Games for 9/15

Well, fellow writer Xtina beat me to the punch with Wet, that is gonna be fucking awesome, BUT . . . .

 

I still have my own list of games being released on the same day.

 

And a good way to start it is:

 


 

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2!

 

The storyline is supposed to start post Secret War then lead into Civil War, and by leading into it I mean a fight between heroes and villains that create the explosion in Stamford, and thus creating the Registration Act. Which side will you pick?

 

Some of the good improvements are fusion power attacks. They seem more epic in the trailer. As cool as they are, I hope they really aren't that often in the game.  A brawler really doesn't need that many cut sequences in my opinion. If you're like me and grabbed that nifty pre-order, you get the blessing of having Juggernaut as a playable character! That's right, that bashy smashy tank gets to be controlled by you!

 

And of course, everything is adapted to current storyline like Gorgon being the new Venom and his new look. I wonder if you could pick genetically created Thor? Or Giant Man for that matter, probably not.

 

This game is being run on the Havok engine, which has been used to run Starcraft 2, Diablo 3, Super Smash Brothers Brawl and Motorstorm. Now do you get the idea of what this engine has to offer for this game? All these games are examples of shit loads of stuff all happening at once on the same screen. That means this engine IS designed to handle the carnage. Awesome? Yes. Good outlook? Yes. Creamed my pants? Definite yes.

 

How do you make a game that has tons of baddies, super powers, established characters we know and love even better? Fucking Multiplayer is how! You get a friend in on the destruction, and possibly race each other to blow up that truck in Stamford just for the fun of it! A Little cold? Maybe, but I'm really assuming it's gonna have a cutscene and a predetermined character falling into it. Now all of this sounds like good fun!

 

And second on my list...

 


 

Monday is the start of the new NHL season, but Tuesday is videogame release day! So that means NHL 10 will also be in my hands!

 

The improvement I'm seeing is an increased AI of the players.  Unless you play the game with an AI that's turned down to "clay pot" then you probably won't notice the difference. Now there is a real impact of "puck sense" meaning if a player is near a puck he'll do something to get it in his possession and none of this "static" cling where the puck all of a sudden is on the players stick. If they are near it, they'll do something about it, especially if you're one of the ones like me that actually plays the goalie.  When a puck lands behind you he doesn't do jack about it. Why? Because the AI for skaters will have him move his stick near it and it gets glued to him.  Goalies don't always function like this, they will either cover it up or, like the video says, get it out as quickly as possible, and look fucking good doing it.

 

And the shooting goals while on your knees? It's ice, you'll slide, why the hell not? This obviously makes a drastic change. They are no longer thinking like hockey foosball figures. They don't have to be on their two feet anymore to keep playing. Basically a lot of these improvements are "If it can be done in real life, you can do it here."

 

If you want to play the asshole on the ice and try to draw fights or penalties, the face washing mechanic is there. Meaning you rub your stinky glove all over the face of the opposing team member. Also after the play you can do a dirty trip, etc.

 

There are the obvious staples to this game, like keeping track of trades in the NHL and updating it on your game, etc. And of course multiplayer.  Don't worry, that's all still there.

 

When the weekend is over, Im glad that this Tuesday will bring some happiness to me with goodies like these.

 

If you are getting any of these games, and want to join in on a brawl of  Marvel Ultimate Alliance, message me at Johann@gamesand.me

More steampunk! More steampunk!

 

To be released October 20 this year.

 

After watching the trailer you may think some of the character designs look familiar. If it does, good on you. It's the same creators of the Final Fantasy port series to the DS. By which I mean when they released Final Fantasy 1-6 with the 3D battles and maps.

 

Your airship is customizable with engines and weapons and as seen in the trailer, actual special attacks that can be performed by the ship itself.

 

And battle engines does make me reminise on Final Fantasy games and combo attacks like Chrono Trigger and lesser known Saga Frontier.

 

This is on my pre-order list and since I don't expect this to be heavily marketed in the next month, I thought I'd share some knowledge.

Will all be well in the Magical Kingdom?

Now that some of the hype has finally died down on why it is bad that Disney bought Marvel, here is something I've seen that I wanted to share the news about.

 

This is concept art, not some spoof . That's the Mickey water tower on the head of Monstro. And a lot more fucked up looking buildings in his tow. Now why does it look like that? Because it is concept art for a game called Epic Mickey. It supposed to take place in a dystopian future with a heavy steam punk element.



 

Now what mad madness could think up this idea? His name is Warren Spector. Those that don't know, he is a video game designer of the Thief series, Ultima Underworld I & II and Deus Ex & Deus Ex: Invisible War. All good games in my opinion, especially Deus Ex.

 

Now he is on point with a full on Disney themed game that looks to be as dark as Maleficent's coat. What I'm trying to say is, maybe Disney has already started to realize "Some of our die hard fans aren't ages 4-10 anymore, they are the ones bringing the kids of that age". I really can't see a song and dance number breaking out on Monstro's back when he's carrying the shambled remains of the Epcot Center. Well I hope not of course.

 

Since Disney bought Warren Spector's company back in 2007, Junction Point Studios, this put a great mind in the fold of a company that does squeeze blood from stones. According to wiki there was already a job listing for his company back in 2005 that called for artists for a game that has "classic Hollywood cartoons" featuring "cartoon mice, cats and wabbits". The game was slated to run on the Valve engine, which is games like Half-Life and the Orange Box set. Which can run in either first person or third person. And the design is supposed to be released as an exclusive on the Wii. Now you have a general idea of what could hopefully be done in the future of Disney.

 

Now why bring it up in the midst of this Disney/Marvel merger? Here's the circle of life...

 

Warren Spector had also worked on the Marvel Super Heroes pen & paper RPG back in 1984, to which I was a proud owner of.

 

The idea that a mind like this also possibly backing Marvel video games, really does bring me hope to the future of this merger.

 

Just a few more art pieces to tickle your fancy:





Edit:
I found another concept art, which raises my suspision. Look at it, tell me what you see

yes it is the space rocket from the Land of Tomorrow, but on the rocket itself is Oswald the Rabbit, not Mickey. Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was a Mintz created character for Disney who hasn't seen the light of day since the near 1930's when the animated features were distributed by Universal Pictures.
After that time, Mickey replaced Oswald...
These are some drastic changes. I really hope to have more news to report on in the future. Im definitely keeping my eye on this

Batman: Arkham Asylum

 

 

The Full Package

So this Tuesday was the release of this shiny piece of mama. The package itself is almost 2 feet in length. It comes with the batarang, which unfortunately is plastic. And it comes with "battle damage" but it really just looks scratched the hell up. It's actually pretty disappointing. But, it is removable from it's stand, so you can have your own Batman poses with a batarang, which no one from a distance will know the wiser.

