XBox Live Arcade

Apparently, The Settlers of Catan is scheduled to appear on XBox live tonight.

I'll be buying it, but I won't review it here. I also will not be adding it to my Games Played.

I don't consider it a board game when it's in this format.

There is a lot of discussion here and there about what does it take to be considered a board game - I love The Settlers of Catan, and it's an excellent board game. When it's played on a tabletop with cardboard and wooden pieces. Or plastic. Or resin.

Once you're using a controller and the board is projected onto a screen, however, you've changed the game. It's now a video game, and is no longer a board game to me.

Board Gaming to me is (first and foremost) a social activity - it's something done in person with friends. It's not something done online with whoever happens to wander by. There are people who will argue that online gaming is just as social as tabletop - and, for them, it may be true. It just doesn't apply for me.

I think that having these games (Carcassonne is due in a few months) leap to XBox Live Arcade is a good thing - don't get me wrong. Anything which makes good games more visible is a good thing.

The new challenge for me is getting the XBox Live gamers to try other games which haven't made the leap.

I'm still figuring out how - it'll take lots of online practice research, I expect.