China bootlegs Hearthstone cards into the real world
Blizzard has yet to release Hearthstone cards outside of their native virtual playground, but where American corporations fail, Chinese bootleggers are more than happy to step in.
Games In Asia has a lengthy report on a knock-off Chinese Hearthstone game, though "knock-off" doesn't properly describe the item. It would be more accurate to say that the bootleggers took the basic tenets of the Hearthstone virtual game then did their best to translate those ideas to a more traditional board game environment. As you'd expect, the artwork and most of the gameplay is swiped directly from Blizzard, but Games In Asia claims that legit assets can't save bootleg Hearthstone from the pitfalls of having so much cardboard to manage. "If playing this physical version (and watching it be played) taught me one thing, it's this: the digital game is incredibly good at streamlining."
We aren't about to link to a site selling counterfeit goods, but Games In Asia claims that those of you willing to track down this weird piece of pop cultural ephemera should expect to pay about $50 for the game. Alternately, you can play the original version of Hearthstone on an iPad, PC or Mac at no cost.
[Image: Activision Blizzard]