 
And it comes with a journal of Arkham inmates, bound in faux leather. Now this was the better piece. It has a bio and picture of the major and some minor villains that are on Arkham. And the Harley Quinn design is the same as old, what we loved, design. And it's even implemented in the game, when you load up the character profile menu. Maybe there was a last minute change on her design? And same goes with the Scarecrow. I actually just beat the stage of Scarecrow and let me tell you, like the movie, he becomes way creepier once the gas gets in to you.


Collector's Edition also comes with redeemable challenge maps of Scarecrow "Dem Bones", which they had a commercial for, and "Crime Alley"
The storyline is written by Paul Dini and the game really flourishes with the original voice casting of Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill, that just completes the feel of the game. I highly recommend this game, but the Collector's Edition, is left to be desired unfortunately. You can really get by with the regular version.

 

Interestingly enough this game runs on the Unreal Engine, much like the First Persion Shooter of the same name. So even though it has run games like Gears Of War, Mass Effect & Rainbox Six: Vegas, this game really pull off exceptionally.

 

The fighting controls are simple at first, but after leveling Batman he starts to implement better, faster and more wind knocking combo finishers. Right now I am enjoying Silent Takedown where I hang from underneath a gargoyle. Sounds fucking awesome right?

 

When you "die" it starts you right back to the beginning of the area you died in, it's not a hard reset to where you last were, which is convenient. And the Game Over screens are sectional to who it was that defeated you. You fall in a trap left by the Joker, he's pops in and says something. I got beat by Bane... and he took Batman over his head then broke his back over his knee.

 

If you do decide to get the Collector's Edition and you can't decide on the PS3 or 360 (if you own both consoles) I recommend the PS3 solely because of the Joker's Challenge Map where you get to fight as the Joker, the 360 doesn't include that, or maybe not yet.

 

Either way, highly recommend game. And if you would like to get a closer look into the Collector's Edition, here's a "Unboxed" vid from the guys of http://gamesand.me of Batman: Arkham Asylum for the PS3 and Final Fantasy Dissidia.

Play D&D 4th Edition For Free

 

For a lot of longtime players of D&D, the 4th edition of the game is a bit of a sore subject.  Having come out only 5 years after the release of 3.5, many gamers were angry that Wizards of The Coast (WoTC) was releasing yet another version of the game so soon after the last one.  Then add to that the major rules overhauls in the new edition and the fact that many people feel like it plays more like a World of Warcraft style computer game than an old-school pen & paper RPG, and you end up with a rather divided set of people who disagree whether the game is any good or not.

 

Well, WoTC is now going out of their way to try to win those fans over as well as potential new fans that have never played an RPG before.  Right now on their website, WoTC has posted up everything a group of players will need to get a game of 4th Edition D&D started, and it's all free.  They're calling it Dungeons & Dragins 4th Edition Test Drive, and it's designed to allow anyone the chance to play the game a bit and to determine for themselves whether they like the game enough to go out and start buying some of the books.

 

The test drive includes the following:

 

• Quick Start rules, which outline the basics for how to play the game.


• Keep on the Shadowfell adventure, the first module for D&D 4th Edition, now free for the first time.


• Character Builder software, which allows you to create characters at levels 1-3 for free.

 

If you've ever wanted to give the new version of D&D a try, or if you've never even played D&D before but have always been curious about it, now's your chance to check it out for free.

 

Personally, I haven't played 4th Edition yet, so I can't make any judgements on the game.  I've heard mixed things from my friends.  There are those that like it and those that don't.  I'm still of the opinion that nothing will ever beat the old D6 version of the Star Wars RPG that was put out by West End Games back in the 90's, but I'm totally biased there as that was the first RPG I ever played.

 

(Via GeekDad)

Announcing Geek-tastic's First Official Event: Nerf Assassin

 

We here at Geek-tastic are extremely happy to announce the first ever Geek-tastic.com event.  We're calling it Nerf Assassin, and it is open to any of you readers out there who happen to live in the Southern California area. 

 

What is Nerf Assassin you ask?  Excellent question.  Allow me to elaborate.

 

Nerf Assassin is an elimination tournament in which players will take on the role of an assassin who has been tasked with taking out select targets (other players) while at the same time defending themselves from possible assassination attempts.  The weapons available to you are everything that the Nerf company has ever made, including foam dart guns and foam swords.  To see the full rules of the game, you can go here.  Here's the basics though.

 

1. To apply to join the game, follow the directions here and send in a completed application form.


2. Once accepted, you will be emailed information on your first target (including their address, location and times they work, etc.).


3. Stalk your target and eliminate them by shooting them with a Nerf toy gun.


4. Take a picture of your victim to confirm your kill and send it in to us.


5. You will then receive a new target to take out, and the game begins again.

 

This will continue until only one player is left standing.  Beware though, once you sign up, you too are a potential target for other would-be Nerf Assassins out there who are trying to win as well.  This game is as defensive as it is aggressive, so constantly be on the look out for possible attackers.

 

Throughout the game, updates such as recent eliminations and possible rules updates or modifications can be found at the official Nerf Assassin Blog, and the highlights of the game will be posted here on Geek-tastic.

 

We apologize that this game is only available to those people who live in Southern California, but to make the game available to anyone would have made it too big to control (as well as almost impossible to coordinate).  But if you live between San Diego and Los Angeles and love Nerf games as much as we do, we'd love to have you join us. 

 

The cut off for applications is Tuesday, April 28th.  So get those applications in soon.  The game officially begins Friday, May 1st. 

 

The winner of the game will be given a small prize (to be announced), but remember that the main purpose of this game is to have fun. 

 

For Fans Of Both Joss Whedon And Crossword Puzzles, Today Is Your Lucky Day

 



 

If you happen to be a fan of both Joss Whedon's TV shows AND crossword puzzles, then this post is just going to make your entire week.  Some creative fans of Mr. Whedon's have gone and made themselves a Joss Whedon based Crossword puzzle, and they've put it online for you to enjoy.

 

While I fully admit to being a Whedon fan (Dollhouse aside), I am apparently not as  big a fan as some other people are because I find the clues to the crossword puzzle to be extremely difficult.  I thought my knowledge of Buffy and Angel and Firefly were pretty good, but after looking at a lot of the clues and having no idea what the hell they're hinting at, I have to accept that my knowledge of the Whedonverse is sadly lacking.

 

Hopefully, you'll be able to do better than I did.

