The Fable franchise has been kind of running joke in gaming ever since former Lionhead boss Peter Molyneux over promised what his ambitious Xbox RPG series could do. Despite Molyneux’s unrealistic ambitions, the original Fable is still one of the best RPGs on the system. Now it’s getting a second chance at a larger audience.

Microsoft announced today that Fable would be getting the HD treatment on the Xbox 360 later this year. There’s not a lot in the way of details just yet, but Lionhead confirmed on Major Nelson’s podcast that it would be getting a visual upgrade along with upgrades to its save system and control scheme.

Here’s the first teaser:

Fable HD is only the second HD remake to be published by Microsoft this generation after Sony popularized the trend with its numerous HD remakes of classic PS2 titles. Microsoft went above and beyond the call of duty with its Halo remake, however, so it will be interesting to see if Fable HD gets the same treatment.

We’ll probably see Fable HD at E3 in some capacity. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Lionhead announce a new project for the Xbox One as well.