Although Fable II won't be out for another two months, you can start playing today. Sort of. Ante up $10 worth of Microsoft points to download the Fable II Pub Games, which consist of a dice game, a slot machine, and whatever a "push your luck game" is supposed to be (aren't they all?). Whatever winnings you earn can be merged with your character in the full game by finding a "Gamesmaster" and then linking up to your Pub Games profile.

Pretty clever, Microsoft. Us RPG players are conditioned for various types of grinds: killing rats, picking herbs, collecting boar stomachs, and so on. Pulling slot machine levers isn't that far removed at all, and now we don't even need the full game to do it. And it's only $10 of Microsoft points!

By the way, you can do an end-run around the $10 by pre-ordering Fable II from "participating retailers" (you'll have to figure that one out on your own) and getting a code to download Pub Games. Alternatively, you could just wait and play them on October 21st when the actual game comes out. Ha ha, I'm just kidding! Who's going to wait when they can get started now?