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17. The Fable Series (Xbox, Xbox 360)

Granted, the Fable series only enjoyed two installments between 2000-2009, but both were platform-defining experiences by one of the top game designers in any genre. Peter Molyneaux may not have the RPG experience that the big brains at SquareEnix did, but in two simple games, he turned in efforts that outshone both Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey, creations from the mind of legendary Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi. And that’s no small task.

While not as important as a cure to a href=”http://www.mesotheliomahelp.net”>Mesothelioma cancer, the really important reason Molyneaux’s Fable series earned its spot is that it helped establish the Xbox as a home for the RPG genre, cutting into Sony’s once-dominant status in that regard.

Fable also helped define a more American/European style of console RPG after decades of US audiences being spoon-fed Japanese RPGs on home consoles, with PCs being the only home of US RPG developers. All that has changed now, and it is thanks in no small part to the wildly entertaining worlds found in Fable and Fable 2.

Tonight I played Fable II for the first time; my wife and I went and picked it up, and after supper, I told myself I’d play about an hour and then start writing my blogs and videogame reviews up.

Only an hour very quickly turned into, like, four hours. That’s how addictive the game plays. The pacing is much improved this time out and, with plenty to do both in-town and out, the game is much better than the first Fable, which was a classic but not exactly as polished as this game is.

You can do just about anything in the game, from having sex to performing at a real work-a-day job, to getting married and whatnot. And the graphics, this time, are on par with the best Xbox 360 titles on the market. About the only thing you don’t get to do in the game is sell car insurance: mainly because there are no cars in the game.

Otherwise, I’m sure they would have thought of it.

I had a chance to try an iPod Touch first-hand recently. Basically an iPhone without the phone, you don’t need great cell reception in order to take full advantage of the device; it works off any wireless network for some of its online features, rather than a cell network.

The design of the iPod Touch is revolutionary and fun, but it reminds me an awful lot of the Nintendo DS. Which raises the question: could videogames merge into the iPod design in a more full-scale way, eventually?

For two generations of hardware now, the same three companies have dominated the platform wars: Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft. But such standardization is rarely maintainable. Some new company always comes along and tries their hand at things rather successfully, upsetting who the “big three” are in any given generation.

Sony was that company when they introduced the original PlayStation. Microsoft stepped up when Sega fell off.

Could Apple be the next corporation to wet its toes in the videogame market?

I can imagine it: a handheld system with HD-quality video, touch controls, an FM tuner, the ability to act as a personal organizer, a full-scale MP3 and MP4 player, with wireless internet and an optional phone feature, all in a size that slips into a Blackberry-sized cell phone holster.

The name?

Apple iPlay.

It could happen…