 

(Via PopCandy)

Voltron Will Take Part In The Monsterpocalypse

 

Voltron is an incredibly popular animated series about a group of people who pilot giant mechanical lions in order to defend their homeworld by battling giant menacing monsters that have a tendency to go rampaging around and destroying cities.  Monsterpocalypse is a tabletop boardgame made by Privateer Press that is about a bunch of battling and rampaging monsters that have a tendency to go around and destroy cities.  To say the two properties belong together is sort of like saying that beanut butter and chocolate combined might just possibly be a good idea.

 

In short, it's a bit of an understatement.

 

Which is why I'm super excited about the news today that Privateer Press has gained the rights to include Voltron as an expansion set to their game about giant rampaging monsters.  Including Voltron in a game about giant fighting creatures that are as tall as skyscrapers seems like the most natural thing in the world.  Fans couldn't ask for something more awesome than this.  Afterall, here's what the game Monsterpocalypse looks like:

 



 

Now just imagine owning a set of miniatures included with this boardgame that features the Voltron lions, and then imagine yourself getting to play the game in which you get to control the lions as you whoop these roody poo candy ass robots all the way back to wherever the hell they came from.

 

Am I alone in being excited here?

 

Of course, if the stats for the lions are in any way relative to how they were in the show, the lions themselves will be pretty weak and they'll get their asses handed to them by whatever monsters they fight.  Even once they turn into Voltron, they'll fight a little better but they'll still end up getting knocked all around the city.  The real power, of course, comes once they unleash their "Form Blazing Sword" attack.  That thing is pretty much a one hit kill on every creature in existence.  I'm even pretty certain that the sword could take out god with only one hit.

 

Unfortunately, the Voltron set won't be available in stores until early 2010, but hey, at least its something to look forward to.

 

(Via RobotViking)

Dave Arneson R.I.P

 

I unfortunately have some sad news to report today.  Dave Arneson, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, has passed away at the age of 61 after a long battle with cancer.

 

Arneson was introduced to table-top wargaming in the early '60s by his parents, who bought him a copy of Avalon Hill's Gettysburg game. In college at the University of Minnesota, he met other wargamers and began both modifying existing games and designing his own. He attended the second official Gencon and there met a similarly youthful Gary Gygax. Gygax had published a set of 1:1 scale miniatures rules called Chainmail, which became the bare bones of an ongoing campaign that Arneson ran for friends called Blackmoor.

 

In 1974, Arneson and Gygax wrote up the rules they had evolved for their fantasy role-playing campaigns, creating the game Dungeons & Dragons. After failing to get any mainstream publishers interested, they created a company, TSR, and published the book themselves using investment money provided by one of Gygax's friends. The book became a hit, first in the wargaming community and then in the mainstream. Dungeons & Dragons not only created a new type of gaming, role-playing, but laid the foundation for the entire hobby gaming industry.

 

Arneson left TSR in 1979 and filed a lawsuit against the company. As a part of the ultimate settlement of that suit, neither Arneson nor Gygax ever spoke about what drove them apart, although Arneson would later return to TSR when Gygax was briefly president of the company again in the mid-'80s. They were on good terms at the time of Gygax's death last year.

 

With the death of Gary Gygax last year, and now the passing of Dave Arneson, the gaming community has lost two of its founding fathers in a relatively short amount of time.  It is a sad time indeed, but at least we will always have the games that they gave to the world and the countless hours of fun friendship that those games have spawned.

 

Rest in peace Mr. Arneson.  You made the world a better place during your time in it.  Our thoughts now go out to your family and friends during this rough period.

The Adventures Of Patrick In Wonder Con - Saturday

 



 

This is a continuation of my earlier article in which I broke down the events of what transpired at last weekend's Wonder Con up in San Francisco.  This article covers the events of Saturday, the busiest day of the con by far.  So let's get this thing going.

 

Here we go.

 

Saturday @ 11:00am: I arrive at the convention center early so I can join my friend Mike in attending the Watchmen movie panel. I've already seen the film, so I don't really care about seeing any trailers or scenes from the film, but Zack Snyder and most of the cast of the film are on hand to do a Q&A which I did want to see. However, upon arriving I see a giant line heading out from the Esplanade Ballroom and I follow it outside and around the side of the convention center all the way to the end. The line is crazy long and I seriously start having second thoughts about whether or not I really want to go see this panel.

 

Unsure what to do, I call my fellow Geek-tastic contributor Matt Jeffrey and ask him what he's up to. He convinces me to get out of line and go with him to see a panel called Comic Book Heaven that's supposed to be really good. He's seen the panel before at SDCC last year and he's been talking about it for months. In the panel, basically, the host presents a slide show of silly or bizarre comic book covers or panels from the golden age of comics and then makes fun of them in witty and sarcastic ways. From what I've heard, it's hilarious. I call my friend Mike and tell him I'm skipping out on the Watchmen panel and I will meet him afterwards. He, being the gracious person he is, says "No problem."

 

Saturday @ 11:15am: Matt and his girlfriend Lee and I walk into room 236/238 a little early to get good seats to the panel. It's supposed to start at 11:30am. Upon walking in, someone from the Wonder Con staff asks us if we are the guys who are going to be putting the panel on. We tell him no, we're just here to see the panel and then we ask why he asked us his question. He then explains to us that the host of the panel hasn't shown up yet and no one has heard from him. They don't know if he's going to make it or not. We tell the staffer that we'll just hang out anyways and see if he shows up and he says "cool". We then spend the next ten minutes or so chatting with him about his job and what he does as the room slowly fills up.

 

Saturday @ 11:25am: Still no sign of the panel's host. The Wonder Con staffer heads out of the room to see if anyone else knows what's going on.

 

Saturday @ 11:30am: The panel is supposed to be starting now, the room is about three quarters full, but we still don't have a host. I start half jokingly talking to Matt about taking over the panel if the guy doesn't show up by 11:40.

 

Saturday @ 11:35am: Still no sign of the host. At this point I am very seriously considering just hopping up on stage and entertaining the crowd until the guy shows up. I figure at the very least, maybe I can tell the people in the room a little about Geek-tastic.com before everyone leaves the room.

 

Saturday @11:40am: The Wonder Con staffer comes back into the room looking annoyed. When he comes by us I ask him what's going on with the panel's host and he says it looks like he's probably not showing up. Figuring I'll get told no, but thinking it doesn't hurt to ask, I inquire as to whether or not he'd be ok if Matt and I hopped up on stage and entertained the crowd until the guy showed up. He paused to think about it for a second and then said, "Sure. I don't see why not, but if the guy shows up you'll have to get off the stage."

