Indy has nothing on you, as you search for the Bakong temple emeralds in the heart of the Cambodian jungle. All you have to do is navigate the trails, avoid the traps, and get out quick—you know what always happens at the end after you’ve grabbed the temple’s treasure! All this in Asmodee’s latest 30 minute game for two to five players—available now at U.S. retailers.

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As of Feb 20, the Euro-card game Lost Cities has disappeared from Xbox Live. Its official details page is missing. No one is entirely sure why.

The only other game that disappeared from the Xbox Live was a much-hated advergame for Toyota cars called Yaris. Lost Cities was well regarded, and even up for an award in its release year.

Source believes that the game’s license may have fallen through the cracks after its publisher merged with a larger company.

Meanwhile, you can still play the physical card game.

(source)

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Hasbro: Net earnings down 47% compared to last year ($19.7M compared to $37.5M), but this includes the impact of foreign exchange losses (strong dollar); so Hasbro claims only a 6% drop in earnings.

Domestically, board games were up, offsetting some of the losses; internationally, however, board games were down. Star Wars and Nerf were up in all areas. Hasbro is hoping that movies planned for this year will drive some toy sales. Salaries are frozen and hiring is limited to crucial positions only. (source)

Mattel: The strong dollar, and cautious orders, also caused a drop in earnings 15% ($51M). Barbie’s 50th anniversary helped a little. (source)

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What’s happening with the people and products of Wizkids?

According to ICv2, several former WizKids employees will be releasing a miniature line called Arcane Legions under the imprint Wells Expeditions, a child of Compound Fun. Compound Fun will also re-release former WizKids product Tsuro under the imprint Calliope Games.

I can’t find any web information for a game company called “Wells Expeditions”, nor “Calliope Games”, nor “Compound Fun”. The name “Arcane Legions” is heavily associated with a planned RPG/RTS video game from Slitherine Software UK which was never released, as near I as can tell. Also, I can find no corroborating sources for this news. ICv2 has pics (source). I’m envious; where do they get their info from? (source)

Catalyst Game Labs, makers of Classic Battletech and Shadowrun minis that were sold via WizKids, had teamed up with (the not yet existant) Pinata Games in order to buy back the rights to these lines in order to market them on their own (or relicense them), but Topps, despite closing Wizkids, kept the Shadowrun license for itself. Catalyst announced that they were changing the name of “Classic Battletech” to “Battletech”, but it is unclear to me if they have yet gained the license back. And the status of Heroclix, another Wizkids property, is also still up in the air.

In the meantime, as long as they are talking business, Catalyst and Pinata are going forward with plans for new games, produced by Catalyst and marketed by Pinata. (source)

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Two new entries in the Parkinson Masterworks line at Dark Sword Miniatures are the Frog Sage and Frog Fly Catcher. These go along with the very whimsical Frog Jester and Queen Ploogak and Phlunkey.

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