I've been plugging away on our Assassins creed comic but I wanted to poke my head up and make a quick post about San Diego. I really want to thank everyone that came by the booth, especially those of you that came by to play or trade Pokemon. The event was actually super good for my Pokedex. I got a bunch of old legendaries as well as a shiney Darkrai that I'm sure was acquired via illicit means. Besides all the trading that went on, I also got to play a bunch of you in some three on three battles. I think I won more than I lost which was nice but I'm pretty sure some of you were going easy on me.
While I was there I happened to see the new Pokemon trading figure game. I guess this game hit Europe like a year ago but they've retooled it and polished it a ton for the US release. The first thing I noticed was a large glass display case full of tiny Pokemon figures. They were a little bigger than the average Hero Click and incredibly detailed. The figures actually looked so good that I assumed they were special demo figures only meant for display. I asked one of the guys there in the booth if he had any of the actual production models on hand and he said I was looking at them. You can check out some really nice photos of the figures over at the official site but even those don't do them justice.
I sat down for a demo of the game and was pretty impressed. I played a three on three version of the game and it was fun if a little to simple. I'm not much of a tabletop gamer, in fact I'm not a tabletop gamer at all but this was cool. They weren't demoing it at the show but there is a six vs. six version of the game that sounded like it had a little bit more depth. The game plays out less like a standard Pokemon battle and more like a game of chess or maybe checkers. You're Pokemon start on your side of the board and you need to move them via multiple tracks with spaces over to your opponents side. The goal is to get one of your guys into the enemies goal space. When Pokemon meet up on the board a battle starts. The base of the figure is actually set up like a little Wheel of Fortune wheel except instead of cash and prizes your wheel has attacks and blocks and that sort of thing. The battle plays out as each of you take turns spinning your figures to determine moves. Normally I don't go for games that rely so heavily on chance but the spinning mechanic was fun and like I said the six vs. six game sounds a little more interesting. I didn't get to play it but besides adding three more Pokemon on each side it also adds Pokemon trainers with the ability to play cards with some cool game altering effects. The game is set to hit in September. What I saw was interesting and I'm looking forward to picking up some figures and giving it a try.
The highlight of the show for me was probably getting to play Eye of Judgment. Tycho already talked about it so I'm not gonna go into any detail. I just wanted to say as someone who does not play CCG's I was able to pick it up fast and have a really good time. When this game hits in a couple months find some way to check it out.
-Gabe out
August 6, 2007
