SOE's fascination with card games finally comes full circle. After years of creating collectible card games based on their popular MMO properties like EverQuest and Star Wars Galaxies, now the company's Denver studio is creating a strategy game based on the inspirations for those games - Magic: The Gathering.

Magic: The Gathering - Tactics draws on the Planeswalkers lore of Magic, putting players in control of 3D figures and spells from the popular CCG. The game will include both single player scenarios and online PVP multiplayer. As with any Magic-related product, fans can expect regular content expansions and strong tournament support, along with achievements and rankings.

"By collaborating with Wizards of the Coast, we're able to combine the strengths of both companies to develop an innovative, online, 3D game based on an extremely popular IP," said John Smedley, president, Sony Online Entertainment. "We're going to be taking the Magic: The Gathering Multiverse places players have never seen."

I still prefer the Xbox Live Arcade Magic game myself, as it's the straight-up card game and not a strategy derivative, but it's nice to see the PlayStation 3 getting a little Magic loving either way.

Look for Magic: The Gathering - Tactics to hit the PC in early 2010, with a PlayStation 3 release coming soon after.

The newly released Xbox Live Arcade title is getting not one but two special play sessions this month, starting with a Game with Fame session on June 20th, which allows players to go up against some of Magic's top pro players, along with the game's creator himself, Richard Garfield. Garfield will be joined by Magic Pro Tour Hall of Famers Mike Turian and John Finkel, along with pro tour players Gerry Thompson, Gerry Parke, and Brian Kibler. Daunting opponents indeed, but considering the game's deck structure you might just having a fighting chance.

If you're looking for a little less of a challenge, employees from Wizards of the Coast, VMC, Stainless Games, and Microsoft will be taking on all comers during the Game with Developers session a week later on the 27th.

Details for both sessions should be appearing soon at the official Game with Fame and Game with Developers websites. Being terrified of live competition myself, I will be busy playing single player, where it's safe.

Sam & Max Save the World is a compilation of the first season of Telltale Games' Sam & Max episodic PC adventure game series, lovingly repackaged for Xbox Live Arcade consumption at a reasonable 1600 Microsoft points. A great series, and not the downloadable title we should be worried about this week.

No, that's Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers, which brings the addictive game play of Magic: The Gathering to Xbox Live. Eight player decks, deck customization, single player and co-operative campaigns, ranked and unranked online play, and more, all for 800 Microsoft points. Folks who buy the title will also receive a code good for one limited edition foil Garruk Wildspeaker Planeswalker promo card, which can be redeemed at the Wizards of the Coast website.

All of this information came from the Wizards of the Coast site incidentally, as the official Microsoft press release amusingly featured a link to their Uno page instead of a dedicated Magic: The Gathering page on Xbox Live. I suppose they are both card games, after all.

It remains to be seen if enough players still harbor an interest in Magic: The Gathering for this release to bring about the apocalypse, but if it does, Sam & Max will be there to stop it.

Dungeons & Dragons: Tiny Adventures is a Facebook app that lets you create a character, equip them with potions and weapons and them set them off on a (hey!) Tiny Adventure.

Your character will send you regular updates from your chosen quest, and because FB is a Social Networking site you can ask your friends to buff them up by throwing potions and other kit your way. Success in the various game events is determined by dice rolls modified by your initial choices.

The game server is down at the moment due to heavy demand, but should soon rise again, stronger and more powerful than ever.

D&D Tiny Adventures [Facebook via Tor]

In addition to the Insider promotion, Wizards of the Coast is sponsoring a Worldwide Dungeons & Dragons Game Day tomorrow, Saturday June 7th, during which locations around the world will be hosting special events to help ease players into the new ruleset. Hit the jump for to find out more about this worldwide celebration!

Dungeons & Dragons® 4th Edition Rulebooks Now Available

June 6, 2008 (Renton, WA) – Today Wizards of the Coast announced the release of the highly anticipated 4th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), with the retail availability of new core rulebooks. Tomorrow, June 7, players around the globe will have the chance to experience the new edition of the popular roleplaying game as part of a worldwide D&D event.

