It's Training is Now Complete. "Star Wars" Can Now Be Seen "In Concert"

I can feel a disturbance in the Force. It is as if all of the money from thousands of Star Wars fans was removed from their bank accounts in one swift moment.



Having betrayed loyal fans with mediocre sequels, for which we fanatical Star Wars fans have waited in lines over night in sleeping bags just to buy tickets, George Lucas has found a new way to empty the wallets of Generation X fans who have loved the franchise since they were between the ages of 4 and 10. Lucas knows that regardless of how disappointed fans may be with the narrative of any particular film, those first few measures from the Star Wars theme still sends chills up the spines of Gen X inner children everywhere.

Now fans can wait in digital queues for untold hours in the hopes of getting a chance to fork out $35.00 - $85.00 per seat, in order to avoid paying upwards of $300 per seat to a "ticket agent" to watch Star Wars in Concert. Fans can now go to see a full orchestra play the songs of Star Wars to various High Definition movie clips projected on a big screen in a kind of multimedia "high art" extravaganza where the conductor will pause between sections of the show to describe things like "Leitmotif" (which is pronounced lite-motif not leet-motif -- a leet-motif is that chortle you hear every time you get owned by a 13 year old sniper in Call of Duty) to an audience who would actually be better served attending a performance of Das Rheingold.

Crap. As cynical as I am trying to be, I am finding it very hard not to be one of those Gen X-ers waiting in a virtual queue. There really is something magnificent about John Williams' score -- even in the lesser films.

Diana Jones Awards Committee Announces the 2009 Shortlist

Among the awards given out in the gaming universe, none is as enigmatic as the Diana Jones Award. Since 2001, the award has been handed out to a worthy winner selected by the anonymous Diana Jones Award Committee, which is made up of "games-industry alumni and illuminati". The award is dedicated to rewarding "the person, product, company, event or any other thing that has, in the opinion of its mostly anonymous committee of games industry luminaries, best demonstrated the quality of “excellence” in the world of hobby-gaming in the previous year."

The award bucks the continuing trend of "people's choice" awards that dominate the hobby today, from the Ennies to the more democratic than ever Origin Awards. The Diana Jones Award isn't about popularity, it is about "excellence." What excellence is as a variable is known only to the secret cabal who votes for the Diana Jones Award, but in past years the winners have come from very different corners of the gaming hobby.

Last year the award was given out to two recipients (there was a tie):

1. Grey Ranks -- an independant rpg where players take on the role of youths during the 1944 Warsaw Uprising. In this case excellence referred to the way the game used simulation as a powerful presentation of history and for pushing the art of narrative storytelling to a new level.
2. Open Design -- Wolfgang Baur's efforts at creating a game design community supported by patrons involved in the creation process was awarded for its contribution to the hobby.

In 2006, the award went not to a game but to a Convention Charity Auction. Excellence can be defined in many ways, but certainly promoting your hobby through good works certainly qualifies.

This year's short list includes one real surprise and others that fit within what many would view as a "standard" view of gaming excellence, which is to say the list includes some very fun games. The other nominee is "Jeepform," a style of role playing that would make the "role playing is an artform" advocates of the early days of the hobby very proud.

This year's list is as follows:

• Dominion, a card game by Donald X. Vaccarino (published by Rio Grande Games)
• Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition, a role-playing game by Rob Heinsoo, Mike Mearls, and James Wyatt (published by Wizards of the Coast)
• Jeepform, a game-style from Scandinavia (fostered by the Vi åker jeep collective)
• Mouse Guard, a role-playing game by Luke Crane (published by Archaia Studios Press)
• Sweet Agatha, a mystery game by Kevin Allen Jr (self-published)

The winner of the 2009 Award will be announced on Wednesday 12th August, at the annual Diana Jones Award and Freelancer Party in Indianapolis, the unofficial start of the Gen Con Indy convention.

About the Award
The Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming was founded and first awarded in 2001. It is presented annually to the person, product, company, event or any other thing that has, in the opinion of its mostly anonymous committee of games industry luminaries, best demonstrated the quality of “excellence” in the world of hobby-gaming in the previous year. The winner of the Award receives the Diana Jones trophy.

The short-list and eventual winner are chosen by the Diana Jones Committee, a mostly anonymous group of games-industry alumni and illuminati.

