Meople News: Two Venuvian Elephants

In an entirely unsurprising twist of fate, there is next to no news this week. Just about everyone was in Essen this week, after all. But the news that did come out is almost dramatic by the standards of the peaceful boardgame world: Fantasy Flight Games and Stronghold Games both announced the release of a new edition of Richard Hamblen’s Merchant of Venus. Apparently, both companies have been granted a license to publish this new edition by different parties: Stronghold Games has a concise statement regarding their side of the conflict. I’m sure they’ll be able to resolve this issue in a reasonable manner.

Cryptozoic

Cryptozoic is creating a card game based on the graphic novel series Locke & Key. To my great shame, I have to admit I don’t know the graphic novels, but it appears to be contemporary dark fantasy. The game sits somewhere between cooperation and competition, but no more details are available at the moment.

Also, you guys at Cryptozoic should really come to Essen next year. I was so hoping to try Food Fight there but all I could find was the WoW TCG.

Clever Mojo Games

After their ridiculously successful Kickstarter projects Alien Frontiers: Factions and Sunrise City Clever Mojo Games is now looking at international talent to further extend their program. The recently announced Haathi is a cooperation of French and Brazilian game designers: Bruno Faidutti, Sérgio Halaban and André Zatz. Haathi, Hindi for elephant, is an elephant race through the landscapes of India, described by the publisher as “light enough to entice young gamers and competitive enough to test experienced game enthusiasts” – we’ll have to wait a bit to test that statement, the release is set for late 2012 or early 2013.

 

And if you’re wondering what it’s like to be on the other side of the table at the Essen fair, the great people of Portal Publishing have put three podcasts online.

The most adorable meerkat was shot by Simon and shared as CC-BY. Thank you, Simon!

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