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In a major about face for Microsoft, the publisher announced today that the upcoming PC version of developer Lionhead's fantasy RPG Fable III will be made available for purchase and download via Valve's Steam service as well as Microsoft's own Games For Windows Marketplace web site. Fable III will be the first Microsoft published game to be sold on Steam.

Microsoft and Valve have been rivals in the PC game download business as well as for extra PC game services (Steamworks vs Games For Windows Live) so Fable III's appearance on Steam is a pretty huge change of pace for Microsoft. The game will be made available for pre-orders later today on both Steam and Games For Windows Marketplace. Games For Windows Marketplace will offer Fable - The Lost Chapters, the PC port of the first game in the series, for free as a pre-order special. In addition Steam pre-orders will also get the exclusive Rebel's Weapon & Tattoo Pack, which adds four exclusive weapons and five character tattoos. The game will be released via these outlets and via retail stores on May 17.

Update: Games For Windows Live has now put up its pre-order page for Fable 3 as has Steam with its own Fable 3 pre-order page.

The current status of Fable 3's PC port is still up in the air and developer Lionhead Studios isn't much help in giving its fan any info on what's happening with the promised version of its Xbox 360 RPG. In a new message on the studio's Twitter page, Lionhead status, "It's painful to admit we can't yet answer any questions on the PC version of Fable III... Hopefully soon we can spill the beans!."

Publisher Microsoft announced a PC port of Fable 3 in 2010 but then delayed the PC version so it wouldn't be released at the same time as the Xbox 360 version which came out last October. In November, Lionhead issued a "tweet" saying the PC port "is still in development here at Lionhead".

[Via VG247.com]

Earlier this week we reported that the upcoming novel for Stardock's game Elemental would have a code to download an exclusive campaign for the game. Now comes word that yet another prose novel will do something similar for Lionhead's upcoming RPG Fable 3.

The novel is titled Fable The Balverine Order and it's being written by well known comic book author Peter David. The novel, due out on October 5 from Ace Books, will not only tell a tale from Lionhead's fantasy world but will also contain a download code that can be used to unlock an exclusive but unnamed weapon in Fable 3. As we reported earlier this month the PC port of Fable 3 has been delayed from its planned release this fall with no new release date.

[Via Kotaku]

We're not completely sure what we're supposed to take away from this intro cinematic for Fable III apart from a long dose of dramatic irony. Illustrating that not all stories have happy endings isn't exactly what we'd call a rousing start to an adventure. Maybe it's a challenge to succeed where the chicken fails... or a lesson in how you can't rely on birds to come to your aid. Maybe it's simply stating, "Don't be a chicken." In any case, players can find out when the game releases for the Xbox 360 this fall. A PC version is also in the works, but has recently been delayed to an unannounced release date.

Download HD Fable III Intro Cinematic (112 MB)
Check out all Fable III downloads

After Lionhead Studios released their RPG Fable II for the Xbox 360 as a full retail game, the developer released it again as a series of downloadable episodes via Xbox Live. Now Gamesindustry.biz has announced (free registration required) that Fable III will be getting a similar re-release via download sometime after the full game.

Lionhead Studios' head man Peter Molyneux states that the episodic release of Fable III will let the player check out the first chapter for free and then purchase the remaining episodes. Molyneux has high expectation for sales of Fable III, which will be released for the PC and Xbox 360 on October 26. He states, "We are driving to sell more than five million units and to make a profit in excess of $150 million."

Publisher Microsoft made PC players happy when they announced that developer Lionhead Studios was bringing Fable 3 to the PC alongside the Xbox 360 version. At today's official E3 2010 Xbox 360 press conference (as covered by our sister site Joystiq) it was revealed that the third game in the fantasy RPG series would ship out on October 36.

As we have mentioned before, the release of the PC version of Fable 3 also marks the return of Microsoft publishing PC games after an absence of nearly three years. Microsoft's last retail PC game was the PC port of Gears of War in 2007.

After lots of evidence that a PC version was indeed in the works, Microsoft has finally admitted that the upcoming Xbox 360 RPG sequel Fable III is also coming to the Windows PC platform. The game from developer Lionhead Studios, will be released via retail stores for $49.99 "this holiday" and will also be available via download on the Games For Windows Live client.

As we have mentioned before when this story first started as a rumor Fable III will be the first major retail PC game Microsoft will publish since the PC port of the original Gears of War game came out in late 2007. Unfortunately PC owners won't be able to buy a special Limited Collector's Edition of Fable III like their Xbox 360 counterparts.

Update: Microsoft has sent over word that while the PC version of Fable III won't get a retail Collector's Edition, PC owners of the game will be able to purchase and download in-game content that will be included as part of the Xbox 360's Collector's Edition. Specific content and pricing for the PC DLC has yet to be announced

Lionhead founder Peter Molyneux used to be a PC game developer with titles like Dungeon Keeper, Black and White and others under his command. Now he's moved away from PC gaming with Xbox/Xbox 360 titles like Fable and Fable II. Yet in a recent speech he named five games he felt were "revolutionary" and lo and behold two of them are PC exclusives.

According to That Video Game Blog, Molyneux made the comments during the annual BAFTA Video Games Lecture. One PC exclusive revolutionary game was Dune 2, considered to be the first ever RTS game. The other PC game exclusive is World of Warcraft which he said had a ""carrot dangling" design that made the player want to continue to play and level up. Now if we can just get Molyneux to be interested in PC games again.

There have been rumors for months that Lionhead Studios was planning to release a PC port of their acclaimed Xbox 360 fantasy RPG Fable II. The original Fable did indeed get a PC version about a year after the original Xbox version came out.

But it looks like a PC version for Fable II is still just a rumor for now. According to a post on the game's official message board by Lionhead's community manager "Woody", "We're not working on a PC version of Fable II... If this changes we'll make sure you know about it on our website(s)" While that statement doesn't rule out such a port in the future it does seem to say that it's not currently in active development.

[Via Shacknews]

The folks at UK based Splash Damage continue to expand their team members. The Enemy Territory: Quake Wars creators have brought in new members from Ubisoft, BioWare and other developers this year. Today they have just announced they have hired Richard Ham from Lionhead to become their new creative director.

Ham was previously the lead designer at Lionhead for their just completed Xbox 360 RPG Fable 2. His previous credits include leading development of the Syphon Filter series for the original Playstation series along with games like The Movies and Fable: The Lost Chapters. Splash Damage is currently working on an unnamed multi-platform game for publisher Bethesda Softworks.