Microsoft’s end-year exclusive RPG Fable III may not even really be an RPG, Peter Molyneux said while speaking at Microsoft’s X10 event in San Francisco last night. “I’m not sure I even call Fable an RPG anymore,” the MGS Europe creative director said. “Certainly not a 1990s RPG, for sure.”

It was revealed yesterday that the game is doing a number of things quite differently from its predecessors. There’s no HUD for one; when the player is in danger then the coloring of the screen changes, similar to Mass Effect 2 and Modern Warfare 2. The expression system has also been replaced with a touch mechanic that allows players to interact with other characters by holding hands, hugging, shaking etc.

“In a way, you could look at it and say it’s like an action adventure. There’s a lot of drama, there a lot of story, there’s a lot of emotion in there – but with levelling up. I love that levelling up,” Molyneux says, adding that being given a pre-planned character and told ‘this is you no matter what’ is not to his liking.

Yesterday’s event also brought forth the first screenshots and in-game footage from the title, as well as a reconfirmed ‘holiday 2010′ release window.

The first Fable III developer diary and with it plenty of in-game footage from the game has arrived, once more in conjunction with Microsoft’s Xbox-centric X10 show and tell yesterday.

The almost six-minute video discusses a number of topics; morphing, visually adapting weaponry and touching your girlfriend among them.

We posted the first in-game screens a bit earlier as well.

The game’s still on for a holiday release this year.

Fable III

Alan Wake

Splinter Cell: Conviction

Crackdown 2

Xbox 360′s annual The Summer of Arcade — an ‘event’ where several major Xbox Live Arcade titles are released over the course of a single month — is getting a spin-off of sorts. Microsoft appears to be starting a second such series of releases, this time earlier in the year, with next month’s Xbox Live Arcade Block Party.

The X10 newsburst the company sent out today details four titles to be released under the Block Party umbrella — Toy Soldiers (pictured), Game Room, the long-awaited Perfect Dark remake and Scrap Metal.

Toy Soldiers will be kicking off the festivities on March 3 and, if the order in which the games were presented in the announcement is anything to go by, will be followed by the release of Game Room, Perfect Dark and finally Scrap Metal.

Update: Valve has released ten screenshots from The Passing, find them here.

Original story: It’s been confirmed at today’s X10 that the survivors in Left 4 Dead 2 will definitely be getting some company. The Passing, the first round of DLC for the southern-fried zombie shooter, will bring the members of the original Left 4 Dead cast down yonder this spring. Included in the add-in will be a new co-op campaign with associated storylines, new locations for the Survival, Versus, and Scavenge game modes, and a new co-op challenge mode.

The public Halo: Reach multiplayer beta will kick off on May 3, Microsoft and Bungie have announced at their on-going Xbox-centric X10 event today. No other details were offered though the announcement does remind that access will be available through the Halo 3: ODST game disc. No alternative means were mentioned or even hinted at, so it may be entirely possible that picking up ODST is and will remain the only way to check out the “latest advancements” in multiplayer gameplay that Bungie has in store.

Last we heard about Dead Rising 2, it was only slated for a Japanese release and not a word was mentioned about other regions. That changed today at X10 as Capcom confirmed that the zombie apocalypse will hit North American and European shelves on August 31 and September 3, respectively.

As an added surprise, since Capcom knows we have been going through withdrawals since the release of the original Dead Rising, they are also giving Xbox owners an exclusive with Dead Rising 2: CASE ZERO, a prologue that shows the connection between the original game and the upcoming sequel. Dead Rising 2: CASE ZERO is set to be a stand-alone product available only through Xbox Live and feature content not included within Dead Rising 2.

No word on an exact release date or pricing for CASE ZERO, or why they are shouting.

Ten new screenshots were released, too.

Update: Microsoft has set the precise release dates in stone: May 18 in North America and May 21 in Europe.

Original story: X10 is in full swing and some of the first news out of San Francisco concerns our old friend Alan Wake. Previously only given a spring release, the trailer above not only kind of scares us, but also lets us know that the psychological thriller will hit this May. As an added bonus for those who must have the best of everything, there will also be a limited edition version available. For just a little more cash, we can get a 144 page art book, soundtrack, a free token for the first DLC, in-game audio commentary and hints by Remedy, and a nifty theme and Avatar for your Xbox dashboard.

Speaking at Game Jam in Copenhagen, Peter Molyneux revealed his thoughts on a wide range of topics, from Project Natal to the state of indie games. One thing that caught our ear was near the end of the discussion, around the 11:08 mark, when he begins talking about Fable III and how he thinks people are going to react.

“We’re making some announcements [at X10] about Fable III and there’s some… wow. There’s some very, very big things happening in Fable,” said Molyneux. “Bigger than you think and it’s going to upset people. I’m really scared when I go out and tell people what it is; they’re going to get super pissed off. They really are.”

Molyneux continues that the topic of the forthcoming announcement is the “right thing to do,” adding that whatever he announces will absolutely be in the game and he will demonstrate it.

Microsoft’s Xbox 360-centric X10 event next week will bring some game as well as other announcements that can’t be spoken of quite yet, Xbox Live’s director of programming Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb has teased. “I’m gonna be in San Francisco for a press event that we’re doing called X10 [where] we will be announcing all sorts of cool games and stuff, other stuff that I can’t really talk about yet,” Hryb said on his latest podcast this past Sunday.

The event was announced early last week — when Microsoft noted that Project Natal as well as Alan Wake, Crackdown 2, Fable III, Halo: Reach, Splinter Cell: Conviction, Final Fantasy XIII, Xbox Live’s Game Room and new content for Left 4 Dead 2 will making appearances — and will take place next Thursday, on February 11.

Microsoft will be making some announcements at their recently announced X10 event in San Francisco next month. “We hinted at this a couple of weeks ago but today it’s official, a big Xbox event called X10 will take place in San Frasisco [sic] next month showing all the upcoming Xbox games,” Fable developer Lionhead said on its Facebook page. “Of course Lionhead is excited about showing the latest of Fable III, but we’re also very much looking forward to all other games and announcements.”

The games confirmed for the event are Alan Wake, Crackdown 2, Fable III, Halo: Reach, Splinter Cell: Conviction, Final Fantasy XIII, Xbox Live’s Game Room and Left 4 Dead 2, some of which we’re guessing will receive solid release dates.

We now know what event Lionhead’s Sam Van Tilburgh was referring to when teasing those Fable III reveal videos earlier in the month; Microsoft has announced X10, the company’s first big Xbox-oriented event since X06 which was held way back in September 2006. X10 will be a 4-hour-long affair, will be held at the Terra event center in San Francisco, on February 11, and will be “an evening of blockbuster new games, memories and exclusive experiences,” Microsoft says.

The goal of the event is to highlight what the Xbox 360′s 2010 has to offer. On show will be Project Natal of course, as well as Alan Wake, Crackdown 2, Fable III, Halo: Reach, Splinter Cell: Conviction, Final Fantasy XIII, Xbox Live’s Game Room and Left 4 Dead 2 game add-ons. And perhaps we’ll be getting some solid release dates for some of the Q1 releases as well..