Category: Industry

There’s been considerable speculation about what Wizards of the Coast will reveal in its “big announcement about our newest game for 2006” at the Monday dinner at GTS next month. Sure, most of it has been by retailers, both fearful and anxious about what WotC plans to put into the

Ruh-roh, Shaggy. The president of the former toy division now presides over the merged department: “[Brian] Goldner, 42, had been president of the U.S. toy segment, and had previously held positions at Bandai America Inc. ‘This new organization allows us to bring the best and brightest of both toys and

Reuters: “Britain’s Games Workshop Group Plc said full-year profit would likely fall short of expectations as interest wanes in fantasy battle games.” I suspect the generality of that statement is Reuters’, not GW’s, as the rest of the announcement focuses on the sagged-to-the-floor fortunes of the Lord of the Rings

Or the M word, or, uh, I guess the O word. Here’s the point for discussion: how can the next version of the D&D rules take advantage of the fact that there are other players with you in the room, instead of just falling back on it as granted? How

WotC has fired several key staff members, including both the VP and senior VP of marketing, Hecatomb design lead Mike Elliott, and D&D brand manager Charles Ryan. I don’t know that the failure of Hecatomb is Elliott’s fault, really… but I guess his losing his job over it is predictable

In a press release today, it was announced that Pinnacle Entertainment Group has been granted the rights to create roleplaying products based on WizKids properties like Mage Knight and the Pirates CSG. Pinnacle, in the form of Great White Games, will also be able to design scenario books for WizKids

One of the great fantasy artists, Keith Parkinson passed away due to complications from leukemia on October 26th. In the years he worked at TSR, Keith Parkinson set the tone for the Dungeons & Dragons line along with Larry Elmore, and in subsequent years continued to produce award-winning covers for

Apparently there is a limit to how many high-production-value collectible games a smallish company can launch and keep running at one time. AEG’s front page is a note from John Zinser – we’ll try and update the link when it moves, but the text is included below – saying that

In the Summer 2005 issue of Games Quarterly, Hasbro’s former CEO and still Chairman of the Board, Alan Hassenfeld, namechecked several old Avalon Hill titles (including his claim to have had a Tactics II “phase”) and described himself as a current player of contemporary titles like Duel Masters and Heroscape

With a press-release headline like “Titanic Games Takes to the Water – New Board and Card Game Company,” I happily admit that I had my knives out. I mean, come on, wouldn’t you? However, it merely appears that one of the best design teams out there has found a couple

It is arguably only a matter of time between WARS and, well, this: GR points to a Virginia-based business paper called Inside Business, which in turn points to Decipher apparently melting down. Those up for a round of tasty schadenfreude can enjoy details like Decipher selling its offices and renting

This year’s Diana Jones Award shortlist has finally been announced, leaving the committee about ninety seconds to vote before the winner is announced in the traditional pre-Gen Con ceremony. The list comprises innovative chat-RPG hybrid Code of Unaris, the hailed indie RPG Dogs in the Vineyard, and the ubiquitous-for-a-reason Ticket

So, Chris wanted to podcast, and I said, “Okay.” The OgreCave Audio Report is a weekly half-hour-or-less on the gaming industry topics of the week, plus what we are playing and liking. We figure we spend enough time just kind of Waldorfing about gaming stuff that we may as well