 

Matt and I both tell him that's not a problem at all and thank him for letting us do this. Then, with no pre-planning of any kind, Matt and I proceed to walk onto the stage, sit down at the microphones and begin to introduce ourselves to the people in the room. We tell them we are not the guy from Comic Book Heaven but are actually from a website called Geek-tastic.com and that we're taking over the panel until the actual host shows up. Amused, the audience laughs a bit and listens to us as we explain what the site is about and how we do a podcast and a web comic and some other stuff. Lee was even super cool and handed out the new Geek-tastic business cards to some of the people in the room.

 

Saturday @ 11:47am: A different Wonder Con staffer walks onto the stage and whispers into Matt's ear. Expecting that we're getting kicked off stage, I start getting ready to leave. Matt then leans over to me and tells me the guy just said to him that it has been confirmed the Comic Book Heaven guy isn't showing up and that if we want, we can use his whole hour to talk to the crowd. We inform the crowd of this, and about a third of them get up and leave, but that still leaves the room half full. So Matt and I continue with our impromptu panel and spend the next 45 minutes or so chatting with the crowd.

 

Our panel covered a wide range of topics.  It continued the GeekRoundTable panel's earlier discussion of what is the greatest animated show of all time. We also got into a debate over what exactly makes a zombie a zombie. Are fast zombies really zombies? Do infected people count, or do only the living dead qualify? Is 28 days later really a zombie film or not? Stuff like that. Finally, there was some discussion of the awesomeness that was the film Punisher: War Zone and how disappointed we were that no comic fans had gone to see it.

 

Overall, I was really happy with how things went. The vast majority of the people in the room stuck with us for the whole panel, even though we were totally making it up as we went. We got some good debating going with the audience, and generally I think we managed to keep people entertained. I couldn't have been happier. At the end of the panel, more people came up to us and complimented us on a fun panel and we gave out some more business cards. By the time I walked out of the room I was positively glowing. This was by far and away the highlight of the con for me. I really want to thank Matt for joining me on stage. I want to thank Lee for helping out and passing out cards. And finally, I'd love to say a sincere thank you to everyone who stayed in the room after two random dudes they didn't know took the stage and started talking about random shit for 45 minutes. You guys were awesome, and we were so happy that you stuck with us. Thank you so much!!!

 

Saturday @ 12:30pm: After leaving the impromptu Geek-tastic panel I met up with Mike and Wandered the exhibit hall for a bit. Saturday was much more like the typical comic con experience as I'm used to it nowadays. The floor was packed with people, and it was almost impossible to get through certain ailes and walkways. To avoid the crowd, we headed out and got lunch.

 

The Floor of Wonder Con on Saturday

 

Saturday @ 1:30pm:  Heading back from lunch, Mike and I head back into the Esplanade Ballroom a bit early to check out the Star Trek movie panel.  The program guide was promising a "special guest you won't want to miss".  I was hoping it was Leonard Nimoy, but I was going to go to the panel anyways since I'm a huge Star Trek fan regardless and I'm really excited to see this film.

 

The room for this panel is absolutely packed, and unfortunately the best seats Mike and I could get were at the very back of the room.  As a result, I apologize for the poorness of the photos I took in this panel.  I just wasn't close enough to the stage to get any decent shots.

 

Sunday @ 2:00pm:  The panel starts and director JJ Abrams comes out to start things off.  We are treated to the new trailer for the film that will be screened before Watchmen this weekend.  The new trailer does show a lot of what we've already seen, but there's a bunch of new stuff in there too, including some more of the film's plot.  The coolest new thing though was seeing James T. Kirk taking the command chair for the first time.  It was an awesome moment to see, and I bet it will be even cooler when seen in the context of the film.

 

Director JJ Abrams talking about how cool it was to get to make the new Star Trek film

 

After the trailer, JJ Abrams brought out some of the stars of the film, including Chris Pine (James Kirk), Zachary Quinto (Spock) and Zoe Saldana (Uhura).  They spent the next 45 minutes or so doing Q&A with the audience.  They discussed how it felt to make the film, what a great director JJ Abrams is, how daunting it was to take over the roles of Kirk and Spock, and how really awesome Leonard Nimoy was to work with.  Zachary Quinto said he didn't really watch too many episodes of the original series while preparing for his role as Spock because Leonard Nimoy made himself so available to him for guidance that he just spent all his time working with him in preparing the role.  If I was him, I would have done the same thing.

 

Chris Pine (left) and Zachary Quinto discussing their roles in the new Star Trek Movie

 

Saturday @ 3:00pm:  After the panel I headed back down to the exhibit floor for a while to see what was going on down there.  Mike stuck around in the Esplanade room though and caught the panels for the movie 9 as well as Pixar's new film entitled Up.  If you'd like to check out his reviews of those panels, you can find them here.

 

Saturday @ 4:30pm:  I made sure to get back up to the Esplanade Ballroom early for the Terminator: Salvation panel.  I've had mixed feelings about this film to be honest and I wanted to see what director McG had to say for himself in front of a full room of Terminator fans.  I'm glad to say though that the man did not disappoint. 

 

Of all the panels I went to over the weekend (with the exception of my own impromptu panel of course), the Terminator: Salvation panel was by far the most entertaining.  McG was a really charismatic speaker and was engaging and funny to listen to.  You could honestly feel he was excited about the film he is making and was truly eager to show it to the audience and gauge their reactions to it.  He also cusses like a sailor and was doing an amazing job of riling the crowd up for the film. 

 

Director McG entertaining a very lively crowd during the Terminator: Salvation panel

 

Right before he showed the trailer, he started talking about how the films star Christian Bale never wants to come to these convention things and how he was really annoyed by this.  Bale (as McG kept referring to him) was impossible to convince to get him to show up to these things, and so to get back at him he was going to call Bale right then and there and we were all going to leave a voicemail on his phone because the guy never answers his phone.  He pulls out what looked like a Blackberry, dialed a number and then held the phone up to the microphone so we could all hear it ring.  Upon pickup, an automated voice message played and then McG started talking into the phone.

 

"Bale!" he said. "You're fucking dead to me!  Why don't you ever come to these events?  All these people here want to see you!" He then held the phone out to the audience so we could all yell and scream and go crazy.  It was a very funny, very endearing moment and I think it did a lot to sway the crowd towards liking McG.

 

Then, McG brought out some cast members from the film including Anton Yelchin, Common, Bryce Dallas Howard and Moon Bloodgood.  Once everyone was introduced, they played us the new trailer that, just like Star Trek's, will also be playing before The Watchmen this weekend.  Right before the trailer was played though, McG told us to prepare ourselves though.  He said this trailer was about to, and I quote, "Kick your fucking balls up your ass!" 

