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News Bits: 9/10/2012

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There are lots of juicy news morsels for your consumption this week. Enjoy the news!

Greater Than Games Offers Opportunity to Be a Mastermind
Greater Than Games, creators of the cooperative superhero card game Sentinels of the Multiverse, is offering an opportunity to create the next Sentinels of the Multiverse villain. The contest is up on their website and runs through September 28. According to the comments, the winner’s villain will be included in the next run of the game, and the winner will receive a free copy  Sentinels of the Multiverse is one of the most thematically rich games I’ve played. The chance to create a part of its mythos is a pretty big draw.

Kickstarter Declares 2012 “Year of the Game”
Kickstarter elicits mixed reactions within the gaming community, but within the Kickstarter community, gaming has boomed (which, considering Kickstarter gets a kickback, I’m sure is a good thing). On Kickstarter’s blog last week, the crowd-funding site declared 2012 the “year of the game,” substantiated by various graphs for those of you who like that sort of thing. The blog post discusses both video and board games, which so far in 2012 have accounted for $50 million in backer dollars. That can buy a lot of wooden (or digital) cubes…

A New Living Card Game in a Galaxy Far, Far Away
It was big news when at GenCon 2011 Fantasy Flight Games announced that they received the Star Wars license. They unveiled a Star Wars LCG at that convention that was cooperative. This was later scrapped (presumably because it was the Lord of the Rings LCG…IN SPACE) in favor of a complete overhaul. Last week, FFG announced their new design. The release date still isn’t firm (simply “Q4 2012”), but some details are available. For example, deck-building in the game is accomplished by taking pods of cards and shuffling them together (shufflebuilding?) rather than choosing individual cards (thus, an extremely desirable card might be paired with a less desirable one), which also determines what the objectives in each game are. I’m not a huge fan of the art (which is artistic reimaginings of scenes from the movie), but I understand this direction: it allows more exploration within the fantasy world (and more expansions beyond what we see on screen). In any case, you can see for yourself here.

AEG Prepares City-State of Tempest
AEG has already announced Tempest, their new line of Euro games that share a setting and characters across games. Now they’ve posted the rules for Dominare, the largest game currently in the Tempest line. Several Tempest games will be released at Essen 2012, the newest announced being Love Letter, a game comprising a mere sixteen cards and a few other bits. I am quite excited about Tempest and can’t wait to explore its world. (I’m most excited about Courtier, for those who are curious.) AEG also announced in their e-mail newsletter that a bonus, mystery game that is not related to any of their current lines will be released at Essen 2012. Color me intrigued…

The Birth of an Empire
Grant Rodiek of Hyperbole Games posted a print-and-play prototype of his new game Empire of York, a diceless war game that plays in around an hour. Although I’ve personally forsworn print-and-plays, this one might force me to reevaluate my position as I’ve followed the development on this one for some time.

Kickstarters of Note

Not too many new games are out, but some are nearing the end of their funding campaigns:

  • Gauntlet of Fools: A new Donald X. Vaccarino game about great boasts. It’s already funded. I love the idea of this game, even if I doubt I’ll back it. Three days left! $28.
  • The Resistance: Avalon: As funding nears closing, I am strongly considering getting in on this one. It looks fantastic, and the original game is awesome. $20.
  • Unexploded Cow: This game continues to moooooooove, and with good reason. $25.
  • Mars Needs Mechanics: Yes, the steampunk theme looks pasted on, but the game itself looks interesting (if you like economic games). $40 buy-in.
  • I’m the Boss: The Card GameContinuing Sid Sackson rereleases, Gryphon Games has a card game version of the popular negotiation board game on Twitter, based on Sackson’s game notebooks. Plus, now they’ve announced that the game will include the bonus cards necessary to re-create it as Sackson imagined it. That seems like a fantastic deal for $25.
  • Salmon Run: This game has already passed its funding goal and is swimming toward its first stretch goal. $36.
Completely Unrelated Awesomeness of the Week
The Games and Grub blog is often heavier on the gaming side of things (which I’m okay with), but they recently posted a recipe for go-to pollo (“it means…the pollo!”). Though I’ve not made it yet, it looks delicious. And while you’re at it, check out the rest of their site.
If you have anything you’d like to see in the news, please contact me at FarmerLenny@gmail.com.

I'll try anything once, but my favorite games are generally middleweight Euros.

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