Industry
Apparently, it’s Read an E-Book Week – certainly a trendy event, what with all the Kindles, Kindle-likes, and upcoming iPads pushing the book market that direction. In order to celebrate and promote the medium, DriveThruRPG and White Wolf Publishing have a free electronic offering for gamers. Those who stop by DriveThruRPG.com before the end of this Saturday, March 13, can download a free copy of the World of Darkness rulebook. Yes, the full, 200+ page core system book from a few years back is yours for the taking. But maybe you’ve already got a queue of electronic books you’re reading your way through – what’re you reading this week?
In case you aren’t in the know just yet, OgreCave’s voice is echoing in more directions than ever before. For those who have joined the massive Facebook nation, you can become our fan at OgreCave’s Facebook page, facebook.com/OgreCave, and find bonus goodies there like our Oddness Observed by Ogres gallery. Also, most everything posted there and here on the main site gets announced on our Twitter feed, at twitter.com/OgreCave, so if you’re inclined to be as connected as possible, we’ve established a side cavern to the Cave there. We’ll have these linked in the sidebar for future reference shortly, and if we set up shop anywhere else, you’ll be the first to know.
One month from tomorrow, on March 26, PAX East, the second location for the Penny Arcade Expo, will hit Boston, MA full force. The new show, a spinoff of the original PAX in Seattle (dubbed “PAX Prime” by many), had already sold out of full-show passes over three weeks ago, and with only a few hundred single day passes currently left for Friday and Sunday – well, if you were on the fence about going, you’d better commit or forget. This inaugural show’s official schedule just went up yesterday, adding to the considerable excitement that resulted two weeks ago when Wil Wheaton was announced as PAX East’s keynote speaker. If you can’t make it out to Boston, OgreCave will have a representative at the show in the form of Lee Valentine, frequent Cave dweller and one of our staff writers. Actually, he’ll be there whether you attend or not, so… yeah.
A couple weeks back, and for the first time in over two decades, I joined in a superhero RPG session. This was big for me – I got burned out on comics long, long ago when Peter Parker was revealed as a cheap knock-off clone of the “real” Spiderman, or was revealed to eat babies in his spare time, or some nonsense. Sure, I dabbled from time to time thereafter, reading an issue or two of whatever my friends recommended, but for all intents and purposes, I had stopped pursuing comics as a hobby.
Anyway, in this case, it was BASH! Ultimate Edition by Basic Action Games that drew me back in – the invite was hard to pass up when it came from Chris Rutkowsky, the game’s creator. (My one-session impression: a clean, quick system with decent flexibility. We’ll have a full review soon-ish.) In all, I enjoyed myself quite a bit, and was surprised to continually flash back to memories of the old Marvel Super Heroes RPG, circa oh-god-I’m-getting-old (‘84).
All of this is my round-about way of saying that, apparently, I’m not the only one reminiscing about the RPG of True Believers these days: earlier today, co-designer Jeff Grubb posted a nostalgic timeline-like list on the Marvel Super Heroes RPG that provides a glimpse into the secret wars world of designing not merely a spandex-clad roleplaying experience, but dealing with licensing issues (always a fun time). If you ever gamed in TSR’s version of the Marvel Universe, or wish you had, this is a must-read.
By the way, Basic Action Games just announced a print plus PDF bundle through IPR, so if you picked up a copy of the original edition from your Gamers Help Haiti downloads, and want to see more, this is your chance.
Make no mistake – we applaud Steve Jackson’s victorious rank of #1 on this list of 30 Great Gaming Geeks. But, wow, look at who Geekosystem placed him ahead of: Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins (the Penny Arcade guys) are at #12, Richard Garfield is way back at #16 – hell, he even beat Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of Mario, Donkey Kong, and many other iconic gaming characters. Even Evil Stevie himself is shocked by the outcome. Still, congrats, Mr Jackson, just the same.