Past winners include Peter Adkison, Jordan Weisman, the role-playing games Nobilis, Sorcerer, and My Life with Master, and the board-game Ticket to Ride. This is the ninth year of the Award.

My personal hope is that 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons (4e) will win the day, but I wouldn't place any money on it. I believe that 4e has done something that has become rare in role playing games today. It has attempted to create a rules set that appeals to new gamers, it is an active attempt to bring new people into the hobby with an elegant system that remains exciting throughout long term campaign play. To do this the game incorporated elements from the Burning Wheel system (the skill challenge system is very similar to the resolution system for BW), the Savage Worlds game system (4e was designed to be played with minimal preparation, helping those who have less time to play still have an opportunity for deep play), Feng Shui (the inclusion of minion rules for those pests who should be easily dispatched), and Trading Card Games (the inclusion of a unified tag system which are coherent and consistent). The game is a marvel to play and is very much on the cutting edge of game design and community promotion, don't even get me into how the Organized Play elements of 4e help small store to promote the hobby. 4e is a unified effort to promote role playing as a hobby.

All the others are good games that push gaming innovations in different ways and deserve consideration.

Hulu Recommendation Friday: Robotech -- The Shadow Chronicles

Hulu's selection keeps getting better and better. Spend a little time in front of the CRT (or flatscreen) and watch the recent update of the Robotech Saga.

What will be the fate of the Earth? Just click play and toggle the Full Screen button.

Warner Considers "300" Sequel: Is There Glory to Be Found After Thermopylae?

In 480 BC, 300 Spartans with the aid of some 400 Thebens and 700 or so hoplites from Thespiae stood at the pass of Thermopylae in the hopes of delaying the massive Persian army of Emperor Xerxes. The force failed to provide any significant delay to the march of the Persian army and not long after the defeat of the Spartans the Persian army captured Athens -- the battle at Thermopylae had provided sufficient time for the Athenians to flee their city to bide their time for a better time and place to face Xerxes' army. But the death of the 300 did fuel the fires that enabled the Greeks to defeat Xerxes' army. In dying, the 300 had proven that Spartans were willing to die in defense of Greece and provided a wonderful morale boosting tale for later battles. The death of the 300 made it so that Xerxes would have to face a unified Greece and not individual city states that could be defeated one by one.

In 2007, Warner Brothers and Legendary Pictures released a summer blockbuster film based on a Frank Miller graphic novel adaptation of the sacrifice of the 300 at Thermopylae. The film was a huge financial success and stirred up some political controversy as well.

Now it appears that Warner and Legendary are inching toward putting together a sequel to the successful epic.

But what would such a sequel look like? What story would one adapt as a sequel to 300? Hollywood loves to build on the success of a winner, all businesses do, but what story could serve as a worthy successor to one of the most inspirational battles in recorded history?

One might think that the ultimate defeat of Xerxes' navy and army at the battles of Salamis and Plataea would be a good place to start. I wouldn't agree. Primarily because the narrative framing device of 300 is that of a warrior telling the tale of the sacrifice of the 300 to a mass of troops gathered at Plataea just before they charge against the Persian army. In a way, 300 is already the story of Plataea. So that's not really a good place to start.

How about a representation of the Peloponnesian War where the Spartans "came to the defense" of Boeotia and Corinth? Given that one would have to portray Sparta's subjection of the Messenian Helots and the fact that Sparta, after defeating Athens and preventing Athens from becoming "imperial", is itself defeated by Epiminondas of Boeotia when Sparta attempts to become "imperial" in its own right. The Boeotian's of Thebes are the people who most easily translate into the champions of freedom during the Peloponnesian War. In what may be a legacy of the Peloponnesian war, or at least the Boeotian War that immediately followed it, it is often argued that the 400 Thebans who fought at Thermopylae were hostages taken by Leonidas.

Unless you're willing to paint the heroes of the previous films as the anti-heroes (or even villains) of the second film, it's better to avoid using the Peloponnesian War as a "sequel" to 300. A kick ass movie about Epiminondas would be a real treat, and it would be nice for people to witness the darker side of Sparta's "helot policy," but it doesn't make for a natural sequel.

This really leaves only two choices.


