Peter Molyneux is the creator of the "Fable" franchise (among others) and he's infamous for his game demos. His unflappable delivery and dry wit, even when it involves poop, is able to enrapture even the most jaded games journalist. So when he said during a demo that he was revolutionizing a button on the Xbox 360 controller, I braced myself. Molyneux then pointed to the Start button. His goal is to make this button unlike any Start button before it.
"Fable 2" was one of my favorite games of last year, but even Molyneux admits that there were flaws. The menu system, for one, was incredibly ponderous and hard to navigate. Trying to find your black pirate hat among 50 other items in a giant list was just a mess. That's where the Start button comes in for "Fable 3."
Hitting Start instantly teleports the player into what the developers at Lionhead are calling Sanctuary. Basically it's a home base for your hero, filled with all the stuff you've collected in your journey. Every piece of clothing, every coin of gold, every deadly weapon you discover can be viewed in these magical halls. It's similar to the Villa in "Assassin's Creed 2," but it doesn't require several minutes of travel to get there. You're there instantly. There's not even a load screen!
When you consider the items housed in your sanctuary, all it really is is a different way to show a menu. It's all the same stuff, but instead of lists of text you've got actual pieces of armor or swords lining the halls. It definitely helps when it comes to giving the player a sense of progression (your fortune will grow from a few coins to a mound of gold that would make Scrooge McDuck blush), though I do wonder whether it's a bit too much flash for something that really should be a better designed menu. Hey, at least it looks cool.