 

I will say this about McG, he did not lie.  Here's the trailer.

 



 

After the trailer (which the audience went crazy for, by the way) the cast did some Q&A with the audience.  McG even pulled one or two fans up on stage and made them official parts of the panel, which I thought was really cool.  They also showed us some scenes from the film that hadn't been completely finished yet, which was a real treat.  We saw more of the motorcycle Terminator chase scene, and a fight scene between some water based machines and a helicopter crew.  The special effects weren't quite finished in these scenes yet, but that didn't stop them from still being incredibly cool sequences.  I think it speaks very highly of this film that even uncompleted scenes can manage to make a full room of skeptical comic book geeks still go crazy and cheer after they're played.

 

As I said earlier, I walked into this panel with a lot of skepticism and some worries about the film, but I walked out really excited to see it.  Terminator: Salvation is looking really awesome.  This is now a must see on my summer movie list.

 

Oh, one last thing.  Apparently there is some discord between the film's director and Warner Brothers over a nude scene in the film.  During one scene in the film they apparently filmed a scene in which we see Moon Bloodgood's boobs.  This scene however is causing the film to potentially get an R rating, and the WB wants the film to have a PG-13 rating.  McG asked the audience at one point who did and did not want to see Moon's boobs in the film.  A small group of people (mostly women) did not want to see her boobs.  Almost everyone else in the room though thunderously cheered for being able to see Moon's boobs in the film.  I highly doubt that this will sway the suits over at WB to change their mind on this scene, but maybe if we're lucky we'll get to see a rated R cut of the film that has this scene (and maybe others) included on a future release of the film.

 

Saturday @ 5:30pm:  I stuck around in the Esplanade Ballroom after the Terminator panel to check out a Star Wars panel entitled "Celebrate a decade of Star Wars: Where were you in '99?"  Typically, I avoid Star Wars panels nowadays as I've learned over the years that almost nothing exciting ever happens in them.  They're usually just about Steve Sansweet (Lucasfilm's PR guy) talking to the audinence about what's coming up next for Star Wars.  In my opinion, they tend to be very dry and dull panels, and I've learned to just check out Star Wars' website the day after a convention to see any footage they may have played during the con.

 

However, this panel's title interested me.  This being the 10th anniversary of Episode One, I thought maybe they'd shake things up a bit and do some cool looking back over the last ten years sort of thing.  Sadly, I was very wrong.

 

Aside from playing the original Episode One trailer at the start of the panel, followed by a short video of how the Star Wars fan empire has grown over the last decade, the rest of the panel had absolutely nothing to do with the events of 1999 and never were we asked the question of where we were during that time.  Instead, the panel was devoted to the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars and what was going to happen during the next few episodes.  They showed some footage from the episodes in a sort of trailer format, and they introduced a new bounty hunter who admittedly looks pretty cool, but overall the panel was the typical Star Wars dullness I've come to expect over the years.

 

Steve Sansweet, boring as usual

 

Suffice it to say, I was highly dissapointed.

 

Saturday @ 6:30pm:  After the Star Wars panel, Wonder Con was done for the day.  I didn't really feel like hitting up the Masquerade as it was Saturday night and I had friends in San Francisco I wanted to hang out whom I never get to see, so instead of sticking around I wandered off into the city.  I met up with my friends and we went bar hopping and did a little dancing.  I had a goodly amount of vodka that night too.  Good times were had, but I would definitely be feeling it the next morning

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

That's it for Saturday folks.  Be sure to check back soon as I'll have Sunday (the final day of the con) up soon.

Five Centuries Of Board Games

 

 

If you happen to be of the belief that board games didn't exist until the advent of games like Monopoly or Risk, you are mistaken...sadly mistaken.  In fact, board games of various types have been around for centuries.  Gaming, as a passtime, has been around for hundreds of years with boards coming in all different sorts of shapes, sizes and play styles.

 

Bibliodyssey has a great gallery up with pictures of board games from over the last 500 years.  No, you won't find Clue or Sorry amongst the images, but you will see the above image from "The New and Enjoyable Game of the Goose" publised by Lucchino Gargano in 1598.  In the center of the board are the games rules.

 

Looking at the boards of the different games, I'm amazed at how little has changed in game design over the last few centuries.  The rectangle board, the curving spiral of spaces towards the center of the board.  There are still games today that look similar to this.

 

Also of note at the bottom of the gallery is a link to a 116 page article titled "The Development of the English Board Game, 1770 - 1850".  I haven't read the article yet, but I sure will be marking the page to come back to later.  As both a gamer and a history geek, the article sounds like it will be a pretty fun read.

 

(Via Mental_Floss)

Wizkids officially out of commision...FOREVER

 

 

 

 

Well after years of debate it is official CCG and TCG giant and creator of such hit games as Heroclix, Mechwarrior, and Pirates of the Spanish Main is no more. Owned by the TOPPS corporation a mega mainstay of the Sporting Cards industry has decided to disolve Wizkids as of yesterday November 10th 2008 and refocus on their Sports franchises. Sadly all games at this point are canceled including Mechwarrior, Heroclix, Haloclix, Horrorclix, Pirates of the Cursed Seas, and Star Wars Pocketmodel Battles among others. While there may be some hope left for Heroclix one of the Industries highest selling items, the rest are DONE.

 

As a die hard gamer I feel for the players of those games. The Gaming Industry has been hit hard in the last few months with companies downsizing and in this case ceasing to exist. Wizards of the Coast famous for it's D&D RPG(Role-playing Game) has had massive cut backs in staff and even canceled their highly popular D&D Minature Skirmish game in favor of a different strategy. Other games have been put on notice as well that things better get better or they would be facing the Axe as well. Their Star Wars Miniatures game(the top selling Collectible Miniature Game) has had it's sets reduced from 60 to 40 piece sets and could see price increases in the near future. Avalon Hill's Axis & Allies Miniature game (also produced by Wotc) has also seen drastic cut backs in set size and prize suport. I can only hope Star Wars miniatures isn't next to go. Only time will tell I guess.

 

http://www.wizkidsgames.com/wk_article.asp?cid=41914

 

Could this be the end of collectible Miniature games? I certainly hope not, but things are indeed looking bleek. My life will be a lot emptier without these games. However I feel Wizkids kinda shot themselves in the foot on this one with some dreadful games and poor support of others. I am a huge fan of thier Pirates line and it will be missed. R.I.P my friends and may you all go down with your ships.

