Weekly News
3/15/13
Site News:
We’re going to be at Pax East next weekend! And we’re super excited about it!
ICYMI, we put out a few interesting articles this week.
Also, we have launched our Seal of the Republic section that allows us to have a place to talk about independent games not yet to market (often via crowdfunding). We have a seal of approval and everything!
Crowdfunding Game of the Week:
This week we talk about the runaway success story that is the Veronica Mars movie being funded.
Just kidding.
This week we took a look at the Wolfgang Kramer reprint, Expedition as Expedition: Famous Explorers. Originally created as a French animal migration game in 1985, it was reprinted as an exploration game by National Geographic of all people in the mid 90s. However, quantities were not in terribly high numbers, and finding English versions of it has become, well, an expedition. Thankfully the folks at 8th Summit have attained the rights to reprint it! In Expedition, you are an actual famous explorer, and you have a series of contracts you want to fulfill by reaching various locations around the globe. You do that by helping guide a series of neutral expedition teams around the world to the locations you want to visit. Real people, real places, real fun. Check it out!
New Games:
Dice Hate Me Games has been busy. They’ve announced three new games: VivaJava: The Coffee Game: The Dice Game, Belle of the Ball, and Brew Crafters.
Designed by TC Petty III, VivaJava Dice is the followup to the 2012 game VivaJava: The Coffee game, and players will revise their roles as employees of the VivaJava Coffee Company. They have to balance practical work (like blending beans) with research, and they use their dice to do so. It’s set to go up on Kickstarter in late-Spring, and they’re aiming for a Q4 release . . . though we all know how that goes.
Belle of the Ball is a card game in which players try to throw the best party by laying claim to the most attractive guests and repel those black swans who really don’t belong. The game is a product of Daniel Solis, and it’s set for a late-summer Kickstarter and Q1 2014 release.
Brew Crafters is a research management game designed by Ben Rosset. Players have to manage and expand their brewery while competing for malt, yeast, fruit, and spices. It’s billed as a modern euro-style game, and they’re planning on an October(fest) Kickstarter and Q2 2014 release.
Small World 2 has returned to Kickstarter. You may remember that Days of Wonder started a campaign on the crowdfunding site a few months ago, but cancelled it (put it into decline?) due to some poor structural choices and the resulting backer confusion. Now, though, they’re back. The project is primarily for a digital version of the game, but there are some cardboard rewards for anyone who wants to back it and get something physical.
Wait, you say, a week without an update from Fantasy Flight? Lol, nope. They’ve announced a new game game, Planet Steam. It’s a steampunk resource management game, and while we like the flavor, we have to wonder why only one of the role cards represents a female character. There are five role cards total, and the images are purely flavor. Apparently having 2-3 females would not have fit their fantasy world?
Expansions:
Zombicide Season 2 is insane. It officially broken the $1 million mark! Go CoolMiniOrNot!
Fantasy Flight has also announced the first real expansion to Android: Netrunner. While they’ve released individual decks, this is the first larger set release for the popular LCG.
Other News:
Hey guys, the boy scouts have created a Game Design badge that troop members can earn! That’s cool, and we’d love to see something similar from the Girl Scouts.
Mayfair Games knows something you don’t know . . . but they’ll tell you next week. Apparently it’s Catan related, and some people will theoretically be able to figure it out from this announcement image. We are not some people. Subtract 20 Geek Points from House CR.
While most of the games on this list aren’t ones we’re rushing out to play, it’s still an interesting round up of movie scenes involving games.
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