Infogrames (now known under the name Atari, which it purchased a few years back) just announced that it bought Cryptic Studios. This means that Champions fans can stop worrying about how the game might get finished in this challenging economy. It also means that my pal Jack Emmert (and hopefully my other friends at Cryptic) will be wearing a very big grin for Christmas.
Foundations in LOTRO
Will Hindmarch‘s latest article about The Lord of the Rings Online, “Hero’s Guide to the Foundations of Stone,” is now up. Will’s words (which I edited) and screenshots capture one of the strangest and deepest parts of the new Mines of Moria expansion. Be sure to check it out.
Snow Day!
Lousy winter weather here in southern Wisconsin has the entire Forbeck family stuck at home together today. (My wife’s a school social worker, and her school cancelled classes today too.) I skipped my Alliterates meeting last night to avoid it, but it tracked me down and socked me in just the same. Days like this, I’m extra glad I don’t have to drive to work.
It all looks very pretty and makes me happy to be inside–at least until I have to go out and clear the driveway, but that won’t be until after the snow slows down a bit this evening.
BNW in French Comics
If you can read French, check out the latest page of Mademoiselle Blok. On the final panel, you’ll see a very odd superhero wearing a T-shirt for my Brave New World RPG. If you can’t get the page to load, try switching your language on the site to French. The English translations are still about five pages behind.
Vincent Demons, a big fan of Brave New World, is the director of publication of Foolstrip, the site that publishes Mademoiselle Blok, among a number of other free-to-read comics. He suggested that writer and artist Eva C. include the tip of the hat to the game.
Thanks much to both Vincent and Eva for making my day.
The Family Games 100 Coming Your Way
I’ve just received my assignment for the upcoming Family Games: The 100 Best, the family-friendly sequel to last year’s Hobby Games: The 100 Best. For those not in the know, the award-winning original featured 100 essays from 100 top game designers, each writing about one of his or her favorite games. (Mine covered Space Hulk.)
I’m not yet supposed to tell you what game I’m tackling this time around, but I can reveal certain other details about the project. My pal Jim Lowder once again helms the book, serving as its editor and (more importantly) writer wrangler. My compadres at Green Ronin step forward once more as the brave and proud publishers.
Instead of “hobby games,” this volume focuses on games that have proven their appeal to a wider audience–and that haven’t already been seen in the first book. However, many of the writers–over half, perhaps well over–who made the first book such a gem will reprise their efforts for Family Games: The 100 Best. Plus, my longtime friend Mike Gray (the senior director of product acquisition at Hasbro) will pen the forward, while my more recent friend Wil Wheaton (come on, you know who Wil is) will bring it all to a resounding end with the afterword.
I don’t have any hard details, but I suspect you’ll be able to get your hands on the book sometime in 2009, perhaps in time for the summer convention season. I may be writing one entry, but I really can’t wait to read the other 99.
The Night of the Long Wands
Word is that Wizards of the Coast laid off up to a couple dozen people yesterday, including some of the most talented members of its game design staff. Wizards has a long history of shedding employees in December, presumably to improve Hasbro’s balance sheet before the end of its fiscal year. They also often end up hiring again early the next year.
No matter the reasons for the cycle, though, it’s a damn shame every time it happens, and my sympathies go out to all my friends caught up in this latest round of cuts. As always, if there’s anything I can do to help any of you, just let me know.
The Gen Con Drama Deepens
This morning, I wake up to find that the fine folks at ICv2.com have done some excellent digging around about the Gen Con takeover bid. First, they eliminated the most likely suspects for the mysterious backers of the Gen Con Acquisition Group. It’s not GAMA, and it’s not F & W Publications.
Then they learned the truth–or at least part of it. The GAG (as ICv2 names them) is led by my friend Anthony Gallela. Earlier this year, Anthony left his position as the executive director of GAMA to become the VP of sales and marketing for Bucephalus Games. Because of his experience running Origins, he’d be an excellent choice to run a revamped Gen Con.
