Magic: The Gathering Finally Taps PlayStation 3's Mana

[Tom Goldman]

Magic: The Gathering Finally Taps PlayStation 3's Mana


A new online strategy game set in the Magic: The Gathering Multiverse is coming to the PC and PS3 in 2010

Sony Online Entertainment and Wizards of the Coast are collaborating on the development of an online 3D turn-based strategy title called Magic: The Gathering - Tactics. The game will be coming to the PC in early 2010, with a PlayStation 3 version to follow later in the year. This will be the first Magic: The Gathering based videogame to come to the PlayStation 3.

Those that enjoy strategy games should probably put this on their radars. Magic: The Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers has already seen some success on Xbox Live Arcade, proving that there is an audience out there for these types of titles. John Smedley, President of Sony Online Entertainment boasts: "We're going to be taking the Magic: The Gathering Multiverse places players have never seen," so he's obviously got high hopes for Tactics.

From the game's press release:

Magic: The Gathering - Tactics will allow players to command forces of dramatic 3D figures and powerful spell cards pulled from the Magic: The Gathering Multiverse. Players can participate in single player scenarios or jump right into PVP action against other players worldwide, 24 hours per day. Magic: The Gathering - Tactics is expected to feature regular content expansions, a robust tournament environment, an achievement and rankings program, and original stories of the Planeswalkers of Magic: The Gathering.

Ideally, Magic: The Gathering - Tactics will provide a deep strategic experience that taps into what makes the card game so great, but one that can also be enjoyed casually from a console. It seems to be in the same vein as Duels of the Planeswalkers, adding a more accessible feel to Magic, though we'll have to wait for more gameplay details to find out. Even the game's official website [http://www.magicthegatheringtactics.com/] says that Magic: The Gathering - Tactics will allow us to "see and hear Magic in a whole new way," so I'm intrigued to see what SOE and WotC come up with. Beta sign-ups are going to be available soon for anyone interested.


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[RandV80]

I wasted too much money on it in high school as well when it was new, and eventually quit because of that. I got the craving to give it another go last year for an online PC version, but hated the way they forced pre-built decks down your throat. To me a big part of the fun was buying different packs of random cards and seeing what kind of deck you could build out of that. Maybe that doesn't apply to the hardcore Magic fanbase because they have hundreds/thousands of cards already and can build very specific decks, but from everything I've seen of M:tG they don't bother including the newbie experience in the video game versions.

 

[ZombieGenesis]

I'm a real lover of card games, but I could never get into MtG. It just seemed too basic for my tastes, didn't really have any flavour to it.

I'm just waiting for someone to improve on Eye of Judgement and make it work like it was supposed to. Maybe even use it for a card game that's fun to play, I could live with that.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

When Roleplayers get together at Gencon, there's one thing that we all look down on.

The anoraks in Tragic: The Saddening.

 

[theultimateend]

I wasted far too much money on that stupid, pointless game in my early twenties. I'll be damned if they are gonna see another red cent of it for any form of it. If god gave me the opportunity, I would take every copy of Black Lotus ever created stuff them in a hydrogen-filled balloon and let it float into the view of every M:tG player before I shot it with a flaming arrow.

Then I'd drink all their tears with a squeeze of lime.

Cute.

In other news there is no such thing as a non-pointless game if you don't understand the point of games.

 

[IrrelevantTangent]

Well, this is pretty good news. For PS3 owners, that is; I was hoping we'd see something like this on the 360 as well, but you can't have everything.

But then again, while I wait for the 360 to get the equivalent of this new game, perhaps I should dust off my old Faerie Aggro deck...

 

[Doc Theta Sigma]

I'd tap it but I'd like to see more first.

 

[randommaster]

I wasted far too much money on that stupid, pointless game in my early twenties. I'll be damned if they are gonna see another red cent of it for any form of it. If god gave me the opportunity, I would take every copy of Black Lotus ever created stuff them in a hydrogen-filled balloon and let it float into the view of every M:tG player before I shot it with a flaming arrow.

Then I'd drink all their tears with a squeeze of lime.

Wouldn't it be a better idea to sell those Loti and earn back the money you lost?

I wasted too much money on it in high school as well when it was new, and eventually quit because of that. I got the craving to give it another go last year for an online PC version, but hated the way they forced pre-built decks down your throat. To me a big part of the fun was buying different packs of random cards and seeing what kind of deck you could build out of that. Maybe that doesn't apply to the hardcore Magic fanbase because they have hundreds/thousands of cards already and can build very specific decks, but from everything I've seen of M:tG they don't bother including the newbie experience in the video game versions.

