Peter then spoke at length about the problems with downloadable content or ‘DLC’. He said that he found it incredibly difficult to maintain interest in DLC once a game has been released. He cited the content Lionhead created for Fable II and how he had to get the marketing machine rolling again every time more DLC was made in order to drag people back to playing the game. It was at this point that he dropped a bit of a bombshell. He revealed that within Fable III there will be a shop. From this shop the player can buy clothes, items, weapons and even additional content with Microsoft Points. That’s right, he is proposing to release additional content in a piecemeal manner via this shop for a few nickels and dimes. He boasted that new content would arrive on a daily basis as it was terribly small and easy to create.
It was at this point my mind was racing. Not with excitement, no. It was with rage and fury. I was madder at that point than the average PC gamer that wants Activision’s and Infinity Ward’s blood over the Modern Warfare 2 dedicated server mess.
Why was I so mad? Well what Mr Molyneux is proposing here is creating a two tier gaming experience, one for people with more money than sense and the other who have no intention of paying out money for a red hat because it looks ‘cool’. Now this is the first time anyone had heard about this new feature in Fable III, so no one really knows the ins and outs of how it’s going to work. We’re just going to have to wait and see how it pans out in the final game.
