» Card Games
Monday, November 5, 2007
Audio Report - Uneasy about the approach
Marketing - or to be more specific, the D&D 4e marketing approach thus far - is one of many things we dive into this episode. The death of Dreamblade, unlife of Zombie Fluxx, and everlasting love of ThunderRoad make appearances this show, as well. Plus, in his OgreCave Audio Report debut, Lee Valentine of Veritas Games Company joins in to throw some elbows with the rest of us.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Audio Report - Coming down after con season
We still have a bit of the shakes from all the convention news of the past month or so, so we let it all out in the latest OgreCave Audio Report episode. From how Gen Con developments reflected on our 2007 Ogre’s Choice Awards to the Penny Arcade Expo, and from Rackham’s recent issues to troubled local conventions, we manage to have a theme and be all over the map. Jump into the story already in progress, or check into previous episodes - it’s all good.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
I’m in ur Magic, walkin ur planez: crazy new upcoming card type merits a look
If you’re like me and have a spot of Magic: the Gathering in your past, but have more or less lost interest in all the little furniture-rearrangements and wacky new kitchen appliances they’ve added to that house over the years… well, it looks like as of the next big block of cards, they’ve added a whole new room. The Planeswalker cards have an entirely new currency (Loyalty points), don’t interact with all the other cards in conventional ways, and (like a lot of other recent new stuff in MtG) seem crazy-powerful. It really feels like they’ve added a chunk of new game, rather than sub-games. And the above-linked article is surprisingly readable if you have only primary-school-level Magic knowledge (again, like me). Will this become a thriving part of the game, or is it the new phasing? Discuss.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Upper Deck bails out of Topps bid
After one last public letter, it seems Upper Deck is withdrawing its bid to buy Topps, sports/trading card company and owner of Wiz Kids. The Upper Deck letter states that Topps “has erected a series of hurdles designed to frustrate UD’s ability to move forward”. Now we’ll see if legal battles start up over this whole mess, or if everyone will calm down and focus on developing games and such.
Friday, August 17, 2007
Audio Report - 2007 Ogre’s Choice Awards
Despite my extra hours at work, the editing’s finally complete on our latest OgreCave Audio Report. Our first episode ever with all four regulars, we close out the Gen Con ‘06 - Gen Con ‘07 product year with our second annual Ogre’s Choice Awards. Now, keep in mind that we recorded this before all D&D 4th Edition announcement hoopla, so you can see how our predictions stack up against the info WotC has managed to get out to the world.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Cthulhu dice coming from Q-workshop
Normally we don’t post about unusual dice, but these are just cool (and may provoke a SAN check). To quote the Q-workshop website: “Cthulhu Fhtagn ! The stars will be right in September, as Q-workshop and Chaosium Inc. unleash the Cthulhu Dice upon the mortal world. Available in all standard designs and color schemes, these dice will be a great asset to all servants of Great Old Ones.” The dice are pictured here if you think your mortal mind can withstand perceiving them. As with most announcements this time of year, these will be available at Gen Con Indy (booth 924).
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
WizKids releases Star Wars PocketModel TCG
WizKids has let slip the dogs of Star Wars with their release of the Star Wars PocketModel Trading Card Game. The company is definitely pushing the multigenerational angle, as the press release (below) quotes WizKids president Lax Chandra (which was a character in Episode 1, wasn’t it?) as saying it’s “easy enough for children but with layers of strategy for adults”. So, rule the tabletop as father and son, yeah? Got it. A coupon for free samples is available through the WizKids site, StarWars.com, or CartoonNetwork.com, so now you have no excuse not to get your force on.
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Monday, June 11, 2007
Attention motorists: Perplex City is closed
Yeah, I saw the news and didn’t post because it just made me unhappy. (Especially when people started asking, right there on the goodbye posts from the story team, if this was all a setup to the start of season 2. For some reason the jackassery of which the Internet is capable keeps surprising me.) Mind Candy has put the second season of the Perplex City ARG on indefinite hiatus, and everyone on the story team has left the company. Stony silence about the issue on Mind Candy’s corporate site, which is always a wwwwwwonderful sign, but there are various messages and discussions out there, and the PXC-focused sites do all have some in-story bits about the end.
So what’d we learn, kids? That tying your product to a $200K prize is a good way to have to keep doing it over and over, even if the product improves? (Wave 2 of the Season 2 puzzle cards will still be released, BTW.) That even a sucky story is a better purchase motivator than a delayed (and suckier) story?
(Postscript: Mind Candy is allegedly looking into doing an online-hybrid product in the vein of Webkinz and, yes, Bella Sara. I WARNED YOU)
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Star Wars PocketModel CCG rules are online: definitely the most 3D card game ever, or something
Here’s the lo-res PDF of the rules (still not necessarily something you wanna choke down if you’re on dialup). I’m classifying this one in “Card Games” now because there appears to be no component of miniatures or positional play, or indeed any gameplay-based reason for the models to exist at all. Hey, at least this one gets around the patent!
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Audio Report: one GTS 2007 wrapup, partial
OgreCave lackey Steve Kani got himself out to GTS ‘07… for one day. What jumped out at him while doing his rounds as a retailer? Listen to our GTS post-show show and find out. Also, a question for roleplayers: how has party unity been a factor (or not) in your games? Let us know in the comments, folks.
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