The Financial Game of LIFE

From IRAs to social security to emergency funds, it can be pretty difficult to figure out what you (or your kids) should be doing with your money at each stage of life. BillShrink decided to help you out with these decisions by creating The Financial Game of Life (you remember, that awesome board game where you got to pick your house and career from a deck of cards?) Spin the wheel to move onto the different life stages and see how much your savings can grow but watch out for unexpected life events!

click below to open the game

Sid Meier's Civilization: The Board Game Looks Wonderfully Complex

From the creators of the World of Warcraft and StarCraft board games comes Sid Meier's Civilization: The Board Game, the second board game inspired by the addictive turn-based strategy game.

Sid Meier borrowed concept for the original Civilization video game from an Avalon Hill board game of the same name, so it seems a no-brainer that the computer version get its own physical counterpart as well.

Eagle Games certainly thought so, publishing the first Sid Meier's Civilization: The Board Game in 2002. It was a nifty little game, with a simple rule set for basic play and an advanced set with more video game mechanics involved.

The new Sid Meier's Civilization: The Board Game, due out this fall from Fantasy Flight Games, has nothing to do with that version, and judging by the company's past works and the shot of the game layout above, I very much doubt there's anything simple about it.

Two to four players start the game with a city, a single scout, and an army figure. From there they will build an entire civilization, advancing its technology, forging trade relations, and waging war against their opponents.

I'm a big fan of Fantasy Flight, owning the World of Warcraft Board Game and several expansions. I've never played it, though I did spend several hours setting up the game once, only to run out of time. Hopefully Civilization is a bit easier to set up.

For more on Sid Meier's Civilization: The Board Game, check out the link below.

Announcing Sid Meier's Civilization: The Board Game [Fantasy Flight Games - thanks diedan!

PAX 09 (Part 2)

(Continued from Part 1) - The second part of day 1 of PAX '09 was better than the first part. Around noon as we were walking back to the room, guess who we saw walking into The Cheesecake Factory? Freakin Morgan Webb and Blair Herter!!! They are hosts on G4tv (the videogame channel). I religiously watch Xplay on G4... so this was a big deal to me. And on top of that I just found out a few weeks ago that Blair Herter is from Lafayette, LA! I approached him and spoke to him a bit about him being from Louisiana and how surprised I was to find that out. And after a few minutes, their table was ready and he offered to buy us a round of drinks later that night if he saw us out. I couldn't believe how nice he was. But he is from Louisiana, so what do you expect?

Morgan Webb and Blair Herter

After my starstruck episode, we went back to PAX and realized it was a lot more crowded than it was when we left. Still, we walked around and made the most of it. Eventually we ended up at the Friday night concert, but it was not very enjoyable probably because there was no alcohol. And alcohol is necessary to have fun. We decided instead to head back to the boardgame room and play 'Race for the Galaxy' instead. Then we went back to the room for sleep. Looking forward to tomorrow. It'll be a long day. *pics below*

Seriously, WTF are these people dressing like?

Hotties dressing up make them even hotter

There are even mini's at PAX '09

Very well-painted mini's

Morgan Webb on 'The Beatles RockBand' (and no I'm not stalking her)

'Mass Effect 2' Booth

N8 & Moose playing 'Mass Effect 2' demo

Ratchet from 'Ratchet & Clank'

Playing Starcraft in FreePlay area

Yes, that's the $200 'Dune' boardgame available for check out

PAX Friday night concert

G4tv Discussion about PAX 10

Video Games - E3 2009 - X-Play

GenCon 2009

GenCon 2009 was fantastic. For the first time in my life, I felt "gamed-out". Meaning that by the last day, I didn't even feel like playing games anymore. We had a great time (for the most part). Can't wait to go back next year. This is what a convention is suppose to be like. The 2 previous one's I attended (Babel Con, Mecha-Con) were a joke compared to GenCon. GenCon is everything that it's hyped up to be and more. Here are some various pics I took while there. I took them with my cell phone, so the quality is not that great, but you can still see all the great gaming goodness that was offered.

Crystal D&D Dice

Mario Kart Wii

Vender with a Ton of Conan Merchandise

WWII Mini's

Mini Terrain for Dungeons

Real Forged Swords

Stack of 'Chaos in the Old World'

Panel on 'How to Write a Trilogy'

Various games from a small game publisher
'A Game of Thrones' LCG

GenCon 2009 Auction

CCG Hall

Miniature playing field

Giant 'Settler's of Catan' Board

Giant 'Serra Angel' Statue

Playing a game of 'Family Business'

Some weird Scarecrow Man

Playing a game of 'Alhambra'

Trying to learn 'Caledea'

Me kicking ace in 'Caledea' (we found out later we were playing wrong)

Cos play people (Link, Solid Snake, Princess Zelda, Luigi, and Mario)

Panel on 'How to Publish Your Game'

Mini-Me Darth Vader

Playing a demo of 'Agricola'

Star Wars Costume People

Guy at Masquerade Ball with cool mask

Captain Jack Sparrow

Gettin' wasted at GenCon Dance

Babel Con 2009

I went to Babel Con 2009 (held in Baton Rouge, LA on July 17 - 19) and realized why they are not having another one next year (2010)... because it sucked! The staff was so rude. A friend of mine misplaced his badge and they wouldn't give him a break even though he had an ID and his name was on the list of people who signed in the day before. Oh well, surely Mecha-Con (the next weekend) and GenCon would be better.

Bard

Green Chix dancing

One of the Green Chix

Belly Dancers

Monsterpocalypse in Boardgame Room

Star Wars Costume Panel

Breakfast (best hangover food!)