From the moment it started, it was clear the Gamers Help Haiti charity fundraiser at DriveThruRPG would pull in big numbers. Indeed, convenience and reward made for a very successful charity drive – to the tune of $178,900, far beyond similar game industry charity events. For you slackers that didn’t contribute yet, you can always go directly to Doctors Without Borders or the Red Cross and donate yourselves silly.
Earlier today, Wizards of the Coast made an announcement on the company’s message board confirming what has been rumored for a while now: when the Star Wars license comes up for renewal this May, Wizards will not seek to renew it. In the announcement, Greg Yahn, WotC’s Director of Marketing, states “We had a long and fantastic run, but with the economic downturn, we have made the tough decision to discontinue our Star Wars lines.” WotC products for the Star Wars Miniatures Game and Star Wars Roleplaying Game will be available through August, with multiple new releases scheduled through April. Wizards had first taken over the Star Wars license from Decipher back in 2002, starting with WotC’s version of the Star Wars CCG.
Gamers have shown again and again how they can rally to the aid of those in need, and right now there’s no one in greater need than the earthquake-stricken citizens of Haiti. DriveThruRPG is running one of the most successful gaming charities in a while, Gamers Help Haiti. The DriveThruRPG vendor community has banded together to contribute a staggeringly long list of donated product downloads to the fundraiser – valued at over $1,400 – which can all be yours for a small $20 donation benefitting Doctors Without Borders. Those who can only afford a $5 or $10 donation will be gratified to hear that DriveThruRPG has pledged to match their contributions. However, those who can afford twenty bucks and chip in during January will receive the gigantic list of downloadable products within a few days. As this is being posted, Gamers Help Haiti has already raised $82,650 since launching Wednesday. Convenient and rewarding in more ways than one, this is how to rack up big charity drive numbers – have you helped out yet?
[EDIT: The results are in. Click through for the details.]
Read More…
Getting a product to market can be problematic in any industry, but the game industry gets more than its share of complications. Today AEG revealed that its shipper, currently in the throes of cutbacks, has misplaced Thunderstone and Infinite City, which were due to arrive last month. Todd Rowland, AEG’s Senior Brand Manager, summarized the chain of events in a forum post. Here’s the relevant bit:
The shipment of Thunderstone and Infinite City has been lost. It was due to arrive in Mid November and we have been told it was “in transit” or clearing customs for 3 weeks. Yesterday the shipper admitted they could not find it and after a long night of waking people up we have located the missing shipment. For some reason it had been diverted to Charleston SC and will not arrive until next week. To make matters worse it has been flagged for customs check and that will take an additional number of days.
Rowland goes on to admit it seems unlikely either game will reach stores before Christmas, but hopes gamers will consider them a “great way to ring in the New Year.” More precise release dates will be announced once AEG has a delivery date.
I remember when Godlike arrived in the states from being printed in China, and then the container remained locked down in customs for a month. This was extra frustrating for the publisher, as the warehouse it was to be stored at and distributed from was literally right across the street from the customs office. But darn it, those games sure look suspicious – better double and triple check them for contraband.
You can almost set your watch by it at this point: Wizards of the Coast has started its annual layoffs. ENWorld is reporting that Rob Heinsoo, Logan Bonner, and Chris Sims have been laid off, which has since been confirmed by Sims. A later post added Stephen Radney-McFarland to the list of WotC’s departed. As always, OgreCave wishes the best to all who are affected by the layoffs.
This might be really dumb or really smart: I honestly can’t tell. Wormhole is a complete starship-combat minis game for $25 MSRP. How has this amazing feat been accomplished, you ask? Well, the models are printed on paper, without so much as a single die cut. Gamers are to assemble and glue their fleets in the time-honored, or at least Boing Boing honored, tradition of papercraft, of which the ships they display are far from the most complex examples.
