SEP, 2005

ARTICLES

Deduction Games 2.0

Greg Aleknevicus surveys some popular deduction games.

Ethics in Gaming 4.0

Yehuda Berlinger and the art of the trade.

Themes & Mechanics 4.0

Bruno Faidutti gets unbalanced.

Game Artisan

Andrea Angiolino on a more appropriate name for "game designer".

RULES

Manga Manga Manga

Joe Huber completely revamps the game.

LETTERS

September, 2005

REVIEWS

Blokus Duo

A strictly two-player version of Blokus.

Tutankhamen

Greg Aleknevicus walks the valley of the kings.

Beowulf: The Legend

Dave Shapiro is a reluctant companion of the ancient hero.

SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT

It's not exactly a news-flash that the "Age of Blogs" has well and truly arrived. I was skeptical at first but, as of right now, I'm impressed with the gaming-centric ones I've been reading. This is largely due to their high signal-to-noise ratio—most of what is being written is good quality and interesting. (The comments less so but they're easily ignored.) It's clear that the BoardGameGeek is the premier site for boardgames, but the ratio of useful information to "fluff" is quite poor. I still visit every day but it takes some searching to find anything worthwhile. Not so with blogs—more often than not, when something is posted, it's worth reading.

If there's a weakness with blogs, it's that the writers tend to burn out rather quickly. It's not easy to come up with something meaningful to say every couple of days. Naturally, enthusiasm falters and many stop updating as frequently and eventually stop altogether. Personally, I think this is due to a particular quality that is also the reason why blogs tend to be high quality in the first place: Commenting on a bulletin board or a discussion group is like making a casual statement in an informal setting. Posting an entry on a blog is more akin to making a presentation to a group. I think people are far more likely to put effort and thought into the latter than the former. Furthermore, you're more likely to only make an entry in your blog when you actually have something of interest to say.

Whatever, the reason, I encourage you to seek them out, I suspect you'll like what you find.

-Greg Aleknevicus

Uberplay's Manga Manga.

I'm a sucker for games with nice bits and am especially disappointed when a game fails to live up to its presentation. It's especially difficult for me to get rid of a nice looking game as I tend to hope (usually without good cause) that it can somehow be saved. So far, I've failed at every such attempt that I've made. Let's see if Joe Huber has better luck with Manga Manga...

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