The first choice would be a portrayal of the Greek victory against Darius at Marathon. The battle, and the way that the message of victory was delivered, still echo in modern athletics. We once more have a story about "democracy" vs. "empire," but we would also be watching the story of the Athenians whose participation was minimized in 300. In 300, the Athenian naval victory over the Persians is portrayed merely as a storm brought by Zeus to crush the Persian navy. Barely a mention of Athens is made in 300. Gerard Butler, as Leonidas, tells us perfectly which city state 300 is about when he proclaims, "Madness?! THIS IS SPARTA!" 300 is about Sparta, and highlighting its virtues while overlooking its vices, and not about some "intellectual" city state to the north. Once more we are left with a subject which would make a great film, the Battle of Marathon, but one which doesn't translate well into a sequel to 300.

This leaves us with our second, and probably best, remaining choice. The tale of the 10,000 and their journey home after the death of Cyrus the Younger. During the Peloponnesian War, Darius II sent money and his young son Cyrus to aid the Spartans in their war against Athens. Cyrus used the opportunity to gain allies among the Spartans as he desired the throne that his older brother Artaxerxes II would inherit when their father died. He eventually brought some 11,000 mercenary Greeks -- including a goodly number of Spartans -- to aid him in his attempt to take the throne. He was wise to bring the Greeks as they were able to win a large battle at Cunaxa, but he wasn't lucky and was killed during the battle. This left 10,000 Greeks trapped in enemy territory seeking a way home. The leaders of the 10,000, including Clearchus of Sparta, were slain while trying to negotiate safe passage home. The 10,000 had to fight their way home. The tale of the 10,000 -- while it still has some Peloponnesian war baggage -- is one of the great tales of Ancient Greece.

The story of the 10,000 was also the inspiration for one of the great "cult" films of the late 70's -- The Warriors.

So here's to hoping that 300 is followed by 10,000. The audiences should have a good time with a rip roaring tale, and the critics will have a field day with puns a plenty.

Blizzard Finds Method to Create Profitable Commercial: Sam Raimi to Direct "World of Warcraft" Film

A couple of years ago movie going audiences started seeing advertisements for Blizzard Entertainment designed video games. First came the advertisements for Warcraft III, then came the advertisements for World of Warcraft. The advertisements were exciting, entertaining, and conveyed an accurate depiction of what consumers could expect from the video game products.

The advertisements also worked. Warcraft III sold 1 million copies in its first month of release. Given that Blizzard shipped 4.4 million copies upon release in order to meet demand and that Warcraft III related products are still on top 20 sales lists for PC games, we can guess that Warcraft III has sold in excess of 4 million copies. Better yet, as of the end of the first quarter of 2009 World of Warcraft had subscription revenues of $314 million for the first quarter of 2009. With the World of Warcraft MMORPG, Activision-Blizzard essentially has a blockbuster movie a month in revenue with a cost of goods sold of less than $20 million per $100 million. Not a bad revenue stream.

Marketing is one effective way to increase a revenue stream, but Activision-Blizzard do an ample amount of marketing and marketing isn't free...or is it? What if Activision-Blizzard made a movie for $100 million, with an established genre director, and the movie turned a profit? What if people who watched the movie, but hadn't played World of Warcraft the game yet, became subscribers to the game? Wouldn't that be an advertisement that not only paid for itself in new subscribers, but literally paid for itself because people paid admission to watch the advertisement?

BRILLIANT!

This is exactly what Activision-Blizzard announced today. In 2006, we mentioned that Legendary Pictures was interested in making a World of Warcraft movie, now Blizzard Entertainment and Legendary Pictures have signed Sam Raimi to direct a World of Warcraft motion picture. As a director and producer Sam Raimi has been involved in several successful "geek" genre ventures. From his successful Spider-Man comic book adaptations to Army of Darkness,, Hercules, Xena, and Legend of the Seeker, Raimi has demonstrated that he approaches these ventures with a "fan's eye." One can easily see how Raimi's ability to combine humor and darker elements will be a virtue for the World of Warcraft movie. According to Variety, Raimi will pick up the reins after he completes his work on Spider-Man 4.

Geek reaction to Raimi's involvement is certain to be mixed. Some fans will yawn, others will grown, still others will cheer.

Put us among those that will cheer, but with a slight tapering worry based sigh at the end of the cheer. Raimi can make a great World of Warcraft film, but only if he concentrates on making a great fantasy movie that takes place in the World of Warcraft and avoids trying to simulate playing sessions as film.