These cats are doing a bang-up job on their web presence; given the very thorough tutorial videos on the web site, assembling this stuff actually looks easier (but a lot more time-consuming) than some plastic card-model games I’ve messed with. The question is, will hobby gamers accept the “hobby” half of a papercraft game? From what little of the rules are in plain sight, it doesn’t look like Wormhole will draw the casual types, but the risk is there won’t be enough perceived table-candy payoff for hardcore minis fans… and it doesn’t seem as though people attracted to this sort of game are all that recession-conscious. (Me, I would pay $35 for something with a few die cuts.)
So, you may recall how Wizards of the Coast had taken the seemingly extreme step of removing its PDF products from the internet, and then sued eight people for copyright infringement, back in April. Well, two of those defendants have settled, and agreed to pay Wizards damages totaling $225,000 (also copied below). Is that really how much WotC would’ve made selling electronic copies of D&D 4e? If so, can they really afford not to get the PDF products back up and running? I mean, it’s not like pirates can’t scan books to make their own PDF copies. The pulled products still look like an overreaction mandated from on high at Hasbro.
Read More…
If you follow us on Twitter you already know I find the new Warhammer Invasion card game quite pleasing. I didn’t say why, however: basically it’s a non-collectible card game that delivers cracking good basic CCG play with some innovations around things that old-timers like me take for granted (like when to apply damage). You needn’t fear the sometimes-odd way that GW presents Warhammer content – it’s presented here in what amounts to FFG house style and is a very approachable intro to WH fantasy stuff. Also, all the promo FFG’s been doing calls it a two-player game, but our three-player game was great (although longer than the two-player, which is exceedingly quick and brutal) and I bet four works too.
In a way, Invasion is the first real test of the Living Card Game concept. It hasn’t had a past life in starters and boosters to prime the pump for the boxed version. It’s going to have to live or die on what it is out of that big square box. I guess it’s not much of a surprise that this more controlled and packaged experience plays great.
But then there are those chapter packs, yeah? Or Battle Packs or whatever. Three have been announced already and the core game is still just on its way to stores. And elsewhere it’s announced that these three are just the first half of a cycle of six. Um… guys? Some of us like being off of the new-cards treadmill? The total cost of ownership of the game is still going to be dramatically lower than that of a CCG, but come on. Pace, or the perception thereof, will need to be managed carefully if the LCG concept is going to win back recession-sensitive gamers who look back fondly on CCG-style gameplay.
We’ve got a trio of OgreCave Gaming News Update podcast episodes just posted from our trip up to Seattle for PAX, the Penny Arcade Expo 2009. First up, our bi-weekly update mentions a few PAX highlights (though this will be nothing compared to our upcoming PAX ‘09 Audio Report episode). Then we have an interview with Will Schoonover of Steve Jackson Games, who tells us all about the current state of things for the company, and describes the upcoming Nanuk in full detail. Finally, we had a chat with Matt Forbeck about his Guild Wars novel, all the other projects he has a hand in these days, and his thoughts on PAX, the industry, and bygone companies. Have a listen, let us know what you think, and be sure to check back for more.
The National Entertainment Collectibles Association, Inc. (NECA) website reports that NECA has purchased the majority of the assets of WizKids, Inc. from The Topps Company, Inc., including the award-winning Clix family of games, which includes HeroClix, ActionClix, HorrorClix and SportsClix. NECA will also acquire the WizKids brand, the Pocketmodel Game family of games, including the Pirates of the Crimson Coast, Pirates of the Spanish Main and Pirates of the Cursed Seas games, and the Mage Knight line of games. NECA reports that it will continue the successful HeroClix product line with licensing agreements from DC Comics and Marvel.
It’s always sad to see a respected game company shut down, and indeed, many of them either fade away quietly or flame out in spectacular fashion. Today One Bad Egg made the announcement the correct way – openly and honestly – that the company is going dark. Founding member Fred Hicks made the official post (also copied below), which sites disappointing sales of OBE’s D&D 4e products and “a collective lack of the wind staying in our sails”. The company’s website will remain available for a year or so, and products will begin to transfer over to Highmoon Media in October to reside there. Click below for the full announcement.