D&D 4th Edition is designed to offer more streamlined game play with exciting options for character creation and interaction, while the new rules framework will reduce the prep time needed to run a game and lower the barrier to entry for new players.

In keeping pace with the changing gaming landscape and striving to meet the ever-evolving needs of players, the new edition includes features that will appeal to players who venture into a dragon’s lair every week as well as those who haven’t delved into a dungeon in many years.

“The decision to introduce a 4th Edition of the game came out of the player feedback we’ve been gathering for years,” said Bill Slavicsek, R&D Director of Roleplaying and Miniatures Games at Wizards of the Coast. “We wanted to streamline the D&D game while enhancing the overall play experience. At its heart, it’s still an exciting tabletop game experience that’s now enhanced with online resources that make it easier for players to create characters, run games and interact with the rest of the D&D community.”

To celebrate the release 4th Edition, Wizards of the Coast is sponsoring Worldwide Dungeons & Dragons Game Day (WWDDGD) on Saturday June 7 to give players the opportunity to play 4E adventures with other gamers. Retail partners and special locations around the globe will be hosting events for players; one such location is the WWDDGD Headquarters in Seattle, where Wizards of the Coast staff is taking over Neumos in the Capitol Hill neighborhood to celebrate the 4th Edition launch. For more information on WWDDGD events, visit www.dndgameday.com.

Additionally, Wizards of the Coast is introducing 4th Edition online content in Dragon and Dungeon magazines and the first iteration of the D&D Rules Compendium on D&D Insider®. As additional resources and applications are developed, D&D Insider will grow to include tools for players to design their characters, dungeon, and adventure-building tools for Dungeon Masters and a digital game table for online play.

The Player’s Handbook, Monster Manual and Dungeon Master’s Guide are now available for purchase in retail locations around the world as a set for MSRP $104.95 or individually for MSRP $34.95. D&D Insider will be available for free during a promotional period and will move to a subscription-based fee system as additional components roll out.

Since its first release in 1974, the fantasy roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons has taken millions of players on imaginary adventures of epic scale. Today, D&D is universally regarded as the original game that created the roleplaying game category, and the inspiration for generations of game designers. D&D is enjoyed by millions of players worldwide, while countless more remember it with fond nostalgia.

Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE:HAS), is a worldwide leader in the trading card game and tabletop roleplaying game categories, and a leading developer and publisher of game-based entertainment products. The company holds an exclusive patent on trading card games (TCGs) and their method of play and produces the premier trading card game, Magic: The Gathering®, among many other trading card games and family card and board games. Wizards is also a leading publisher of fantasy series fiction with numerous New York Times bestsellers. For more information, visit the Wizards of the Coast website at www.wizards.com.

But IGN says that the worst part of it all is a crumby, poorly-designed interface that doesn't like to save your settings. They give the game a 5.5 but assure us, "The good news is, it can only get better." Too bad. I guess I'll be waiting a bit longer before re-injecting that needle.

Magic Online III [IGN]

"We're excited to bring the Magic brand to new platforms and give our fans new ways to experience this great property," said Jared Gustafson, Brand Director for Magic: The Gathering at Wizards of the Coast.

WIZARDS OF THE COAST EXTENDS ITS MAGIC: THE GATHERING IP TO MULTIPLE PLATFORMS Industry Leading Partnerships Enhance Strategy Fantasy Gaming Options for all Gamers

RENTON, Wash.—February 18, 2008 — Wizards of the Coast (WotC), the leader in strategy hobby collectible trading card, board and role playing games, and a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE: HAS), today announced its plans to extend the Magic: The Gathering® franchise to gamers on Microsoft's Xbox 360 Xbox LIVE® Arcade and the PC through partnerships with Stainless Games, Ltd. and Mind Control Software, Inc. Stainless Games will develop a game using the Magic: The Gathering IP for both Xbox LIVE Arcade and the PC, while Mind Control will develop a game for the PC and Mac.

