These are all the videos from the Microsoft press event, minus the staged introductions from the executives.

Enjoy, and post your thoughts about any of these videos in our comments section!

The idea and practical applications of marriage barely come up in video games. Sure, there’s not much of a place for it in Angry Birds, and it theoretically might be the ultimate goal of dating sims. But what about games where you’re playing as a character or interact with NPCs who just ARE married? Sean and Vinnk (gamers who are, apparently miraculously, each respectively married with children) explore the reasons why games might actually shy away from the trapping of matrimony, and how the few games that do use it (Fable, The Sims, Alan Wake) want to milk it for emotional impact. But how "emotionally impacted" might an 8 year-old gamer feel about such subject matter — and is that right there the reason it’s a subject few developers dare to tread? And when is Mario just going to marry Princess Peach already! How many more times does she need to get kidnapped by Bowser for him to get the hint??

[Read the rest of this entry…]

Caprica has been put permanently offline, but Conan successfully uploaded his consciousness to another network — beating both Leno AND Letterman in ratings! Not bad for cable. Also, in Cool Beans, it’s sequels galore! Rock Band 3, Fable III, Fallout: New Vegas, Halo: Reach, Starcraft II and more…

Direct Link: Powetcast 43: Castlevaniacs

Audio Netcast Details
Subscribe to the Powetcast on iTunes

(Leave your comments below!)

Show notes after the jump

[Read the rest of this entry…]

In a world where Mass Effect and Dragon Age exist, there’s really no good reason to obfuscate the process of importing save data from a game sequel’s predecessor — and yet Lionhead Studios has managed to do this with Fable III.

So how do I make sure Fable III imports the Fable II character I want?

• Launch Fable II
• Select your desired hero
• Once in the game world, save and quit
• Launch Fable III and start a new game

This tidbit of wisdom was gleaned after an hour of trial and error, following 40 minutes of otherwise enjoyable gameplay that was riddled with the uncertainty that any import had in fact occurred.

What the hell, Peter Molyneux? If the intent was to keep the player immersed in the game world, then this oversight makes that goal an impossibility, and now my entire perception of Fable III is colored by it.
[Read the rest of this entry…]