Read More…
The Gen Con Indy 2009 wrap-up press release (also pasted below) provided this year’s head count, reported as “over 27,900 unique attendees”. This means Gen Con was down less than 2.5% from last year’s total of 28,600 visitors. Gen Con’s long-established status as an annual gamer pilgrimage seems to have helped it weather the rough economic times better than Origins ‘09 or GTS ‘09, which each experienced 18% attendance drop-off. Of course, current economic optimism may have helped Gen Con a bit, too…
Additionally, Gen Con raised $12,000 in charity funds, and no one refused the gaming-tainted cash (unlike last year). So no righteous indignation for you, Joe Gamer.
Read More…
It’s Sunday, the final day of Gen Con 2009. To go out on a high note, Ryan Macklin has recorded the final ’09 episode of This Just In… From GenCon! from the show floor. The Sunday 3pm show has multiple guests from Pirate Jenny – Emily Care Boss of Black & Green Games, Danielle Lewon of Cream Alien Games, Anna Kreider of Tasty Bacon Games, Michelle Mishko, and Willow Palecek from The Forge. As promised, OgreCave has the show notes, so here’s the final write-up for this year:
The OgreCave crew extends its thanks to Ryan and all his co-hosts and guests for a cool series of TJI shows this year. We’ll be happy to watch your back again in the future. We’ll also have to corner you for an interview or podcast appearance, so don’t wander off.
It’s Sunday, and Gen Con 2009 is in its final stretch. This Just In… From GenCon! has posted its Sunday 11am show, with co-host Derek Rex from Pulp Gamer, and guests John Wick and Robin Laws. Until host Ryan Macklin gets back home, OgreCave will be providing the show notes, so here’s the latest write-up:
Check back after the 3 pm Sunday show for more notes, or just hang out at OgreCave for a while, ‘cuz we like you and appreciate your business.
This Just In… From GenCon! has posted its late Saturday afternoon show live from the big event. This time around, Ryan is joined by co-host Ed Healy of War Pig Radio, and guests Eddy Webb of White Wolf Publishing and Brennan Taylor of Indie Press Revolution. We’re still helping Ryan out with the show notes, so read on and be enlightened.
One more day of the Best Four Days in Gaming to go, and OgreCave will have your show notes. Feel free to explore the Cave, by the way – we only pummel those who don’t read a review, an interview, the daily news, follow us on Twitter, and listen to our podcasts. So you’ll be fine… right?
Allan isn’t doing this one, dammit! LOVE ME.
Show notes for the Saturday 11am This Just In… From GenCon! episode are as follows:
All OgreCave tourists and visitors are directed to the information booth. See you again this afternoon, if not sooner.
Gen Con 2009 rages on, and the Friday evening episode of This Just In… From GenCon! is online for all to hear. OgreCave is helping out with some show notes, so here’s the lowdown for the Friday 5pm show, with co-host Sean Nittner from Narrative Control, and guests Will Hindmarch & Jeff Tidball from GamePlaywright.net:
We’ll keep the notes going tomorrow. If you’re new to OgreCave, come on in and sit a spell. We have reviews, interviews, daily news, podcasts, and other neat stuff.
The sounds of Gen Con 2009 continue to flow through This Just In… From GenCon!, and we’ve got show note duty. For the Friday 11am show, with co-host Chris Hussey from Fear the Boot, and additional guests Sean Patrick Fannon and Carrin Seabolt from DriveThruRPG, here’s what we have:
Check back this evening for the Friday 5pm show notes, or just peruse OgreCave in general for game reviews, daily news, podcasts, and more.
Remember all the waiting for a certain 4e game license? Paizo Publishing’s not taking that route. Instead, when the Pathfinder Core Rulebook went on sale yesterday at Gen Con and online, Paizo posted the Pathfinder RPG Reference Document. Please note the apparent cut-and-paste of a certain Open License version 1.0a. To complete the siren call to disenfranchised 3.5 gamers, Paizo has also posted a Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Conversion Guide, providing a guide for updating existing campaigns to the Pathfinder system. There’s no denying it now – this is serious competition for D&D. It just needs the name recognition, which will be tricky.
