Board Games on XBLA??

Posted: 23 Aug 2006
2 min read

GC, Xbox 360

In amongst a recent Microsoft press release today, there was word of some upcoming new Xbox Live Arcade titles previously yet unannounced.

These titles will give the 360 gamer a ‘splash of global influence’ with the release of three high-definition (because we all like to see how shiny our boot or hat pieces are in Monopoly) board-game-inspired titles from Europe.

So what are these titles? Monopoly…Trivial Pursuit…Snakes and Ladders? No the three upcoming board-game-inspired titles will be; Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne and Alhambra. Yes…those all-time classics that every family breaks out on a Christmas day.

Seriously now, we had to do some research ourselves to found out what these board games are exactly and here are our findings, or more to the point some pictures to look at.

Settlers of Catan

Described as: ‘A Game of Discory, Settlement and Trade’. As new immigrants to Catan you must expand your colony through the building of settlements, roads, and villages by harvesting and trading commodities. A truly classic game.

Carcassonne

Described as: ‘In this fairly light tile-laying game, players pull a tile from the deck and place it against a played tile. If you create a new object (a city, a road or a farm), then you control it. If you complete an object you score based on how developed it is’

Alhambra

Described as: ‘Granada — at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains – one of the most exciting and most interesting projects in Spain of the Middle Ages begins: the building of Alhambra. The game is easy to learn: only a few rules and you’re ready to play this exciting game.’

So all-in-all, these are some bizarre choices from the vast array of board games on the market, past and present. Plus wehave yet to see how successful each of these titles will make the transition to the console platform, both visually and in gameplay terms. More importantly though, is whether it will catch on with gamers. At least you wouldn’t have to hunt for any missing pieces that had gone astray down the back of the sofa!

Keep it locked here for any further crazy board game announcements.