 

National Gaming Day

 

Wow, I don't know how I hadn't heard about this before, but the American Library Association has decided that this Saturday (11/15/08) is National Gaming Day!  Libraries across the country will be working together this weekend to create the biggest single cross country day of gaming ever.

 

On November 15, 2008, libraries across the country will participate in the largest, simultaneous national video game tournament ever held! Kids will be able to compete against players at other libraries and see their scores in real-time online while playing at their local library.

 

But gaming in libraries isn’t just about video games. Hasbro is donating a copy of its game Pictureka! to every public library branch in the U.S. so that we can set a record for the most number of people playing a board game on the same day! Top Trumps and Wizards of the Coast are also donating games. The goals of this event are to:

 

• Raise awareness about the use of games as a library program;


• Expose people to a new type of board game;


• Establish connections between local board game groups and the library.

 

This is so damn cool.  Bravo to the American Library association for promoting both board games and video games as healthy and educational activities.  Far too often we hear about how video games are corrupting the youth of america and how games like D&D are evil games that lead to partaking in the occult.  It's so refreshing to read something like the following on their website.

 

Video games give kids a chance to practice reading, writing, and computing in the library’s safe environment. Popular video games, the ones that kids really like to play, are immediately engaging and make them work hard to succeed and ‘level up’. While playing these games, kids are constantly developing new strategies, predicting possible outcomes, managing multiple resources, reading and deciphering maps, tracking complex statistics, and adapting to increasingly difficult levels within the game. They learn a range of media literacies beyond basic reading that give them models for navigating our information-rich world.

 

Hells yes!  Gaming is good for you!  As an avid gamer it makes me really happy that this is happening.  I am going to have to swing by my local library this weekend and see if I can help out by running some games.

 

Also, a tip of the hat to Wizards of the Coast, Hasbro and Top Trumps for helping to sponsor the event and for providing games to the libraries.  That's really awesome of them.  Helping to promote gaming of any kind to children is an idea I fully endorse.  More stuff like this needs to happen in the world. 

 

Yay, finding this has put me in a really good mood.  Go libraries!!!

 

(Via Joystiq)

And You Thought Chess Was A Non-Violent Game

 

 

I love this.  It's a stop-motion clay-based game of Chess.  It starts off a little slow, but as pieces start disappearing from the board it gets good and violent in very creative ways.

 

Enjoy!

 

(Via MentalFloss)

Holy Schnikes! A Battlestar Galactica Boardgame!

 

A company called Fantasy Flight Games has put together a rather amazing looking Battlestar Galactica boardgame.  That's the game board pictured above.  It looks to be pretty swanky.

 

Recreate the tension and mystery of the critically acclaimed show by serving as Admiral of the Colonial Fleet, President of the Colonies or just another hot-shot viper jockey. The human race will need each of you to survive…

 

Unless you're a Cylon, of course.

 

The game looks to be heavily card based, with players taking control of characters from the show and trying to accomplish specific goals in order to win.  Your goals will depend on whether you're a human or a cylon though.

 

At the beginning of the game, each player is dealt a face-down card from the Loyalty Deck. These cards separate the Cylons and Cylon sympathizers from human characters. Human players will try to rally all of their resources into solving the many crises in the game, while players who side with the Cylons will secretly undermine those efforts. More cards from the Loyalty Deck are dealt out midway through the game (in the Sleeper Agent Phase). At this point, someone who had been whole-heartedly supporting the humans may find out they were a Cylon all along!

 

This sounds really fun.  Some of the players are Cylons, but no one knows who is or who isn't one.  That's so cool.  What a perfect way to capture the feel of the show's first few seasons when no one in the fleet knew who was Cylon and who wasn't.  And how much fun will it be to play a Cylon in the game and secretly work against everyone else to cause the downfall of humanity. 

 

I love games with duplicitous intent built into the game mechanics.  So awesome!!!  I'm definitely going to have to pick this one up and give it a try.

 

I wonder if there are cards that say, "You have to frak one of the other players".  As we all know, there sure is a lot of frakking going on aboard the galactica.

The World's Largest Miniatures Gaming Table

 

Artist Timothy Hutchings has created an interactive piece of art that he calls The World's Largest Wargaming Table.

 

The table starts off as an empty landscape each day and becomes populated, and played upon, by attendees to the gallery where it's installed at.  The table measures 900 square feet in size. 

 

Unfortunately, the table is located in New York, so I'll never get to play on it.  It looks like the people in the photos are having a ton of fun though. 

 

You can see more photos of the table, and the artist's other works here.

 

(Original link via BoingBoing)

The Geek-tastic Board Game Review of Red Dragon Inn

The Breakdown:

 

Title: The Red Dragon Inn

Maker:  Slugfest Games

Number of Players:  2 to 4

Length of average game: 30 to 60 minutes

 

Box Contents:

 

4 unique 40 card Player Decks

One 30 card Drink Deck

4 Player Templates

4 Fortitude Markers

4 Alcohol Content Markers

50 Gold Coin Tokens

 

The Premise:

 

You and your fellow players are members of a D&D style adventuring party.  After a hard day adventuring in a local dungeon and killing monsters, you've all come back into town with pockets full of gold and a desire to celebrate your victory.  After much needed shower you and your friends meet back up in the local tavern, The Red Dragon Inn, to drink and be merry.  As the evening progresses, drinking contests start and rounds of gambling games abound.  Who will be the last adventurer still partying the night away?  Who will pass out first, and who will lose all their gold and be forced to spend the night out in the stables?

 

Gameplay:

 

The Red Dragon Inn is a fantasy themed, card-based drinking game.  No, not a real drinking game.  It's just a card game.  Although, you could probably turn it into a real drinking game pretty easily, if you were so inclined. 

 

You will assume the roll of one of four adventurers:

 

Gerki The Sneak - He's an expert thief who is highly skilled at gambling.  He's also not above "accidentally" backstabbing other players to get ahead.



 

Fiona The Volatile - A warrior through and through.  Fiona has fighting skills beyond compare and the fortitude of an ox.



 

Diedre The Priestess - A faithful follower of her goddess, Deidre is an adept healer.  She is also known to use her charms to get her way.



 

Zot The Wizard (and his familiar Pooky) - A powerful, if slightly absentminded wizard.  His spells are both clever and dangerous, but not as dangerous as Pooky.  Zot's faithful bunny companion should be watched at all times.   



