Days of Wonder forged an exclusive distribution deal with Alliance Game Distributors and Diamond Comic Distributor for the North American and Asian markets.

The official line is that this is to reign in soaring distribution costs, get a better handle on inventory, and in response to industry consolidations. ICv2 interviewed DoW CEO Eric Hautemont and Vice President Mark Kaufman to get more details.

The interview covers the above material, but there’s a little bit at the end of the interview, which some might interpret as a slight dig toward another company in the business who shall go unnamed:

So you’re not trying to control who buys or what prices they set?

Hautemont: Exactly. We think it’s not even a matter of like or dislike, we think it’s a losing battle. Consumers are the people who pay our checks and the distributor checks and the retailer checks. At the end of the day, we firmly believe they have the right to choose the way they are most comfortable buying. Some of them like to buy online. Some of them like to buy in a real store and it will be naive of us to think that we could affect or change that. We aren’t a big enough player, and I think even the large players can’t dictate to end-users where they purchase.

• 0 Comments

Baptism at Bull Run will be a new Civil War game, based on Simmons’ Bonaparte at Marengo.

There will be an official kick-off event beginning Monday, August 4, 2008. Participants will be partnered with opponents to play introductory games of Baptism at Bull Run remotely via CyberBoard.

Instructions on the site.

• 0 Comments

If you like the Looking Glass Chess set, you’ll also probably like this LED Chess set from Dutch designer Daan Van Tulder.

Says Van Tuler:

The game is fully made of PMMA and the light is provided by four LEDs situated in the corner of the board. The different pieces are given its characteristics by minimal adjustments of the basic shape.

Instructables also made a glow set, and also gives you instructions on how to make your own.

• 0 Comments

B1 Games and Genius Products are set to bring you the Halo DVD Board Game, all the entertainment of the online interactive massive computer game world brought to you in an, uh, offline interactive single-system game that still will have you staring at a screen.

I can’t recall any other online games being converted into DVD games.

• 0 Comments

In this unusual chess set by Yasmin Sethi, the pieces only display what they are when they are physically touching the board. Remove them from the board, and the glass cylander surounding the piece turns opque.

In ‘Alice through the Looking Glass’ by Lewis Carroll, Alice falls through a mirror and on the other side of the mirror, she becomes a piece in a game of chess. Inspired by this, the chess pieces have an opaque mirror finish, when they touch the surface of the board they magically turn transparent and reveal the identity of the piece contained inside them. When removed from the board they revert to being opaque, hiding the identity of the piece.

The Chessboard is made out of LightPoints a material manufactured by Schott, which is glass that has LED’s embedded in it; the pieces are coated with Mirona, a Material that turns transparent when light shines through it. When the piece is placed on the board it completes the circuit and lights up the LED under it turning it transparent, like magic.

• 0 Comments

Cubicle 7 Entertainment will be premiering its new science fiction roleplaying game, Starblazer Adventures, at Gen Con Indy. I’ve been dying for this one. The game, based on the classic British comic book of the same name (not the Starblazers anime series), uses the FATE system popularized by Spirit of the Century from Evil Hat Productions. Starblazer Adventures is being touted by Cubicle 7 as “the rock and roll space opera adventure game.” It looks to be an easy game to learn and run, while at the same time providing a lot of supporting material for the space opera genre. Exactly what I’ve been looking for to play with my gaming group.

Starblazer Adventures was just the subject of a two-page article in Britain’s 2000AD comic-magazine. You can find links to scans of the coverage in the developer’s Livejournal.

Cubicle 7 will sell a limited number of copies each day at the convention. I intend to be first in line. For your own safety, I suggest you stay out of my way!

• 0 Comments

I just wanted to post a quick note to let you readers know that Purple Pawn will feature special coverage of the Gen Con game convention scheduled for August 14-17 in Indianapolis. I’ll be attending the con, and in addition to playing a some games, I’m hoping to arrange a few interviews, as well as demos of new and upcoming products.

Leave a comment here to let me know if you have any requests or recommendations. Any burning questions for the game company reps? Anything special you’re dying to see from the exhibitors? Which companies or personalities do you most want to hear from? Also let me know if you plan to be there. I’d love to meet some of our readers in person.

• 0 Comments

Eye-Level Entertainment is going public with its movie-themed board game still in development. Eye-Level playtested Flat Acting at Origins and is now recruiting members of the public for a focus group. In the game, players represent different movie genres competing for limited studio funding.

• 0 Comments

The latest GURPS: Infinite Worlds release from Steve Jackson Games imagines what it would be like if access to the parallel worlds was granted by Janus, god of doorways, instead of the mega-corporation Infinity Unlimited. What if world-jumpers, instead of technicians, were wizards? This is the background for author Kenneth Hite’s book Collegio Januari, taking the Infinite Worlds setting to the fantasy genre.

• 0 Comments

While D&D 4e is selling well and finds positive reaction even among the indie RPG crowd, some portions of the roleplaying community remain committed to version 3.5. Thus it is that Oone Games has announced the upcoming publication of an entirely new line of Urban Adventure products for the previous version of Dungeons & Dragons. Leading off will be The Great City Campaign Setting, followed by A Pound of Flesh adventure, The Great City Color Map Folio, and additional adventures in a grand story arc.

• 1 Comment