This September you will have a chance to decide the fate of the Kennedy-Nixon presidential campaign as GameTable Online (GTO) brings 1960: The Making of a President to the web. When released in early fall, registered players at GameTableOnline.com can play their online version of 1960 for free.
Designed by Christian Leonhard and Jason Matthews and licensed through Z-Man games, 1960: The Making of a President lets you take the role of John F. Kennedy or Richard M. Nixon as they compete to lead America through an era of turbulent change. The board game has received rave reviews and is currently ranked #17 out of 4660 games on Boardgamegeek.com.
…
I was actually planning on ordering this last July, but I hit a few availability snags. I’m hoping this game will help my efforts in getting my SO to play other games aside from “Settlers of Catan“. If the game launches at GameTable Online before physical supply is available to me, at least I can try it out online to see if it could work for us.
If ever I do enjoy the game, GameTable Online will still help me get my fix with or without my SO around.
I just read an email from GameTable Online saying that starting July 1 (yep, I read the email a week late) GameTable Online will be free to everyone!
To those who don’t know, GameTable Online is a website that allows you to play selected boardgames online. It uses Java, and is actually the tech used by Gleemax’s Roborally. Membership has always been free, but in the past, the free members had limitations to the games they could play. To remove your limitations, you either had to maintain a certain number of plays against other players, or you could pay-up.
I initially joined just so I could learn how to play Tigris & Euphrates. Now, all the limitations are gone, and you can play any game you want!
Head on over to GameTable Online and check out their selection of online playable boardgames!
Last week, with urges to buy books I don’t need, I thought of reviewing what I really wanted to get. Strangely, although I could come up with a lot of crap “I’d like”, I honestly couldn’t think of anything “I’d need”. [my SO interrupting my typing: "dont worry baby, ill help you make your wishlist. 1st; you want wiii, next, flat screen tv, then topshop..."]
[continuing the following day, without interruptions :P]
Well, yeah, a Wii would be nice, and so would a flatscreen TV. Still, let me try this again…
Last week, I was considering reviewing what stuff I’d want to get for myself. Among the things that popped in my mind were the following:
/*
in case the flash slideshow above doesn’t appear, here are the items in it:
It annoyed me that they were mostly personal fads, prohibitively expensive, or just impractical. Sure, having them would be nice, but very few of them are useful. Even the most practical and useful items in the list have some serious flaws:
any of the books - Yeah, any of these would be really cool. Unfortunately, none of ‘em appear to be available locally.
any Foxtrot anthology - As reasonable as this may be, I can’t seem to find this in any of the local bookstores either.
a new desktop computer - Expensive, and I can survive with my current one (it’s chugging along, the keyword is “chugging”). I’m planning to buy a new one when Starcraft 2 comes out in December (and I’ll make sure it’s Diablo 3 ready). Until then, it’s impractical to upgrade (as prices keep dropping as time goes by).
EEEPC 901 - I can surf the net AND read PDFs anywhere I want! (and then some!) I’d probably lug it around everyday ‘coz it’s small and it’s gonna be so bloody useful. Unfortunately, it’ll (it’s not out yet) most likely cost more than PhP 25k (since the EEEPC 900 is already around that range). That’s already the cost of a really cheap (and possibly impractical) laptop. Not to mention that MSI will be releasing a competitor, and that the battery life is still questionable. A portable internet surfing machine with a battery life of around 3 hours, even with PDF reading capabilities, might not be worth the 25k.
Not to mention that there are already rumors about a 903, 904, and 905. Gawd, this gadget evolves almost as fast as desktop PCs do.
at least 1 TB external storage - Very very useful to me, it’ll make backing-up of data much much easier. Unfortunately, it’s still a bit expensive.
Starcraft: The Board Game - It’s actually very reasonably priced (if you know where to look), and I think that I might enjoy the gameplay quite well. Unfortunately, I’m not sure if it’s the right game for my gaming group. Our 6 player Catan games (which my gaming group loves) already occupies quite a bit of space, this one is expected to be bigger. This will be a minor problem compared to the possibility that they won’t like the gameplay the way I do.
A Touch of Evil, The Supernatural Game - This would be an awesome co-op games tester for my gaming group (particularly since it seemed to be designed to have the co-op part as removable) and probably be very reasonably priced, but it won’t be out ’till September.
So I decided to change focus and think about the stuff “I need” rather than the stuff “I like”. Removing the usuals like love, food, shelter, friends, more money, and A LOT MORE MONEY, I came up with this list:
<none>
I already have practically everything I need, and quite a bit of what I want. The items I came up with in my wishlist are just that… wishes… icing on the cake.
I guess I have a lot to be thankful for, and I am.
BTW, in case the cave you’ve been living in doesn’t have TV/internet/print news access, Blizzard has officially announcedDiablo III. I’ve never been a Diablo fan (I respect the game, but I guess it just wasn’t my thing at the time), but this one might pique my interest.
Lawrence Kasdan Adapting ‘Robotech’ - <sigh> I guess the “Macross” brand will remain in Japan. Then again, if this movie sucks, I’ll be glad they didn’t use the Macross name.
The following non-Avalon Hill (but still Wizards of the Coast) games are also available:
Magic: The Gathering Online (though technically this isn’t underGleemax)
Desktop Tower Defense
The Avalon Hill games apparently uses the GameTable Online engine. You’ll need to create a new account for this (it’s free) even though you already have a Gleemax account since it seems to use a different account system (for now, at least).
We all know MtGO has it’s own software (though I didn’t check how they plan on letting you play for free), and the Desktop Tower Defense seems to be flash based.
If you’ve been itching to try these games out, do it now while it’s free!
I wasn’t able to have much time to talk about this, but the whole thing was rekindled in me on my Australia trip last May. At that trip, my Aussie cousins (et al) taught me and my pinoy cousins how to play Settlers of Catan.
It changed my life.
For one thing, it reminded me of the old summer months I spent in Bulacan where my cousins and I played board games day-in, day-out. Monopoly, Sorry, Cluedo, and even 2 boardgame i made myself (one based on MAD, the other based on a Spy book I had at the time).
Since I got back, I spent a ton of time looking for other board games, researching of ways to play online, and even rekindling my interest in software development.
Unfortunately, there aren’t much choices when purchasing board games in the Philippines. Aside from Hobbes & Landes and Neutral Grounds, there isn’t much else to look.
I’ll be writing more about this topic in the future. For now, I’ll mention that I’m eying the following:
I just read an email from GameTable Online saying that starting July 1 (yep, I read the email a week late) GameTable Online will be free to everyone!
I initially joined just so I could learn how to play Tigris & Euphrates. Now, all the limitations are gone, and you can play any game you want!
