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Games

Friendship is in The Cards

The first My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic collectible card game officially sanctioned by Hasbro is being released very soon by Enterplay. The Two-Player Starter Set is available now for ordering, and it’ll be shipping in January. “Build your decks around one of the Mane characters and build a separate problem deck.  Race to solve (yours and your opponent’s) problems to earn points.  First person to 15 points wins.” According to the publicity we’ve read, that makes it sound a lot simpler to master than it actually is!  (Kind of like… friendship.) Check out the Enterplay site for more information.

image c. 2013 Enterplay

The Path of Lycanthropes

The FRP game Pathfinder slowly works its way a little more furry with the new Pathfinder Player Companion: Blood of the Moon. “Channel the power of the moon and turn the curse of lycanthropy into a potent blessing. Whether you were born with traces of bestial blood from a lycanthropic ancestor or you were bitten by a werewolf and have transformed into one completely, this volume contains everything you need to embrace the beast within and become a fearsome weapon against your enemies. Become a protector of the natural world as a scion of a werebear, revel in bloodshed with the wolf fighting style created by your ancestors, or find your calling in the witch practices of your werecrocodile forerunners. Even if you do not take directly after these bestial horrors of the night, there is much to learn from associating with them—as either ally or hunter. The choice is yours.” Sounds like several species are involved already! Visit the Paizo.com site to find out more about this new softcover volume, loaded with full-color illustrations.

image c. 2013 Paizo

Hang Out With Your Loser Friends

Night in the Woods is a 2D video game created by Alec Holowka and Scott Benson. It’s… different, to say the least. And it involves a lot of funny animal characters. “All Mae wants to do is run around with her friends, break stuff and hang on to a life of aggressive aimlessness. She dropped out of college and returned home to her crumbling old mining town to do just that, but she’s finding that nothing is the same anymore. The old town seems different. Her old friends have grown in their own directions. Mae herself is undergoing some sudden and unexplained changes, giving her mysterious abilities that grant her access to a side of town she never knew existed. The world is changing, things are ending, and the future is uncertain. Up behind the park at the edge of town, back in the trees by the old mine- there’s something in the woods. And it could mean no future at all.” The game creators have had a very successful Kickstarter campaign; already they’ve earned pledges way beyond what they were asking for and they still have nearly a month left, as of this writing. Check out the Kickstarter page to see a video preview of the game as well.

image c. 2013 Alec Holowka / Scott Benson

Out of the Shadows and Into Your Game Console

The pizza-loving ninja-boys are back, in a brand new game created by Red Fly Studios and published by Activision. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows is a down-loadable game based largely on the current hit TMNT series on Nickelodeon, as well as the original comics of course. A 4-person co-op game (convenient huh?), it also features an optional 2-player off-line mode. It was released on August 28 for Xbox Live Arcade and Steam, and it will be released on September 24 for PlayStation Network. There’s a preview video of the game currently making the rounds on YouTube. You can also check out the game’s official page on Facebook.

image c. 2013 Activision

Help the Fighting Monkey

Jed Henry of Provo, Utah is a big fan of Japanese wood block artwork — so much so that he’s joined up with on-line efforts to preserve and encourage the craft, which has suffered in Japan of late. Now he’s taken things up a notch or two and created Edo Superstar, a new animated game that incorporates the wood block style. In it we meet Masaru, a headstrong young Japanese monkey who quits the shadowy world of ninja warriors to become a fighting hero in the light of day, working his way toward the capital city in his quest for glory. Edo Superstar is being developed both as a computer game and as a smart phone app. Jed Henry and artist Dave Bull have set up a Kickstarter campaign to finance the project, and the perks for various levels of contribution include various t-shirts and art print sets. The Kickstarter page also includes several animated video previews of the game.

image c. 2013 by Dave Bull

Return of the Killer Bunnies!

No, it’s not a big budget re-make of Night of the Lepus. You wish.  No, in 2013 the well-known card game Killer Bunnies (created by Jeff Bellinger and published by Playroom Entertainment) marked its 10th anniversary. In celebration, Playroom have recently released a new game, Killer Bunnies: Heroes vs. Villains. Here’s there description: “Drawing and playing cards from a shared deck, players may choose to be a defender of goodness, courageousness and virtue by playing the Hero Super Bunnies or a generator of chaos, evilness and deceit by playing the Villain Super Bunnies. Whoever they are, the players use their bunnies’ powers to build cities, attack opponents, and protect themselves. The first player who has a predetermined number of bunnies in the Bunny Circle and cities in the City Circle wins!” Playroom’s Killer Bunnies web site has more, including sample artwork from the game.

image c. 2013 Playroom Entertainment

Dragons Help You Learn

Jump Start is a creative company best known for designing and developing games that help to teach young children the basics of reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic. Since 1991 they’ve released several lines of teaching games under the banners of Jump Start and Math Blaster.  More recently though, Jump Start has hitched up with Dreamworks Animation to create a new line of teaching software and on-line games based on the Madagascar series of animated movies. Yes, kids even learn from the penguins! The first release is called Madagascar Preschool Surf n Slide. Even more recently, there’s a new line of on-line games based on How to Train Your Dragon called School of Dragons. Check it all out at the Jump Start web site.

image c. 2013 Jump Start, Dreamworks Animation

Fur-Opoly?

Well sort of… and face it, you knew it was coming! First up is Monopoly: The My Little Pony edition — by which they mean My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic of course. It’s available for pre-order at Comics Infinity. “Welcome to Ponyville! A big adventure and tons of fun await you in this playful My Little Pony edition of Monopoly! Favorite locations in Ponyville are up for grabs including Cutie Mark Clubhouse, Sweet Apple Acres, Manehattan, and the Crystal Empire. ” The six game tokens are, of course, the “mane six” characters from the series.  What, not into the MLP phenomenon? All right, head on over to Coin-Op.TV and check out the Monopoly: Skylanders edition, also in pre-orders now. They’ve got just about everyone covered!

image c. 2013 Hasbro / The Hub

Up Against The Spikey One!

Coming this August, Archie Comics presents the 2nd Volume of collected Sonic the Hedgehog stories, this time titled Best of Sonic the Hedgehog: Villains. ” This deluxe new installment to the smash-hit ‘Best of Sonic’ series celebrates twenty years of comics, specials and mini-series with the baddest baddies the Sonic comics have to offer! Heroes are only as good as their villains, and Sonic’s world hosts some of the most fearsome and loathsome characters you love to hate! Root for the bad guy (just this once) in this Best of Villains collection featuring DR. EGGMAN, IXIS NAUGUS, the BABYLON ROUGES and many more in a must-have for any Sonic fan! Plus all-new cover art from Ben Bates with acclaimed painter Dave Devries, and insights from the Sonic creative team!” You heard ’em. Check out this full-color hardcover collection at Amazon.

Image c. 2013 Archie Comics