Stewart Loxton

What better way to reinvent a gaming franchise than taking away the controller? It’s a risky proposition to turn one of the most successful Xbox franchises into a Kinect-only title, but that’s exactly what’s been done with Fable. Instead of producing a family-friendly mini-game based game, however, Lionhead Studios have created a full-blown Adventure games weapons that manages to rival the main canon in scope. Not only is Fable: The Journey an evolution of the series, but a crucial experiment to see if Kinect can manage to produce a story-driven experience with nothing but the player’s body. Alongside Halo , we anticipate one of Microsoft’s other console exclusives to make an appearance, perhaps from the folks over at Lionhead. Peter Molyneux has always been a strong supporter of the Kinect hardware, so it would be a reasonable guess to assume he might pull out a Fable demo that utilizes Kinect in some This isn't always the fault of the gamers setting high expectations, though. Sometimes the companies behind these games promise great things and just cannot/do not deliver. Other times, something goes wrong and the game isn't as good as it could've been, or deadlines get out of control and a game is rushed out unfinished. For one reason or another, sometimes games just fall victim to h Ever since Bungie stepped away from the Halo franchise and passed the reins over to 343 Industries, gamers have been dying to see just what the developer has been working on. While rumors have bounced between that title being a remake of Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 4 , we presume that confusion will be cleared up at this press confere While Fable proper was about taking one's player through a pre-determined life cycle — making life-altering decisions along the way — Fable Heroes puts up to four players in control of a wide variety of Fable archetypes. Rather than giving each player the gameplay mechanics present in the RPG version of the game, Heroes designates each player's "puppet hero" with a specific skill. There are a handful of puppets to choose from, some of which hearken back to key moments in Fable 's history, but all basically fall into one of three roles (ranged, melee, mag As the third part of Microsoft's Arcade Next XBLA promotion (which has included Bloodforge and Trials Evolution so far) Fable Heroes fits the casual, family-friendly bill. A cooperative button masher that combines elements of Lionhead Studios' wildly popular series and a more traditional board game, Fable Heroes is very hard to label - and even harder to expl Flourishes — charged up versions of each character's basic attacks — and an AOE attack that sacrifices one heart piece, are also at the player's disposal as they fight their way through the many enemy types that have pervaded the Fable universe. While the appearance of hollow men, hobbes, and balverines might suggest that this is a Fable game for fans to look forward to, the experience of playing it does This is of course just a small taste of what we could potentially see from Microsoft at this year’s press conference. There are a few other third-party titles, like Metal Gear Solid Rising , that might make an appearance, but given Kojima’s no-show at the event it seems unlik Rush's various special abilities over the years haven't all been winners, but his ability to bring the best traits of a loyal dog and a transforming robot to life make him a truly unique entry on our l Unfortunately, a lot of what Fable Heroes brings to the table, aside from that, is dull and uninteresting. Combat devolves into mashing the same button over and over again, and earning coins, while competitive, doesn't carry quite the joy that it should. Lionhead does infuse a few of its signature Fable flairs, like branching paths and good vs. evil choices, into the game but both are either too few and far between, or just a different way to prolong the experience. It's only the board game leveling system, and the title's brief mini-games -- like mine-cart racing -- that provide brief respites from an otherwise uninspired experieColorful characters are encountered along the way that assist in your travels. These characters range from mildly amusing to surprisingly developed. One of the most emotional relationships in the game is with your horse Seren. As she’s with you every step of the way, willing to march into danger at your command, a surprising bond is quickly formed. Camps are periodically reached where, among other things, Seren can be feed, healed and cleaned. Touches like these really go along way to ensure she’s not rendered a lifeless form of transportation. On the hardware and software side of things, rumors have been suggesting that Microsoft might finally unveil Project Opara. According to early details, Opara would be Microsoft’s answer to something like Hulu Plus or iTunes, offering subscription-based television shows for Xbox Live, Windows PCs, and Windows Phones. Since this particular conference will be in direct competition with Steve Jobs’ keynote at WWDC , it would make sense that something a little Apple-esque might be shown