If you were playing MtG:O then you obviously weren't trying hard enough, as you can actually open boosters in there.

What's with all the MtG hate? People act like it killed their dog when they were little.

In other news, I hope this turns out to be more than just a tactics game with the Magic brand attached to it.

 

[Blindrooster]

Tactics!?!?!? They cant call a game tactics!!!!!! Final Fantasy Tactics was the best and only "Tactics" game their should be!!!! Thats like making a low budget action film and naming the bad guy Darth Vader.

 

[theultimateend]

I wasted far too much money on that stupid, pointless game in my early twenties. I'll be damned if they are gonna see another red cent of it for any form of it. If god gave me the opportunity, I would take every copy of Black Lotus ever created stuff them in a hydrogen-filled balloon and let it float into the view of every M:tG player before I shot it with a flaming arrow.

Then I'd drink all their tears with a squeeze of lime.

Cute.

In other news there is no such thing as a non-pointless game if you don't understand the point of games.

You're absolutely right. There is a point to M:tG. The point is to soak the consumer for hundreds of dollars so that they can get useless duplicates of useless cards in a futile effort to find the ones they need so that they can still constantly be knocked around by card shop owners and rich 14-year olds who can straight out buy copies of the power nine and anything else useful.

All sarcasm aside, there is a point to games in general. It's just that I pissed away too much of time and money on TCGs for no real benefit and the whole damning process has left me with a bitter taste in my mouth. I did have a copy a Time Twister though, one of the power nine. Someone stole it from me.

I don't know what communities you were dealing with. It has been years since I saw anyone play any of the power nine in a deck casual or otherwise. Not necessarily because they are expensive but mainly because nobody gives a damn.

If your deck wins every time then you won't be playing with people all that much. I spend less on Magic each year than I do Gas or just about any other entertainment medium and I still find myself getting as much enjoyment as back when I paid out the ass for it.

It's much like masturbation, alcohol, or anything else. Always in moderation.

 

[Fenixius]

Well, I was interested until I read "Sony Online Entertainment". I've never enjoyed anything they've ever done.

The only good Magic videogame I've ever played was Duels of the Planeswalkers [http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/duelsoftheplaneswalkers.aspx?x=mtg/digital/dotp/whatis], which was pretty good. It had some pretty big problems, though - like not being able to build your own deck, just mod existing ones. Still, it was pretty fun.

And now, this is where I respond to people, 'cause I have a ...couple issues with some posts above. You can quit reading here if you want.

I'd tap it but I'd like to see more first.

Me too. That video/press release is pretty much devoid of information. I don't even know how close to Magic this'll even be. It may well be a tactical turn-based strategy game vaguely based on some recent expansion setting. When I read stuff like this, I get worried.

"We're going to be taking the Magic: The Gathering Multiverse places players have never seen."

Hear that? It won't even be a proper Magic setting; just something vaguely themed towards the game.

I'm a real lover of card games, but I could never get into MtG. It just seemed too basic for my tastes, didn't really have any flavour to it.

Wow. I can't disagree more. I felt that Magic's flavour was very, very strong. It had a lot to offer, if you looked into it. Each Colour had a distinct philosophy behind it, from a fictional-setting point of view, and that was translated into game mechanics. Dual-colour cards had very specific abilities that (mostly) fit their colours' interactions. I can go into examples, if you'd like. It's been a while, but Magic's flavour was actually pretty influential for me.

The gameplay was pretty deep, too. Elements of resource management [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starcraft], bluffing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poker], and even diplomacy [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilization_IV] if you had multiple players in the game. You had to know how to deploy your land in the right order. You had to know how to read the other guy's intentions. It was -crucial- to know when to attack, and when to look like you can't. There was really a lot in there, but a lot of the tactics only became obvious if you went and read up. There's a -huge- amount of designwork that went into MtG, and it's a really robust, extensible, clear system. The "comprehensive [http://www.wizards.com/dci/oracle/MagicCompRules_100702.pdf]" rules is a huge (82 A4 pages long) document, but everything is there.

Tactics!?!?!? They cant call a game tactics!!!!!! Final Fantasy Tactics was the best and only "Tactics" game their should be!!!! Thats like making a low budget action film and naming the bad guy Darth Vader.

Final Fantasy Tactics is fantastic. It is, however, very... not tactical. It's a JRPG. It's barely tactical at all - you don't really respond to enemy moves. Just charge in, chop them to bits, level, move on. Which is awesome fun, but it's not tactical.

