Hell yeah! My wife and I love this game.

With all the kick-ass board games on Live, I may just need to get a 360.

I wonder how compatible the PSN, Live and WiiWare platforms are in terms of architecture. These cool little games could prove a simple method of cross-platform multi-player depending on the tech.

Its cool when you own a console and a game, cooler when you can play online with friends/random people but even cooler when the game is platform agnostic and you other friends on other platforms can get in on the action.

Well half of the fun in regards to playing this is the story you try to make when playing it, as the game play is pretty simpel. I just think that the fun part of that will be lost when comming online. But we will see.

Well lets see, it is a good idea trying to get more of such games on the XBLA, so crossing fingers more such will come.

Oh I should qualify that by saying I don't many people buy a console just for the DLC its more of a value add IMHO.

Indeed. I'd love to see these games make it to the other platforms' online services.

The Wii would be awesome for titles like this, Carcassonne, Ticket to Ride, Settlers of Catan, and other great board games.

Eurogames (boardgames) are the best. Those Germans got some serious brains and unlike most of the stuff made here - they encourage you to use them! If you want to learn more about board games that don't suck (like Monopoly, Life, and other boring lifeless crap) then go to boardgamegeek.com and check out the top ranked bunch. I recommend Power Grid, Carcassonne, Puerto Rico for starters...

Lost Cities is by no means a bad game, but one would think that by now XBLA folks would be ready for a heavier (and more modern) game than Settlers/Carcassone/LC. How about Age of Steam, Hannibal, Imperial, Race for the Galaxy, Railroad Tycoon, or Twilight Struggle?

Or even Puerto Rico or Magic: The Gathering?

one of THE all-time great two-player card games. my deck is worn to shreds, sadly. very rich strategically; there certainly is no 'one winning plan' on any given hand, and the game lends itself to really feeling like you've got one over on your foe whenever you pull off a particular coup.

i can't really see the allure of the online card game, but if there ever was one to highly recommend, this is it.

@emag:
Magic will be coming to XBLA dunno when though.

@emag: Mmmm...Twilight Struggle.

shameless plug
ElementaliS would make for a GREAT game on Live :)
/shameless plug

I'm waiting for Ticket to Ride to get announced for XBLA. I just played it at a friends house a few weeks ago and loved it. I bought Carcassone and Settlers last week. I think I'm in a board game playing mood. I'll definitely download this demo when it gets released.

Why play this SHIT when you can have breakout!

Love Lost Cities (my cards are really dog-eared) but for some reason I don't think it will work as well on XBLA. You know what might be great - BOHNANZA!

Also, please bring on Battlelore, Memoir '44, Ra, Domaine, Puerto Rico, etc...

This is one of the best multiplayer board/card games out there ... it's totally fantastic! I highly recommend it, seriously! It's easy to pick up and has a lot of strategy. Don't knock it until you play it.

@Kinburn: Ticket to Ride is a great game, should be a awesome addition to XBLA library of board games but like emag said above I'd like to see some more depth. Seems like Puerto Rico is a sure fire thing due to it's success but even that's a bit light. Twilight Stuggle, sure, Hannibal Rome Vs. Carthage but I guess in the end it's up the game company writing the software to decide what titles they want to pick up.

@jayntampa: It's only a 2 player game but still is a lot of fun.

This is a really, really, reallyyyyyy slow news week.

I'm a fan of Euro/German games, but from what I've heard Lost Cities is just a glorified version of Two-Man-Solitaire.

Is it actually any good?

@the-hypnotoad:
I can hardly imagine Bohnanza working on XBLA. The bartering system would need to be too cumbersome. Plus, whenever we play, the trades inevetibally end up going beyond the confines of the game and often involve the fetching of beers.

@elementary: Not exactly. Like solitaire, the only way to interfer in the other person's game is to hold the cards that he/she needs in your hand. But the timing is crucial, and the scoring si very different from any 2 player card game you see. I ahve played more than a 100 times, and everytime is a different game. The good thing is that a round can be played in 5 minutes. Great list of achievements too.

Lost Cities, Carcassonne, Settlers of Catan, and more can be played for free on BrettSpielWelt.

@elementary: Yeah, it might be tough. It would work if everyone had a mic connected and everyone could haggle and make offers but people often don't even connect their headset in TF2 so for Bohnanza it would be even less frequent. I guess that the active player could show what he is 'offering' and each player would have like 15 seconds to mark cards from their hand they would offer in exchange.

That does kind of cut the soul of out it though (the crazy wheeling and dealing).

Ok, how about this; a multiplayer version of Descent where one player kind of runs/GMs the game and the other players cooperate as PCs?

@elementary: I suppose you could think of it that way. It's on of Knizia's simpler games.

this game couldn't have cost that much to make to justify it being $10. $5 is a consideration for card games.

@elementary: It's got a bit more to it than that, in my opinion. This is a relatively good review of the game that'll give you the overview:

[www.boardgamegeek.com] and you can find another here [www.boardgamegeek.com]

Why can't sierra make kick ass adventure games anymore. WHYYYYY!?!?!?!

@emag: Well most gamers don't know about serious boardgames, Lost Cities is one of the best 2 player games ever and one of Knizia's best too. It's not Age of Steam, but it's also much simpler to start than World in Flame.. I think it's a great exposure for boardgames in general and boardgamers can enjoy these games alone against other players.

Power Grid would be a great addition, accessible yet deep.
Memoir 44 could reintroduce turn based strategy. Puerto would be really nice, Hannibal is a very long game.

@FredQC: As much as Memoir would be cool, I think Battlelore would attract a wider audience. Any of the Commands and Colors games would be nice, though.

@Torgen thinks AAA means "Costs $60": BrettSpielWelt is really good but it's played from a computer and it's not as social as a TV in a living room. If they could release an XBOX or PS3 version they would have a sure hit!

@rkalajian: I think once they have made either Battlelore or Memoir 44, making the other one should be really quick considering they share so much.

I'm a BIG fan of any boardgame to console adaptation so far, the gameplay is way more fun than the average XBLA weekly releases. I mean Pac Man's fine 5 minutes at a time, but its too shallow to fill my apetite as a gamer. Taking a successful 40-60$ boardgame and releasing an electronic version for 10$ is also a good way of presenting boardgames to the masses plus if you can download trials there is no better way of promoting boardgames.

@FredQC:

It's also great for gamers like me who live too far away from other board gamers, and have limited time for game meetups due to having 2 small kids running around :)

Ooo Ill be looking foward to this!

@jayntampa: Thanks for the review! :D