October 9, 2006
The gaming web magazine The Escapist has a good story regarding the history of the Warhammer Online franchise. It details who the major designers are, how their individual ducks fell into place, and the general outlook of where the design team aims to steer the Warhammer Online franchise. Here's a snip:
"The major challenge for a company taking something with a built-in audience and converting it to a videogame is deciding where to draw the line when it comes to strictly sticking to the existing property. I asked Paul for his thoughts on that, whether they are trying to get a complete, exact replication of the tabletop game, or if they are looking to capture the "spirit" of Warhammer itself. "[That question] has a very long answer that I really can’t do justice to here. But if I had to try and explain it, I would say it’s important to understand that we are not making a game based on the tabletop war game. We are taking the idea of Warhammer — the idea, concept, theories and feeling — and making the best Realm versus Realm MMOG we can." He adds, "Warhammer is Batman," meaning no matter what form Batman is in — be it comics, movies or LEGO — there is always a central theme, a sort of spirit of Batman's character running through it."
-From "The Idea of Warhammer" on The Escapist
Well, here's hoping they don't insert any superfluous ice skating super villains, ala Joel Schumacher.
Warhammer Online is set to ship in the Fourth Quarter of 2007.
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October 2, 2006
We can sum up September with two words: Sucker Punch. In high hopes of something stellar, we trusted some preview news that Lost the Game would be a release that bridges the gap between mainstream media and board gaming goodness. Unfortunately we found the game was lacking in just about every way. Our guess: Lost was rushed into production so that it would ship before the new season starts. That's a shame, too, because the title has potential on all fronts, but also has a general lack of polish to the game's key mechanics and content.
But on a lighter note, September was a nice little ramp-up to two huge Collectable Card Game releases. That's right - October marks the release of both Magic: the Gathering Time Spiral, and the World of Warcraft TCG. And starting late October and early November, we should start to see some fresh releases just in time for the Holidays.
Hold on to your butts!
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September 12, 2006
A few weeks ago we reported on "World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War" [Amazon], an upcoming Max Brooks' novel interviewing survivors of a zombie apocalypse. We thought you like to know that the book ships today!
The Company Line: "Ten years after the human victory over the world wide Zombie epidemic, referred to as World War Z, Max Brooks scours the world collecting the stories and experiences of those who have survived the conflict that almost eradicated humanity." ... Max Brooks’s previous book, The Zombie Survival Guide, formed the core of the world’s civilian survival manuals during the Zombie War. Mr. Brooks subsequently spent years traveling to every part of the globe in order to conduct the face-to-face interviews that have been incorporated into this present publication."
There's also an audiobook version of the novel for you elliterate types.
Again, we're not sure if every gamer loves zombies, but we sure as hell do. Well, maybe love is the wrong word, but were defiitely fascinated by anything that: is mindless, just won't die, wants to gnaw on our brains, and turns us into something that's mindless, won't die, and gnaws on brains. Yep, Zombies rate pretty and high on the anti-bladder-control scale of 1 to Whoops!!
Max Brooks also wrote the Zombie Survival Guide, a hilarious and informative reference that's a must for any zombie aficionado.
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August 23, 2006
It might not be true that all gamers love zombies, but it's definitely true that we do. In fact, we love zombies so much that we wrote this zombie haiku:
Shuffling Masses
Reach out for human sweetbread
An axe to the face
Masaoka Shiki would be so proud.
A few years ago we ran across the "Zombie Survival Guide" by Max Brooks [Amazon]; a must-read for any Zombie enthusiast. If you've ever sat in bed staring at the ceiling on a sleepless night wondering how you'd react to a zombiepocolypse, second guessing every move in a cold sweat, then this book is definitely for you. We had already planned our exit strategy for when Boston's inner circle fell into a pit of Zombie hell, but we had some things wrong. Max set us straight, and made us laugh about our stupid mistakes.