"We're excited to bring the Magic brand to new platforms and give our fans new ways to experience this great property," said Jared Gustafson, Brand Director for Magic: The Gathering at Wizards of the Coast. "It's partnerships like these that will advance the strategy games category and transform it to meet the needs and desires of today's digital gamers."

Magic: The Gathering, introduced in 1993, is the premier and original trading card game that inspired an entirely new game genre. Combining the dynamics of a card game with the excitement of trading and collecting, MagicTM offers fun for casual play, as well as the option of highly competitive tournaments. Magic: The Gathering currently has a thriving online edition (Magic Online®) made up of more than 350,000 active accounts. The game allows gamers to collect and trade virtual cards, build the perfect deck, get help from mentors, find opponents at all skill levels, and compete for prizes every day without ever leaving the comforts of home.

Specific details on the games Stainless Games and Mind Control will develop using the Magic: The Gathering IP will be announced at a later date.

Dice have been around for more than 5000 years and have been part of the popular roleplaying game, D&D since its inception more than 30 years ago (though current gamers likely use dice made from plastics rather than oxen ankle bones like early forms of dice).

Intentions aside, many of us older gamers carried bulging dice pouches long before we toted game controllers about. I'm sure more than a few table top D&D players first got into computer gaming thanks to games like SSI's gold box series of PC titles. Besides, as any RPG fan can tell you, dice make for some pretty excellent mini-games.

*hums patriotic music* This Tuesday, remember our numbered, geometrical friends the dice. Be they 4-sided, 6-sided, 20-sided, or even the ever-rolling 100-sided, gaming wouldn't be the same without them. *stares off into the sunset as an eagle lands on his shoulder*

Oh, and before you correct me, bunneh is the bunny way of saying bunny. It's pronounced "boon-eh". Trust me on this. I know my bunnehs.

MapleStory iTrading Card Game Hits Shelves Today

Wizards of the Coast, Nexon take tabletop gaming to the next level

November 6, 2007 (Renton, Wash.) - Gaming giant Wizards of the Coast debuts its highly-anticipated MapleStory iTrading Card Game (iTCG) today, a unique analog extension of the popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) MapleStory, giving players an added dimension to their game playing experience. The cards feature iconic anime art from Nexon America Inc.'s popular MapleStory online game and are designed to interact as a turn-based strategy game. Adding to the excitement, the iTCG cards feature codes that unlock exclusive rewards and game experiences in the online game.

With the introduction of the MapleStory iTCG, Wizards of the Coast and Nexon take TCGs to the next level by giving players an integrated experience between the online and offline worlds. Each pack of MapleStory iTCG cards includes a code redeemable for online rewards and game experiences such as highly sought-after artifacts, rare virtual pets, and all-new quests.

Also announced today is the name and image of a new virtual pet, black bunny (preview shown below). The black bunny is exclusive to the iTCG and thus can only be acquired online with an iTCG code.

The MapleStory iTCG Starter Set (MSRP $9.99) and Booster Packs (MSRP $3.99) are available in the US and Canada at hobby game shops and other major retailers, including Wal-Mart, Target, select GameStop stores, Toys 'R' Us, Kmart and Meijer Foods.

Wizards of the Coast popularized trading card games with the creation of Magic: The Gathering® in 1993. The company holds an exclusive patent on trading card games (TCGs) and their method of play.

For more information and to learn how to get a complimentary exclusive code, please visit www.maplestorycardgame.com

As you can see, my copy of the card sucks. I printed it out on my little $50 Canon IP1800 photo printer, which I use so rarely that it took me a good half hour to find the USB cable to hook it up. Once I had the printout in hand, I headed over to the game. I thought about cutting the card out of the paper, but in the end it didn't really matter.

Here we see the Biolith Bomber, easily scanning into the game despite the poor quality of the printout. The camera resolution is relatively low, so the symbols on the card need to be easily recognizable. Unfortunately this also makes them easily to duplicate as well.

Just to make sure, I registered the card with my online deck. Worked like a charm.

