Fable III Kinect support confusion

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 5 August, 2010

Will it or won't it?

The will it or won't it support Kinect saga that has dogged Lionhead role-playing game Fable III shows no sign of abating after publisher Microsoft refused to confirm comments on the matter from creator Peter Molyneux.

Last night Molyneux revealed on the Engadget Show that Fable III will not launch with Kinect functionality.

After the show Molyneux told Joystiq that "some form" of Kinect content may be available post-launch, and "whatever was initially planned to be built into the game just wasn't up to snuff".

Kinect, due out in the UK this November for £130, is a sensor that allows Xbox 360 to play games without controllers.

You'd think that was that, but Joystiq then spoke to Microsoft representatives, who offered this puzzling nugget:

"We've spoken with Microsoft PR, which was unaware of Molyneux's exact comments. It reaffirmed that the legendary designer is a strong proponent of Kinect, and has spoken of its use in Fable III before, but also told us that it can't discuss what role the hardware will play in the game "at this time"."

It seems that not for the first time the enthusiastic Peter Molyneux and his paymasters are not on the same page.

Molyneux's endured similar problems with Kinect project Milo.

Last month Microsoft mouthpiece Aaron Greenberg told Eurogamer that there's still a chance that Project Milo will be released despite Molyneux's comments to the contrary.

When we spoke to Molyneux, he admitted he finds it "insanely hard" to convince others of the validity of his new game ideas before they're realised.

Fable III's due out in the UK on 29th October. The PC version was recently delayed.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (16) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Rack #1 2 years ago

    Good, more effort into features anyone playing will be able to use.

  • Markitron #2 2 years ago

    This is not very surprising. After the way they priced it, its clear MS dont know what to do with Kinect. It would be gimmicky if it was included in Fable anyway so its no big loss

  • Kerome #3 2 years ago

    The fact that even someone like Molyneux finds it hard to convince people of how valid their game ideas are speaks to how crazy the games industry is in terms of getting big projects off the ground... No wonder that the indies are being so much more original and innovative than AAA studio games.

  • ZuluHero #4 2 years ago

    Maybe you guys should ask Milo? Its probably the only way you're going to get a straight answer.

  • Gambit1977 #5 2 years ago

    Surely this was announced as one of the big kinect games, by molyneux himself.

    Microsoft already losing faith? Unsure how to market it? Zune 2? I dunno, but this is reaking of fail more by the day.

  • Shikasama #6 2 years ago

    Trying to implement Kinect then not being able to do it in a way that was superbly high quality and really adding to the game, then deciding to not go ahead with it on that basis, sounds like a very good, very healthy development cycle to me.

  • Raznilof #7 2 years ago

    From zero to hero, for all the flac Molyneux receives (mostly because he's enthusiastic, go figure) he's really managing to get on gamers good side. I mean, after his reveal of being the stig last month, the really wonderful fable III cinematic and now (as Shikasama also said) making a honest decision about a direction that's best for his game.

    Good show Peter!

  • Mkwone #8 2 years ago

    The issue with kinect is that MS have been selling it the wrong way. They've been talking about how you no longer need controllers to play games and it brings non gamers to the medium like never before. But what the leaves us with is abundance of very physical games, none of which rearlly appeal to the traditional gamer.

    Now lets asume that Milo & Kate is now fully working to a decent degree where an AI can read faces and communicate to some level of believeable degree. How cool would that be in Fable 3?

    As in you use the standard controller to play the game but kinect is used to interact with AI like never before. If more games did this the appeal of the hardware would appeal more to the gamers.

    But MS have banged on so much about buttonless gaming and the fact that you don't need the controller that it makes it incredibly hard for them to achieve such a thing.

  • BabyJesus #9 2 years ago

    I kinda get the impression Molyneux isn't seeing eye to eye with Redmond recently.

  • Mkwone #10 2 years ago

    Eurogamer podcast this week talked about the next gen and basically dismissed it as being a while off yet. They can't afford to release another one at the time.

    If Kinect doesn't sell well launch they'll have to find it a new angle, like the one i mentioned above.

  • ignatiusjreilly #11 2 years ago

    It's Microsoft, they can afford whatever they want to do. Market share is more important to them than short-term revenue.

    I reckon Xmas 2011 is a decent bet, no later than 2012.

  • JediMasterMalik #12 2 years ago

    @ignatiousjreily - "Market share is more important to them than short-term revenue"

    Not if Kinect's price is anything to go by.
    Edited by 2 at 05/08/10 @ 11:44

  • ignatiusjreilly #13 2 years ago

    @JediMasterMalik

    Hmm, good point.

  • makeamazing #14 2 years ago

    I am surprised that there seems to be so much confusion. I am not convinced Kinect can be used effectively in any AAA games to be honest, and it seems MS are trying but failing at the moment.

    If the key people like PM cannot even get it into his games, then i wouldnt be thinking its going to be in any other major games any time soon.

    What with the retailers coming out saying pre-orders are amazing, and some people in retail in the usa saying they have lots of pre-orders for it... its either very good fake PR (to try and get buzz) or its going to sell and then people are going to get very bored.

  • dingo75 #15 2 years ago

    Someone please book Peter a flight to Seattle.
    Seems he has to discuss some shit in Redmont.
    Better do it "face to face" than via public websites.

  • BlinxHDD #16 2 years ago

    Larfin' my trousers off.