Dale Yu: 2011 has been a good year thus far…

Posted on June 11, 2011 by Dale Yu

So, earlier in the week, Tom Rosen wrote a nice piece on why he was disappointed with the game releases in 2011 thus far.  While Tom and I share some similar likes and dislikes in games, it’s clear (to me, at least!) that we differ very much in our feeling on the releases of the current year thus far.

Now, I don’t keep great records of what I play anymore – having given that up a few years ago, so I don’t know exactly how many “new” games I’ve played thus far.  But, I would have to say that I don’t have as many disappointments as Tom does.  Maybe I’m just a glass half full kinda guy, or maybe I just prefer to look at the bright side of life… who knows… But, thus far, I have at least 12 games from 2011 which I would rate at least “I Like It” on the Opinionated Gamers scale.  Now, does that mean that all of these games will end up being “keepers”?  Most certainly not.  But just because a game isn’t good enough to make it into the collection on a permanent basis doesn’t preclude it from being fun and enjoyable either…

Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary | 17 Comments

The Art of Design: Interviews to game designers #7 – Wolfgang Kramer

Posted on June 10, 2011 by Dale Yu

[As usual, I have tried to clean up the English from Liga!  Herr Kramer’s English is quite good, and as a result, I did not edit his words at all.  DY]

This interview with Wolfgang Kramer was a really nice surprise and I got a lot of new inputs for the series. We flied across most of the aspects of designing games, and Wolfgang highlighted many interesting aspects with his maxims. From teamworking “Discussions add life to the development process and make the work more varied.” to final design “A game must be exciting, it must arise emotions.”. Wolfgang told us that  “when a game is good try to improve it”, that could be really helpful for new designers that usually are content with a good idea without deserving the right-time to test and tune. The interview closes with this fantastic assertion “I have to invent games; I am compelled to invent games” that show us how games belong to Kramer’s life.

Now we can start …

 

Herr Kramer and his SdJ nominated Asara

Continue reading →

Posted in Interviews | 6 Comments

The Opinionated Gamers Guide to Origins

Posted on June 9, 2011 by Dale Yu

[This is the first version of the Opinionated Gamers Guide to Origins  — it is definitely still a work in progress, and we hope to add to it each year!]

The Origins Game Fair will be held June 22 to 26, 2011 in Columbus, Ohio.  It is one of the largest gaming conventions in the US, and for many of us, it is one of the highlights of the summer gaming calendar.  More information can be found at their website:  http://www.originsgamefair.com/

Many of the Opinionated Gamers have been to Origins in the past, and this Guide is a collection of advice from those folks who have been in the past.  Many of us have been as tourists, though some of us have also been there to work the fair. We’ll break down our comments into a few broad areas to help organize our thoughts…

  • How to get to Columbus
  • Where to Stay (and/or Park)
  • What to do before the Convention
  • What to do at the Convention itself
  • What to do after the Convention
  • What/Where to eat
  • Everything Else

— Continue reading →

Posted in Convention Report | 14 Comments

Disappointing Opening

Posted on June 8, 2011 by Talia Rosen

Common wisdom seems to be that 2011 is off to a great start game-wise and is shaping up to be a much better year for new releases than last year.  I beg to differ.  The first half of 2011 has been anything but inspiring, with only a handful of bright spots so far and more than its fair share of duds.  I’m here to caution you to beware and at least try before you buy when it comes to many of the most recent releases.  It’s possible that my sample size has been too small with 18 releases from 2011 tried so far.  It’s certain that many of these 18 games have their fans.  But for the opposing viewpoint — and for anyone hoping to save money or shelf space by trimming their wishlist — read on.

Continue reading →

Posted in First Impressions | 22 Comments

Review: Say Anything – Family Edition

Posted on June 7, 2011 by Mark Jackson
Designer: Dominic Crapuchettes
Publisher: North Star Games
Ages: 8 and up
Players: 3-6
Time: 20 minutes
Review by Mark Jackson (review copy provided by North Star Games)

Proving once again that my superpower is Getting Random Strangers To Give Me Things (though, frankly, there are not enough Random Strangers and not enough Things Given), I just received a review copy of Northstar Games Say Anything Family. This is actually my second free game from Northstar – the first was, oddly enough, Say Anything. Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Review of Summoner Wars

Posted on June 6, 2011 by Dale Yu

Summoner Wars
Designer: Colby Dauch
Publisher: Plaid Hat Games
Ages: 9 and up
Players: 2 to 4 (best with 2 or 4)
Time: 30 minutes

Review by Erik Arneson

I first “met” Colby Dauch, designer of Summoner Wars, at Heroscapers.com, a fan site he established (and still runs) that’s dedicated to the brilliant Hasbro board game Heroscape. So it comes as little surprise that his first published game plays like the card game version of Heroscape.

It is also no surprise that as a huge fan of Heroscape, I also immediately fell in love with Summoner Wars.

In Summoner Wars, each player controls a fantasy army, such as dwarves, elves, goblins or orcs. Each of the decks has one “summoner,” and the winner is the first to destroy his opponent’s summoner card. This game is all about attacks; there is very little opportunity to hide. Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment