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Games

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Games

Godzilla and friends are coming to Magic: the Gathering

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I imagine any Godzilla attack is rather unexpected until it happens. So, yes, colour me deeply surprised to see Wizards of the Coast work with the kings of kaiju, Toho Co, to bring us the crossover we never knew we needed in the new Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths premier card set.

Here’s the trailer, which is perfectly up to par on all the recent amazingly well executed MtG trailers until things suddenly take two wild twists.

One is the bizarre choice of Joan Jett’s Bad Reputation where we really would have been expecting the usual epic orchestral vibes or something moodier than a rocking cool track more comfortable in a retro teen movie sequence. But let’s set that aside.

The second is the real stunner. After a cool fight sequence with mega roach and flying spirit cats, our featured planes walker Vivien Reid whistles for extra backup. And dammit I was hoping we’d actually see Godzilla make an appearance in the clip, but instead we get a flash of the ‘Godzilla, King of the Monsters’ Legendary card that will appear in the set. WHAM.

No doubt the time it takes to develop these trailers was on a much longer timescale than the final pen went to paper on the licensing deal between Toho and Wizards.

We will be getting a lot more than just Godzilla in the set. But… and it’s a big ‘but’… the Godzilla Series cards will NOT be appearing in draft booster packs.

Fans will only be able to obtain Godzilla, King of the Monsters (while supplies last) by purchasing a draft booster pack display through a Wizards Play Network store. Each sealed draft booster pack display will contain a random Godzilla Series Monster card. Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths Collector Boosters will also contain two random Godzilla Series Monster cards. The Godzilla Series Monster cards will not appear in draft booster packs.

Read on for the full list of 16 classic monster cards heading into Magic.

The Game Table

Beyond just virtual boards to play on

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Luke Lancaster is back on the show with Seamus, discussing how to not just stick to virtual tabletops and other specific digital tools for our remote boardgame experiences. Luke even ran a game of Mr Jack via Twitter!

We get specific on the games, and kinds of games, that suit playing without constant access to a board, virtual or otherwise, and the particularly good reasons for using the likes of Roll20 and Tabletop Simulator to get involved.

Find Luke on Twitter: @lglancaster
Find PAX Australia on Twitter: @paxaus

Byteside

The internet high wire act

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Digital services are blowing up in all kinds of ways, whether becoming the new hotness or collapsing under the weight of all this new work from home traffic. What are we searching for? Efficient work, entertainment or a sense of real connection?

All this plus random acts of kindness, esports replacing real sports, and more.

The Scrapyard

Hearthstone’s Year of the Phoenix!

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A big new year for Hearthstone. Unquestionably biggest yet. So The Scrapyard gets some Hearthstone specialists together to talk shop. Demon Hunters. Outland. Priest reworks. Ranked ladder changes. New / returning player experiences. And lots more!

Come share our excitement at what’s coming next for Blizzard’s fantabulous digital card game.

Seamus is joined by Stirling Coates (@stirlingcoates) and Kosta Andreadis (@toadovsky).

High Resolution

Ben Lee, Blowfish Studios

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Ben Lee is the co-founder and Managing Director of Blowfish Studios based in Sydney. He’s been a games and software developer for over 20 years and Blowfish has been producing games for nine years – and recently they also started publishing games too.

They’re best known for their Siegecraft games but have a super diverse range of games across consoles, PC and mobile. Lee is also particularly insightful on running a game studio as a business, and what you can learn from other businesses of all stripes, not just other devs.

Big thanks to IGEA for helping to line up this interview, and Byteside will be working with them to do a lot more developer interviews throughout 2020.

Full Transcript Also Available

The Game Table

Boardgames in the age of coronavirus

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We’re being encouraged to self isolate if we can, which is great news for many geeks. But if you can’t gather around a table for a boardgames because that’s a bit too close – what are you going to do?

Yes, you could play a video game, but sometimes we want the tactile boardgames experience. So this week we’re exploring the many aspects of playing boardgames when you’re home alone. Solo games (and playing co-op solo). Games via remote access. Digital boardgames online. RPGs online. Right down to deck construction as a game!

There’s enough here to keep you mining new games, and games you already own, for the long months ahead.

The Scrapyard

The Sistine Chapel of Storytelling

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We’re not angry about Warcraft 3: Reforged, we’re just disappointed. Yet we’re still in love with what this game is and hope for light at the end of the launch tunnel.

Speaking of tunnels, how about that coronavirus? It comes up not once, not twice, but THREE times in actual ways that actually relate to Blizzard games.

And then we slide way off topic as Kosta gives us a detailed synopsis of the movie Outbreak. Still not sure if he loves it or is just trolling…

Check out Kosta’s Warcraft 3: Reforged review here:
https://www.ausgamers.com/games/warcraft-3-reforged/review/

Byteside

DON’T PANIC

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42 years of Megadodo Publications great work, The Hitchhikers Guide, leads off the show with immortal advice for our age.

From there, Nic and Seamus explore the TV adaptation of ‘The Last Of Us’ – Will it be good? And why do we still keep chasing the dream of game-to-filmed-entertainment crossovers when they’ve all been so bad?

Also – should Jack Dorsey leave Twitter? Surely something has to give? Plus we look at the magic of @ Home distributed computing for good, with Folding@Home now working on Covid-19 and SETI@Home closing down (but in a good way).

And finally, what’s the deal with ‘Contagion’ being so popular on Bittorrent right now?

High Resolution

Josh Inman: from ACL to ESL

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Seamus caught up with Josh Inman, Operations Manager for ESL Australia, a few weeks ago around the AO Summer Smash event (ESL was behind the scenes on production) to talk about the importance of that event to the local scene.

Plus Josh dropped the IEM Melbourne news on Seamus in this chat so you get to hear his raw reaction to the news and then they discuss just how Melbourne is getting so serious about being Australia’s “home of esports”.

The Game Table

Theros, how I mythed you

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It’s an episode of mythic proportions as Nathan and Seamus dive into the news of the Mythic Odysseys of Theros campaign sourcebook for D&D, inspired by a Magic the Gathering world which was in turn inspired by Greek legends.

But first, our intrepid hosts talk about card games where the theme and style carry the day – regardless of complexity of the rules. Which leads into a discussion of Kickstarter games and how to assess the right factors to decide where you’re going to put your hard earned.

All that and a thousand diversions, including some love for the classic D&D worlds we’d love to see given the 5th Edition makeover.

Find Nathan here: @ElPrezAU
Find Seamus here: @seamus

Find all the Byteside things at byteside.com