Magic: The Gathering video games
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Several video games based on the Magic: The Gathering franchise exist for multiple systems. Some have attempted to translate the card game to electronic play nearly exactly; others have taken more liberties and drawn more from the setting than the actual rules of the card game. Benefits of successful video game versions of the card game include convenience, practice, and challenge. However, artificial intelligence for a game such as Magic is an extremely hard problem, and such software usually must be continuously updated to stay current with recently released card sets. Video game versions often expand on artwork, and may include unique cards that rely on randomly generated numbers or variables, effects which would be difficult or annoying to duplicate in real life.
[edit] Magic: The Gathering (Microprose)
Named after the game itself, Magic: The Gathering was published by MicroProse in February 1997. The game takes place in the plane of Shandalar, where the player must travel the land and fight random enemies to gain cards, and defeat five wizards representing the five colors. The player must prevent one color from gaining too much power, and defeat the planeswalker Arzakon, who has a deck of all five colors. Adventure game and role-playing game elements are present, including inventory, gold, towns, dungeons, random battles, and character progression in the form of new abilities and a higher life point total.
The game is notable as being the last game the esteemed Sid Meier (Civilization, Railroad Tycoon) helped design while at Microprose, though his involvement was short. Meier left before development was complete to found Firaxis Games.
[edit] Magic: The Gathering: BattleMage
Magic: The Gathering: BattleMage is a real time strategy game published in 1997 by Acclaim. It is set on the continent of Corondor, where a planeswalker named Ravidel forces the most powerful mages to fight each other, so that he can eventually destroy them and conquer the land. The game received a poor critical reception due to its unfair AI, unfriendly interface, and unbalanced gameplay.
[edit] Magic: The Gathering: Armageddon
Magic: The Gathering: Armageddon is an extremely rare arcade game published by Acclaim in 1997, somewhat similar to BattleMage. Gameplay exists in the form of real time combat, with characters representing one of the five colors (Blue for counterspells and water creatures, White for healing and soldiers/knights, Red for fire and mountain creatures, Black for death and undead creatures, Green for elves and forest magic).
[edit] Magic: The Gathering (Sega)
Magic: The Gathering is a Dreamcast game published and released by Sega in June 2001, though in Japan only. It takes place in the town of Magic Heart, the surrounding areas of Murg, Camat Island, Lydar Forest, Yeluk, Tornell, and The Balance Tower. It includes cards from 6th edition, Alliances, and Tempest. There are also 10 unique cards:
| Card name | Casting cost | Card type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hapato's Might | 2B | Instant | Target creature gets +X/+0 until end of turn, where X is a random number from 0 to 6. |
| Murgish Cemetery | 4BB | Enchantment | 3B, Discard a card: Put an X/X black Zombie creature token into play, where X is a random number from 2 to 6. |
| Camato Scout | 1UU | Creature - Merfolk | As Camato Scout comes into play, choose a basic land type at random. Camato Scout has landwalk of that type. (2/3) |
| Saji's Torrent | 1U | Instant | Tap X creatures, where X is a random number from 0 to 5. |
| Lydari Druid | 2G | Creature - Druid | When Lydari Druid comes into play, randomly choose a basic land type for each land in play. Those lands become the type chosen this way. (This effect doesn’t end at end of turn.) (2/2) |
| Lydari Elephant | 4G | Creature - Elephant | As Lydari Elephant comes into play, choose two numbers at random from 3 to 7 one after the other. Lydari Elephant comes into play with power equal to the first number and toughness equal to the second. (*/*) |
| Velican Dragon | 5RR | Creature - Dragon | Flying
When Velican Dragon attacks or blocks, it gets +X/+0 until the end of turn, where X is a random number from 0 to 5. (5/5) |
| Breath of Ashuza | 1R | Sorcery | For each creature, randomly choose a number from 0 to 2. Breath of Ashuza deals that amount of damage to that creature. |
| Arden Angel | 4WW | Creature - Angel | Flying
At the beginning of your upkeep, if Arden Angel is in your graveyard, choose a number at random from 1 to 4. If the randomly chosen number is 1, return Arden Angel to play. (4/4) |
| Tornellan Protector | 2W | Creature - Cleric | T: Until end of turn, damage dealt to target player or creature is reduced by X, where X is a random number from 1 to 3. (1/2) |
[edit] Magic: The Gathering Interactive Encyclopedia
The Magic: The Gathering Interactive Encyclopedia is an application and database of cards released by Wizards of the Coast. At its time of release, it contained up to the Mercadian Masques expansion; its database was updatable over the Internet, and continued to be updated by Wizards until the release of Judgment and Magic Online, which Wizards considered as superseding the Interactive Encyclopedia.
