“Topps has scheduled The Dozens, the collectible card game created by the Wayans brothers and based on the ancestor-insulting contests popular in urban neighborhoods, for late April or early May.”
Author: Mike Sugarbaker
Avalon Hill gets +5, trample
Yeah, that joke really doesn’t make sense, but, I mean, that’s a lot of stuff. I know it probably just means half of it will get postponed or killed, but still, this is kind of thrilling. A reprint of RoboRally is in fact on the schedule for an Origins-ish timeframe
Mike’s self-important year-end editorial: Do Market Research Or Die
Okay. We all know about the highest-profile product-launch disaster of the year. Let’s talk briefly about another launch, that of the Call of Cthulhu CCG. It went well, right? Sure it did. Well, except for that month or so when it wasn’t so easy for retailers to get starter decks.
Necromancer goes with Kenzer, stays with Sword & Sorcery
The march toward separation of development and publishing continues. Necro is apparently quite happy with S&S, but will be moving several of what look to be single adventures through Kenzer & Company beginning in June. I hope the industry fosters more of this kind of in-(or at least inter-)dependence.
Because kids aren’t fleeing the CCG trend fast enough
Now Wizards is telling parents they are good for you. “The release quotes Dr. Helen Boehm, psychologist and author of Fearless Parenting for the New Millenium [sic] and The Official Guide to the Right Toys, who describes how the interactive, constructive play of trading card games can help build relationships
Ghettopoly set to be destroyed; to be replaced with Stadiumopoly in urban-renewal program
The Smoking Gun hosts the Feds’ “complaint for forfeiture” of Ghettopoly, the Monopoknockoff that was pulled from Urban Outfitters stores earlier in the year. The title, while allegedly racist, is also perfectly legal. Methinks there might be more than the Hasbropoly behind all this Federal zeal; wouldn’t be the first
German newspaper on German games in America
Gamefest translates this German paper’s reflection on the Deutschenspielen craze in the US. Devoted Spielfreaks will find no surprises, but it’s got some nice historical notes, and it’s funny to see how national pride is the subliminal source of a couple of exaggerations. I mean, “group of gaming enthusiasts whose
When Greg Costikyan talks, ogres listen
And they don’t even have to sidetalk to do so. Although they might not have exactly listened by the time they post about it (did you know that many of your favorite OgreCave editors have little things called day jobs?), nor is the listening the sort that one does with
This must be some kind of sign of the Geekpocalypse
GameSpot previews a LEGO Star Wars action puzzle game for Xbox, PS2, and the PC.
Avalon Hill opens up and says arrrrrrr
Sword and Skull is due in March – it’s a pirate game, involving running around on a Talisman-esque track and saving the Sea… Dog… from the… merciless… crew of the… Wascally… Wabbit… or something. You get the picture. For some reason my Google fu is failing me and I can’t
From the “whittling away at RPGers’ mule-like resistance to online play” desk
So, another tool for tabletop roleplaying via the Internet. This one looks fairly comprehensive and really gorgeous – I like the attention to details like GM control of screen tinting for ambience (sweeeet), and support for pressure-sensitive tablets, which a GM with a real yen for paper’s flexibility will want
WizKids announces how they will make cons suck in 2005
Specifically, with their newest round of convention-exclusive figures. The good news is that the largest one is for Mage Knight, which is unlikely to draw the greasy retailers out of the woodwork at this point. Or it will draw fewer of them, but they will be the very greasiest. Among
Uncle Moneybags is right
Shopping for a Monopoly fan this holiday season? Got three grand burning a hole in your pocket?
Eagle takes more PC games to tabletop, may yet take them to web pages
True to form, Eagle has allegedly announced a lot of stuff that is nowhere to be found on their website. Although this release summary is not that old, so Eagle may yet break their land speed record. This is a very interesting passel of projects, including board versions of popular
We’re not going to the town, we’re going to…
This Carcassonne-related report features a distinctly erotic, if lo-res, photo of the wooden bits from the soon-to-ship Carcassonne: The City. Yes, you will be building actual little walls and towers, instead of just wondering what the hell the walls around all the cities have to do with anything besides the