We just heard news that Max Brooks has parlayed his success with the ZSG into a full blown novel "World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War" [Amazon]. The book sounds like a War of Worlds sort of fictitious documentary, but dissimilar in that the story takes place ten years after the invasion. And uh, this time it's zombies (of course) not Martians.
"Ten years after the human victory over the world wide Zombie epidemic, referred to as World War Z, Max Brooks scours the world collecting the stories and experiences of those who have survived the conflict that almost eradicated humanity."
...
Max Brooks’s previous book, The Zombie Survival Guide, formed the core of the world’s civilian survival manuals during the Zombie War. Mr. Brooks subsequently spent years traveling to every part of the globe in order to conduct the face-to-face interviews that have been incorporated into this present publication.
Sounds juicy. We've also learned that a script for a movie adaptation has already been shopped around Hollywood. IMDB has news that the script found a home in June of this year.
"After a bidding war between Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio's production companies (Plan B and Appian Way respectively) for the film rights to Max Brooks' unreleased book, Paramount came out the winner and Plan B will be producing the movie." -From 'World War Z" on IMDB
So it looks like the movie is going to be a Brad Pitt production, scheduled for a 2008 release.
"World War Z" (the book) is due out September 12th, and is now available for preorder from Amazon.
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August 15, 2006
The Journal Gazette newspaper (out of Fort Wayne) has a posted an article [link] about the gaming industry's struggle to get out from beneath the shadow of its giant digital counterpart - Video Games.
It's a great read as it details the climate shift of the hobby gaming industry over the last few years. The older American industry giants have finally had their realization that traditional American board gaming is all but dead.
That article sets us walking down the road to sadville. It's partially because we've already heard that distant call of Taps playing its mournful remembrance of the conventional board gaming genre. You never really had to listen hard over the last few years to hear the giants like Parker Brothers and Mattel sound that familiar refrain. So long "Sorry!" Good bye "Life". Flip-over that big ole 'volcano hexagon in the sky', "Survive!" You were there for us, and entertained us in our childhood, but then you banked on repetitive success (these games are from the 1950's or older), and you failed to evolve. Your attempt to keep to attention of your audience was half hearted, uninspired, and ultimately it failed (and is that really the fault of Video Games?)
But in their wake sprouts green buds and new life in the form of smaller publishers. These more agile companies are breathing life into the board game market through the importation and the rebranding of successful German Eurogames. We're talking about your Rio Grande Games, Mayfair Games, etc, and they're paving the way for a new form of gaming in the United States. Their movement and impact on the gamescape is still small in the eyes of the flailing dinosaurs, and so these little-guys aren't much of a blip on the radar of this mainstream article. It's a shame, too, because they really do deserve some mass market press.
Anyway, there's another reason that we're sad. In fact, it stems from the author's slap in the face of these afore mentioned 'new board game publishers.' The article uses the upcoming Wizards of the Coast collectable miniatures game "Dreamblade" as an example of the older industry gaint's 'new take' on board gaming.. o_0 The last time we checked, "Dreamblade" wasn't a genre inventing game, nor a revolutionary board game, but a large-market parlay of past success. It could even be described as simply one progressive step in the overaching evolution of WotC's line of collectable card games.
Despite this, if the article were simply renamed "Traditional Board Game Publishers Reinvent Themselves to get Attention in a Tech World", then it's a pretty darn interesting read... despite its long-winded title.
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August 14, 2006
Every year the IGA Committee selects the best of the best board games from that year, including the genres of Multiplayer Strategy Board Games, Two Player Strategy Board Games, and Historical Simulations (read: Wargames). Past winners include Ticket to Ride Europe (2006), War of the Ring, Puerto Rico, and Memoir '44, which are all really top notch games. In other words, the folks in the IGA Committees don't make poor decisions, at least not when it comes to gaming.
