.

Read the rest of this entry…

The carnage continues with another fresh cut of Epic Battle Cry! In this special GDC skirmish, we run down all the news coming out of the Game Developer’s Conference this week. First up, we take a look at the leaked God of War III gameplay footage, ponder the Fable II DLC mentioned by Peter Molyneux, check out the trailer for the newly announced Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time, and investigate the teaser for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare 2.

First up for the main course we take a look at Nintendo’s lineup coming out of GDC; including The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks and the 1,000 free DSi point giveaway promotion. And then, the question we all want the answer to: is OnLive really the future of games? We cut to the heart of the matter and try to sort out the biggest news-bomb dropped on gaming in a good long while.

The Battle Cry of the Week calls on theaforementionedOnLive service to use their radically advanced technology to do something feasible (like end world hunger), rallies gamers to get off the couch, into the gym, and buffed up so they become the new Duke Nukem, heralds the arrival of the greatest RPG ever made, the original Final Fantasy, to Nintendo’s virtual console, and questions whether games are losing their challenge as they become more advanced.

Remember to sound off below and each week we’ll pick a new Axe Head comment to become the latest member Battle Cry of the Week. Stay sharp and we’ll see you next time!

Read the rest of this entry…

This week we run down the news coming out of CES 2009 including Microsoft’s Primetime Xbox Live channel, Sony’s PS3 running through their new 3D hardware, and the SF IV Battle Royale scheduled to go down at CES 2010. We also look at the newly announced release dates for Fable II’s DLC; Knothole Island, Halo Wars, and Godfather II. Finally we take a moment to reconize the passing of a legend in our community; in the wake of the 1up purchase, EGM magazine has closed its doors forever.

The Battle Cry of the Week goes the Microsoft Zune for being the best piece of vaporware ever created, Capcom and Airtight Studios for the upcoming Dark Void, and 2K Games supreme ruler Christoph Hartmann for thinking six Star Wars films was a good idea.

-Download link-

With Christmas just around the corner we examine the state of the iPhone with respect to the recent Konami announcement that Metal Gear Solid, Dance Dance Revolution, and Silent Hill will all have games coming to Apple’s handheld platform.

Next, we each ask Santa to deliver just one thing from the game industry this holiday season: cheaper titles, better trade-in credit, and less Hollywood. The Battle Cry of the Week goes to Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy for their extraordinary voice-acting talents being infused into the upcoming Batman: Arkham Asylum.

-Download link-