The News Collider turns one this week. A whole year since we dusted and cleaned the Polyhedron News Room and I sat down with the simple goal of bringing you the most interesting scraps of board game related news from every corner of the board. So whether or not you've been a long for the ride the whole time or you are just joining us, welcome.
In this week's News Collider we have two stories about how to gain some income from board games, one is perfectly legit but will require hard work and the other is utterly bogus. Then there's the world's one and only board game based attraction in Hong Kong and the announcement that Modiphius are releasing a tabletop role playing game based on the popular video game, Homeworld.
100 Million Euro Fund from Game Development
If you had to guess who was behind this initiative—to create a fund of 100 million euros to support game, esports, and digital sports projects—your list of suspects would probably be quite small and would certainly contain the name Ian Livingstone.
The man who co-found Games Workshop, brought Dungeons and Dragons to the UK and then went on to co-wrote the very first Fighting Fantasy Series book before getting involved with video games where he secured some major licenses like Tomb Raider and Hitman. The guy who received a CBE in 2013 (one level away from being an actual Knight) for his services to the computer gaming industry and is now a partner at the investing group, Hiro Capital who are responsible for the fund.
“Through investing and nurturing the right talent in Europe and the UK, our goal is to generate great returns for our investors and bring much-needed capital to the industry,” said Livingstone in a release.
“We are focused on innovative games and games technologies. We’re gamers at heart and strongly believe in the positive power of play culturally, socially and economically.”
The Dungeon Hoard Kickstarter Scam
Backer Beware! Backing a project on Kickstarter is a risk, admittedly not much of a risk when the person running the campaign is a no-holds-barred- idiot. But still, the warning rings true.
Now, last week a project was launched to raise funds by White Helm Games for Dungeon Hoard. However, a game by the same name and publisher name already exists courtesy of the Game Crafter and the version that was up on Kickstarter was a complete rip off. Confusing and nonsensical pledge levels which bizarrely included not just the game, but phases of the game and MORE!
The...let’s call them “the Individual” who was running the campaign soon cancelled it after it came under fire very quickly from some super backers. The Individual's response to these comments left a lot to be desired, such as spelling, grammar and a basic grasp of communicating in English.
Not to be disheartened though the same Individual launched another project, Christ is Born, again, ripping off a game from the Game Crafter.
This does throw up some concerns regarding the vetting process that games go through before they land on Kickstarter and sets a distant alarm bell ringing for what could be accomplished by an Individual possessed of average intelligence.
Fully Immersive Monopoly
Next weekend, 26th October, the world’s first Monopoly Themed attraction, Monopoly Dreams, is opening its doors to no-doubt-hordes of eager boardgame fans. Situated in one of the most expensive places to live on the planet, Hong Kong’s Victoria Peak - which is the game’s Japanese version of Mayfair.
The 20,000 square foot attraction is part owned by Hasbro and stars with an elevator ride into Rich Uncle Pennybag’s Apartment where visitors will see a live sized version of the classic Monopoly Race car...plated in gold. After that visitors are free to explore the attraction which is designed to be an immersive 3D Monopoly experience and will include areas like the Electric Company, Water Works and Jail. The train stations are 4D cinemas, and in the Fortune area visitors take their chance at spinning a naturally oversized wheel where they can win business class plane tickets to food coupons.
Competition Inquiry into Catamundi's recent Acquisitions
The UK's Competition and Marketing Authority (CMA) have launched an inquiry into the recent announcement by Cartamundi to acquire one of their leading competitors.
Cartamundi is a worldwide leader in the manufacturing and selling of playing cards and is looking to absorb the United States Playing Card Company, which you might more readily known as the company that own Bicycle Playing Cards (among many others). The CMA are concerned that the amalgamated company may result in a "substantial lessening of competition" within the UK.
The inquiry has until the beginning of December to allow the merger or to postpone and further investigate.
The last D&D subclasses
Last month in both the news Collider and in the podcast (Link) we highlighted the idea that something big is on the way for Dungeons & Dragons. This month, Unearthed Arcana has released Playtest rules for the final three subclasses, Fighter, Ranger and Rogue (and the Rogue's new Revived subclass of a character that has returned from the dead is utterly bonkers).
Steve believes that we should expect an announcement about a new player supplement before the end of the year and I'm really keen to see with next month's Unearthed Arcana is now all the classes have new options…
Modiphius announces Homeworld: Revelations
Modiphius has announced plans to publish a tabletop RPG based on the multi award winning real time strategy video game Homeworld (that coincidentally celebrated its 20th anniversary and the third part of the game's franchise also recently funded on Fig.)
Homeworld: Revelations will make use of Modiphius’s 2D20 system allowing players to explore the fringes of the whirlpool galaxy as the crew one of the Kushan fleet’s ships, joining the mothership, retracing the journey of Exodus and visiting locations from the video game, as well as shooting off on their own adventures. The development of the game has been supported by one of the original writers, Martin Cirulis, along with experts from Gearbox Software LLC and Blackbird Interactive.
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