With the release of 'Eye of Judgment', I, along with many CCG fans I'm sure, am curious to see how well the game is received both critically and publicly. Will it become a new sensation, a shot to the arm of the CCG genre that will allow it to cross-over to the consoles? Or will it simply become a cult hit like Culdcept, loved by a select few but hated by many?

However this post isn't about EoJ and it's reception with the gaming populace. I decided to sit down and share my thoughts on where I think CCGs and their gaming ilk should advance themselves in order to keep themselves fresh, but also maybe expand their market within the video gaming community.

Now before people start saying 'you don't know shit about CCGs lol!', I'll share some general experience of mine. I must point out that rarely am I a tournament player, instead preferring to simply play for casual fun. Casual gameplay always appeals more to me than anything, allowing me the option to be creative with my deck creations and strategies. In fact I gained more respect with many players simply because I could create very oddball deck designs that could give them an interesting challenge to test their might with.

But enough with stroking my e-peen! Allow me to just share some random facts about my CCG 'career', if it can be called that =P:

8 years of Magic the Gathering
3 years of Yu-Gi-oh!
3 years of Dragonball Z
1 year of Dragonball GT
1 year of YuYu Hakusho
1 month of Inuyasha (Does everything related to that series suck or what?)


So as you can see, I can at least write an opinion piece based on my experiences with not only card games in general, but also with the collected knowledge I have of various discussions I've had with fellow players about issues such as the one I'm about to go into now. However if you either think I'm full of shit, just don't care, or can't stand CCGs in general, then this post isn't for you.

Maybe you'd be better off reading WiiSucks' blog (j/k =P).

With that behind us let's get to the 'meat' of this post. Within the last few years, there has been a steady increase in the number of CCG video games. While some of these try to emulate a real-life game (Yu-gi-oh! games in general), others try to add card mechanics to genres or series not known for being cardboard-infused (PSO: Episode 3, that Warhammer game for PSP). However these games all share one thing in common: they are mostly shit.

Before you get out your pitchforks people (well...the 3 of you that care anyways), notice I said 'mostly'. There are exceptions to the norm when it comes to card video games. For instance 'Baten Kaitos', which featured a neat little card mechanic wrapped within one of the best RPGs on the Gamecube. Then there's Culdcept, the addictive hybrid of Monopoly and MtG that's been ensnaring PS2 and 360 owners with it's delicious, Reese's-style combination.

But for these rare gems, you get the massive amounts of cubic zirconiums.

In the next part I'll go into details on why these quick cash-ins tend to taste of 'aids and phail' and how I think card video games can improve themselves into a viable genre. Feel free to leave any creative criticisms you wish; I tend to favor harsh criticism as I feel you can only truly improve your writing if you have your flaws brought forth. If you liked this though, I'd love to hear about that though!