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Big Fable II announcement next week

Dev blog post sparks DLC rumours.

A mysterious post on Lionhead's development blog suggests a Fable II announcement is due "early next week".

The post, made by community manager 'Sam', promises some "good news for all Fable II fans next week", but there are no further details. In a related post the cheeky teaser also promises, "Next week we're announcing something that will make you want to revisit Albion. That is, if you're not already there..." Which could indicate something which would provide an extension of game-time.

Microsoft's being tight-lipped about the whole affair, claiming they'd be "hung, drawn and quartered" were the cat to escape the bag, so we're assuming it's quite big potatoes. The obvious answer would be some DLC - there are a few clues kicking around in the game's interface already and items are available from the Fable II puppet show web site - but there are other options such as patches or an expansion.

Our money is on some sort of DLC-flavoured treat, however, probably in the form of an item pack, clothing or character customisation. Bertie suggested that it could be a cat, possibly to ride your dog and keep it in order with the odd supercilious paw to the nose, but we're unconvinced.

Which brings us to the issue of pricing, upon which we shall defer to our learned friends at Rumour, Speculation and Guesswork. The Pub Games were priced at 800 MS points. This price, as with all DLC, was set by Microsoft rather than Lionhead, but it's probably a fair reflection of what will be charged for content attached to such a successful title.

Are you ready to reach into your wallet again so soon after buying the game first time around? We've developed very tender fingers of late, mostly in response to endlessly typing our PIN numbers into card machines across the retail spectrum, but Fable might just demand enough loyalty to squeeze a little extra from out beleaguered accounts. This is, of course, assuming that DLC is actually the subject of the announcement at all, but for the moment that's where the smart bets probably lie.

Thanks, Kotaku