However, I’m still not happy about this. In the interview with ICv2.com, Anthony says, “I think Peter is right for Hidden City Games, but I don’t think he’s right for Gen Con. I would have to assume he feels the same, since he hasn’t been involved with running the show for two years.”
This is a lousy assumption, and I believe Anthony knows this and is playing to the investors and creditors in the gallery. Just because Peter might not be daily involved with running Gen Con doesn’t mean he doesn’t care about it or have a huge influence on it. At the very least (and it would be a huge stretch to believe this is the limit of Peter’s involvement), he hires the people (like the excellent Adrian Swartout) to run the show for him, much in the same way that GAMA hired Anthony to run Origins and the GAMA Trade Show–and also in the way that the GAG’s still-unnamed group of “outside the industry” investors would apparently wish to hire Anthony.
As Anthony also points out, this is a hostile takeover bid. Peter and Adrian (who Anthony specifically praises, in contrast to his comments on Peter) are not for it. They were just about to file their bankruptcy plan–which they believe can succeed–when this offer came in. That’s not likely to help engender loyalty in any retained staff or in the huge core of volunteers who help make Gen Con happen every year.
The part that worries me the most is the fact that investors “outside of the industry” may not have the best interests of the industry at heart. I have absolutely no doubt that Anthony does, but he’d be an employee, not a majority owner. Such investors would be in it only for the money, and if Anthony can’t give them a decent return as fast as they want it, they’ll either fire him–and possibly a huge chunk of the rest of the staff–or sell the company off once again.
I really am torn about this. It’s like watching your friends fight over who gets to host Christmas. There’ll be a party either way, but it’s likely to be served with a platter of recriminations.
No matter what happens, though, I’m going to Gen Con next summer. Even if some catastrophe strikes and the show is suspended for the year–which, let me stress, I cannot believe would happen–I’ll still be in Indianapolis that weekend. Even if no one wants me in any booth or to help out with any seminars, I’ll drive down there to play games and catch up with any friends who care to join me–including, I would hope, both Peter and Anthony.
More LOTRO
The Lord of the Rings Online website features more LOTRO-y goodness. Look for “Hero’s Guide to the Silvertine Lodes.” As usual, Will Hindmarch wrote it, and I edited it.
By the way, if you haven’t checked out the game, I recommend it. The Mines of Moria expansion really rocks.
I’m also getting into Guild Wars these days. The fact that my friends Jeff Grubb (also an Alliterate), Will McDermott, and Ree Soesbee handle a lot of the writing for it helps.
Blood Bowl on Comicon.com
A short while back, Jennifer Contino interviewed me for her Pulse column at Comicon.com. You can now read the results online.
Jennifer clearly didn’t know much about the history of Blood Bowl as a game, and I suspect many comic-book fans might not either. I enjoyed having the chance to set things straight and give credit where it was due: to the mad mind of my friend Jervis Johnson!
Gen Con for Sale–But Not Really
My favorite time of the year–Gen Con–has been in bankruptcy since early this year. While the core business (Gen Con Indy) is sound, the company lost money trying to establish Gen Con So Cal and on a disastrous Star Wars Celebration III. As my pal Peter Adkison explained, the idea was to establish a strong showing at Gen Con Indy this summer and then file a bankruptcy plan this fall that reflected that strength.
And that’s exactly what happened. The show came off well, and Gen Con had its first profitable year since 2005. The company started to come to settlements with its major creditors and looked ready to put the plan into action.
Then someone stepped in and made an offer for the company. This, as it later became clear, was a hostile takeover bid by a mysterious company known only as the Gen Con Acquisition Group. The offer’s intent was to snatch up the company at bankruptcy prices while it was at its most vulnerable. However, Gen Con management has made it clear that they prefer their plan to this oddball, last-minute bid. They’ve even made arrangements to pay off their debt to the Make-a-Wish Foundation immediately rather than wait for the plan to be approved.
Here’s hoping that the unnamed bidders fail in their blatant attempt to hijack the company and the con. I really can’t imagine anyone better than Peter and his crew to run the show. Peter has a gamer’s soul, and he loves the convention as much as I do. If I had my way, he’d run it forever.