Sunday, February 26, 2012

Video Game Sales Down - Tabletop Games Up

Well, I had a completely different post in mind for today but after seeing some good news for a change I decided to pass it along.

Confirming what I have posted about apparent sales in the tabletop market in general and the word out of GenCon last year the numbers are out and rather staggering.

First:

http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/22214.html

This should come as no surprise, but this should:

Video games sales down, hobby games up in 2011

"In a move that may reflect the shifting United States economy, video games sales plummeted 38% and hobby games sales are up 25%."

(Read More)

http://www.examiner.com/rpg-in-national/video-games-sales-down-hobby-games-up-2011


So, I feel pretty good that what appeared to be happening last year was sustainable, that Pathfinder continues to grow (and they deserve it - watch the videos at YouTube from GenCon for what else to expect this year from Paizo-that Bestiary Box is MINE) and for all the naysayers who say we are just a tiny speck of gaming goo and that everyone quit table top to play video games I get to proudly stand and say:

STFU

(Coming Next Time - The Consolidation Update - The Future of the Eternal Keep - CRoA Update - More)

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

RESET

RESET BUTTON POWER ON

TIMELINE RESET DESCRIPTION IS AS FOLLOWS:

2000 - Wizards of the Coast release D&D 3.0 and the SRD under the newly created Open Game License. Tabletop Role-Playing Games are saved by this initiative.

2008 - WotC ceases production of D&D to focus on their primary product line Magic: The Gathering.

Smaller companies, led by a bold start up-Paizo, begin to produce role-playing games that go back to the roots of the hobby using the Open Game Content from the SRD and newly created OGC sources.

2010 – The rpg ‘industry’ finally succumbs to the growth of the ‘hobby business’. With the rise of the internet and its many tools, game production takes on a whole new meaning. It is now possible to design and produce gaming materials and distribute them on a completely different scale. With the advent of Print on Demand (PoD) and digital publishing through the PDF format gaming experiences a renaissance and player numbers and sales continue to increase, a trend started in 2004.

2011 - The game market coalesces around the Open Game concept. Many declare it to be a new Golden Age of gaming, a network of players and publishers world wide, creating and sharing games of all genres while exploring the outer boundaries of the Old School Style along with the new mechanics being created on almost a daily basis. A successful GenCon finds most vendors in good spirits as sales continue to increase.

2012 – The End of the Beginning. New technologies have allowed players and publishers greater freedom to create and play than ever before. With the growing use of VTT, Social Networking sites, and A/V hardware/software and more traditional digital methods like PBeM and forum more games than ever are being played by a growing group of diversified gamers. The hobby is seen to have come full circle but now that circle goes, not around a city, but the entire planet. And with hand held mobile devices increasing in popularity and software rising to meet the challenge games can now be played by anyone, anywhere at anytime.

The Revolution is complete.

Now, all you have to do is press the button to complete this timeline reset. This may be accomplished by verbal authorization in the comments section below.

ENGAGE RESET NOW?

(WARNING: TIMELINE RESET MAY CAUSE SLIGHT NAUSEA AS TIMELINE SHIFTS AND HAPPINESS INCREASES)

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

New Post

Ya know, I keep trying to post something and by the third line I'm dropping so many f-bombs I would have to change the settings on the blog to mature.

The more I look at it the less I understand.

Now keep in mind, I'm not talking about 4e fanboys or 'whatever' gamers (they play whatever is new).

No, I'm thinking about all the posts I have read over the last 2 years that has not let up on how:

(A) Nobody cares what WotC does next.

(B) WotC...who?

(C) "It'll be a cold day in hell..."

(D) "D&D...are they still doing that?"

You get the idea...and don't act like you don't recognize some of those...I have a LOT more...

I think the guys summed it up best:

Steve: Ahhhhh!

Zack: Calm down, Steve. Gygax and Arneson are both dead. They can't hurt you anymore.

Steve: People cried about them dying, but when Gygax went what we really lost was a final authority on all rules arguments. And even though the number I had for Gygax was probably no longer in service, I always had that reassuring feeling like if I was really in a jam and my characters were insisting they wanted to grapple someone I could call up Gary and ask him how to resolve it.

Zack: He's gone now, Steve, but his spirit lives on in the exciting new 4th Edition of- I can't even type that out. Does anyone play that?

Steve: It's pretty fun.

Steve: For stupid babies.

Zack: I would imagine Gygax had his detractors back in the day.

Steve: Gygax didn't have 50 writers and 100 artists and color printing. He just went out there and said, hey, here's how you subdue a dragon and sell it as a slave. Here's what a robot is doing in a fantasy game. Deal with it. I made it up, deal with it.

Zack: And now a committee has designed everything.

Steve: The stupid baby committee.


http://www.somethingawful.com/d/dungeons-and-dragons/steve-old-gygax.php?page=11

So I wonder...where does that leave us now...a game that turns out like Republicare? (You get to call it Obamacare when you pass the version he wrote, not the one the Republicans agreed to vote yes for).

Just think, if the game sucks you get to blame yourself...pretty slick maneuver isn't it?

Player #1 - Man, this D&D 5e blows...

Player #2 - Well, you designed it.