So whats up for an award in 2006? Glad you asked! Here are the nominees for the Multiplayer and 2-Player Categories (if you're a wargammer, then you should check out the Official Nominee List which includes Historical Simulation category, too). Our favorite titles on the lists are described in detail
==Multiplayer Games==
ANTIKE [FunagainGames]
- Designer: Mac Gerdts
- Publisher: Rio Grande Games
- Antike is a challenging strategy game about evolution and competition among ancient civilizations. Ancient nations create cities, build temples, sail the seas, and discover new principles of science and technology. Their legions and galleys open new settlements and defend their people against attacks from their enemies. Two scenarios can be chosen as the game board is two-sided. Players choose from Greeks, Romans, and Germanic tribes and Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Persians, Arabs, Egyptians, and Babylonians.
Continue reading: "International Gamer Awards 2006 Finalists Announced"
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July 31, 2006
July flashed before our eyes. Pretty soon we'll be admist the dog days of August, lazily sitting and watching the twilight of Summer go by. It's sad really. But at least it's almost time for Football!
Thankfully we're far from bored. We had two great family board game releases this month with "Rum and Pirates", and the Spiel des Jahres Award winning "Thurns and Taxis". The World of Warcraft TCG prerelease media is finally starting to ramp up. And, we've been busy slugging it out in the War of the Ring expansion "Battles of the Third Age". We'll have more of that tomorrow (but here's a preview: we like what we see).
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July 27, 2006
Oh boy. It seems as though The Man has gotten control of Monopoly. Hasbro has decided to get rid of the paper money from the game that taught us all about cash and bartering. In place of the game's low value paper bills, kids will learn the valuable lesson of debit cards, complete with Visa co-branding and the bells and whistles of a nifty card swiping gadget.
"We started looking at what Monopoly would look like if we designed it today," said Chris Weatherhead, a U.K.-based spokesman for Hasbro Inc., which makes the best-selling board game. "We noticed consumers are using debit cards, carrying around cash a lot less."
British players might not be the only ones switching to plastic. Officials at Pawtucket-based Hasbro say they're considering a similar change for American versions. From the Boston Globe
Organizing stacks of Monopoly moola and shoving them halfway under the board was always a wonderful feeling. And counting the individual bills was not only a great math exercise for kids, but made for some fantastic gloating moments. Now the game turns cold, and in a day and age when credit card debt is running rampant, do we really need to shove a toy debit card in to the hands of our kids at such an early age?
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July 2, 2006
Wow, what a month. Not only did the long-awaited Battlestar Galactica CCG finally ship to stores, but there was a good-deal of board game release news. Shots of the Age of Empires board art were 'leaked' in the game's official forums, and Fantasy Flight Games kept us busy with War of the Ring: Battles of the Third Age and preview details of their upcoming Marvel Heroes board game release.
More importantly, we've been in the news for most of the second half of June, and it's been a big month for increases in our readership. For those of you new to the site - welcome! For those of you who've been with us for a while - thank you, and expect more product reviews that ever before as we roll into the lazy-gaming days of July.
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June 19, 2006
Here's an interesting article by a Simon Tatham, a man with quite a bit of time on his hands. Simon has set-out to create a unique style of dice that produce the values of 2-12 across the same probability distribution as a normal set of dice, but remove the number "7" from the mix of results. Turns out that the process isn't very easy. Those without interest in math might want to close your eyes.. this could get messy.
By now, if you're not asking yourself "why the..? This guy is nuts!", then drink this chalky substance and try to relax -- your head is second in-line on the examination table.
It turns out that Simon and his friends play quite a bit of Settlers of Catan. His group despises rolling sevens (the most frequently rolled number) in the early game because it activiates the game's Robber character instead of producing resources. This slows down the early game too much for their tastes, and instead of optioning to take the time to re-roll the dice, this mathamagician created his own version of a pair of dice where seven simply doesn't exist.
It seems obsessive but the design of the resulting dice pair is pretty cool.
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Warhammer Online on The Escapist
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Review: Politics - Unpretenious Package But Packs Plenty of Punch
