settlers of catan
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Start settling Catan in May
Some sharp eyes over at Gamingtalkhq.com noticed that Catan has been given the month of May for release on Xbox Live. For board game junkies looking to play with their friends scattered across our little blue planet this news is met with great excitement, and is in good company with the release of Carcassonne on Xbox Live this June. A description of the game, key features and unlockable achievements can all be found at CatanLive.com. We hope this board game trend continues on Xbox Live and brings a different type of XBLA experience beyond the arcade and puzzle games. We now lobby for the fantastic Café International (with its politically incorrect characters intact) and the chase game Scotland Yard. It really is tragic how many great board games American culture missed out on. If you're tired of picking up Monopoly for the umpteenth time for a family member check out Spiel des Jahres for some ideas. Hopefully enough people will vote with their wallets that Catan and Carcassonne are great additions to XBLA.See also:Off the Grid: Industry favoritesOff the Grid: Carcassonne review
Carcassonne making roads to Xbox Live Arcade on June 7th
Click here for a larger version of this screenshot. Although it's taken almost a year to arrive, Xbox Live Arcade players and board game lovers can rejoice: Carcassonne will finally be coming to XBLA in June. It's no secret that we're fans of the original board game, so the announcement of a date comes as a welcome relief, and a cruel form of torture knowing we'll have to wait more than a month to get it. To whet your appetite even more, check out a slew of Carcassonne screenshots here.Power to the Meeple.[Via GameStooge]
Rumor: Puerto Rico coming to XBLA
It looks like board game lovers are going to be getting even more Euro gaming goodness. At least, that's what the signs are pointing to. We already know that Xbox Live Arcade will be getting games like Settlers of Catan, Alhambra, and our personal favorite Carcassonne, but according to some rumors at GameStooge it looks like another Rio Grande Games classic will be coming down the pipeline ... Puerto Rico.Apparently in the threads over at BoardGameGeek.com (which is a fantastic site for board games and such, along with the equally as fantastic FunAgain.com) the German gaming site BrettSpielWelt has taken down their online version of Puerto Rico, and replaced it with a message that another company has purchased the rights for "online exploitation." And c'mon, no one is better at exploiting things than Microsoft, right?Puerto Rico is a fun game that takes about an hour to play, and is all about shipping goods and building cities. It's been critically hailed as one of the best games of the past twenty years, already has a PC version out, and it's continually voted the number one game at board game sites, and it sure would be nice to see it on XBLA.
Catan to hit XBLA this quarter
Big Huge Games has announced that Catan, the Live Arcade version of the classic board game, will be arriving on Xbox Live Arcade in the 1st quarter of this year. While this was somewhat expected, given Microsoft's recently announced lineup of Arcade games, it's still a good sign that the game should show up soon. Also confirmed is that Catan will support three to four players over Xbox Live and that AI opponents will be available. The designer of the original board game and the Arcade version, Klaus Teuber, has been working closely with Brian Reynolds to create challenging opponents. Teuber even admits that he has lost several game to the CPU.If you can't get your fill of Catan, be sure to visit the game's official website, where you'll find screenshots and strategies for the upcoming game.[Via IGN. Thanks, Scott]
Settlers of Catan ... hot! Now where is it?
Joystiq readers have long asked for Settlers of Catan to be brought to Xbox Live Arcade. When Microsoft confirmed that they're working on the game, some readers rejoiced:
