Looks like Fable 2, if it lives up to expectations and so far it looks the goods, will bring Open-World Gaming to a new dimension: your choices over time will change how the game works.  The AI will be amazing to be able to do this!  And I thought the dog was the big thing for this game!

Read this to see how open-world gaming will change after this game.  Here's an excerpt:

"It was a huge leap when gaming went from two dimensions to three dimensions, but now the next big jump may be here: the fourth dimension. That dimension is time.

If this ambitious focus on time, with vast changes dictated by your actions or inactions, is amazingly realised in the final released game, this represents a great evolutionary step not just for the fantasy genre but also for open-world free-roaming styled gaming in general.

Open-world games are also called sandbox games because theoretically you can do almost whatever you want when you want; they are no longer linear. But a game that not only allows you to go anywhere in the world to explore, and have the liberty to do almost anything you want, but to also have the sandbox change over time because of what you have been doing and where you have been going, is simply mind-boggling.

I like to read commentary about games and gaming and so will post some articles that I've found and enjoyed (often from here in OZ). 

The first of these relate to Brothers In Arms: Hell Highway and its focus on more realistic 'horror of war' scenarios where you see slo-motion limbs being blown off and the character of the leader Baker rapidly losing it under the pressure.  When a shooter is about having fun killing, will a real-life historical shooter about the horrors of war be as fun?  Or is it more immersive to show how bad it can get?

Have a read of this article from XboxOZ360

Here's an excerpt:
"With Brother’s In Arms: Hell’s Highway striving even closer toward historical authenticity of a failed campaign and its effects on soldiers, the question is will this make the gamer uncomfortable, empathetic, or blasé? Will it be a better experience because it is more mature and confronting, will it cheapen the very real trauma of soldiers who have experienced these sorts of terrible situations, or will it take the fun out of the shooter, which, after all, is about the gamer killing?"

The second one is about how in the rush to focus on online gaming the split screen multiplayer  has been left behind.  Sure, online gaming is a better visual experience but there are often problems: drunk idiots who swear and sing all game long, lag, problems finding matches to play in older games, and online commandos who must spend their lives training and are WAY too serious about teamwork and winning.  Seriously, why do so many game developers spend much better spent time (on the single player campaign) making so-so online multiplayer components that nobody is playing after a few months?  Unless you are like Halo 3. COD4, or Battlefield: Bad Company, why bother?  Or if you do make a multiplayer mode, make sure it has a split screen multiplayer too so that it can still be played with friends and family anytime.  Look at Medal of Honor: Ariborne....how many are playing that online?  Yet if it had split-screen like COD3 or COD4 it could still be played at home with my friends....and I would, even if it isn't as good as some other multiplayer games.  Some of the maps were good and jumping from airplanes and drifting down can be fun. 

Anyway here is a good read from Gameplayer.com.au on the subject.

Here is an excerpt:

" There’s a certain amount of live interactivity that co-op or versus online play will never be able to replicate, and here’s where the quandary lies. Should we be satisfied with a sexy as hell looking title devoid of a split-screen or multi-player component? Or do we make do with decent enough graphics so we can booze it up with our mates and battle for title of champion of the household?

We’re of the opinion that we shouldn’t have to compromise, on either front. Nowadays terms like “next-gen” get thrown around like they’re going out of fashion, yet how many games truly are? We do not define next –gen as a spiffy upgrade in graphics. Sure, your eyeballs get a sumptuous visual feast, but we feel a true next-gen experience should give us something new, as well as an old –school bag of tricks to boot."