magic-the-gathering-duels-of-the-planeswalkers 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]

This week is a fairly slow one for new PC game releases. The only major new release planned is a downloadable game that's yet another adaptation of a collectible card game. In addition two games that were planned for release earlier this month, the action-RPG Venetica and the RTS-RPG expansion pack Spellforce 2: Faith In Destiny, are now scheduled to ship to stores this week.

Magic The Gathering Tactics - This downloadable free-to-play game from Sony Online is the latest adaptation of the fantasy-themed trading card RPG title from Wizards of the Coast. Instead of cards, players control 3D creatures in turn-based combat. Players can also purchase additional content for the game

Steam's third phase of its current Treasure Hunt promotion and contest has now gone live. As with the first two parts of the contest, this third chapter is giving players a chance to complete four objectives inside of two days. Completing each objective gives the player another entry in the two-day content where 20 Steam users will be given their top five games on their Steam wish lists for free. The big prize comes at the end of the Treasure Hunt where someone will get 100 free games of their choice on Steam.

The objectives to complete for the next two days are:

Join an Official Group
Get Back in Business in Mafia II
Be a Devastator in Magic: The Gathering
Set a leaderboard score of at least 85,370 for 'Classic - Small Wonder' in Droplitz

Also for the next two days Mafia II's price goes down to $33.49, Magic - The Gathering can be bought for $4.99 and Droplitz can be yours for a mere $2.50.

Wizards of the Coast published a PC port of its collectible card game Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers via Steam last June and since then there have been two expansion packs and a number of new card decks released for the game. However, the team at Sony Online Entertainment's Denver offices have been working on a different Magic: The Gathering game for some time.

Announced over a year ago, Magic: The Gathering - Tactics is a full 3D turn-based strategy game that uses the Magic universe and creatures in full tactical combat. Big Download got Mark Tuttle, the head of SOE's Denver unit, to give us some more info on the game which is scheduled for release for both the PC and PS3 platforms sometime in the "holiday" time period.

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.

The first day of September was very busy on the news side and it looks like tomorrow will be just as busy, if not more so. Brace yourself now:

• A second expansion pack for the PC port of Magic The Gathering Duels of the Planewalkers is now available via Steam.
• A new update for the beta of Counter-Strike Source is also available via Steam.
• Starting on Thursday and running through Labor Day you can download Where's Waldo? The Fantastic Journey from Games For Windows Live for just $3.75.
• You can try out the indie made MMO game Love for free starting on Friday and running through the weekend.
• Irrational Games' newest Irrational audio interview has Ken Levine chatting with comic book writer Brian Michael Bendis.
• Valve is holding a Midnight Riders/Left 4 Dead music video contest.
• It's not really PC news but you really should check out the iPhone/iPad Unreal Engine 3 tech demo Epic Citadel.

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.

E3 week is usually a slow period for new game releases. Indeed there's no new PC games being sold in retail stores but there is some activity on the digital download front this week. In addition to the games listed below you can expect to see a new DLC for Mass Effect 2 (Overlord) to be made available to download this week.

Magic The Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers: Wizards of the Coast releases this PC port of their Xbox Live Arcade game this week via Steam. The digital collectible RPG card game lets you battle with spells, monsters and more. Both the main game and its first expansion pack will be available.

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.