Fun:
New Games:
iOS:
- The big news this week was the release of both Dominion (kind of) and Thunderstone. Both are free but charge you for expanding the basic set
- Dominion was released on HTML5 platform by Goko, but the launch was first on the Internet and at the time of this sending is still not through the iTunes store. Also the launch did NOT go well. Inaccessible sites tormented the fledgling company. The latest news as of yesterday though is that Goko has taken their game back into beta explaining that “it wasn’t able to scale fast enough to support the load.”
- Thunderstone Gateway’s release also didn’t go well. The market is inaccessible until a released update hopefully this week so you have only the subset of the original cards. In addition, there was a lot of backlash from the board game community because it’s tied into the Facebook Thunderstone app. If you have the cards on Facebook, you have them on the iPad. But Facebook is a very controversial app for some and they avoid it at all costs. With Playdek having such success with Ascension, players wanted a similarly self-contained app for Thunderstone and that didn’t happen. The gameplay is really good, but I’m getting bored with the cards I’ve got. Also, there’s no pass and play which is upsetting. And there’s no option for playing the “Epic” mode that is available on Board Game Geek (although that’s not official, it would have been nice to see it).
- LeHavre is 99c!
- All Playdek games reduced in price through 8/23
- Stone Age in development
- Catan update has been submitted to the iTunes store and it contains the Cities & Knights expansion
- Ascension: Immortal Heroes expansion later this year
News:
- Pandemic is going to be released to Toys ‘R Us stores for a wider distribution starting in September
Recently Played:
Happy Gaming!
Fun:
New Games:
- P.I.: Martin Wallace is coming out with a pure deduction game. Over three cases, the winner is the best at solving their crimes. You manage the details for the player next to you. Players investigate locations on a map by narrowing dow the choices available based on evidence cards and use of investigators (workers). Release Q4 2012.
- Jungle Ascent: Build a path up the infamous Cliff of Frab in the jungle of the Oobydoobies (yes, that’s really the name). Grab all the treasure and stick it to the other adventurers. Action points a la The Adventurers. Release Fall 2012.
- Recently released: Montana, Plato 3000, Quills
iOS:
- Dominion (the official Donald X version) due out approx. August 16th. The old one has been pulled from the store.
- Cutthroat Caverns will be demoed at GenCon
- Smash Up! in development
- Can’t Stop in development
- Lost Cities due 8/23
News:
- Target will exclusively be carrying a dumbed down version of Fluxx. The more “difficult” version as well as the expansions will still be carried by game stores.
- Days of Wonder (Ticket to Ride, Memoir ’44, Shadows Over Camelot, etc.) CEO Eric Hautemont was interviewed by GigaOM on how his company can flourish in the era of video games when big firms like Zynga are falling apart.
Recently Played:
- My family made a trip to some friends in New Jersey and it unexpectedly turned into an overnight gaming party. They all fell in love with Jungle Speed. We must have played that at least a dozen times. We also played Eye to Eye and Curses, the latter of which may be the single silliest game I’ve ever played. At one point, it had me barking out orders at the top of my lungs, swatting at imaginary mosquitos, and clucking like a chicken all at the same time; much to the amusement of the rest of the table.
Happy gaming!
Fun:
- Le Tour de Geek is coming to a close in the final stage asking the simple question: What do you want to play? The competition has been fascinating. In the style of the Tour de France, different stages have been created to evaluate games on many different levels from ease of learning to strategic depth. The yellow jersey (leader) is currently held by Pandemic, but only by the thickness of a card. Ticket to Ride and even Agricola have shots at the title. Twilight Struggle and Dominion round out the top 5 with Dixit barely outside. Vote in the last stage if you want to have a hand in crowning the winner!
- Destination gaming: Carcassonne in Carcassonne
- Pimp my Game: The baker’s in trouble after causing the great fire of London in 1666!
New Games:
- Autokrator (a.k.a. Emperor): This one blurs the lines of war game and Euro apparently, simulating the wars between the Christians and Muslims in the 7th-10th centuries. You have specific abilities with your characters that you can use. You distribute your armies through card management and try to overbalance each area of the map. Release date unknown
- Archipelago: Colonize the Caribbean as one of the European powers. Explore, harvest and negotiate with the natives and foreign powers. The designer is touting this is a “theme-rich” and interactive euro game. Release in September 2012.
- Heroes of Metro City: Superhero deck building. For some, that’s all I need to say. For the rest of the world, you are trying to stop your archenemy from destroying Metro City. You build your powers and energy sources with the Dominion mechanic and battle the baddies. Release March 2013.
- Recently released: Sewer Pirats, Siege Master, Spectaculum
iOS:
- Ticket to Ride: Legendary Asia map released
- Puerto Rico HD now has Asynchronous multiplayer – ok, now I’m in.
- San Juan released
News:
- A couple of Scots tried to break the longest game session record just set in June by a couple of Strat-O-Matic Baseball players. They’re trying it with Small World. Apparently they went 54 hours and 45 minutes. I believe that’s the record.
- Blewt! seems to be the name of the new game show that is based on Telestrations.
- From Purple Pawn, a study was published from the American Journal of Play that states that adults like to play, despite having learned all the skills that kids would gain by play. So why do we do it? Apparently desirable traits in mates are a playful attitude, a sense of humor and a fun loving nature. It differs between males and females to some degree, but everyone loves a gamer!
- Starting on August 9th in Lille, France, the 2nd annual World Mind Sports Games will be held. This is a competition where players battle in games of bridge, chess, draught, go and Chinese chess. Note that they also have a position on “doping” and discourage the use of Ritalin and Adderal.
- Wired.com contributor Erik Wecks (Geek Dad) is very concerned that stores like Target, who just signed a deal with Geek & Sundry (I mentioned last week) and Mayfair games for exclusivity/marketing arrangements may begin to have an effect on the local FLGS (Friendly Local Game Store). Other developing pressures that face the FLGS are publisher exclusivity arrangements with distributors (Alliance being akin to McDonalds in this respect) and the ever-present threat of online retailers mean that tough times could be ahead for the owners. The solution in my opinion is ingraining the store into the local community. Work with schools, social organizations and local gaming groups to get events sponsored by the stores (even hosted in some cases) and get the players exposed to new games. That’s the new world order as I see it.
Recently Played:
- Friends over the other day and we got a game of Pillars of the Earth and I taught Kingdom Builder. KB went over well and my thoughts on the original play seem to be correct. This game needs four players in order to have some level of contention.
- Also played some with the Mrs. this week – Ubongo Duel (which surprisingly she’s not really hot on anymore) and Quarriors!
Happy Gaming!
