There are two morality-themed video games coming your way this month, "Fallout 3" and "Fable II," and each approaches the idea differently. There's good, evil and shades of gray. Perceiving those variations is where they differ.

In "Fallout 3," there is good karma and bad karma. It goes up and down, but you're never told that in any numerical sense. "Fable II" takes the opposite approach. Each good and bad action has a number attached to it -- +40 evil, +50 good, etc. While it's not that simple in either game, that is the basic idea.

While reading through Crispy Gamer's write-up of the same "Fallout 3" session I attended in San Francisco, "Fallout 3" product manager Pete Hines explained why Bethesda Softworks didn't give a numerical association to the karma system.

Coincidentally enough, I had asked "Fable II" creator Peter Molyneux about whether he'd considered ditching numbers for his game, too, just a few weeks ago. I just never ran the quote. But today, you can check out both views!

Read more...

I almost always play video games as a goody two-shoes.

But when I'm presented with the opportunity to play several hours of a morality-centric game ahead of its release, I wondered if I should change my approach.

When I play "Fable II" on my own time, I'll be good. When I played it for several hours last week in San Francisco, however, I went the other way: I was a murderous bastard.

Here's how that approach changed the way "Fable II" plays:

Read more...

Warning: "Grand Theft Auto IV" spoilers (early ones) ahead. You've been warned!

"GTA IV" forces players to choose life or death for some of its major supporting characters. There's at least one choice that it seems almost everyone who has played talks about.

Which of these major supporting characters did four top non-"GTA" developers choose?

Read on and then take our poll so you can share the choices you made.

Read more...