MSN's Catan Preview Hits Gen Con Indy

Klytus writes "GamingReport.com has posted news that Microsoft plans a preview for all Gen Con attendees of their new online, web-based version of the popular board game "Settlers of Catan". Originally announced back in February, this will be the first look at Microsoft's version of Catan, which will 'debut this winter exclusively at MSN Games', and will offer attendees playable demos and unveiling of the CatanOnline website."

Yay

[Apreche]

While MS is doing this and it seems like a bad thing this can be looked at from another viewpoint. MS is giving recognition to Settlers! A big and real company has recognized german board games. Hopefully in the future we will see some real and high quality computer versions of Puerto Rico, Tigris and Euphrates and all the other great board games most people have never heard of.

I've thought about coding them myself in the past, but I've never found the time or will to actually go through with it. I'm also slightly worried about getting sued. I know for some games there exist computerized versions in various formats, but none of them are particularly high quality. Most of them are actually almost unplayable due to crummy interface. And of those that are playable it is often very difficult to actually get in a game with real people who stay and play to the end due to either too much or too little popularity. Java settlers would be the prime example there.

Here's the future popularity of "real" board games in the US, yar!

Re:Yay

[RedHat Rocky]

There is already a clone project [sourceforge.net] going, I wonder how long that will stay under the radar.

Settlers is a great game, but I see a lot being left out in an online verions. Player interaction is the key element that makes it fun.

Wood for sheep? Any one give me wood for sheep?

Re:Yay

[Soul-Burn666]

Forget about "wood for sheep".... that's possible online... but how about something like this:
A: "I am interested in some clay"
B: "Clay is a resource in need"
A: "What is your price?"
B: "The appropriate price!"
A: "How about a stone and a sheep"
B: "HAHAHAHAHahahahaah!"
A: "So...?"
B: "4 of one single kind"
A: "Ok then."
A passes dice.
C: "wwwwait!!! how about an offer you can't refuse... here's one sheep for free" (against robber)

yup, no online counterpart can beat a real life session.

Re:Yay

[Fenris Ulf]

M: "Anyone have clay?"
E: "What do you have to trade?"
M: "... Sheep."
E: "..."
M: "... They dance!"

Apparently sheep are overrepresented because the original game was going to have ships for ports, which would require wood for sails.

Re:Yay

[ZorMonkey]

Hopefully in the future we will see some real and high quality computer versions of Puerto Rico, Tigris and Euphrates and all the other great board games most people have never heard of.

Theres a decent set of board games on BrettspielWelt [brettspielwelt.de], except its primarily a German site. They have Peurto Rico, Settlers, Carcassonne, and a mess of others. It could use a lot more players though...

You can already play that game online for free

[CS_Snapple]

You can already play that online right here [northwestern.edu].

Re:You can already play that game online for free

[LehiNephi]

Not only can you play it on their site, you can download the source code [sourceforge.net] for both the server *and* the bots. Incidentally, the bots actually have decent AI--after all, the project was originally meant as AI research.

Re:You can already play that game online for free

[Macgrrl]

I have friends out here (Australia) with their own Catan server for when we can't get to gether to play in RL.

If you like Settlers, try and find yourself a copy of Cascasonne, also excellent.

Settlers of Catan is a good board game but.....

[Andy Mitchell]

I've played the original board game once with some friends and quite liked it.

A good board game needs to have simpler game mechanics than a computer game or it just gets too darn slow for most people. I think we all expect too much micro management from our PC games.

Much of the fun in playing a game like settlers comes from trying to negotiate trade deals with real people. The depth of this kind of thing is never the same against AI. So while it should apeal to many people as an online multipayer game I

Re:Settlers of Catan is a good board game but.....

[Zangief]

RTFA! It is a multiplayer online game. There will be a standalone version downloadable. So if you don't want to play against an AI, you don't have to

School Project

[redune45]

I read this article and I am surprisingly pleased. Last semester in my Software Engineering class the whole class was assigned the task to write Settler's of Catan. It was a very enjoyable project and the end result was quite fun to play.

I can't wait until Microsoft releases this to see how they dealt with the many difficult game decisions that have to be made.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Official Versions

[Thedalek]

(Speaking of licensing, I believe only the PlayStation version and the Microsoft version will be "legit."

BUZZ! Incorrect sir!

In Germany and most of non-English speaking Europe, there have been PC versions of Catan for years. For the base set and Seafarers, there's Catan: Die Erste Insel [amazon.de] (which was also available on the Playstation 1 [amazon.de]). If you're itching to play the cardgame online, why not try Catan - Das Kartenspiel [amazon.de], which features many online options, and a robust AI, not to mention an unofficial English translation [boardgamegeek.com].

If space is more your thing, you can always try Die Sternenfahrer von Catan [amazon.de], which is a bit of a departure from the cardboard-n-plastic version: It's realtime. Then again, you can always try the 2-player Sternenschiff Catan [amazon.de], which is chock full of scenario goodness. Rockazonga [rockazonga.com], the developer of the PC version of Sternenschiff, has been making noises of an English version, as well as a PS2 version.

Personally, I'd love for Microsoft to do all the Catan gams (which, by the terms of the agreement they signed, they are allowed to), since I love Starfarers, but have trouble talking people into playing a single game for 2 hours. They'd usually rather play several [boardgamegeek.com] other [boardgamegeek.com] games [boardgamegeek.com] in that same time period.

Official Versions Part Deux

[Thedalek]

Sorry, forgot to mention: Although not officially endorsed by the designer [klausteuber.com], there's also Zipangujima [gamefaqs.com], which is basically what would happen if you explained Catan and Risk to a newbie in rapid succession, without clarifying that they were different games.

Re:Official Versions

[88NoSoup4U88]

I bought the PC version of Catan ; and boy was i disappointed ;

The voice-acting was poorly done, ifnot annoying ; and the game mechanics just -don't- work when trying to play it on a computer.