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<blockquote data-quote="Steel_Wind" data-source="post: 4430398" data-attributes="member: 20741"><p><strong>Gencon 2008 Dealer Hall</strong></p><p></p><p>Overall, my impression of the Dealer’s Hall for this Gencon was, frankly, not a very positive one in terms of the health of the RPG hobby. In a phrase folks – there were not many new products on sale – and not a whole lot of interesting OLD D20 products for sale either. My hoped for bounty of cheapie 3.5 WotC books at $5 a piece did not come to pass – at all. Hell, there were not even that many dealers selling old D20 3.x stock either. Very slim pickings, for the most part. The “industry”, such as it is, appears to be a very troubled one.</p><p></p><p>Picked up <em>Dragons of Spring</em> from the Marg Weis Productions booth for $5. I was under the impression they were not even supposed to be selling these books anymore. It was the only 3.5 D20 DL book I did not have – so it completed my collection. In contrast to previous years, M Weis’ staff did not seem that enthused about this show and it was a subdued sales pitch there. Not a happy vibe. But I’ll give em a break – because it wasn’t just them.</p><p></p><p>In fact, that was the vibe repeated time and time again at nearly every RPG sales booth in the dealer hall ( and there were less of those, too). The one exception out of this depressing 2008 dealer hall (well, depressing in terms of Core RPG sales) was Paizo. Because the story at Paizo was a very different one. And I have little doubt that experience was not lost upon others there.</p><p></p><p>Paizo, you see, had new stuff to sell. And racks of fairly new stuff too. <em>Pathfinder</em> this, that, and the other thing gleamed - and flew- off the shelves. Line-ups of attendees were queued to have their <em>Dorkness Rising</em> DVDs signed – and more than a few customers were queued up to buy <em>Pathfinder Beta</em> and the new Setting campaign book – together with all sorts of other odds and ends and new and older accessories. Paizo rolled the dice – and on the first round of combat at any rate - they’ve rolled a 20. </p><p></p><p>By Saturday, I watched Jason Bulhman relocate the last of the <em>Pathfinder Beta</em> books from one wall to the main shelf. They sold out quickly thereafter. That’s right: SOLD OUT. For the RPG sellers in the dealer hall – that was a pretty damned unique event. (The 4E Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting Book also sold out at WotC's booth).</p><p></p><p>Speaking of WotC...WotC’s booth <em>seemed</em> to be smaller this year and the overall impression was that they didn’t have much that was new to sell there, either. The Forgotten Realms campaign books was reportedly flying off the shelf there – but that was about it. I’m not sure if my discomfort with WotC’s booth this year was attributable to a new layout or if it was something else. The impression I got from their booth was one of their declined interest in the show. Not saying they, in fact, HAD a declined sense of interest - simply that that was the <em>impression</em> conveyed by their booth.</p><p></p><p>Apart from Paizo, there were some positives in the Dealer Hall though...just not in RPG land. Fantasy Flight Games was hopping and seemed to be bigger this year with tons of demos and new product fairly dripping off the shelves. Their booth was just plain mobbed and they did a brisk business throughout the entire show. Their new <em>Battlestar Galactica</em> boardgame was being played all over the convention hall. Their new <em>WoW Adventure Boardgame </em>and <em>Red November mini boardgame </em>was similarly getting play in the ballroom and all over hotel lobbies around the Con. FFG knows how to make money in the hobby games trade – and their Gencon 2008 booth was a clinic on just how to do it. </p><p></p><p>Days of Wonder was showing off some new expansion products for <em>Memoir ’44 </em> but their new similarly themed "monster game" expansion product for <em>Battlelore</em> was not for sale. It did not seem to trouble them much. By Sunday morning, Days of Wonder had sold out of almost all of their stock. <em>Ticket to Ride</em> in just about ever flavour, in every expansion – even the card game - was just plain sold out. All the new the new <em>Memoir ’44</em> product was sold out -0 and almost all of the old products too. 6 expansion packs s for Battlelore remained on Sunday monring. They had sold out their booth of essentially everything they had brought to Gencon except for 4 Memoir ‘44 Duffel Bag carriers. And by the time I left the booth – they only had three of those. Making good products counts; having your booth as the first significant booth inside the east doors to the Dealer Hall probably didn’t hurt sales either. </p><p></p><p>Upper Deck was demonstrating the forthcoming <em>WoW Collectible Miniatures Game </em>to a lot of gamers. Interest appeared to be high and frustration that the product was not yet for sale was pretty clear. The price on the booster packs and core starter set appears to be in line with similar offerings from other companies – until you realize that there are only 4 minis in the starter and 3 in a booster. To be fair, the WoW minis are significantly larger in size than WotC’s minis line and the look great, but still – it seems a very steep price to pay for a CMG. I expect they will sell very well just the same. It’s WoW; and the WoW brand makes money – whether that’s at Blizzard, Upper Deck, or Fantasy Flight Games.</p><p></p><p>The electronic exhibits were noticeably fewer this year and space seemed available for electronic exhibitors who ultimately chose not to attend. Noticeably absent was Blizzard; no <em>Wrath of the Lich King</em> to try; no <em>Starcraft II</em> or <em>Diablo3</em> trailers or demos to drool over. Nada. A big no show.</p><p></p><p>I expect that Leipzig’s big show later this week and PAX the following week forced a lot of electronic exhibitors to pick and choose. And some of them clearly chose to skip Gencon entirely.</p><p></p><p>On the plus side, Cryptic’s <em>Champions Online</em> was being aggressively demod with about a dozen hands-on displays that fairly hummed the whole show. TBH, I’m still a little iffy about the game; it’s no <em>WoW</em> Killer. But if <em>City of Villains</em> and <em>City of Heroes</em> is their target competition – they’ll do well enough.</p><p></p><p><em>Warhammer Online</em> was being demoed as well and impressions were very favourable. I think this one will make some serious noise if the timing is right...except of course, with <em>WoLK</em> imminent and Warhammer Online delayed again, the timing ISN’T right. These guys may well have missed their chance to slay the WoW dragon. It looks like a strong game and is pitching to the WoW crowd with expanded PvP options. Art direction is about what you would expect from a Warhammer product so that will sit well with WoW players. We'll see. I still think these guys will be six months too late to market though.</p><p></p><p>Lastly, I do have to comment very positively about <em>Dragon Age</em>. BioWare’s booth was filled for nearly every session, with lengthy line-ups to see the closed door, rated “M” gameplay demo (/me roll eyes). Put bluntly, this is the best traditional non-mmo CRPG I have ever seen. This thing is going to sell – and sell very, very well. Keep an eye on this one.</p><p></p><p>CCG wise, it was all <em>WoW CCG</em> in terms of hype. Gamers of all ages and sizes appeared to be playing it and buying it too at card dealer booth. <em>Magic:TG</em> is still the schoolyard bully and I doubt that will ever change – but <em>WoW CCG</em> is, for the moment at least, stealing the spotlight in the CCG hobby.</p><p></p><p>Oh yes - Privateer Press was also humming most of the show. Their booth was large and very well attended. Given the nature of the products they sell, it was difficult to see them in use around the Con in the usual spots by the usual suspects - but that is a function of their product niche as much as anything else. </p><p></p><p><strong>Favorite Dealer Hall Purchase</strong>: The aforementioned <em>Memoir ’44 </em> Duffel Bag.</p><p></p><p><strong>Dealer Hall Steal of the Con:</strong> A carton of 96 unopened boosters of “DC Icons” for Hero Clix CMG, in the shrink. <strong>$20</strong>. My ten year old was bouncing up and down to get these when I got home this evening. The only reason he did not get more of them was a function of space in the car and my ability to cart same from the Dealer Hall to the car back at the Sheraton on Sunday afternoon.</p><p></p><p><strong>Bone-Headed GenCon Retailer of the Year:</strong> Subway Sandwiches in the lobby of the Hyatt, who had to close at 6:30 p.m. on Friday night because they ran out of bread with which to make any sandwhiches. Not sure how much money they left on the table due to this mismanagment, but the owner of this shop needs to get his crap together. It's happened before in past years too - it's not like Gencon sneaks up on em as a surprise event.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Steel_Wind, post: 4430398, member: 20741"] [B]Gencon 2008 Dealer Hall[/B] Overall, my impression of the Dealer’s Hall for this Gencon was, frankly, not a very positive one in terms of the health of the RPG hobby. In a phrase folks – there were not many new products on sale – and not a whole lot of interesting OLD D20 products for sale either. My hoped for bounty of cheapie 3.5 WotC books at $5 a piece did not come to pass – at all. Hell, there were not even that many dealers selling old D20 3.x stock either. Very slim pickings, for the most part. The “industry”, such as it is, appears to be a very troubled one. Picked up [i]Dragons of Spring[/i] from the Marg Weis Productions booth for $5. I was under the impression they were not even supposed to be selling these books anymore. It was the only 3.5 D20 DL book I did not have – so it completed my collection. In contrast to previous years, M Weis’ staff did not seem that enthused about this show and it was a subdued sales pitch there. Not a happy vibe. But I’ll give em a break – because it wasn’t just them. In fact, that was the vibe repeated time and time again at nearly every RPG sales booth in the dealer hall ( and there were less of those, too). The one exception out of this depressing 2008 dealer hall (well, depressing in terms of Core RPG sales) was Paizo. Because the story at Paizo was a very different one. And I have little doubt that experience was not lost upon others there. Paizo, you see, had new stuff to sell. And racks of fairly new stuff too. [I]Pathfinder[/I] this, that, and the other thing gleamed - and flew- off the shelves. Line-ups of attendees were queued to have their [i]Dorkness Rising[/i] DVDs signed – and more than a few customers were queued up to buy [I]Pathfinder Beta[/I] and the new Setting campaign book – together with all sorts of other odds and ends and new and older accessories. Paizo rolled the dice – and on the first round of combat at any rate - they’ve rolled a 20. By Saturday, I watched Jason Bulhman relocate the last of the [I]Pathfinder Beta[/I] books from one wall to the main shelf. They sold out quickly thereafter. That’s right: SOLD OUT. For the RPG sellers in the dealer hall – that was a pretty damned unique event. (The 4E Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting Book also sold out at WotC's booth). Speaking of WotC...WotC’s booth [i]seemed[/i] to be smaller this year and the overall impression was that they didn’t have much that was new to sell there, either. The Forgotten Realms campaign books was reportedly flying off the shelf there – but that was about it. I’m not sure if my discomfort with WotC’s booth this year was attributable to a new layout or if it was something else. The impression I got from their booth was one of their declined interest in the show. Not saying they, in fact, HAD a declined sense of interest - simply that that was the [i]impression[/i] conveyed by their booth. Apart from Paizo, there were some positives in the Dealer Hall though...just not in RPG land. Fantasy Flight Games was hopping and seemed to be bigger this year with tons of demos and new product fairly dripping off the shelves. Their booth was just plain mobbed and they did a brisk business throughout the entire show. Their new [i]Battlestar Galactica[/i] boardgame was being played all over the convention hall. Their new [I]WoW Adventure Boardgame [/I]and [I]Red November mini boardgame [/I]was similarly getting play in the ballroom and all over hotel lobbies around the Con. FFG knows how to make money in the hobby games trade – and their Gencon 2008 booth was a clinic on just how to do it. Days of Wonder was showing off some new expansion products for [i]Memoir ’44 [/i] but their new similarly themed "monster game" expansion product for [i]Battlelore[/i] was not for sale. It did not seem to trouble them much. By Sunday morning, Days of Wonder had sold out of almost all of their stock. [i]Ticket to Ride[/i] in just about ever flavour, in every expansion – even the card game - was just plain sold out. All the new the new [i]Memoir ’44[/i] product was sold out -0 and almost all of the old products too. 6 expansion packs s for Battlelore remained on Sunday monring. They had sold out