Hasbro-branded games are buy one, get one free at Toys ‘R’ Us this week apparently. (Some other possibilities – hey, they still make Crossfire!)
Author: Mike Sugarbaker
More lawsuit fun: WotC sues Pokemon USA, uses the word “tortuous”
Wizards alleges “patent infringement, breach of contract, misappropriation of trade secrets, tortuous interference with a business relationship, unjust enrichment and other claims“. Pokemon USA says, “We were sued the day after our distribution agreement with Wizards ended […] We are confident that we’ve acted both legally and fairly with respect
Look at me, I bought some Initial D boosters
“Big Brakes”? That’s my rare? “Big Brakes.” Whatever. What I’m starting to really like about this game is its vaguely Engrish qualities: how the flavor text or title of a card seem just subtly wrong enough to be funny, while the card keeps a straight face, as it were. “This
All Neopets, all the time
It really is amusing, as GamingReport points out, when game companies “announce” things that are about to come out and that we’ve all known about forever. However, the unveiling of the official Neopets TCG web site coincides nicely with this mini-essay on the . That’s definitely worth a read. (Hmm…
Sort of an Age of Mythology Playtest Report (but really more like bragging)
I offered some more thoughts on AoM in the comments on this Slashdot Games link.
We shall bounce off each other and make a sport of it
This is the perfect online multiplayer Flash game, of the sort that I would make if I had all the time in the world. Utterly simple to learn, a good amount of tactical depth, and more cute than you can handle. (Thanks to Eric for the tip.)
Age of Mythology First Look: how to outsource game development to a small island nation
No, not really. But it’s laughable how similar Eagle’s board game adaptation of Microsoft’s RTS hit is to the much-lauded German game Puerto Rico. It’s a very similar board, similar turn structure in which you choose a role from a (mostly) fixed set and all players (sometimes) then play that
Classic H.G. Wells novel reprinted – with rules
If you’re like me, and therefore have an unhealthy interest in the meta-game of how RPG publishers are licensing their rules and content, you might be tickled by this: Gold Rush Games is doing what has the markings of a series of Action! Classics, the first of which is H.G.
Other shoe falls: Book of Erotic Fantasy has D20 license revoked
That’s how they announced it – not that they’d decided to go OGL instead of D20, but that their D20 license has been revoked. The product will be published as OGL, in November rather than October. Full press release below.
Paranoia creator on My Life With Master
Tabletop RPG designer emeritus Greg Costikyan has posted a lengthy, incisive review of alterna-RPGers’ GenCon fave My Life With Master on his (essential) weblog. He notes that he can no longer be sure how innovative this game really is; I’m not that well qualified either but I do see things
When news is slow, buy something and start reporting on it: 1999 First Look
How does Cell Entertainment stay in business, despite having pushed all that plastic into the US market and watching it flop? Well, they’re evidently saving a little money on their web hosting. Anyway, their new (at least I’ve never seen it on shelves before) fantasy/sci-fi skirmish game, the perplexingly titled
George Bush kicks Cthulhu’s ass
” ‘This hypothesis is far from being proven,’ Gallard told Reuters from on board the Hesperides. ‘We use this technique because of its minimal environmental impact…the changes in pressure are very slight.’ ” And yet they are enough to drive men MAD!
D&D minis get a handbook after all
Back at Origins I was told that there would be no book for D&D Miniatures apart from the starter booklet and the D&D core books. I guess that’s no longer true if it ever was. The Miniatures Handbook will apparently be a collection of monsters, feats and spells that goes
WotC’s spin control on D20 STL changes
WotC’s RPG category manager talks to ICv2 about the decency clause. He claims that Anthony Valterra was actually in on the beginnings of the decision, that the Book of Vile Darkness will remain in print, and that indie publishers have no more to fear from this version of the license
German engineering finds allies in Washington
Via slashdot again, The Washington Post on the resurgence of what they call “specialty board-games.” If anyone finds a permanent link to this article that doesn’t ask you to name your first born, post it in comments, ‘kay? (Some of the comments at the slashdot posting are interesting too.)