I've been tinkering with some thoughts on new rules sets for use with my Mechwarrior figures. Take a look at the extended if you're interested, and feel free to comment.
Continue reading "SF wargaming rules for my Mechwarrior figures" »
WizKids, the gaming company founded by Battletech creator and FASA founder Jordan Weisman, announced today that it is going out of business. Here's the official word:
The Topps Company announced today that WizKids will immediately cease operations and discontinue its product lines.
Scott Silverstein, CEO of Topps, said “This was an extremely difficult decision. While the company will still actively pursue gaming initiatives, we feel it is necessary to align our efforts more closely with Topps current sports and entertainment offerings which are being developed within our New York office.”
Upon notifying our partners, Topps will immediately pursue strategic alternatives so that viable brands and properties, including HeroClix, can continue without noticeable disruption. To that end, WizKids will continue supporting Buy it By the Brick redemptions for Arkham Asylum, and the December Organized Play events for HeroClix.
For consumer announcements, please refer to www.wizkidsgames.com over the coming days for further information.
Battletech was the very first game I ever bought with my own money, and I played it all the way through high school. I picked up the giant robot bug again in grad school with Mechwarrior, which had a robust tournament scene in my area. I was actually the top-ranked player in the city for much of my time playing the game, but I dropped it when I moved and Mechwarrior's game design shifted to try and retain market share.
WizKids has always seemed like a company with a bit of a shelf life. Although Jordan Weisman hit on something very smart with his application of the collectible model to miniatures gaming, both in terms of letting players get right into the action and in reducing the per-miniature price point, the games began to collapse under their own weight after a while, and unlike in the arena of collectible cards, players balked at the possibility of set rotations that would push pieces out of the "core" gaming environment. Somehow, it seems more objectionable to no longer be able to bring your miniatures to the tournament than to have to leave your cards in a box at home.
I am sad to see WizKids go even though I'm not currently playing any of their games. This will not, however, be the end of their properties, as Jordan Weisman has shown an impressive ability to resurrect his intellectual property over and over again in new forms, as witnessed by the creation of Mechwarrior and the licensed production of material for classic Battletech, Shadowrun, and Earthdawn. In articles I've read about Weisman, he reveals that his epiphany many years ago was that the future is not in licensing other people's material -- FASA licensed Star Trek, Doctor Who, He-Man, and Top Gun -- but in creating your own intellectual property that would endure past a single incarnation, generating revenue into perpetuity.
And so it has done, and so I imagine it will continue to do.
This page contains an archive of all entries posted to Gifts Ungiven in the Mechwarrior category. They are listed from oldest to newest.
Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.