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Aug 24 / Ozymandias

Classic Boardgames Coming to Live Arcade

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Was really excited to see the reaction to yesterday’s announcement at Leipzig about some classic boardgames coming to Live Arcade. To quote a Gamespot article:


The announced games include the civilization-building Settlers of Catan, the tile-based city-building game Carcassonne, and the Arabian-themed stock-market game Alhambra set to be available through the Xbox.


I personally believe having these sorts of old-school “thinking man’s” boardgames can only help bring more people online. I personally miss a lot of the older game genres that made you work for your gameplay. I’m not talking arbitrary frustration-causing modes, battles, or boss fights. I’m talking about a game that makes you think things through and use your mind: adventure games, war games, turn-based strategy games, that sort of thing. These particular games are about as old-school and classic as you can get in the board game market, and it’s my hope folks will give them a spin.

I also noticed there weren’t many images of the games out on the web. I asked around, and found a couple I can share with you. These may also be available elsewhere on the web – not making any promises of originality. Wink

[Edit: thanks to Brian for the suggestion to link to boardgamegeek.com for each of these games. You can find more information on each game from the links below!]


Alhambra:

Alhambra


Carcassonne:

Carcassonne

 


Settlers of Catan (Two Images):


Settlers Of Catan 1


Settlers Of Catan 2

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  4. Xbox Live Arcade floodgates open
  5. [Edit] Prince of Persia Classic Comparison

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  • MadcapMagician

    Wow, that is awfully exciting.  Does that just prove my nerd quotient?!  One thing that I think that you HAVE to bend someone’s ear on is coordinating something similar to Folding@Home’s client for PS3:  http://science.slashdot.org/science/06/08/24/129244.shtml

    Think of putting together the computing power of the 360, PCs AND PS3 for a noble cause?  I can’t think of better PR for Microsoft, or a better way to step above the fray of the console wars than that.

  • Rob Cannon

    Well, these are on my must-buy list.  The first two are lunch-time favorites at work (Settlers is a little too long for lunch).  I hope to see more.

    Any release schedule? (3rd Quarter??)

  • taraba

    Carcassone has 2 "n"s. So it’s Carcassonne

    http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/822

  • Skullfire

    Really looking forward to these.  Always wanted to get the Settlers boardgame, but with it being a 3-player game min., it would be really difficult to arrange regular games (especially with no euro-boardgame fans in my area that I know off), and this is where Live comes into play.  Hope they don’t take too long to be released.

  • MattTRobot

    Hot.

  • http://livex360.blogspot.com/index.html Ranger7722

    Sweet, I’ve never played these games before but they look pretty schnazzy.

  • Brian

    Anyone with any interest in these games should head on over to boardgamegeek.com and check out the entries for each game.  I’m looking forward to playing these on Live, but will always prefer the "board" version if I can round up a couple friends and table space.  Here’s hoping these meet with success and Microsoft decides to expand their online board and card game offerings.

  • Ozymandias

    Re: "Carcassone has 2 "n"s. So it’s Carcassonne

    http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/822"

    Thanks for the catch – fixed!

  • WiNG

    Djeez, I really liked Settlers of Catan when I played it on the board game… although me and my friends turned its original cooperative play into a war between us, something I do not expect to be reproduced on the live arcade version…

  • Pappy

    I need sheep.  Let’s see.  I have wood for sheep.  Anyone?  

    Why’s everyone laughing?

    Man, I can’t wait for these!  :)

  • http://www.s3dconnector.net CatanLover

    Well… There is already a good version of Settlers of Catan available online for PC play.  http://www.s3dconnector.net  Nice thing is that it is not like the MS version that you have to pay for, but it is FREE!!

  • Robin

    In the Carcassonne picture, it appears that the player placing a tile (two cities seperated by a field) while in the top right it show the next tile (city and 3 roads).

    Err.. since when do you see what the next tile is before its drawn?

  • Ozymandias

    Re: "In the Carcassonne picture, it appears that the player placing a tile (two cities seperated by a field) while in the top right it show the next tile (city and 3 roads).

    Err.. since when do you see what the next tile is before its drawn?"

    Sorry, can’t help you on this one. Remember it’s early, so who knows what this is showing… could be a bug, alternate play mode, who knows? <shrug> :)

  • Romain

    It would be a bug if it were our turn but, it is Babette’s turn. So, it does not matter if we are looking at the next tile.  

  • Skullfire

    Read on some other site today (computerandvideogames.com) that these games are being developed by Bizarre Creations – Must admit, that sounds promising.

  • SidearmS

    SOC looks dope. I have played the board game (like most everyone here), and I look forward to that one.

    Hopefully, since it is Bizarre, they will be 400 points like Geometry Wars.

  • J.Goodwin

    I’m looking forward to these a lot.  I have some of the Catan games, but it’s hard to find people to play locally :(

    Seems like the story of board games these days.  It sounds like a really stupid thing to pay $400 for a system and then use it to play board and card games, but people pay a thousand or more for a computer and then play solitaire on it.

    At least in a few years, the 360 will still be capable of playing retail games that are brand new.

  • dougiehowitzermd

    These look fantastic.

    Looking forward to their release.

    I’m really hoping that they do a version of the card game "Citadels" (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/478) This would make a fantastic online game due to the character selection and their special abilities throwing up some amusing "friendly" backstabbings.

    Fingers crossed

  • big gay al

    Re:Next tile.

    I think that this would be to speed gameplay up.

    Whilst babette is placing her tile the next player can see their tile and plan wherethey are going to put it.

  • sith ninja 75

    This is great, my fiancee and I love this type of stuff and it’s exactly the type of game that’s going to make her a new Xbox addict.

  • Aly Web

    Look a bit boring to me!

  • http://www.goicon.org Josh Wheeler

    Does anyone know if this is going to have the Cities & Knights expansion available for Settlers? I feel that is the best way to play Settlers.

  • ALGEBRA

    hopefully get a 8 player live version of Monopoly…that alone would waste many a peoples lives hehe