» 2005 » July
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Feel the Twonky flowing through you
The Robo Rally Flash demo up at Avalon Hill looks on the surface exactly like the Flash demos for all their other games. Poke through it, though, and you eventually find a fine solitaire puzzle game called “Mini Rally Training Ground,” featuring five or six levels of compact boards, a single hand of program cards and a goal. Good wholesome fun! (BTW: our verdict on the new edition of RR is that you probably don’t need it if you own and like the old version. If you hated the old one, though, the new version’s preset board scenarios and “docking bay” will probably help you enjoy it much more. Give it another try; like Zendo, it’s hard to set up properly for a first game but very rewarding if you do it right.)
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
ENnies 2005 nominees announced, voting open
This year’s ENnie Award nominees have been announced for 2005. As always, the winners will be revealed at Gen Con Indy. You can swing by and vote now, if you like. In case traffic gets heavy, nominees are copied below.
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Race Day CSG: NASCAR connection is official
Which, sadly, probably precludes a lot of the interesting mix-and-match options we could have had if driver, car, and sponsor didn’t have to fit reality. I so wanted to swap out the Tide sponsorship for, say, Monsanto and get the special ability of spewing toxic chemical clouds onto the track. PDF of the release, full text after the jump.
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Friday, July 15, 2005
Rumors of WizKids’ next CSG release
We’ve recently heard an unconfirmed rumor of plans for a NASCAR CSG coming from WizKids in the fall. I don’t know if that would have the same mass appeal that HeroClix and Pirates of the Spanish Main have stumbled across, but it’ll be interesting to see how the game’s received. Perhaps a licensed version of Car Wars could see the light of day?
Rio Grande Update
The ever-productive Rio Grande Games has released yet another newsletter featuring a variety of products. Popular classics Tikal and Torres are getting re-released, and newer offerings include That’s Life!, a re-titled version of a German game of the year nominee; Fjords, a strategy game for aspiring Slartibartfasts; Palazzo, a palace-building game; and Pickomino, in which players aspire to profit by selling specialty cooked worms to birds. Truly, there is something for everyone this month.
Invisible City Offers Two for the Price of None
This month, Invisible City, home of free monthly games, offers not one, but two gifts to the world at large. First up is BAG, which is sort of like Scrabble, but you’re lining up pictures that represent related concepts rather than letters that spell out words. This is accompanied by Run, Hamster, Run! (Version 2.1), a new revision of the bizarre dark comedy classic. What are you waiting for? Get printing!
WizKids announces their first CCG
I don’t know, do you think they can handle such a commercial type of game, with such high production values? High Stakes Drifter is a CCG due in November, which “uses a betting and bluffing system similar to Hold ‘Em where players challenge each other based on Skills, Smarts, and Luck.” Right, because the Hold ‘Em trend won’t be over in five minutes. No siree. I give ‘em credit, though, they are lining up lots of not-obviously-bad designs and appear generally serious about survival as a company. PDF press release here, full text after the jump.
While we’re talking about WK, though: 1) we never talked about the official death of Mage Knight, and still don’t have anything to add except that, um, now I guess we’ve talked about it; 2) if you haven’t watched any of the animated Rocketmen “webisodes,” don’t, unless you want your brain to hurt. That is all.
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Thursday, July 14, 2005
Transformers movie release date announced
It was already known that a live action Transformers movie is in the works, and that Spielberg is attached to the project, but this was all to happen in the vague, distant future. Well, today’s announcement sets the date as July 4th, 2007, which Dreamworks should be able to adhere to (unless the company gets scared off by a Fantastic Four sequel or the like). I keep saying this is begging to be an RPG, especially with Hasbro owning both WotC and the Transformers property. If someone could craft said theoretical game with the feel of classic Battletech combined with Cartoon Action Hour, they might have a hit. Loads of full color screenshots from the movie, hardcover rulebook, the works. Of course, things could go the other way as well, and we could have another D&D movie calamity on our hands.
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
In praise of tiltyblocks!
If you’re like me, you did not even notice that Attack Vector: Tactical won this year’s Origins Award for best minis game. That is probably because, like me, you hadn’t seen this picture. Hubba hubba. The whole starship-combat market has been empty to the point of echoing lately, so it’s great to see this.
Monday, July 11, 2005
Industry pros on RuneQuest, Mongoose, D20 and more
You think I sound like a grump about the RPG business? Listen to some folks who are actually in the industry. This is on the weblog of D&D stalwart Mike Mearls, whose leadoff post is a bit annoyingly vague. But check out Ryan Dancey’s followup; for all his faults the guy often sees the industry clearer than almost anyone. And don’t skimp on clicking through to the replies and sub-comments; lots of fantastic stuff in there, like this.
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