 

Game setup is simple.  Every player is given a Player Template, which has the meter which will measure your fortitude and alcohol content throughout the game.  The template also holds your player deck, your discarded cards and your drink deck.  See below:

 



 

At the start of the game, each player shuffles their character deck and places it face down on their template.  Fortitudes are set at 20 and alcohol content is set at 0.  Everyone gets 10 gold pieces to start with.  The drink deck is also shuffled and turned face down.  Each player then draws 7 cards into their hand.  Turns consist of four phases; discard, action, buy drinks and drink.

 

1. In the discard phase, you may discard as many cards from your current hand as you wish and then draw back up to seven cards. 

 

2. During the action phase you can play one action card on another player.  Action cards do many things like forcing characters to take extra drinks or healing yourself or starting a round of gambling.  If you play a card on another player they can respond with appropriate defence cards they may have in their hand.  These defense cards come as one of two types, sometimes cards and anytime cards.

 

Sometimes cards have specific instances in which they can be played.  For example, a player uses an action card that forces you to take a drink.  You can then play a sometimes card (if you have one in your hand) that specifically replies to that card and forces a different player to drink your drink for you.

 

Anytimes cards can be played...well...anytime.  There aren't really any restrictions here.  Anytimes cards do things like force other players to pay a gold to tip the waitress or force them to drink a drink with you.

 

3. During the buy drinks phase you take the top card from the drink deck and place it face down on any other player's template.  They now have that drink (whatever it may be) added to their drink pile.

 

4.  Laastly, you yourself must take a drink.  Flip over the top card in your personal drink pile on your template and take it's effects immediately.  Drinks, depending on which one you get, can do a couple of things.  Most of them either lower your fortitude amount or raise your alcohol content.  The really nasty ones do both.  But if you're lucky you'll get something like coffee or water that heal your fortitude or lower your alcohol content a bit.  Some examples of drink cards are:

 



 

Another thing to be wary of are drink cards with the word "Chaser" on it.  Anything with that means you must take the effects of the first drink and then drink the next drink on top of your drink pile.  Chasers are bad, bad things.  You don't want them.  And yes, it is possible to get multiple drinks in a row with chaser written on them, thus forcing you to drink 3 or 4 or more drinks straight.

 

Once a players turn is over, play goes to the left and the same four phases are completed, and so on and so on.

 

Victory Conditions:

 

The game can be won in one of two ways.  Either you are the last person left conscious, or you are the last person left with any money.  In the first condition, players are eliminated from the game the moment their fortitude and their alcohol content are on the same number.  If that happens the player passes out from drunkenness.  In the second condition, players are eliminated from the game the moment they run out of gold coins.  If that happens the waitress kicks you out of the bar and you are forced to sleep in the stables with the horses. 

 

Any combination of player eliminations can happen to cause someone to win the game.  The key is to be the only person left still sober(ish) and with cash in your pockets.

 

The Review:

 

Likes:

What I liked most about this game is how fun and light hearted.  Yes, there is definitely a large element of screwing over the other players (which I always enjoy in a game), but it's done in a really light sort of way.  Much in the same way you'd jokingly tease a friend at a bar you will play cards forcing your friends to drink more drinks in this game, thus causing them to retaliate, and before you know it both of your characters are drunk and you're out of the game.

 

The game is very well paced too,  with turns flowing quickly but not too quickly.  The game moves along at a decent pace without much slowdown during players turns.  I also really loved the art design of the entire game.  The artwork on the box and the cards all add to the cartoony fun feeling of the game.  The artwork on the cards alone are enough to make you laugh at times (especially when seeing Pookey the bunny chugging a pint of ale.)  The player templayes.

 

Having each of the character's have different strengths and weaknesses too is good because it makes the game fun to play multiple times as you try out different characters and learn how to play each of them differently.

 

Dislikes:

The gambling, while being fun, doesn't really come in as often as I thought it would.  I would have like to seen this expanded a bit with more cards included in the decks that handled the gambling situations.

 

The drink deck could have been a little bigger as well, with some slightly more varying drinks.  As it is, the drink deck is fine, but it could have standed being a little larger and having some more variation to it.  In the games I've played we tend to run through the drink deck at least twice and had to keep reshuffling it.

 

Having only four characters, you are definitely limited to the number of players this game can have.  And I can't imagine the game being much fun with only two people playing, so ideally you want 3 or 4 people to play it.  Having more players would be even better, but only having 4 characters totally limits that.  However, this problem will be remedied soon when Slugfest Games releases the sequel game, Red Dragon Inn II. 

 

The new game is supposed to have 4 new characters and will be totally interchangeable with the existing game, thus creating the possibility of up to 8 people playing at once.  Now that sounds like a lot of fun.

 

Final Verdict:

 

The Red Dragon Inn is a fun and quick game that is best played with 3 or 4 people.  If you're looking for something both fun and funny for your group to play, this is definitely a good choice.  The game is easy to learn and can lead to amusing stories later of how you managed to stay sober while everyone else was either passed out drunk or broke and kicked out of the bar.  It's worth picking up and playing, especially if you're a fan of D&D or fantasy games in general.

The Geek-tastic Board Game Review of Zombies!!!

 

Welcome to what will hopefully become another regular feature you can find here at Geek-tastic, the weekly board game review.  We here at Geek-tastic are rather large gaming nerds, it really doesn't matter the format.  Video games, board games, card games, RPG's, you name it.  If it's a game, chances are we've either already played it or have heard about it and want to play it. 

 

Board games seem to have been making a comeback in popularity over the last few years, which I think is great.  People seem to be re-discovering the fun that can be had over a table with a group of friends and a good game.  In response to increasing sales, the game market has seen a large influx of new games on the store shelves.  Some of them are top quality games, some not so much.  The purpose of the board game review will be to suggest some of the gems that we love to play, while helping you avoid some of the games that aren't a lot of fun.  Some of the games we review will be new, some will be older, some may even be considered classics.  But enough with the introduction, let's get on to the review.

 

The Breakdown

 

Title: Zombies!!!

Maker:  Twilight Creations Inc.

Number of Players:  2 to 6

Length of average game: Can vary from 30 minutes to 3 hours (depending on how many players there are, and how much you decide to screw each other over)

 

Box Contents

 

100 Plastic Zombies

50 Card Event/Item Deck 

30 Map Tiles

6 Human Figures

Lots of Bullet and Life Tokens

 

The Premise

You and the other players are survivors of a zombie invasion.  You start the game in the center of town and must fight your way through the zombie hoards to the helicopter somewhere on the outskirts of town so you can fly to safety.

 

Gameplay 

The zombies game doesn't have your standard game board.  The board will be made up of 30 map tile pieces that connect together as players turn them over andplace them during their turns.  At the beginning of the game, only the town square is in play.  The rest of the deck of map tiles are shuffled and placed face down.  Every character starts the game with three life points and three bullets. 