James Lowder Adding Another Must Buy Gaming Book to Book Shelves Everywhere

In the summer of 2007 Green Ronin released the most important book in the gaming hobby since David Parlett's The Oxford History of Board Games. The book, entitled Hobby Games: The 100 Best, was edited by industry luminary James Lowder and contained essays about 100 of the best -- and most important -- hobby games that had ever been released on the market.



Some of the games in the book have been out of print for some time. Avalon Hill's Gettysburg -- which was the first themed commercial wargame and following in the footsteps of Avalon Hill's Tactics and Tactics II created the modern commercial wargaming industry -- gets a brilliant write up by one of the founding fathers of the modern gaming industry Lou Zocchi. It is a game that is particularly difficult for collectors who like to play games as well as own them. Gettysburg went through numerous editions, each with major changes to the rules of the game. The original game featured a square grid overlaying the map used during play, the second edition replaced the square grid with hexagons, the third edition brought back the squares and added new rules, the fourth edition...you get the point. Adding to the dilemma is the fact that, while different, many of the editions are fun for their very differences.

Other games, which like Gettysburg were games that spawned genres of game play, are still in print -- though usually in a new edition that is often very different from the original game. Richard Garfield praises Dungeons and Dragons, the game that created the role playing game hobby. Jordan Weisman praises Magic the Gathering, the game that spawned the Collectible Card Game industry and paved the way for the Pokemon craze.

Even when the games aren't responsible for creating a new genre, they are still great games. Ogre, reviewed by the late Erick Wujcik, wasn't the first tactical wargame featuring tanks. But it is, to date, one of the most accessible tactical wargames and highlights the struggle of humanity against a murderous machine that echoes the "Butlerian Jihad" and predates the Terminator franchise. It is a shame that Steve Jackson Games doesn't continue to keep this game in print...even as a pdf download. It's the game that launched the company, and it is a wonderful introduction to "map, counter, and CRT" wargaming.

All 100 of the games written about are worth playing, and all 100 entries of the book are worth reading. Whether you want a glimpse in to the variety of experience the hobby offers, a look into the history of the hobby, or a peak to see if anything in the hobby is "for you," Hobby Games: The 100 Best is a must have for any book shelf.

Given the high praise above, you can imagine how much I am looking forward to the release of James Lowder's second collection Family Games: The 100 Best. The book will be released in late August, sadly not in time for Gen Con, and once again has an awe inspiring list of designers who contribute their thoughts on some of the best family games from the past 100 years.



Here is the list of confirmed authors, according to the Green Ronin website:

FAMILY GAMES: THE 100 BEST

Mike Gray: Foreword
James Lowder: Introduction
Wil Wheaton: Afterword
David Millians: Appendix (Games and Education)

ESSAYISTS:
Andrea Angiolino
Keith Baker
Wolfgang Baur
Carrie Bebris
Uli Blennemann
Bill Bodden
Mike Breault
Richard Breese
Todd Breitenstein
Alessio Cavatore
Leo Colovini
William W. Connors
David “Zeb” Cook
Monte Cook
Luke Crane
Dominic Crapuchettes
Elaine Cunningham
Richard Dansky
Karl Deckard
Dale Donovan
James Ernest
Matt Forbeck
Anthony J. Gallela
Richard Garfield
Marc Gascoigne
Stephen Glenn
Eric Goldberg
Andrew Greenberg
Ed Greenwood
Jeff Grubb
Scott Haring
Bruce Harlick
Jess Hartley
Fred Hicks
Will Hindmarch
Kenneth Hite
Joshua Howard
Steve Jackson (GW)
Steve Jackson (SJG)
Paul Jaquays
Seth Johnson
Matthew Kirby
Corey Konieczka
John Kovalic
Robin D. Laws
Matt Leacock
Jess Lebow
Jon Leitheusser
Ken Levine
Nicole Lindroos
Ian Livingstone
Michelle Lyons
Hal Mangold
Jason Matthews
Erik Mona
Alan R. Moon
Colin Moulder-McComb
Bruce Nesmith
Kevin Nunn
Peter Olotka
Phil Orbanes
Andrew Parks
David Parlett
Sébastien Pauchon
jim pinto
Mike Pondsmith
Chris Pramas
Lewis Pulsipher
John D. Rateliff
Sheri Graner Ray
Philip Reed
Thomas M. Reid
Susan McKinley Ross
Charles Ryan
Steven Schend
Robert J. Schwalb
Emiliano Sciarra
Jesse Scoble
Mike Selinker
Bruce Shelley
John Smedley
Lester Smith
Jared Sorensen
Warren Spector
Stan!
Gav Thorpe
Dan Tibbles
Jeff Tidball
John Scott Tynes
Monica Valentinelli
James Wallis
James M. Ward
Darren Watts
Tom Wham
Bruce Whitehill
John Wick
Kevin Wilson
Ray Winninger
Teeuwynn Woodruff
John Yianni

