Banned In Salem: Gaming Thread 12/15/2013

I was going to title this Japanese creeper thread but well, there isn't much Japanese stuff in this week. And this week will be a little short as I spent most of last night doing tech support over the phone with my parents. I've got my top 10 boardgames section (I did finish a card game list which is below) but that is coming next week do to my dad screwing up his computer.

Down to your parent's basement below

• Well, Microsoft is hoping to launch their first tv show on Xbox One early next year. Should be.....interesting.

• Surprisingly, GSP didn't win the fan vote to be on the cover of the upcoming UFC game. Gustafsson will be standing his opponent from UFC 165, JBJ.

• Oculus gets a $75 million cash infusion from Marc Andreessen's (Netscape founder) venture capital firm.

• No buyers for the Amular IP during the 38 Studios IP auction. The did have a buyer for the Rise of Nations and Rise of Legends IPs.

• Though to the surprise of no one, hardware sales were up last month but software has tanked with 24% drop. PS4 was the best selling hardware of the month (no numbers) with XBox One racking up 909,132 sales for the 9 days it was on sale. Nintendo got the short end of the stick with soft sales for the Wii U and 3DS and software being very week. What's a Vita? It's not existent and big holiday game for it, Tearaway sold a whopping 14K copies.

• Gran Turismo 6 on cruise control to be one of the worst selling entries into the series.

• With the community feedback for Forza 5, Turn 10 seems to be way far right in a move that seems to be removing all sense of progression.

• Considering in how rare it happens, Goons have found a way to lose a second station egg in EVE this year.

• Elder Scrolls Online gets a release date, April 4th for PC and Mac while console version hits in June.

• New Walking Dead Season 2 trailer

• Namco announced the next game in the Tales series. Tales of Zestiria is coming out for the PS3

The Walking Dead: Season 2 (PS3, 360, PC, MAC) - After being burned with the 400 Days DLC, I'll be waiting for this to hit $5-10.

Tichu - If you want a trick taking card game, this is the one. It's a fast paced game for 4 players akin to Spades and Hearts with a couple of exta cards to throw a wrinkle into it. Me and my friends play this game every week for money like old people with Bridge and Cribbage at a penny a point (you play to 1000 points, tend to lose a couple of bucks per hand). It's our go to drinking game.

Ascension - It's a 2-4 (four people is the best amount of people) player deck building game where you fight monsters and buy artifacts and allies. Six cards are in the middle of the table are what you can buy/fight, then you have three cards, a mage and knight which you can trade for with your crappy lower strength/mana cards. Totally have to copt to the fact that me and my friends totally went digital with this game as it's a perfect game to play at work with online multiplayer. That being said, it is my most played game of all-time game, I'm talking 3-5 games every single day for almost the last 3 years.

Fluxx - Hmm, this game is pure insanity where the rules can change more than once in a single turn. I dunno, this game is hard as hell to describe except for chaos. It's a blast and hard not to have fun playing it. Outside of the regular edition, the rules are all the same for every themed deck so pick your favorite subject and have some fun. Personally tend to get people to buy the Cthulhu and/or Monty Python decks as they're reconizable subjects to people who are just getting into the game.

Cards Against Humanity - Probably the best drinking game for when your completely loaded. Play style is more akin to the classic adult games of the 70's & 80's where the rules are loose and there really isn't any winners. As someone who owns almost all of the expansions and promos, I do have to cop to the fact that the game does get tired after awhile as there just isn't enough variety, after awhile you know which card will be played when.

Haggis - If you have four people, play Tichu instead but if you don't, Haggis is your game. Kinda a standard trick game with wild cards. Doesn't really do much new but that doesn't mean it isn't a lot of fun when you get into the groove.

Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game - It's slightly stipped down version of the CCG Call of Cthulhu game but it's more fleshed out. This game is hard to explain with all of the different phases of each round and all of the rules. The learning curve is a bit daunting and you will be playing with the book next to you.

Mu - Do you like Hearts? Well, Mu is a better version of it where the top bidder names the trump suit. With this game, I haven't played Hearts in almost 20 years. Dunno what else to say other than this game leads more to headgames in the bidding process in comparison of Hearts. Seriously, don't play Hearts people.

Modern Art: The Card Game - All of Reiner Knizia's auction games play more or less the same but me and my friends tend to stick to this one because of subject. You buy and sell artwork while trying to screw over the other three people. Play timid at the start by collecting one of the five pieces and then drop the bomb a couple rounds later to rack up the most cash. Get the reissue as it's a lot cheaper in comparison to the OOP release from 20 years ago.

Munchkin - What else is there to say? It's Munchkin and everyone has played it. It's been used as a gateway to actual good games for 10 years. There is a reason why this has won so many awards over the years and has countless expansions.

Spades - As much as I think Tichu craps on pretty much every other card game from great heights, Spades is Spades. It's a classic that everyone plays, especially at family events. No fuss no muss in explaining anything new to people.

And with that, I'm done.
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posted by Gang of Gaming Morons! at 03:40 PM

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