February 20, 2008 - As expected, Microsoft and developer Lionhead Studio brought their next big project Fable 2 to GDC 2008, but instead of demoing the game at this morning' s Microsoft keynote, the team instead revealed a surprise -- prior to the release of Fable 2, there will be a mini-game available for download that lets you build up your character before you even begin the game.

Not much has been revealed about the minigame yet -- the conference is still going on as we write this and a short press release (which likely won' t go into details about the Fable Mini-Game) will be sent out shortly after the conference. Lionhead' s Peter Molyneux did confirm that the game makes use of Fable 2' s monetary system -- in the main game, you don' t get it for doing quests, instead you get it for doing jobs and for gambling. Prior to the release of the full game, then, one or perhaps a series of these pub games will be available for download to build up your funds for when your real character is ready to journey out on launch day.

Look for more on Fable 2 and the Fable Mini-Game in the near future.