A tactical game is Company of Heroes or Dawn of War 2 [http://www.companyofheroes.com/]. These are examples of military tactics, and the latter even has RPG elements! Give those a shot. Dawn of War 2 [http://store.steampowered.com/app/15620/] is really your tactical RPG - you level up, choose classes, get different spells and abilities. But that means squat if you can't flank, or use cover properly. If you don't know how and when to use that grenade, you're toast. Warhammer 40000 [http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Thought_for_the_day] is unforgiving [http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Thought_for_the_day#T]. Final Fantasy Tactics, while enjoyable, is barely tactical at all. It's on a grid. Hitting from behind is more damage. That's... about it.

It's just that I pissed away too much of time and money on TCGs for no real benefit and the whole damning process has left me with a bitter taste in my mouth.

Not that my recommendation means a damn, but Magic has evolved -greatly- since the days of the 'nine. If you check out Duels of the Planeswalkers [http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-AU/games/offers/00000000-0000-4000-8000-000058410860] on 360's Live Arcade, you'll see what I mean. Admittedly, it's a very limited window: There's no real control over your decks. But the gameplay is all there, with most of the innovations of the past years.

The game is continually being updated by new blocks and rules errata. It's a lot to keep track of, but I did for a couple of years, and the game changed significantly for the better in that time. They even put out less cards per expansion, so you could get more of them. And so they had to design less, but whatever; it's still a nice expression, don't you think?

Magic: The Gathering [http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Multiverse/] is an incredible game, for many reasons. I doubt that Magic: The Gathering Tactics will be.

 

[RandV80]

If you were playing MtG:O then you obviously weren't trying hard enough, as you can actually open boosters in there.

What's with all the MtG hate? People act like it killed their dog when they were little.

Let me correct myself a little then. I jumped onto the trial of MtG:O, and for that the only thing available they had in the trial was pre-existing decks. Maybe I was wrong but I got the impression that in order to start getting starter/booster packs and play the way I wanted I would still need to buy them individually? Either way, what I was really looking for was something Duals of the Planeswalker where you built your own deck up from scratch. Not to replace the physical cards and person to person play with a straight up computer version.

I'm not bashing on Magic, just that I didn't have a lot of disposable income in high school, and I started wanting to buy packs just for the excitement of seeing the new cards I would get. Something similar I guess to the adrenaline rush that gamblers get which makes gambling addicting to them. So after a year I sold my cards and stopped playing. So as I sort of implied earlier, what I'm more interested in is the whole M:tG package (though I don't mean all cards ever made) as a single video game purchase.

 

[RandV80]

Tactics!?!?!? They cant call a game tactics!!!!!! Final Fantasy Tactics was the best and only "Tactics" game their should be!!!! Thats like making a low budget action film and naming the bad guy Darth Vader.

Well technically, Final Fantasy Tactics pretty blatantly ripped off Tactics Ogre (of the Ogre Battle series), so it itself wasn't anything original. By adding "Tactics" to the end of a game series it more or less means it'll be a turn based Shining Force style gameplay. Tactics Ogre, FF Tactics, Fallout Tactics, Suikoden Tactics, etc.

 

[randommaster]

If you were playing MtG:O then you obviously weren't trying hard enough, as you can actually open boosters in there.

What's with all the MtG hate? People act like it killed their dog when they were little.

Let me correct myself a little then. I jumped onto the trial of MtG:O, and for that the only thing available they had in the trial was pre-existing decks. Maybe I was wrong but I got the impression that in order to start getting starter/booster packs and play the way I wanted I would still need to buy them individually? Either way, what I was really looking for was something Duals of the Planeswalker where you built your own deck up from scratch. Not to replace the physical cards and person to person play with a straight up computer version.

I'm not bashing on Magic, just that I didn't have a lot of disposable income in high school, and I started wanting to buy packs just for the excitement of seeing the new cards I would get. Something similar I guess to the adrenaline rush that gamblers get which makes gambling addicting to them. So after a year I sold my cards and stopped playing. So as I sort of implied earlier, what I'm more interested in is the whole M:tG package (though I don't mean all cards ever made) as a single video game purchase.

Yeah, it sucks that you can only really mess around with precons in the trial and Xbox game, but being able to build decks from scratch is really hard to program. DotP is actually limited in what cards can be put in because of the Xbox's hardware. If you want the Magic experience in a game, then you're either going to have to play MtG:O, or go find a copy of the old Shandalar game.

And as far as not having a lot of disposable income for playing, I would recomend drafting at a local store if you can, as you get cards and usually have the core of a solid deck when you leave. It also allows you to get more than what you open if you can win any prizes.