Sadly, the cards above me are fan-made and not real Magic cards, or otherwise I might have kept playing after high school. Still, every time I see a Magic card I can't help but think that it used to be fun back in the day to whip guys at the game just to see the look on their faces. Fear my blue/white deck, noobs!
Good news for anyone that shares those memories: Magic: The Gathering is coming to Xbox Live (and also to PC, but that isn't really new news, as a successful version of Magic:Online has been around for some time.) Stainless games will handle its development for XBLA, while Mind Control will handle its development for PC and Mac. I have to admit I am excited -- as much as I enjoy Culdcept Saga, I think Magic could appeal to fans of that and possibly even draw in new fans that never played it in its heyday.
No dates yet, but we will bring you more updates as they come. I hope Serra Angels are playable cards. Nostalgia! Press release after the jump, naturally.
[Via Xboxamerica]
WIZARDS OF THE COAST EXTENDS ITS MAGIC: THE GATHERING IP TO MULTIPLE PLATFORMS
Industry Leading Partnerships Enhance Strategy Fantasy Gaming Options for all Gamers
RENTON, Wash.--February 18, 2008 -- Wizards of the Coast (WotC), the leader in strategy hobby collectible trading card, board and role playing games, and a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE: HAS), today announced its plans to extend the Magic: The Gathering® franchise to gamers on Microsoft's Xbox 360 Xbox LIVE® Arcade and the PC through partnerships with Stainless Games, Ltd. and Mind Control Software, Inc. Stainless Games will develop a game using the Magic: The Gathering IP for both Xbox LIVE Arcade and the PC, while Mind Control will develop a game for the PC and Mac.
"We're excited to bring the Magic brand to new platforms and give our fans new ways to experience this great property," said Jared Gustafson, Brand Director for Magic: The Gathering at Wizards of the Coast. "It's partnerships like these that will advance the strategy games category and transform it to meet the needs and desires of today's digital gamers."
Magic: The Gathering, introduced in 1993, is the premier and original trading card game that inspired an entirely new game genre. Combining the dynamics of a card game with the excitement of trading and collecting, MagicTM offers fun for casual play, as well as the option of highly competitive tournaments. Magic: The Gathering currently has a thriving online edition (Magic Online®) made up of more than 350,000 active accounts. The game allows gamers to collect and trade virtual cards, build the perfect deck, get help from mentors, find opponents at all skill levels, and compete for prizes every day without ever leaving the comforts of home.
Specific details on the games Stainless Games and Mind Control will develop using the Magic: The Gathering IP will be announced at a later date.
Contest:
1:40 PM on 02.20.2008
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I know theres already n older PC game out that I think lets you access everything.
But I do wish I had a 360 so I could check that out... though I'm sure it'll be the same per-starter/booster price for DLC, but hopefully they'll just charge per-set.
I can't wait
is there anyplace of the internets to learn MTG beforehand?
Red Burn/ Green Creature decks ftw.
DICKINGS
...
Just passing 'em out!
Maybe a system requiring you to purchase cards for "tournaments" but giving you access to the full set of cards for "recreational" games would be appropriate. This would be similar to real life rules where you must have the actual cards to compete in a tournament, but recreational play allows proxies.
Those cards are made of epic and win. I cannot get over how funny those are! Sweet Jesus, I think that just made my day.
I also have the 'Oh shit, it's Dr. Tran' poster at home. It's awesome.
Oh, yeah, MTG on XBL. That's cool, I guess.
Blue Control decks are full of so much win it pains me to speak of them. You dirty Aggro players make me sick.
@ Dennen, I hope it's not... at least, not entirely. That game was buggier than a cockroach convention. During your opponent's turn, you can tap their land for them and make them mana burn. If you collected over 500 cards, (Not hard to do, since everyone you beat gave you 3 or 4) the game would crash. Still, I spent countless hours with it, hunting down those Blue/Black guys who had a chance of cloning one of your cards if you really gave them a paddlin'. It was cool making a deck with Moxes instead of lands, for instance.
And I like HarassmentPanda's suggestion, as I don't especially enjoy the thought of spending an entirely new set of US dollars to buy digital versions of the cardboard I already own.
It's some kind of game based on the Magic IP, like the Battlegrounds game they made a few years back; that is, some stupid shooter or fighter with Magic characters tacked on for no reason. They haven't released any details about what the game will actually be, but...
You will NOT be able to play the game of Magic the Gathering on your XBox. I don't know where the poster came up with this, but it's completely false.
*High Five!*
As a total coincidence, I wore this shirt to work today. Go fig.
I stopped sometime around the Mirrodin block, where they actually made some creatures indestructible.
1. The richest player wins
2. 1.0 and 1.5 magic games inevitably end out as third turn kill games or blue counter decks to stop these third turn kill games.
3. Mirrodin
4. 2.0 style games change mechanics so often that a casual player can never really keep up with it.
5. Mirrodin
6. Tolarian Academy
7. Mirrodin
Can you see where I'm going with this?
That'd be Apprentice, a program that lets you play games with any decks of your creation against a friend online at absolutely no cost. The program itself is microscopic in size, and has a fairly easy to use interface that only gets a bit cumbersome when you need a large amount of tokens. I haven't downloaded a new version in quite some time, but the developers are pretty good about keeping the library of cards up to date with the latest sets released by WOTC, and if you enjoy the game but refuse to spend money on it this is the program for you.
As a bonus, Apprentice works nicely with Magic Set Editor, a program that lets you create your own cards like you see at the very top of the post. The latest version has settings for all sorts of backgrounds, from the original solid-color, very early print cards to the modern ones in the cards up top.
Apprentice can be downloaded here.
Magic Set Editor can be downloaded here.