catan

Five ways Catan on iPad fails

Like chocolate and peanut butter, The Settlers of Catan and the iPad are two great tastes I love, coming together to make something that should be even better. Board games and the iPad are a perfect fit, and Catan is arguably the very best board game.

How could this combination go wrong?

Well, it did: Catan: The First Island hit the iPad App Store this week for $4.99, and it's the biggest disappointment I've experienced this year. Yes, the larger board size suits iPads better than iPhones, but that's the only way this app succeeds. Instead, … Read more

Crave 08: Back to the Futurama (podcast)

Eric Franklin once again invades the Crave podcast and is more than happy to provide his opinion on how unrealistic our latest Lego obsession is. Jasmine, on the other hand, is utterly unimpressed with the DIY power laces that aim to mimic the sweet Nikes from "Back to the Future II." But the tone turns hopeful when we get to Donald's army of beer-o-matic robots, and we're all a little taken with two sweet keyboards that take two totally different tacks.

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Crave 07: Go go gadget paper (podcast)

Despite the fact that everyone else is talking about it, Donald and Jasmine can't help but be a little repetitive and froth at the mouths over Hulu Plus, a new app and premium service from the popular video-streaming provider. And of course, no Crave podcast would be complete without a little robotic action, and we're particularly fond of Emily. Also on deck: a tiny hypercolor man and a DIY Hello Kitty gadget that's sure to send Japanese teeny boppers screaming for the hills.

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Crave 06: The trouble with lightsabers (podcast)

This week, Donald and Eric debate the dangers of robots, geodesic playgrounds, and real-life lightsabers. Plus, we take a look at some invisible cables, giant air multipliers, Catan for Microsoft Surface, and the e-reader's race to the bottom.

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Settlers of Catan coming to Microsoft Surface

Now, it's no secret that I am a Settlers of Catan enthusiast. Just ask the kind folks at TechFlash who made the mistake of letting me play in their tournament.

So I, like many devotees of the German board game have been hoping to see it make its way to Microsoft's Surface tabletop. Well, the good news is that it is indeed happening.

Enthusiasts at this week's Origins Game Fair in Columbus, Ohio, will be the first to see Catan running on the Microsoft tabletop computer, although the game is still in development. The final version is … Read more

Board game alert: Carcassonne comes to iPhone

Far be it from me to normally get tremendously excited about specific iPhone games, but Carcassonne suddenly popped up in the App Store after months of anticipation (at least on my part).

In my board game collection (the physical one, not the iPhone one), Carcassonne sits right next to Settlers of Catan as one my favorites. The Xbox 360 has a pretty good version of Carcassonne in its Live Arcade, but the nature of the game--lay down tiles to connect cities, roads, and fields, and settle your little wooden men for points--is a natural for a touch interface, more so … Read more

Cardboard meets OLED as game pieces go digital

Board games are already experiencing a renaissance as they move from the tabletop to the desktop (think Lexulous and Scrabble), but researchers from Canada's Queen's University are trying to further advance the ol' board game with a technology that essentially turns each piece into a graphics-saturated mini-display, thus merging the tangible aspects of board games with software-generated action normally seen in strategy games such as World of Warcraft.

Queen's Human Media Lab Professor Roel Vertegaal and HML graduate Mike Rooke say their technology (PDF) would let groups of people play electronic games in a sociable, physical setting … Read more

Beyond Binary named 'Lord of Catan'

SEATTLE--If the goal of a reporter is to observe and remain separate from the action, I was a very bad reporter on Tuesday night.

In town for other reasons, I happened to notice that Seattle-area tech site TechFlash was hosting a tournament of the board game "Settlers of Catan." Knowing TechFlash co-founder Todd Bishop quite well, I dropped a note to see if I could take part, or at least watch. As many friends know, I am a bit of a Catan addict, an obsession fueled by the game's recent release for the iPod Touch (leading the … Read more

Civilizing game

Catan - Cities and Knights offers all of the challenge of the original board game with several exciting digital twists. This program's simple operation and surprising elements kept us engaged throughout.

The game's interface was a pleasure to operate, thanks to its layout and professional graphics. We never felt confused while playing; excellent tutorials are included that teach you the ropes. The game's objectives are reminiscent of the highly successful Age of Empires series, which revolved around building a medieval civilization from the ground up. You start off with a small village, collecting local supplies based on … Read more