Wizards-of-the-Coast posts

Wizards of the Coast's popular collectible fantasy card game series Magic the Gathering has been adapted into a downloadable PC game, Duels of the Planeswalkers, (shown above) for some time now. Today Wizards of the Coast announced plans for a stand alone follow-up game, Duels of the PlanesWalkers 2012.

With a title that reminds some of a sports game franchise, this new title will be released for the PC, via Steam, and other platforms later this summer. Specific details have yet to be announced but the new game will feature "all new game modes, Planeswalker opponents, decks, puzzle challenges" and more.

[Via email press release]

The newest Magic: The Gathering Tactics trailer visits yet another one of the five elemental colors. This time, it is black: the color of death, despair, and hopelessness. Like one would expect, the creatures of black are either eldritch horrors or monstrosities brought forth by death-defying magic. Zombies, gigantic spiders, black knights, and massive winged demons are all creatures that swear their allegiance to a wielder of black mana. In other words, these are all the creatures you can summon in Tactics!

Download Magic: The Gathering Tactics Black Mana Trailer
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Developer Sony Online will have a busy January. Next week its MMO DC Universe Online launches and a week later on January 18 its downloadable free-to-play game Magic: The Gathering - Tactics will be released for the PC platform (a PS3 version will be made available later this year).

As we have reported before this game, based on the classic collectible card game series, doesn't use cards are all. Players instead summon creatures and have them battle other in a full 3D turn-based strategy game. While the core game is free to play, players can purchase booster packs for more figures and spells along with new single player battles.

Magic The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers has been available for the PC platform for some time. The virtual collectible card game from developer and publisher Wizards of the Coasts has also released two expansion packs and a number of card decks via Steam. Today the third expansion pack for the game has now been released on Steam's download service.

The $4.99 expansion pack adds three new playable decks to the game along with new unlockable cards for each of the previously released card decks. There's also some new challenges, achievements and a new single player campaign that unlocks the Master of Shadows deck.

It looks like the various online rumors that a new Neverwinter Nights game coming from publisher Atari and developer Cryptic Studios was in the works have been proven to true - kind of.Today Atari officially announced that game, which is simply called Neverwinter.

The game, due out in the fourth quarter of 2011, is oddly enough not being called an MMO but a "co-op role playing game" where players can pick from one of five Dungeons and Dragons-based character classes and then team up with friends or with AI-controlled characters to form five-player teams. The game will also have support for user-generated content via a new system called Forge, much like how the Neverwinter Nights games developed by BioWare also had such tools.

While the game isn't due out until late 2011, the fictional backstory behind it will be launched on October 5 by author R.A. Salvatore in the novel Gauntlgrym. It's due out on October 5 and is the first of a planned trilogy of novels based on Neverwinter's world and storyline. Dungeons and Dragons owners Wizards of the Coasts also plan to release a Neverwinter-based tabletop RPG game. More info on the game is revealed on GameSpot in an interview with Cryptic co-founder Jack Emmert.

Although Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers features terrific animated 3D graphics that shows off the marvelous artwork, it takes a very straightforward approach to translating the Magic experience. The game, which has been available on Xbox Live Arcade for quite some time, makes its debut on the PC with one expansion pack (which can be purchased separately) and has all the features one would expect, including online dueling and cooperative play. It's also relatively inexpensive and presents an excellent opportunity for new players to get their first introduction to the Magic card game. At the same time, experienced players might not take as well to what amounts to a somewhat watered down experience compared to the real-life card game.

Folks waiting for the PC port of the collectible card RPG game Magic The Gathering Duels of the Planewalkers won't have much longer to wait. Publisher Wizards of the Coast has announced that the PC version will be released via download on June 15. The game will apparently be a Steam exclusive.

As we reported earlier the game is now available for pre-order via Steam right now for $9.99. That pre-order price includes both the original game and its first expansion but it sounds like the expansion pack will be a separate purchase when the pre-order period is over. Also Wizards of the Coast will give people who order or pre-order the game by launch day a premium foil Nissa Revane Planeswalker promo card.

[Via email press release]

Last November Wizards of the Coast announced their plans to bring the Xbox Live Arcade game Magic The Gathering Duels of the Planeswalkers to the PC platform. It's been a while since that reveal but today Wizards of the Coast announced that the online trading card RPG will be available for pre-order soon via Steam.

The PC port looks like it will support Steamworks features like achievements, leaderboards, auto-updating and more. Pre-orders for the game will begin on June 1 for $9.99. The pre-order will include both the core game and its first expansion pack. There's no word when the final game will be released.

Atari is already facing a lawsuit from developer Turbine over Atari's alleged actions with the Dungeons and Dragons game license. Now D&D's current owner Hasbro has also filed its own lawsuit against Atari, claiming "five different breaches of their licensing agreement" for the D&D game rights.

According to Hasbro's press release, Atari may have sought to enter a "sublicensing relationship" with another publisher, Namco Bandai. Hasbro says this is a violation of its agreement with Atari, saying, "We have been working for several months now to reach resolution with Atari, and they have left us with no other choice than to pursue legal action." Hasbro is looking to terminate its D&D game license as well as "compensatory damages for economic losses suffered."

Atari has already responded to Hasbro's allegations and sent Big Download an official statement which can be read below in full:

Atari has had a long and rich history with the Dungeons and Dragons franchise, investing millions of dollars into numerous critically acclaimed and commercially successful games that have generated significant revenue for Hasbro. Hasbro has resorted to these meritless allegations, in an apparent attempt to unfairly take back rights granted to Atari. Atari has sought to resolve the matter without cooperation from Hasbro. We regret that our long-time partner has decided to pursue this action. Atari will respond appropriately through its legal counsel in court.