Back in the early 90s, I used to escape the boring reality of my grad-school studies by visiting Emerald City Comics & Cards, just off the University of Oregon campus. I remember the day when, suddenly, there were more people sitting on the ground playing some sort of card game than people reading comics. That game? Magic: The Gathering.
Since 1993, Wizards of the Coast have managed to keep the franchise alive and adapt to the changing world of gaming. Earlier this month they released Magic: The Gathering– Duels of the Planeswalkers via Xbox Live. On June 1, 2010, the game will be available to PC gamers, too! Wizards of the Coast and Valve Corporation have teamed up to provide the core game and first expansion via the Steam platform, for a nice $9.99 price.
If you are interested, you can check out the official press release here. Magic: The Gathering was a true monster in the gaming world– it propelled Wizards of the Coast into the driver seat when it came to gaming. Wizards of the Coast now owns the Dungeons & Dragons franchise, so don’t be surprised if the worlds of D&D and Magic seem to merge together every now and then!
By Sci-Guy-Mike
May 31st, 2010 - 7:37 am
Obviously it is easier to implement Magic on-line than DnD.
But WOTC needs to actually have a working on-line DnD implementation, like they wanted to do with 4e, which by most accounts has been a disaster. They blew it. But like a lot of companies, they figured “how hard can it be?” to just build it all in house.
They should have gone out and done what Microsoft or Apple would do – find someone who already does it, and buy them (there are several on-line game table softwares out there) and add features.
DnD will always be around, but unless they can work that out it will continue to descend into more of a niche product, as opposed to the powerhouse it once was.
May 31st, 2010 - 8:06 am
The entire 4e push was to make the game seem more like an online RPG. The new system of feats and powers mimics World of Warcraft, and to some extent Everquest. It’s less about role-playing now… more machine than man. But I still sense some good in it.
I agree 100%– WOTC needs a good on-line game for D&D. The old Baldur’s Gate/Icewind Dale games were fun play for the last edition of the game, and Neverwinter Nights had moments of fun. But a game as iconic as D&D should really have been the premier MMORPG.