Magic: The Gathering maker Wizards of the Coast suffers database breach
Wizards of the Coast, the company behind Magic: The Gathering, suffered a database breach involving the accounts of MTG Arena and Magic Online players.
‘Magic: The Gathering’ enters esports relevance with $10 million prize pool
Wizards of the Coast is pushing Magic: The Gathering into esports relevance with a prize pool of $10 million across the tabletop version and Magic: The Gathering Arena. Will the game be able to compete with Hearthstone and Overwatch?
The post ‘Magic: The Gathering’ enters esports relevance with $10 million prize pool appeared first on Digital Trends.
Dungeons and Dragons Meets Battle Chess? Experiment 7 Talk Dungeon Chess
VRFocus speak to Geoffrey Zatkin and Demetri Detsaridis from Experiment 7, a virtual reality (VR) games studio based in New York and San Diego about their VR game Dungeon Chess. Their history in game design and game data for VR, mobile, console and PC as well as their experience in tabletop games, made their partnership with Wizards of the Coast a perfect storm for creating the VR Dungeons and Dragons.
VRFocus has covered Dungeon Chess extensively as Experiment 7 have moved through development, releasing to the Samsung Gear, Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR. You’ll watch dragons breathe fire, beholders blast death rays with your friends online or AI opponents. Although this game may seem simple, we’re talking about a large number of possible combinations, attacks and animations that had to be put together in order to make the game feel truly interactive.
In the interview Zatkin and Detsaridis discuss how they got to making Dungeon Chess, and how they wanted to start with a game they understood as well as loved. For their first VR game, it made sense to start off with something small and would be rock solid. They discuss the music and asking the composers to downplay the epic music, with the intention to make players keep the music on rather than immediately turning it off. With ten avatars at the moment, they recently added more Dungeons and Dragons themed avatars with more to come and they also discuss some of the references from Dungeons and Dragons lore that have made their way in to the game. An example being ‘the Yawning Portal’ room you play Dungeon Chess in, with a very familiar fireplace and demon head being the iconic inn.
Watch the video above to find out more.
‘D&D Beyond’ finally brings tabletop role-playing into the 21st century
D&D Beyond, a digital toolkit for the classic pen-and-paper classic RPG 'Dungeons & Dragons' will make the game more accessible than ever before.
The post ‘D&D Beyond’ finally brings tabletop role-playing into the 21st century appeared first on Digital Trends.
Dungeons & Dragons Comes to PlayStation VR in Dungeon Chess
Dungeon Chess, based on the Dungeons & Dragons franchise, is making its way to PlayStation VR this year. The title was previously announced for Gear VR and Oculus Rift, with PlayStation VR likely being the final platform the videogame is available for at launch.
Experiment 7 have teamed with Wizards of the Coast to bring Dungeons & Dragons to virtual reality (VR) in Dungeon Chess, where players will be playing a familiar game, with all new environments, interactions, and recognisable Dungeons & Dragons characters, creatures and lore.
Experiment 7’s Co-founder and Creative Director, Geoffrey Zatkin if a self-confessed D&D fan, and his enthusiastic about the project; “We’re using iconic D&D creatures to bring fantasy and wonder to the classic strategy game of chess, while taking great care to stay true to D&D lore, implement robust chess gameplay, and provide a high-quality user experience. We believe this commitment will make Dungeon Chess enjoyable for chess fans, D&D enthusiasts, and the VR community in general.”
Zatkin previously spoke with VRFocus about Dungeon Chess, where it’s clear he’s a big fan of the franchise, and wants to do the series justice in VR.
Dungeon Chess will be available in late 2017 on Gear VR, Oculus Rift, and now, PlayStation VR.
For all of the latest on Dungeon Chess and everything VR, make sure to keep checking VRFocus.
Watch VRFocus Play Chess in a VR Dungeon
Experiment 7’s Wizards of the Coast collaboration on Dungeon Chess was well documented prior to the videogame’s release. Now available for Oculus Rift, VRFocus gets hands-on with Dungeon Chess and invites you to watch the very first match played by the team.
Dungeon Chess is a simple but inviting virtual recreation of the classic strategy board game. Replacing simple pieces with complex, animated character models. Unicorns represent knights, beasts take place of the rook pieces and dragons take the place of queens. You can see all of this beautifully animated in VRFocus’ gameplay footage, available below.
Available for Oculus Rift and compatible with Oculus Touch, Dungeon Chess can be purchased via the Oculus Store now. VRFocus will bring you more coverage of Dungeon Chess in the very near future.
Experiment 7 and Wizards of the Coast Partner on Dungeons & Dragons Chess for Rift and Gear VR
January saw a new virtual reality (VR) studio make itself known, Experiment 7, and with it tabletop experience Magic Table Chess, the first instalment in the studio’s Magic Table series. The developer is taking that experience in making VR chess further announcing a partnership with Wizards of the Coast, with plans to create a Dungeons & Dragons theme title called Dungeon Chess.