Paizo Publishing announced an agreement today that Reaper Miniatures will produce monthly metal miniatures to support Paizo’s Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Paizo has had excellent miniatures through Crocodile Games in the past, but now we’ll get to see what Reaper does with the line. No word yet on whether any preview figures are at Gen Con this week – a Fall release is expected for the start of the line. The full press release is below.
Read More…
Site copyright 2001-2009 Allan Sugarbaker. Trademarks/copyrights mentioned are owned by their respective owners.
cheap viagra canada cheap viagra cialis cheap viagra cialis india cheap viagra direct cheap viagra discount cheap viagra discount viagra buy viagra cheap viagra fast shipping cheap viagra from pfizer cheap viagra generic cheap viagra generic paypal cheap viagra in the uk cheap viagra in uk cheap viagra india cheap viagra kamagra cheap viagra new zealand cheap viagra no prescription cheap viagra no presrciption 50mg cheap viagra nz cheap viagra online cheap viagra online a href cheap viagra online order viagra now cheap viagra online pharmacy online cheap viagra online prescription cheap viagra online uk cheap viagra uk cheap viagra uks viagra and coupon cialis 10 cialis 10mg cialis 20 cialis 2005 cialis blindness cheap viagra viagra cheap viagra without a prescription cheap viagra without prescription cheap websites for viagra cheaper cialis levitra viagra cheaper viagra cialis 20mg cialis 24 cialis 30 cialis 30mg cialis 32 cialis 5 cialis 50mg cialis 5mg cialis 1 cheapest brand viagra cheapest cheap viagra cheapest generic price viagra cheapest generic silagra viagra cheapest generic substitute viagra cheapest generic viagra cheapest generic viagra 99 cents cheapest generic viagra 99 cents each cheapest generic viagra and canada cheapest generic viagra and cialis cheapest generic viagra and cialis pills cheapest generic viagra caverta veega cheapest generic viagra sent overnight cheapest in uk viagra cheapest line viagra cheapest online viagra cheapest place buy viagra online cheapest place to buy viagra cheapest place to buy viagra online cheapest prescription viagra cheapest price for generic viagra cheapest price for viagra cheapest price for viagra and cialis cheapest price on viagra cheapest price viagra cheapest price viagra us licensed pharmacies cheapest prices for viagra online cheapest prices on generic viagra cheapest regalis viagra cheapest site viagra cheapest uk supplier viagra cheapest uk viagra cheapest viagra cheapest viagra and regalis cheapest viagra anywhere cheapest viagra cheapest generic viagra home cheapest viagra generic substitute cheapest viagra homepage cheapest viagra in the uk viagra c-ring viagra cailis viagra canada prescription viagra canada price viagra canada satisfaction guarantee viagra canadaian prices viagra canadian viagra canadian prescriptions viagra canadian price shipped buy and purchase viagra online buy australian viagra buy buy cheap medved viagra buy buy cheap viagra buy buy medved viagra viagra buy buy online sale viagra viagra buy buy online viagra viagra buy buy sale viagra viagra buy buying sale viagra buy cailis viagra singapore buy can reply viagra buy canada in viagra buy canada viagra buy cheao cgeap kamagra uk viagra buy cheap cheap kamagra uk viagra buy cheap deal pill viagra cheapest viagra in uk cheapest viagra in uk che cheapest viagra in uk cheap cheapest viagra on line cheapest viagra on the internet cheapest viagra on the net cheapest viagra online cheapest viagra online in the uk cheapest viagra online pharmacy cheapest viagra online plus zenegra cheapest viagra overnight cheapest viagra price cheapest viagra prices cheapest viagra prices uk cheapest viagra prices us licensed pharmacies cheapest viagra substitut viagra calgary viagra calias viagra can viagra can cause loss of hearing viagra canada viagra canada generic viagra canada online viagra canada online pharmacy viagra canada pharmacy discount viagra drug discount viagra europe discount viagra generic discount viagra in the usa discount viagra mastercard discount viagra