It’s hard to believe Gen Con 2009 is over already, but it’s been over a week now since I was standing in Indianapolis. With the whole thing still a strong memory, I wanted to get it all down here and share it with you.
Attendance and Exhibit Hall Presence
I’ve heard some say that they thought attendance [...]
Gen Con 2009 – Overview
Gen Con 2009 – Day One
My brother and I arrived in Indianapolis around 6:30pm Wednesday. We checked into our hotel and then went to dinner at the Rock Bottom Brewery. After dinner, we took a walk through the convention center and picked up a Gen Con program to familiarize ourselves with what was going on this year. It was about [...]
Fortune Magazine Says Board Games are Back
According to Fortune magazine, as reported on CNN Money’s web site, “Board Games Are Back“. The article says that game and toy maker Mattel is betting that the “Blokus” board game it acquired this year will be a hit. Fortune says that Mattel took on the title to “capitalize on the growing cachet hobby games [...]
Mayfair Games Origins 2009 Report
The good folks at Mayfair Games published their official Origins 2009 report. It includes a slide show of photographs, along with a narrative about their experiences in Columbus, Ohio, this year.
They mention that 2,500 people came through and demoed games at their booth.
They sold every copy of the Steam board game they brought with them.
How to Become a Game Programmer
On the Firaxis web site, programmers Mark Vojtko and Eric Jordan discuss how you can start a career in video game programming. They talk about the programming languages you should learn, what you may want to know about prototyping, getting a programming degree, and more. If you’re interested in becoming a game programmer, it’s worth [...]
Michael A. Stackpole’s “The Rules of Writing”
Michael A. Stackpole is a fairly prolific author, having penned a large number of fantasy-themed books, Star Wars novels, Battletech novels, and other works of fiction. He’s had a long and successful career. In other words, the man knows a bit about writing. He runs a web site, stormwolf.com, where he shares (and sells) what [...]
Origins 2009 Report
As I write this, the Exhibit Hall at the Columbus Convention Center is being dismantled, the vendors are packing up their stuff, and the gamers are probably finishing a last few games. Origins 2009 is over. It always seems to pass so quickly. Sadly, tomorrow morning I’ll be getting up and going to work as [...]
Origins 2009 – Day One and Two
I’ve just attended the first two days of the Origins 2009 Game Fair here in Columbus, Ohio. I’ll be going back in a little while for day three, and wanted to share some quick thoughts and experiences.
While we’re still looking at mid-week attendance (Wednesday and Thursday), it seems to me like attendance is down a [...]
Mount Prospect, IL, Book Sale of Interest to Gamers
According to the folks at Creative Mountain Games (see the article here), two large estates have donated “an unusually large quantity of military history books” of potential interest to gamers to the Mount Prospect, IL, Library. The library has also purged its Science Fiction and Fantasy section, so there are “hundreds of hardbacks of this [...]
Empty Room Map Building Contest
Empty Room Studios has announced its first contest, designed to give their customers a chance to show them how they’ve been using their various 2D tile sets. The gist of the contest is to create a layout using any of their gaming tiles, including Dungeon Tiles, City Tiles, World Tiles, and Cavern Tiles. They’re looking [...]
Battlefront Miniatures Buys Gale Force Nine
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 11 February 2009
Battlefront Miniatures Ltd of Auckland, New Zealand is pleased to announce that we have purchased Gale Force Nine, LLC.
John Kovaleski, CEO/Founder of Gale Force Nine writes “We at Gale Force Nine (GF9) are very excited about the new opportunities that this partnership represents. By becoming part of the Battlefront Family, [...]
Red Shirt Games 2008 Convention Photos
The great folks at Red Shirt Games (look in the history on this site and you’ll see I tend to rave about them every year at Origins) have published their 2008 convention photos. As I looked through them, I was surprised to see my own face posted there! If you’re curious to see what I [...]
Odd Artifact on the Iron Crown Enterprises Site
To help me compile the news for this site, I use a tool that monitors hundreds of game-related sites to tell me what’s changed since the last scan. For the last couple of days, it keeps telling me there are changes on the Iron Crown Enterprises web site but hasn’t highlighted those changes. Today I [...]
Upcoming Mongoose Releases for December 2008
The Mongoose Publishing web site has updated its “Next Month’s Releases” list to include the following new titles (no release dates listed):
Conan: Adventures in the Hyborian AgeElric of Melnibone: Dream RealmsDwarfs: Guide to the Mostali (no detail link available on the Mongoose site)Fantasy CraftHunters of Granbretan (no detail link available)Lone Wolf 8: Jungle of Horrors [...]
“Re-poppable” Bubble Wrap?
If there’s someone in your life who really enjoys popping bubble wrap, here’s a gift you can get them this year that will keep on giving for a long time to come. This little handheld electronic toy doubles as a sort of Russian Roulette style game. As you pass it around a table, each person [...]
Gen Con Indy Exhibit Hall (a.k.a. Dealer Room), Part 2
This part of our virtual walkthrough of the Gen Con Indy 2008 Exhibit Hall starts at Aisle 2600 and works back to approximately Aisle 1900…
Gen Con Indy Exhibit Hall (a.k.a. Dealer Room), Part 1
This article will take you on a little virtual walk through the Gen Con Indy 2008 Exhibit Hall, starting at Aisle 100 and ending around Aisle 1000…
Gen Con 2008 Exhibit Hall – Day 1
Here are a few snaps of the goings-on in the Exhibit Hall at Gen Con Indy 2008 today:
Games to Go
The “Games to Go” presentation by Christopher Harris.
The Origins Experience
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It’s hard to believe that Origins 2008 has come and gone already. For those of you who have never heard [...]
Fantasy Flight Games News 2/21/08
The following article was imported from our old content management system on 08/10/2008. It may contain missing links and missing images which we do not plan to go back and correct.We apologize for any inconvenience.
Fantasy Flight Games has posted another preview of Descent: Road to Legend, information about its plans for Gen Con 2008, [...]