Some news from Gen Con.
Stuff I read on Gaming Report and Ogre Cave.
Upper Deck announced the World of Warcraft TCG, which will have scratch off cards with codes for cosmetic enhancements for your online toons. We knew that Blizzard was willing to do this kind of thing, and it will be a big selling point.
WizKids will have the Battlestar Galactica CCG in March 2006.
Game play will mirror the intrigue of the television show: Players won’t know whom to trust, who the Cylon agents are or where the next attack will come from! Players will battle for ownership of resources and influence in order to control the fleet.Wizards is pushing Hecatomb big time at the show. That's the game with
Rumor also has it that attendance is down, but you'll never find out the truth from the media. Origins had lower attendance and the dealer room was about 15% empty, but they announced their largest show yet. Balderdash.
8 comments:
I wonder how the WoW game will do...the target audience is already spending $15/month on the franchise, so that will undoubtedly cut into profits.
However, there's already calls of "oh, great, now the 'money players' have another advantage," which usually means that it's about to be a massive success. Nothing makes gamers complain more than the prospect of a new product coming out that they will actually want to spend their money on.
I mean, what's a good game without everybody bitching about how expensive it is?
I was there on Friday. Some buzz about Hecatomb, but I'm overfull of unspeakable horror these days. Also the fact that the cards are very expensive and the novelty seemed to be that they weren't rectangular didn't appeal. That means it will do very will.
People seemed to like Axis and Allies miniatures but I'm not a miniatures person.
The one thing I saw a lot of and picked up a little was.... Anachronism. Interesting that one.
Numbers seemed ok for a Friday but the timing for the event is dumb as most of the local schools are back in at that time which must cut into attendance.
WoW really did seem to be big at the show. The TCG and the Board Game both drew big signage (and even a hot elf chick manequin).
The best WoW related piece was the t-shirt I caught out of the corner of my eye that read "Save Leroy Jenkins". I would have bought it but I don't pay $20 for a black t-shirt with plain white letterings. Leroy will need saving by someone else.
Although, Blizzard was showing off the prototypes of their toy lines.
Oh dear Lord, give me strength...
Saw the Leroy shirt at Origins too, and I also passed because I didn't want another black T-shirt. But man, that was funny.
I would guess that lower attendance can be attribute to higher fuel costs and some stagnation in the industry.
It did feel quieter in Indy this year, but I put that down to my not being at work there this year. Hecatomb and Clout Fantasy got attention for their strange formats, and I think if anything's gonna pull hobby gaming out of the doldrums it won't be Yet Another cardboard card game.
I dunno, Marcus. If the Battlestar Galactica game is actually good, it might pull gaming out of the doldrums, if only while the property is hot.
My friend who attended said that it felt somewhat quieter but many of the new games he demoed were very promising. He doesn't dabble in collectible gaming, so he has nothing to say about that part of GenCon. He did say that UDE's floor was a bit ridiculous.
I don't get how Vs. can be so boring. I've only read negative accounts of actual tournaments. The game system itself seems pretty sound, but I'd love to see what the old TCG Studio could've done with the comics multiverse.
Oh, and Neil, Anachronism is a lot of fun, as is most of the Wunderland games. Non-collectible gaming should be hotter than it is, but then again, collectibility is what drives hot sales of collectible gaming.
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