• On his blog, designer Antoine Bauza writes about Rampage, a design under progress with Ludovic Maublanc. The key attraction: You are a monster attacking a city, with skyscrapers constructed from meeple supports, and as you wreak havoc on the town and bring the buildings down, the meeples fly everywhere. Sounds realistic! French site Jeux sur un Plateau has a video demonstration of the game, listing it as a future release from Repos Production.
• French publisher Gigamic has released new French-only versions of Jacques Zeimet's Kakerlaken trio (-poker, -salat and -suppe).
On a related note, my German exchange student was astonished a few months ago when I blurted out the German word for "cockroach" during some story that she was telling. She couldn't think of the right word in English and was trying to describe the object when I interjected, "Kakerlaken?" Jaw drop. This message brought to you by the "Yes, these games really are educational, I swear" Council of Board Game Publishers.
• Hints at another title coming from Ystari Games? French site Tric Trac highlights a video with actor/director Alexander Astier in which he states that he's been working with Ystari in relation to a TV series called "Kaamelott". And yes, Ystari's Cyril Demaegd has confirmed with me that Ystari will release something tied into "Kaamelott" – no details yet as to what that might be.
• In yet another recording from the Cannes game festival, Tric Trac previews the Cranio Creations title Dungeon Fighter.
• Moonster Games reports that Gosu: Kamakor is taking longer than expected as cards are balanced and other issues are worked through, but in the meantime the publisher offers you a "making of..." video showing the graphic work done on a single card in the expansion. Bonus (or penalty): Elvis sings background.
• With Eminent Domain still a month (or two or three) from release, designer Seth Jaffee is already running through the possibilities for the game's first big expansion, dubbed Exotic.
• Designer Alan Paull's next game will likely be Origins of Civilisation, according to this blog post from Tony Boydell, Paull's partner in Surprised Stare Games.
• As Fantasy Flight Games does on many Fridays, the publisher has announced a couple of new items, starting with the third adventure pack for The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game, this being A Journey To Rhosgobel. The other title announced is the standalone game Deadwood from designer Loïc Lamy.
• The standard edition of the Catan Dice Game will be available in U.S. stores once again on April 21, 2011. Stefan Feld's Strasbourg has been released in Germany by Pegasus Spiele.
• New titles of interest in the BGG databse include Chad Jensen's Dominant Species: The Card Game (which just launched on GMT's P500 system), Survive: 5-6 Player Mini-Expansion, Alcatraz: The Scapegoat (a Spiel 2011 release from Kuźnia Gier), Midnight Men (a cooperative deck-building game from designer Yves Tourigny in which the players are superheroes) and 18OE, a ten-hour 18xx game themed around the Orient Express.