 

On each players turn you flip over a map tile and place it on the board somewhere.  The tiles show the city from a top-down view with streets and buildings clearly seen.  You must connect all of the roads so that the board makes sense, but other than that the board is yours to create as you will.  Here's an example of what two connected map tiles looks like:

 



 

After placing the map tile, you place the correct number of zombies that tile is supposed to have on it (explained in the rules) as well as any bullet or life tokens that go there as well.  Then you roll for movement.  You roll D6 (a six sided dice) and get to move as many spaces as you rolled.  If you step onto a space with a zombie, you must fight it.  Combat is resolved by rolling another D6.  If you roll a 4, 5 or 6, the zombie is killed.  If you roll a 3 or less the zombie wins and you can either choose to lose a life point, or you can use a bullet to add a +1 to your roll.  So for example, if you rolled a two, you could use 2 bullets to change your roll to a four.  If you're out of bullets though, you're screwed and you lose a life point.  Once you're out of life points you die and go back to town square to re-start the game.

 

After all combat is resolved, you roll one more D6.  The number you roll is the number of zombies you get to move on the board.  Zombies are slow (of course) and can only move one space at a time.  If you roll a 3, then you get to move any 3 zombies one space.  Play continues like this, with each player placing a map tile, moving, fighting and then moving zombies until the last map tile (the helipad) is placed on the board.

 

Cards 

At the start of the game, each player is dealt three cards.  The cards do many things, but they boil down to either events or weapons.  Event cards do all sorts of things like making other players lose turns or drop objects they're carrying, prevent people from going into buildings, temporarily stop the zombies from trying to eat you, etc.  Weapons cards are items you can carry that will add bonuses to your combat abilities.  In the deck you'll find wonderful zombie repelling items such as shotguns, grenades, molotov coctails, fire axes and of course...a chainsaw.  Weapons can provide either a temporary or permanent bonus to your combat roles, and can come in very handy.  Weapons are good, you want to find them as soon as you can.  Especially the fire ax.

Here's an example of what some of the cards look like:

 



 

Victory Conditions 

There are two ways to win Zombies.  Either be the first person to the center of the Helipad, or be the first person to kill 25 zombies.  The killing of 25 zombies is harder than it sounds really, as when you die you lose half of your zombie kill count.  Generally it's easier to get to the helipad, but if you get some good weapons and your dice rolling skills are hot, it's possible to kill that many zombies.

 

The Review 

Likes:

There's a lot to like with this game.  First off, it's zombies, and zombies are always cool.  You get to wade through tons (and I mean tons) of them as you try to make your way across town.  You're always low on bullets and life.  The game does a great job of capturing the survival horror aspect of zombie movies.  There's also a vicious "survival of the fittest" thing that I love in games.  You're out to save yourself, screw the other players.  Maybe it's just the evil bastard in me, but I love games like that.

 

The game pieces too are something to really like.  The map tiles, once all layed out, create a full city to explore.  The art on the cards shows a city that has been overrun with the undead.  Trucks and cars have been overturned, windows are broken, you can even see the lights from street lamps as the game is supposed to be taking place at night.  The deck of cards too offers some really great horror art.  Each card has a wonderful picture to accompany that captures a specific aspect of zombie film lore such as hiding out to bandage yourself up to chopping a zombie in the head with an ax.  The artwork is deliciously bloody.

 

I also really like any game where the board is different every time you play it.  By using a shuffled deck of map tiles instead of a standard board, you are assured that no two cities will come out with the exact same layout.  This adds a lot to the replayability of the game. 

 

Expandability.  Much like all good zombie movies, there are always sequels.  The folks over at Twilight Creations have released a number of expansion for the game already.  And following the canon of George Romero's movies, the expansions add such things as a shopping mall and a military base into the mix.  There's even a full standalone expansion that is a board game version of the Evil Dead movies. 

 

Dislikes:

Certain weapon cards can only be played after you've gone into a specific shop in town.  While this makes logical sense, it can be annoying when you finally draw a cool item like the skateboard, but the skate shop is all the way on the other end of town.  You end up having to discard some really good things sometimes.

With six players, the game can go a little long.  Which can be fine if you're having a good game, but sometimes you want a game that goes only an hour or so, but if you have 5 or 6 people playing, that's just not gonna happen.

 

FInal Opinion

 If you're a fan of zombie films in any way, this is a must have.  It's a great board game version of a classic zombie movie.  Even if you're not the biggest zombie fan, the game is a fun survival/race game where you are trying to beat the other players to the objective.  This game is definitely worth the money.

Awesome geek toy - Donkey Kong Jenga

 

How cool is the above image?  Seriously, you don't get much better than that. 

 

Two great games that I never would have ever thought of putting together as one, but now that I see it I can't imagine life without it.  Unfortunately, Amazon.com is sold of out it right now, but the moment it goes on sale, I'm picking this thing up as quickly as possible.

Clue gets updated for the 21st century, and I cry a little on the inside

 



 

Hasbro has decided to make a modern remake of the classic board game Clue.  Nevermind that the original clue is a classic for a reason, it's pretty much perfect the way it is.  But Hasbro has decided to spruce it up a bit and give it a reality show-esque tabloid TV style game.  Here's the game's description from Hasbro's website:

 

The mystery you love to solve again and again is even more intense! CLUE game is back with a modern twist: a soiree at a millionaire mogul’s mansion turned deadly, and you must find out who is responsible for murdering the host. There’s no Revolver or Billiard Room this time… but could it have been Scarlet with the Barbell in the Spa? Open up the tabloid-style instructions to get the scoop on the updated rooms, weapons, and guests. A deck of Intrigue Cards adds suspense to your game with cards that can help you solve the crime faster… or result in a second victim! Narrow down which rumors are true and which are just hearsay—and get caught up in the scandal of the century!

• CLUE game is back with a modern twist! Features updated rooms, weapons, guests, and a deck of intrigue cards that adds suspense to the classic murder-mystery game.


• Includes gameboard, 6 guest movers, 6 Personality Cards, deck of Rumor Cards, deck of Intrigue Cards, clue pad, scandal envelope, 2 dice, 9 weapons and instructions.


• For 3 to 6 players.

 

I dunno, call me an old fuddyduddy, but I liked that the original Clue took place in a 1940's mansion.  It gave the whole game a feeling of classic murder mystery movies.  Even the game's awesome movie adaptation came off as classy.  This new game sounds like it will feel more like an episode out of the life of Britney Spears, and that thought makes me shudder.

 

Here's some pics of the game board, and the new set of possible murder weapons: