Vin Desiel almost got Judi Dench to roll dice LOL!

[Bards R Us]

Whether its $15 million or $15.5 million, getting an extra half a million in ticket sales on opening weekend is never bad, especially when all you have to say is "uh, yeah, I still play DnD." Probably the easiest crowd he has to play to. "I am one of you and I am produing a SF movie" SOLD!

Besides your thinking about only about the number of table top gamers, that's not what the entertainment industry thinks about when you say "DnD."

And you know this how?

These days when the guys in the board room think DnD, they think Balders Gate, not dice. Just like Marvel comics is tax break for Marvel Entertainment, which pitches the I.P. to movies, WotC is merely a I.P. place holder for Hasbro's (really now Infrogames) video game I.P.s

Do you really think that many people out there know what Baldurs Gate is? A PC game that has had no TV advertising?

Hell, the main reason WotC has a new setting coming out is because Hasbro owns the digital rights to Forgotten Realms, and WotC wants their big piece of that video game pie.

Don't forget that while you chuck dice at the table, there are people now calling themselves "roleplayers" Everquest that have never touched a die (I used to date such a girl and we had fun teasing each other on the real definition of being a gamer.)

And what percentage of those players do you really think would actually consider themselves "roleplayers"? Or know what that is? Or even knew that some of those games were based on DnD? Or even knew (or cared) what DnD is?

And Hollywood sees big bucks in console/PC games. In fact, that they blame lower ticket sales on the video game market.

Console games, yes. PC games, IMO, definitely NOT. I could post a truckload of evidence to suggest otherwise.

Better yet, anyone been to both E3 AND GenCon? Could someone tell us which is bigger?

Sure the electronic gaming market is certainly far bigger than the entire table-top gaming market (ccgs, rpgs, minis, boardgames, etc.). No surprise there.

Wake up call! we aren't the parent market, we are just a tax break and I.P protection for the real cash cow.

Sure there is definitely the possibility to make alot of money. There's also the possibility to *lose* ALOT of money. Just ask Hasbro. Or Mattel. Or the countless movie studios who have tried to enter the market in previous years.

 

[Zappo]

From what I know, Baldur's Gate alone has sold over a million copies. Meh, probably much more than that. It's not the World Cup, but it's nothing to spit at. But I agree with JPL, the main advantage he gets from mentioning D&D is to get a bit of a different edge. He definitely doesn't look like the stereotypical gamer, so it's kinda striking to find out that he does game. Anyway, playing D&D doesn't automatically make you a cool person (I've met lots of real jerks who play D&D), but it's a good symptom.

I've never heard of Pitch Black...

Rent it, it's not Alien but it's pretty good.

 

[Bards R Us]

From what I know, Baldur's Gate alone has sold over a million copies. Meh, probably much more than that. It's not the World Cup, but it's nothing to spit at. But I agree with JPL, the main advantage he gets from mentioning D&D is to get a bit of a different edge. He definitely doesn't look like the stereotypical gamer, so it's kinda striking to find out that he does game. Anyway, playing D&D doesn't automatically make you a cool person (I've met lots of real jerks who play D&D), but it's a good symptom. Rent it, it's not Alien but it's pretty good.

True but those are really good numbers even for a PC game (much less a PnP product). You'd be shocked to know that most PC games don't sell anywhere near to those kind of numbers.

But the real question is: how many of those people eventually become certified, hard-core Dungeon and Dragon fans though? How many of those people bought and played it because it was DnD and/or a roleplaying game? How many of those folks played it just as if it was just another computer game to be put back on the shelf after finishing it to go back to their FPS and RTS games and their clones? Do many even know that it was a DnD product at all (I kid you not, it wouldn't surprise me at all if lots of people didn't even know)?

Electronic DnD products and PnP DnD products are definitely not the same kind of thing.

 

[barsoomcore]

I just gotta say, having Judi Dench at your gaming table would HUGELY rock. Can you imagine her playing D&D? I totally can. I bet she'd LOVE it. And she'd rock.

 

[Ranger REG]

Oh, to be a devil's advocate... even if it's funny

I don't understand the doubt directed at him for this. The man's coming out to admit he plays D&D, he's 'coolifying' the game, he should be welcomed into the fold.

Please. A guy that good-looking, even a girl like Lexa Doig, don't play D&D to be cool. Let's face it. There is no such thing as in-crowd people (the jocks and the preppies who embrace the "Popular" culture) playing D&D. That's like seeing a pimple-faced kid with bottle-framed prescription glasses winning the title of Homecoming King. Or a 90-pounder with fragile bone being a state high school amateur wrestling champion in 200-pound-plus weight class.

D&D are for freaks n' geeks, and we accept us for who we are ... the outcasts.

Even I don't understand all the baseball and football jocks ... even cheerleaders ... coming out of the wood saying they play D&D. I mean, what's their problem? They should stay on their side of the cafeteria.

 

[Zappo]

True but those are really good numbers even for a PC game (much less a PnP product). You'd be shocked to know that most PC games don't sell anywhere near to those kind of numbers.

It takes more than an information I already have to shock me.

But the real question is: how many of those people eventually become certified, hard-core Dungeon and Dragon fans though?

Very few. Though I think that most know that Baldur's Gate is based on something called D&D; most reviews used to mention it, and it's written on the box. Anyway, what's your point? That Vin Diesel isn't talking about D&D in order to attract gamers? That's what I said in my post too!

 

[Thanee]

I had no idea The Chronicles of Riddick is a sequel! I've never heard of Pitch Black...and that seems to be saying something, since the article says that was Diesel's "most famous role"...which I thought was him in XXX.

Pitch Black is the movie, that made him known. And quite a cool movie as well.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Dogbrain]

D&D are for freaks n' geeks, and we accept us for who we are ... the outcasts.

First, "D&D" is a singular noun, not a plural.

Second, my high school group included a guy who was captain of the wrestling team and senior class president.

 

[Bards R Us]

Anyway, what's your point?

Not sure actually LoL

 

[der_kluge]

'Cept Vin's been saying it for a while; even has a tatoo of his character's name...

Actually, that tattoo was a temporary one that he had on his stomach, just below his navel for his movie, Triple-X.