Links: Origins Awards Nominees for 2011, Free D&D Adventures & More

• GAMA (The Game Manufacturers Association) has announced the nominees for the 37th annual Origins Awards. The categories most relevant to BGG readers:

Best Board Game

• Castle Ravenloft
• Defenders of the Realm
• Fresco
• Lords of Vegas
• Nuns on the Run

Best Traditional Card Game

• Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer
• Back to the Future: The Card Game
• Hecho
• Hex Hex XL
• Railways of the World: The Card Game

Best Family, Party or Children's Game

• Ligretto Dice
• Telestrations
• Wits and Wagers Family Edition
• Word on the Street Junior
• Zombie Dice

Best Historical Board Game

• Catan Histories: Settlers of America – Trails to Rails
• Conflict of Heroes: Price of Honour Poland 1939
• Panzer General: Allied Assault
• Warlords of Europe

The winners of these and other categories will be announced during the Origins Game Fair in Columbus, Ohio, U.S., which runs June 22-26, 2011.

• Wizards of the Coast has released three bonus adventures for its 2011 release Wrath of Ashardalon, but you need both this game as well as WotC's first D&D Adventure System board game, Castle Ravenloft.

• The Board Game Designers Guild of Utah (BGDG) has released its Spring 2011 newsletter. Amazing to see how well-organized this group is – not to mention how well-represented its creations are among recently released games. You can download all the newsletters from the BGDG website.

• On The Noble Gamer, Ian Noble interviews first-time designer Galen Ciscell about Atlantis Rising. Very convenient having a last name like "Noble" when trying to think of a blog name...

• In his latest Postcard from Berlin, designer Jeffrey D. Allers details what went on behind the scenes when he was filmed by the German cultural station ARTE for its program X:enius on the game design process. As is typically the case, sounds like hours of time spent on interviews, demoes, in-between shots, etc. was boiled down to a few minutes. Of course that happens with every creative process as nothing bursts forth Athena-like in full readiness.

• On April 9, 2011, the non-profit organization 826NYC held its 4th Annual Scrabble for Cheaters Tournament, a fund-raising event in which players can pay money during a game to use a non-English word, add an X or Z to any word, play a proper noun, "find" a blank on their rack, and much more. Fun idea! (HT: Dale Yu)

• How much would you pay for a giant-sized inflatable Twister that fits up to ten people? If you $2,000 (or more), then Hammacher Schlemmer has the game for you. (HT: Dale Yu once again)

• Tech site Ars Technica highlights a homemade board game based on the movie Tron, complete with laser-etched acrylic game board and black light-reactive paint. The lengths some fans will go to recreating their objects of affection – now if you'll excuse me, I have to figure out how to pack the components for my House of Leaves board game into a Coloretto box...

• Ars Technica also features an interesting post titled "How Early Reviews Hurt Sales of Indie Games," by Ben Kuchera. An excerpt:

Quote:

There have been multiple independent developers who e-mail us about coverage for their games, while at the same time asking that reviews or coverage be held until the game is available for purchase. If sites review a new big-budget game from a major publisher early and give it a positive score there will be commercials, print ads, and in-store displays to remind you that you should buy the game. With an indie game, if the developer can't convert that initial buzz into sales, they may not get another chance at the audience.

The post focuses on video games, but the concept is the same for board and card games – namely that a review coming too early in a game's release cycle will be forgotten by the time the game can actually be purchased. Any thoughts?

• Finally, Scott Alden – you know who he is, right? – passes on a link to a Google Tech Talk from Sebastian Deterding titled "Meaningful Play: Getting Gamification Right" that gives a thumb's up for how BGG encourages upward thumbs from users, not to mention microbadges and other items.