So what does this mean? Well for me, nothing much. I'm a collector, so I'll be buying cards no matter what. For the general public, however, I predict it is only a matter of time before hi-rez card scans appear for download on the web. Cards still have to follow game rules, however, so it shouldn't affect gameplay at all. The main effect will be seen by Sony and Wizards of the Coast, who make the cards and boosters. What looked like a lucrative endeavor might end up with more money in the pockets of printer cartridge manufacturers than anyone else. Hopefully measures can be taken to enhance the copy protection in the future. For right now, there's nothing special about the ink here whatsoever.

As a final note, don't do this. We sincerely do not recommend that anyone obtain cards this way. It makes you a dick...unless done for demonstration purposes, of course.

Since the very beginning of the company back in 1990, Wizards of the Coast has always been about community involvement. From letting players of Magic: The Gathering craft how card strategies and deck building evolved, to listening to players suggestions for expanding their various game mechanics, to letting players design their own cards via the Wizards website, WotC has always seen the players as one of the most important parts of their business.

Take Randy Buehler, for instance. A student who stumbled upon the professional Magic tournament scene, he was eventually hired by Wizards and is now the Vice President of Digital Gaming. I recently had a chance to speak to Randy regarding the next evolution of the Wizards of the Coast community a online store unveiled by the company today called Gleemax.

Introducing Gleemax

Gleemax is, at its core, the ultimate hobby store online.

Wizards has always done the majority of its business through a core network of hobby stores and the communities those stores create. When my friends and I got into gaming, we walked into a hobby store and found a world of awesome games, a guy behind the counter who knew everything about them, and a bunch of people just like us who wanted to play.

I've known the feeling myself. Having my own local store, where I can not only count on finding the latest in strategy and card gaming available, but people to play and discuss those games with. Gleemax aims to bring that same sense of community into the online world, creating a community that is for all intents and purposes the single largest hobby store ever created, combining games, community-generated content and Wizards own content into *the* online destination for strategy gaming.

Right now the tabletop and strategy gamers are scattered across many websites and they can have a hard time finding each other or finding information about good games to play. Gleemax fixes this problem.

It's All About The Everybody

The key to the entire Gleemax experience is community. Any site can sell you games or toss out some relevant news, but Gleemax aims to create a web destination that not only caters to the gaming community globally, but locally as well.

At the center of it all is the personal user page. Every gamer who signs up to the website will get to create and customize his or her page to their heart's content. Want to show off your D&D character? Your most successful Magic deck build? The tools will be in place to do al this and more.

Wizards of the Coast also wants local stores to sign up, promote themselves, and organize events through an online calendar that will automatically populate local players' pages with upcoming events.

The focus of the Gleemax project isn't on promoting Wizards' games, but on bolstering the strategic gaming segment across the board and reaping the benefits of a much healthier market. Because of this sweeping strategy, gamers will be able to find opponents or information on any number of popular games - not just the WotC ones.

Personally I think the community aspect is an excellent idea. As a strategy gamer who fell out of touch with the scene due to time restraints and problems finding people to play with, I'd love to be able to hop onto my home page and find a D&D group looking for more or a chance to dust off my large collection of Spellfire cards.

Yeah, I bought Spellfire cards.

The Games We Play

A home for gamers would be nothing without games, and Gleemax is looking to corner the market on strategy games. While details are still sketchy, Randy did drop some tantalizing tidbits that are sure to give the strategy and board game player pleasant little shivers.

At the forefront is an Indie Strategy Games Portal that will be populated with games that have been given the 'Wizards Seal-Of-Approval'...sort of like an employee's picks shelf at your local gaming store.

Then there'll be a Board Games Portal that will feature both new and classic board games available for online play, including titles from Avalon Hill, the creators of the Civilization game that inspired Sid Meier's PC classic.

All that on top of the ever popular Magic Online and a new title called Uncivilized: The Goblin Game, which is a turn-based web-based game that is played much like play-by-mail games of the past. Meant for gamers without much time on their hands, it sounds like a perfectly lovely way to waste time when you're supposed to be, say, writing a feature story.