Like the list of authors in Hobby Games, this is a list of some of the best and brightest game designers working today from a variety of gaming genres. The inclusion of some of the leading game historians (the aforementioned David Parlett and the as yet unmentioned Phil Orbanes) speaks to James Lowder's knowledge of the field and his desire to create a product that is important to hobbyists and useful to those outside the hobby. The designers selected range from the old guard to the exciting young turks.

Sadly, some of the designers who had articles in the prior book in the series are no longer with us. One would give a lot to read Gary Gygax's or Erick Wujcik's thoughts on the subject. I am also disappointed to see that Ken St. Andre and Rick Loomis, both featured in the prior book, are absent from the list of contributors. But an editor's job is no easy and this is a wonderful list indeed.

I am particularly interested in seeing what longtime Cinerati friend Matt Forbeck wrote in his entry as well as what relative newcomer in the industry Jess Hartley chooses for her entry. Forbeck has worked on a number of the classics of the hobby and Jess' work on the excellent Scion by White Wolf (as well as numerous World of Darkness titles by the same publisher) makes hers a voice I'd like to hear from.

Of all the names on the list, I would only remove one -- Wil Wheaton. His removal would have provided less geek celebrity appeal, but would have allowed Lowder to invite me to write the afterword.

Gaming Paper: Selling Game Products with Online Infomercials

Erik Bauer, the inventor and chief salesman of Gaming Paper, has a difficult road ahead of him. Erik is trying to sell what might be viewed by many as an "old" product as a new innovation. Erik is trying to get the modern roleplaying gamer to buy his specially designed paper to replace the gaming tiles and expensive gaming mats on which gamers are currently spending lots of money. He wants us to buy...paper, and to make his case he is becoming that most wonderful of things and internet Pitchman.

It's hard to be a Pitchman, a carnival barker, a huckster if you will. Most people think you're kind of shady and untrustworthy, but I've always admired these dicey individuals. I love a good huckster. It doesn't matter whether the huckster is running a game of three card monte, working at a carnival, promoting a movie, or selling me stuff on television. There's just something entertaining about the patter and technique that entertains me, not that I'm going to buy from them mind you. This is one of the reasons I am going to deeply miss Billy Mays, and lament the fact that I never got to see William Castle in action.

At the carnival, the job of the barker might be to convince the rube that the $2.00 stuffed animal is worth 10 attempts at a carnival game...each game costing $3.00. The job of the carnival barker is to create a higher demand for an item than the item might otherwise command. After all, if the $2.00 stuffed animal isn't a $2.00 stuffed animal but a "test of one's manliness" then it is certainly worth $30.00. Right?

On television, you watch masters of the art (like the aforementioned Billy Mays) gleefully attempt to convince viewers that they absolutely must buy OxiClean for their cleaning needs or Green Now to fix up their lawn.

The internet is the perfect environment for these ne'er do wells. In fact, the internet is home to one of the best hucksters of all time, Tom Dickson, with his stream of "Will it Blend?" internet ads. I absolutely love the "diamonds" ad that Blend-Tec did a while ago.

So how does Erik measure up to the great Pitchmen like Billy Mays and Tom Dickson? By the video below, you can see that he gets the concept of pitching and seems to be trying to fuse the Dickson and Mays models. It does come off as a little clumsy and low, but it's still entertaining. I particularly admire the comment about ink bleed, "it doesn't go through...unless you went really thick." I actually recommend watching all 5 videos they have up, there are some pretty silly moments that are pretty entertaining. In fact, in support of Erik I'll probably buy a few rolls of his "high quality paper." $4.00 a roll doesn't seem like too much to ask.