Start settling Catan in May
by Alexander Sliwinski 
{ Apr 22nd 2007 at 8:30PM }
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 favorites
Off the Grid: Carcassonne review
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Dirk Dorkelson @ Apr 22nd 2007 8:35PM
On a related note, where is chess? Seems like a no-brainer for XBLA.
Erwos @ Apr 22nd 2007 9:33PM
Doing a chess game shouldn't be too hard - they'd do best to just license and port an existing chess game engine like REBEL. Not sure what the author's licensing terms are, but you'd figure Microsoft could swing something reasonable.
I'm definitely jazzed about Settlers of Catan - fantastic board game, and tons of fun to play online.
Kwipper @ Apr 22nd 2007 9:59PM
If Squaresoft decides to remake the old Final Fantasy games, please do one thing.
GET RID OF RANDOM ENCOUNTERS!
Man I totally hate random encounters, they ruin the flow of a game IMHO and are just plain annoying to deal with.
Dustin @ Apr 22nd 2007 10:14PM
Aww damn, now to get the ball rolling on a Risk XBLA game.
Danger @ Apr 22nd 2007 10:33PM
the game actually looks highly addictive, can't wait for this to pop out.
http://www.burnedbytheman.com
Salty @ Apr 23rd 2007 1:16AM
This game rocks, can't wait to play it on live.
Gavin @ Apr 23rd 2007 4:50AM
Yes, more stuff like this! How about also doing a version of Axis & Allies (the older version based off the board game and not the RTS type one). As an old school board gamer, I'd love to see more stuff like this. Something like and updated version of Talisman would also be awesome or a game like Culdcept. I picked Culdcept out of the used bin and put hours into that sucker...it would be awesome to play something like that on live with chat.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culdcept
If you like board/card games with a fantasy theme and have a PS2, you should totally check out Culdcept. It has sooooooo much replay value.
Gavin @ Apr 23rd 2007 4:53AM
Just read that they ARE making a Culdcept for the 360 with online play! Awesome news!!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culdcept_Saga
Looks like it has a NA launch date in August...I'm stoked now.
snowcrash @ Apr 23rd 2007 7:08AM
@Gavin
And Capcom is also bringng Talisman to XBLA.
MadMup @ Apr 23rd 2007 7:41AM
Who do we talk to about getting Scrabble on XBLA? It's a perfect fit, and with the advent of the QWERTY keyboard attachment coming soon... well, I'd buy it, anyway!
ConstyXIV @ Apr 23rd 2007 9:18AM
@2 Erwos:
Why would they bother licensing someone else's engine? They've already got their own. There's an online chess game in Windows ME and XP (Start->Programs->Games->Internet Chess), they have it in MSN Games (or whatever they call it now) also and I heard they have some funky 3d chess in Vista.
Viridium @ Apr 23rd 2007 10:05AM
I hope it doesn't take long to get out the Cities and Knights expansion (and a 5-6 player xpac!). That's the only way we every play Settlers anymore - C&K is teh r0xx0r.
Joe Smith @ Apr 23rd 2007 2:55PM
Been looking forward to this one and Pinball -- so it's a great time for me this month and next! Carcassonne looks cool too -- though I have never played the real board game. I heard that Talisman is coming too -- form Capcom, I think.
Tel @ Apr 23rd 2007 4:39PM
Looking forward to Catan.
Board gamers will get a great port.
People who only play electronic games will get something that's a little like a trade focused Civ game.
The 360 doesn't have too many turn-baced games, so this is a great addition.
ackmondual @ Apr 23rd 2007 4:49PM
@
For those of you who want a pretty nice implementation of Settlers of Catan, there's a freeware version of the game for PC called Sea3d. No single player vs AI, but it does include hotseat (multiplayer on the same PC) and network play. Network play also has ladder games. This game also contains Seafarers of Catan, as well as its various map layouts.
@ #1
""On a related note, where is chess? Seems like a no-brainer for XBLA.""
While Chess for XBLA would be neat, I feel that shouldn't be a priority. There are already many venues for online chess (a good # of them free, like Yahoo Games for one which only requires a PC made around roughly after 1995 and internet access). HD content would be neat, but at the very least, there should be a plethora of options like game logs and advanced strategy analysis.
@ #12
I'd give it at least a year or 2? While I enjoy SoC and think it's a great game, dunnoa if XB players wil feel the same. I'm sure M$ will want to make sure there's at least enough interest in that version for XBLA bef making C&K of Catan. If so, I'm guessing Seafarers of Catan would come bef that.