their booth of essentially everything they had brought to Gencon except for 4 Memoir ‘44 Duffel Bag carriers. And by the time I left the booth – they only had three of those. Making good products counts; having your booth as the first significant booth inside the east doors to the Dealer Hall probably didn’t hurt sales either. Upper Deck was demonstrating the forthcoming [I]WoW Collectible Miniatures Game [/I]to a lot of gamers. Interest appeared to be high and frustration that the product was not yet for sale was pretty clear. The price on the booster packs and core starter set appears to be in line with similar offerings from other companies – until you realize that there are only 4 minis in the starter and 3 in a booster. To be fair, the WoW minis are significantly larger in size than WotC’s minis line and the look great, but still – it seems a very steep price to pay for a CMG. I expect they will sell very well just the same. It’s WoW; and the WoW brand makes money – whether that’s at Blizzard, Upper Deck, or Fantasy Flight Games. The electronic exhibits were noticeably fewer this year and space seemed available for electronic exhibitors who ultimately chose not to attend. Noticeably absent was Blizzard; no [i]Wrath of the Lich King[/i] to try; no [i]Starcraft II[/i] or [i]Diablo3[/i] trailers or demos to drool over. Nada. A big no show. I expect that Leipzig’s big show later this week and PAX the following week forced a lot of electronic exhibitors to pick and choose. And some of them clearly chose to skip Gencon entirely. On the plus side, Cryptic’s [i]Champions Online[/i] was being aggressively demod with about a dozen hands-on displays that fairly hummed the whole show. TBH, I’m still a little iffy about the game; it’s no [I]WoW[/I] Killer. But if [i]City of Villains[/i] and [i]City of Heroes[/i] is their target competition – they’ll do well enough. [i]Warhammer Online[/i] was being demoed as well and impressions were very favourable. I think this one will make some serious noise if the timing is right...except of course, with [i]WoLK[/i] imminent and Warhammer Online delayed again, the timing ISN’T right. These guys may well have missed their chance to slay the WoW dragon. It looks like a strong game and is pitching to the WoW crowd with expanded PvP options. Art direction is about what you would expect from a Warhammer product so that will sit well with WoW players. We'll see. I still think these guys will be six months too late to market though. Lastly, I do have to comment very positively about [i]Dragon Age[/i]. BioWare’s booth was filled for nearly every session, with lengthy line-ups to see the closed door, rated “M” gameplay demo (/me roll eyes). Put bluntly, this is the best traditional non-mmo CRPG I have ever seen. This thing is going to sell – and sell very, very well. Keep an eye on this one. CCG wise, it was all [i]WoW CCG[/i] in terms of hype. Gamers of all ages and sizes appeared to be playing it and buying it too at card dealer booth. [i]Magic:TG[/i] is still the schoolyard bully and I doubt that will ever change – but [i]WoW CCG[/i] is, for the moment at least, stealing the spotlight in the CCG hobby. Oh yes - Privateer Press was also humming most of the show. Their booth was large and very well attended. Given the nature of the products they sell, it was difficult to see them in use around the Con in the usual spots by the usual suspects - but that is a function of their product niche as much as anything else. [b]Favorite Dealer Hall Purchase[/b]: The aforementioned [i]Memoir ’44 [/i] Duffel Bag. [b]Dealer Hall Steal of the Con:[/b] A carton of 96 unopened boosters of “DC Icons” for Hero Clix CMG, in the shrink. [b]$20[/b]. My ten year old was bouncing up and down to get these when I got home this evening. The only reason he did not get more of them was a function of space in the car and my ability to cart same from the Dealer Hall to the car back at the Sheraton on Sunday afternoon. [B]Bone-Headed GenCon Retailer of the Year:[/B] Subway Sandwiches in the lobby of the Hyatt, who had to close at 6:30 p.m. on Friday night because they ran out of bread with which to make any sandwhiches. Not sure how much money they left on the table due to this mismanagment, but the owner of this shop needs to get his crap together. It's happened before in past years too - it's not like Gencon sneaks up on em as a surprise event. [/QUOTE]
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