D&D will come to life in Dungeon Chess, with players controlling animated fire-breathing dragon queens, death-ray blasting beholder rooks, armies of elven pawns and other popular creatures from the franchise.
“As huge D&D fans, we’re excited to work with Wizards of the Coast on Dungeon Chess,” said Experiment 7 Co-founder and Creative Director, Geoffrey Zatkin. “We’re using iconic D&D creatures to bring fantasy and wonder to the classic strategy game of chess, while taking great care to stay true to D&D lore, implement robust chess gameplay, and provide a high-quality user experience. We believe this commitment will make Dungeon Chess enjoyable for chess fans, D&D enthusiasts, and the VR community in general.”
Featuring single-player against variety of dynamic AI opponents and online friendly and ranked multiplayer, Dungeon Chess will be customisable with a variety of unique boards, rooms, avatars, decorations, pictures and more.
“Players will be able to experience Dungeon Chess on our Magic Table™ platform,” said Experiment 7’s Co-founder and Managing Director, Demetri Detsaridis. “Magic Table players can play against real-world friends, other VR users from around the world, or face our custom AI opponents in Dungeon Chess, or other tabletop games. Each game is played in stunning and customizable rooms, like the legendary Yawning Portal tavern. Eventually, they’ll even be able to play and chat with users on completely different VR hardware.”
“Continuing in our tradition of exploring new platforms and technologies, we are excited to partner with Experiment 7 to bring the brand to life in the virtual game room,” said Nathan Stewart, Brand Director for D&D. “Being able to personalize your own space and invite your friends over to enjoy a game of Dungeon Chess is just plain cool. Spicing it up with fantastic animations that bring iconic D&D monsters to life is a bonus.”
Dungeon Chess will launch on Oculus Rift and Samsung Gear VR later this year. For further updates, keep reading VRFocus.
‘Dungeons & Dragons’ in AR Teased by Wizards of the Coast Digital Games Studio
Playing Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition using AltspaceVR was one of my first multi-hour VR experiences. It combined something that I was familiar with and brought it to new life with new capabilities using the power of virtual reality. Whereas Dungeons & Dragons in VR brings anyone from around the world to the same location as you to relish in the joy of tabletop roleplaying in a digital setting, AR would bring digital augmentations into the physical world to enhance a physical game. The prospect is equally as exciting, but for very different reasons.
In a recent blog post on the official Wizards of the Coast website, company President Chris Cocks elaborated on the company’s forthcoming ‘moves’ in the digital space. Chief among the announcements is the founding of a new internal Digital Games Studio at Wizards of the Coast.
Playing D&D in AltspaceVR
Jeffrey Steefel leads the team, which is made up of game industry veterans with experience at studios such as Bioware, Activision, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Valve, and more. The existing Magic Online team (a digital version of the immensely popular Magic: The Gathering card game) is now included under the new Digital Games Studio banner, in addition to several other existing digital art and design teams.
The big news as it pertains to the world of AR though, is this nugget of information: “We will bring our characters and worlds to other games and experiences,” Cocks writes. “What would it be like to throw fireballs as a Planeswalker in an MMO, or quest for treasure with your friends in a D&D augmented-reality game?” This is clearly nothing more than generalized ideas, but it has more legs than just a random statement normally would.
Source: 3DVTT
At the GamesBeat 2016 conference, Dungeons & Dragons Director Nathan Stewart spoke on a panel about how to revitalize old franchises. In an interview with VentureBeat after the panel, Stewart elaborated on some of the ideas as they pertain to WotC properties.
“The dream, the dream for me, on AR—when I first saw the HoloLens demo I thought, oh my god, yes,” Stewart said. “Did you see the one where it’s the electrician helping him? When I saw that, I said, yes, that’s D&D. That’s amazing. I totally want to do that..I would like to take Fantasy Grounds or Roll 20, take the virtual tabletop, and play it with an augmented reality-type thing. It’s basically like Kingsmen Table, with the people at the table, whether they’re there or not, with the DM in front, and the DM really being the key to — their version of AR being a little different from other people’s.”
In that interview, Stewart also goes on to elaborate how physical gestures and movements at the table could reveal information that most players otherwise have to ask about, such as where their characters can see or what they’d like to do. You can within the roleplaying mindset and let AR transform stats and mechanics into overlays that are easily accessible and understandable. Not to mention how much easier it would be to create digital art and objects to display on a table through AR glasses, such as 3D map, instead of physically creating all of the props and resources by hand.
Official Wizards of the Coast Artwork
There are no announcements at this time, but based on the words of Cocks and Stewart, it’s clear that WotC is cooking something up for the AR world as it relates to the long-running Dungeons & Dragons franchise. Hopefully something similar is in the works for Magic: The Gathering as well.
Featured Image: Projection-Mapping
Tagged with: augmented reality, d&d, dungeons and dragons, magic the gathering, rpg, tabletop, wizards of the coast