The Encyclopedia included a strategy information section and deck builder with pricing. It also included a free online play mode, albeit one lacking rules enforcement.
[edit] Magic: The Gathering Online
Magic: The Gathering Online is a 2002 game developed by Leaping Lizard Software and released by Wizards of the Coast in 2002. It focuses purely on gameplay, and includes no additional storyline. Included are cards from Invasion and all later sets (excluding Unhinged), with updates available as new sets are printed. Magic Online has also attempted to release older sets, starting with the Mirage block which has now been translated to Magic Online. Games are held in chatroom-style sessions, and virtual cards can be won or purchased with real money.
[edit] Magic: The Gathering - Battlegrounds
Magic: The Gathering - Battlegrounds is an Atari game released in 2003 for both the PC and Xbox platforms. It was another attempt to do a real-time battling game, with wizards frantically running around casting spells. Although stated on the gamebox of the PC version, this game offers no downloadable creatures, arenas or enchantments. The Xbox version however does have them for download.
[edit] Magic: The Gathering (2008)
Magic: The Gathering is an upcoming video game based on the popular collectible card game of the same name for the Xbox Live Arcade and Microsoft Windows developed by Stainless Games (XBLA) and Mind Control Software (Windows) and published by Wizards of the Coast. It is currently expected to release in 2008. It was announced on February 18, 2008 by way of a press release.[1]
[edit] Independent and freeware adaptations
Various independent programmers have made software associated with Magic: The Gathering, albeit not always with the approval of Wizards of the Coast. One of the more notable early attempts was Apprentice, which was designed to emulate real-world play over the Internet. It allowed players to connect to each other and play, but all the rules-enforcement was done "by hand," just as in the real world. DragonStar studios got Wizards of the Coasts' permission for the product, and it had no copyrighted art in it. Magic Workstation is similar to Apprentice in that is gameplay only, but adds more graphical support. It is not officially supported by Wizards of the Coast.
Another piece of software in a legal grey area is MtG Editor, a tool which creates images of self-designed Magic: The Gathering cards. Its creator, Mr. Weikopf, was sent a cease and desist letter concerning distribution of the software. The similar Magic Set Editor created by Twan Van Laarhoven is still under going development, and released a new version (0.3.6) on June 1, 2008.
Firemox (previously known as Magic-Project) is a open source Java program that matches players over the Internet and also enforces the rules. The card game rules and the cards specific rules are coded in a specific but easy to learn XML language. Moreover, the rules engine is independent from Magic the Gathering so further implementations of other card games are possible. Currently Firemox have around 6,000 Magic the Gathering cards available (more than 80% of these cards are automatically translated into XML from the Oracle by the Firemox program).
MTG Forge is another program with rules enforcement; it also attempts the more difficult problem of artificial intelligence for a computer player. Currently it has around 400 cards.
Lackey CCG also has a plugin which contains over 13000 cards, some of which are different editions of the same card. Like older attempts, the rules of play are enforced "by hand". It offers simple networking, and has a constant server to host all games, however matching someone with your plugin is more difficult.