offers discount viagra online discount viagra or cialis discount viagra order viagra discount viagra discount viagra overseas discount viagra perscription drug discount viagra pharmacy online discount viagra pills discount viagra prescription drug discount viagra sale discount viagra sale online discount viagra sales discount viagra sales online discount viagra uk discount viagra viagra discount viagra wholesale stores discount pharmacy order 50mg viagra order cheap viagra order cheap viagra fas order cialis and viagra order discount viagra order forms for buying viagra order generic viagra order generic viagra online order mexican viagra order order viagra order pfizer viagra with mastercard order phizer viagra order prescription viagra order prescription viagra without order site viagra order status viagra order telephone viagra overnight delivery order uk viagra order viagra order viagra 1 order viagra air travel order viagra buying viagr order viagra buying viagra uk order viagra canada order viagra cheap order viagra cialis levitra pharmacy order viagra here order viagra international ships order viagra licensed pharmacies online order viagra now order viagra now money order viagra now viagra money order order viagra on line order viagra on-line order viagra online order viagra online a href order viagra online consumer discount rx order viagra online consumer rx order viagra online in wisconsin order viagra online no rx prescription order viagra online uk order viagra onlines order viagra or levitra order viagra overnight delivery order viagra overnight shipping order viagra prescription order viagra softtabs order viagra uk order viagra usa order viagra viagra order viagra viagra online order viagra visit your doctor online order viagra with mastercard buy viagra and cilas usa buy viagra and overseas buy viagra assist cheap cialis buy viagra at safeway buy viagra at the best price buy viagra australia buy viagra australian buy viagra bradenton buy viagra buy cheap viagra index buy viagra by pill buy viagra canada buy viagra caverta buy viagra cheap buy viagra cheap india pharmacy buy viagra cheap online buy viagra cheap prices over sea generic viagra over the counter drug to viagra over the counter viagra in europe over the counter viagra london over the counter viagra substitute over the counter viagra substitutes buy 100 mg viagra viagra and cialas viagra and cialis viagra and cialis and viagra and cialis cheap viagra and cialis side effects viagra and cialis together viagra and fertility viagra and flomax viagra and flying viagra and gastroparesis viagra and generic viagra and generic drug viagra and grapefruit viagra and hair loss viagra and headaches viagra and hearing loss viagra bph viagra br viagra brand viagra brands viagra brazil viagra breathing viagra british store boot viagra brochure cipro 20 cheapest viagra substitute sildenafil cheapest viagra tablets cheapest viagra uk cheapest viagra us licensed pharmacies cheapest viagra us pharmacy cheapest viagra world cheapsest viagra online check generic order pay viagra cheep generic viagra cheep viagra cheep viagra 600mg uk cheep viagra from india discount viagra discount viagra 10 pack generic discount viagra brand drug discount viagra canada discount viagra cialis viagra bullshit viagra bumper stickers viagra business viagra buy viagra buy australia viagra buy contest viagra buy do nu viagra buy general viagra buy generic viagra buy in uk online viagra buy ionline viagra buy it viagra buy it online now viagra buy now pay later viagra buy online viagra buy oonline viagra buy uk viagra buy viagra viagra buy viagra online viagra buying viagra buying online viagra by mail viagra by mail canada viagra by mail order viagra by money order viagra by overnight delivery viagra by phone viagra by the pill buy cheap generic online viagra buy cheap generic viagra buy cheap generic viagra online buy cheap online prescription viagra buy cheap online uk viagra buy cheap online viagra buy cheap online viagra viagra buy cheap p viagra buy cheap purchase uk viagra buy cheap sale viagra buy cheap site viagra buy cheap uk viagra