In Case You Haven't Been Paying Attention 2009-01-30

Sometimes, people go on and on about bad boardgame box art.

Obviously, they've never been exposed to the MONSTROSITY that is the original Mega Man NES box art.

I mean, seriously...can you imagine the meeting that spawned this?

"Yes, we want the guy on the cover to look absolutely NOTHING like the character in the game.  This is critical.  Arm him with a pistol or something, screw that Arm Cannon stuff, we got to keep it real, yo.  Also, it would be great if he struck some sort of constipated pose.  Like he's going to pitch a loaf, and soon.  To strike home the DANGER he's in.

Also, our market research indicates that gamers really don't like perspective in their art, so be sure that his legs look all distended and bloated and whatnot.  ALRIGHT!  BOOK THAT SHIT!"



YIKES.

Uh...anyway, news inside. 

From Fantasy Flight

The Call of Cthulhu Living Card Game Core Set is available in stores now and we have just released the first Asylum Pack of the new expansion, The Summons of the Deep, entitled The Spawn of the Sleeper.

To get some extra momentum going for Call of Cthulhu LCG we are now introducing Organized Play! In the Call of Cthulhu LCG Adventure League, players compete and earn points (called Currency) to purchase Upgrades that provide game-changing rules for their decks.

source: Fantasy Flight Newsletter

Upper Deck Named in Counterfeit Yu-Gi-Oh Law Suit

Konami has added Upper Deck to their list of defendants in their copyright and trademark infringement lawsuit against Vintage Sports Cards. The suit alleges that Vintage Sports Cards sells repackaged Yu-Gi-Oh packs supplied by Upper Deck in which the rares are counterfeit. Upper Deck says that it will not “lower itself to the unfair and backstabbing tactics that Konami has used over the past several years toward their ultimate goal of removing Upper Deck from the Yu-Gi-Oh! business.” Players are the big losers, as they are now unsure what cards are legal for tournament use.

Free Pizza Box Football Super Bowl Team Cards

Download free Pittsburgh and Arizona team cards from the Pizza Box Football website and use them to predict the Superbowl winner. Playoff teams are also available. Registration required.

RISK has Wood

Winning Moves has published a "classic" edition of RISK in the style of the original 1959 game, with wooden cube armies. It is titled RISK 1959 . For the benefit of Ms. Close, we note that it does include the pink army.

In other Risk news, Hasbro is continuing to give away copies of "Black Ops" as part of a contest promotion.  You can find out more at:  http://reg.hasbro.com/Risk/RiskFactor/

Bruno Faidutti's Ideal Game Library

Bruno has added Mars to his Ideal Game Library. This game totally flew under my radar. Don't know anything about it, but it looks real pretty.

Its a Zany, Light Hearted Civ Game

Days of Wonder announced that it will be publishing Small World, the "zany" "fantasy follow-up" by the designer of VINCI.

Does describing anything as "zany" actually ever sell anything to anybody over the age of 7? 







Age of Conan...Crom be praised

It looks as though finally, finally we're going to see the long-in-development Age of Conan this year, and sooner rather than later.  Both Thoughthammer and CoolStuffInc.com have opened pre-orders for the game, what should be the "next big thing" from the minds behind War of the Ring and Marvel Heroes.

Scrye to Cease Publication

April 2009 is rumored to be the final issue of Scrye. No offical word on the furure of GamingReport.com which is owned by Scrye.

 

I suggest squeezing in a game of Card Football or Pizza Box Football, both go great with the game blaring in the background and a couple of beers onhand.





-With the end of football playoffs comes the return of a couple of shows from their seemingly long fall hiatus: 

Heroes (quit breakin' my heart, dammit) will have the kickoff for Volume Four on Monday, February 2nd, and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles returns on a new night on Friday, February 18th.





- Lost is of course back, and while I thought about doing mini-reviews of the episodes, there's just no way to do it without veering too far into spoiler territory.  Even if you're just watching on DVD and catching up, just saying names would be a spoiler.

I will say that both the premiere and this past Wednesday's new episodes were EXCELLENT.  I'm afraid of jinxing the series, but no TV series has ever made it into the fifth season without having gone into the flaming shitter at some point, either permanently (X-Files) or even briefly (Angel Season four comes to mind.)

Either these guys really do have a plan, or they're so good at leaving things open enough that when they come back around with stuff, it all fits together seemlessly.





Top 10 TV Shows for 1/19/09-1/25/09 (source: Zap2it)


1 AMERICAN IDOL-WEDNESDAY
2 AMERICAN IDOL-TUESDAY
3 CSI
4 TWO AND A HALF MEN
5 GREY'S ANATOMY
6 CSI: MIAMI
7 60 MINUTES
8 HOUSE
9 CRIMINAL MINDS
10 COLD CASE