Management Content

While the focus is on all games, the Wizards folks are still maintaining a heavy presence on Gleemax. On top of the same sort of news and reviews found at Wizards.com, users will be able to read blogs from Wizards' inside players, gaining insight into the game design process as well as opening a strong dialog between the game makers and the fans who play them. A "natural extension of things that Wizards has stood for since the early 90's."

One Board To Rule Them All

Furthering the notion that Gleemax isn't just for WotC games, Wizards is forming an Advisory board to help shape the future of Gleemax. Not only are they bringing together top thinkers and leaders from the tabletop and digital gaming industry, they're also looking to recruit regular gamers onto the panel, which will meet several times a year to discuss the direction Gleemax is taking.

The gamers themselves will be chosen via contests coming soon to the Gleemax website, starting with an open casting call next week.

And In The End...

If there is one thing I took away from our conversation, it's that Randy Buehler is passionate about the potential of Gleemax.

We think Gleemax is the right thing to do for Wizards of the Coast, the right thing to do for the tabletop hobby gaming industry, and the right thing to do for a sizable group of digital gamers who are being ignored by the mainstream computer gaming industry. We want to build a home that all three groups can feel comfortable in and I think it will change the face of the hobby gaming industry forever. If we pull this off, then Gleemax will become the center of the online strategy and roleplaying gaming universe.

I wasn't that bad honestly, but to this day I still get an itchy wallet whenever I see a new CCG come out. In this room I see at least $200 worth of World of Warcraft cards, and I've only actually played the game once.

So when you combine an innovative video game concept with the makers of the most addictive card game ever created, you pretty much get me in an alleyway behind a game shop promising 'favors' in exchange for rare cards.

I am so, so very doomed. Michael Fahey

Hasbro Lends Trading Card Leadership and Expertise to Sony Computer Entertainment's THE EYE OF JUDGMENT for PLAYSTATION 3

Collaboration Between Two Companies to Deliver Ground-Breaking Next-Generation Trading Card Gameplay Experience

PAWTUCKET, R.I.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE: HAS) announced today that it is working with Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. on the trading card component of the highly innovative THE EYE OF JUDGMENT game for the PLAYSTATION 3 (PS3 ) computer entertainment system. The global relationship, which covers Japan, Europe, the U.S. and Asian markets, taps Hasbro's core expertise in trading card games through its Wizards of the Coast subsidiary. Wizards of the Coast holds a patent on trading card games and the methods by which they are played and also produces MAGIC: THE GATHERING , the world's premier trading card game. Under the agreement, Hasbro will create, manufacture and distribute the trading cards associated with THE EYE OF JUDGMENT video game.

THE EYE OF JUDGMENT presents a new style of gameplay where the player brings creatures of trading cards to life for battle in 3D. Through use of a 3 x 3 board and trading cards, each encrypted with CyberCode, players conquer the field by selecting a card and placing the coded card in front of the PLAYSTATION Eye for their respective creatures to come to life and battle. Each creature has various skills which will determine the outcome of the battle. Players take turns placing cards as they jostle for control of the board; the winner is the first player to conquer five of the nine fields.

"We are very excited to enter into a collaboration with Sony Computer Entertainment on trading cards for THE EYE OF JUDGMENT which will deliver a ground-breaking entertainment experience that uniquely blends the global popularity of traditional trading card games with next-generation video games," said Phil Jackson, Group Executive of Hasbro Games. "Together we're creating a virtual world that brings fantastic trading card-based creatures to life for unprecedented interactive battles that will appeal to millions of fans around the world. It is innovation at its best."

"THE EYE OF JUDGMENT represents a totally new genre in gaming," said Phil Harrison, Corporate Executive, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. and President, SCE Worldwide Studios. "Combining Hasbro's clear market leadership in trading card games with the immense power of PLAYSTATION 3 and PLAYSTATION Eye, is a powerful formula that will result in a revolutionary video game experience that will amaze and engage gamers around the world."

THE EYE OF JUDGMENT is slated for release in fall 2007. The game has already received early accolades from media around the world as well as a prestigious Japan Game Award in the "Futures" division held at last year's Tokyo Game Show.

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