OgreCave

This is scary: a number of Amazon Kindle owners learned buying an e-book doesn’t always mean you get to keep it. Merely because a publisher decided to change its corporate mind and stop offering certain books in electronic form, those who paid for said downloads had them automatically removed from their Kindle devices. Sure, the price of those e-books was credited to each buyer’s account by Amazon, but I’m not fond of the idea that electronic ninjas can sneak into my home and take back products I’ve legally purchased. Wow. I mean, way to kneecap the electronic medium’s struggle toward acceptance as legitimate, “tangible” product. Bravo, Amazon. Wasn’t there a signed contract between Amazon and the publisher to avoid just such a thing?

The implications for the game industry are chilling. If Wizards of the Coast had been able to reel a few of its PDFs back in like this, instead of merely pulling the plug on all further downloads a few months ago – I’m sure the company would’ve been smart enough not to do it. At least, I hope so. It’s one thing to deprive a small percentage of customers of their George Orwell books (yes, 1984 was one of the revoked titles – Big Brother loves the irony), but it’s another thing to deprive your entire fanbase of products that are out of print. After all, obscure Forgotten Realms supplements aren’t likely to be reprinted soon.

Cubicles must be much larger these days than what I remember, because Cubicle 7 has a ton of upcoming products under its banner. The UK based company just announced that Chaosium granted Cubicle 7 licenses to publish Call of Cthulhu and Basic Roleplaying products. The company has already made plans to unleash Cthulhu Britannica, an adventure compliation due in August, and Cthulhu Britannica: Folklore in November. As for Basic Roleplaying, Cubicle 7 merely states it’s “being used to develop a brand new game based upon the works of a popular award-winning author” to be announced in the months ahead. This new arrangement adds momentum to Cubicle 7′s current pace, which includes recent partnerships with Postmortem Studios (100 Series PDFs), Boxninja (3:16 – Carnage Amongst The Stars), Adamant Entertainment, and John Wick. Through these partnerships, Cubicle 7 will release each company’s products to a wider audience, and publish Boxninja’s follow-up RPG, Carnage Amongst the Tribes, this November (among many other products – check the individual links for each company’s arrangement). And let’s not forget the Doctor Who RPG, due this October. In all, Cubicle 7 is definitely a busy company, and one to keep tabs on.
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Today Jamie Chambers, the designer of the Serenity RPG and the Cortex System, just let the world know about his next venture, Signal Fire Studios. This new game company will focus on “creating a strong lineup of role playing game titles starting in 2010 that include some familiar names” – which weren’t mentioned yet. Signal Fire’s existence was a poorly-kept secret mentioned in hushed tones at GTS ’09 in April, but news of an impending announcement was delayed – until now. Signal Fire will publish a new version of Metamorphosis Alpha, the classic sci-fi RPG, using Dungeons & Dragons: Fourth Edition rules. Original MA developer James M. Ward will be involved in the effort, as will Cam Banks, former lead developer of the Dragonlance product line. Release dates have yet to be announced, but we’ll happily await more signals of sweet roleplaying products from Signal Fire Studios in the months to come. See the pair of press releases below for more details.
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