Summer 2013 - Best Summer Ever For Games

According to a new report in ICv2's Internal Correspondence, the long bull market for game sales continued throughout the Summer season, with some retailers describing it as "the best summer ever". For the first time, single-category stores selling almost exclusively CCGs, with event space, appear to be developing as a viable business model.

The Kickstarter phenomenon is still kicking - no pun intended - with more Kickstarted products going into trade release and, in general, selling in rough proportion to their popularity with Kickstarter.

Exposure on the second season of TableTop continues to have a sales impact when it comes to bringing games to your tabletop - again, no pun intended - with varying opinions on whether its the same size or a little smaller when compared to last year. As owner/operator of a gaming store, we can tell you that TableTop has had a considerable impact on the sale of board games. Every month we get several orders for whatever board game Wil Wheaton just featured in TableTop. If he ever visits Puerto Rico, dinner is on me!

Major shifts in the bestseller charts include Shifts below the top in collectible games, a new #1 in board games, Steve Jackson's Munchkin's return to the top in card games, Star Wars moving up in miniature games despite supply problems, and a *BIG* move in the RPG category. All these lists and more coming up tomorrow and the following days!

Geek TV Now As Popular As Jock TV

Ratings for geek-themed television shows are now overtaking the ratings of major sports programming. The Walking Dead's ratings in the 18-49 demographics topped both Sunday Night Football and the World Series this past Sunday night. The Walking Dead had a rating of 6.8 while Sunday Night Football hit 6.3 and the World Series ranked at 5 for this demographic group.

As a result of this surge in popularity, ad rates for air time during geek TV shows has also risen accordingly. For example, The Big Bang Theory has high ratings that keep on rising in this demographic. As a result, so does the price of commercial ad time during the show. A 30-second spot during the show goes for $326,260! Except for NFL football, which still charges more for its air time because of its larger overall audience, ad time during The Big Bang Theory is the highest right now for any 30-second spot.

This is actually good news for geek TV programming. If geek TV shows are doing the best in the most desirable demographics, it is only logical that more geek TV shows will hit the airwaves as TV networks fight for viewers' attention.

Knights Templar: A Secret History

Born during the dark days that saw the struggles of the great crusades, the warrior monks of the Knights Templar vowed to defend the pilgrims traveling to the Holy Lands. In actuality, there are few, if any, historical records of the Templars ever fulfilling this task. Instead, historical records show that the Templars' history is one of bloodshed and conquest, wealth and power, dark secrets and conspiracies. Today, their story is intricately linked with the story of the Holy Grail. But what exactly is this ancient artifact?  How has it been used to manipulate history for the last one thousand years?

This book is based on the notes of the recently diseased historian Dr. Emile Fouchet and his attempts at unlocking the secrets of the Knights Templar. It begins with an examination of their historical origins, their growth in the early middle ages, and their supposed destruction under charges of heresy. From there, it uses the clues left by the Templars to reconstruct their secret journeys as they moved the Holy Grail from Europe to the New World and back. It also charts the secret, three-way war that is still being fought today between the Templars, the Freemasons, and the Catholic Church. Finally, the book reveals the greatest of all conspiracies, the attempt to found a new world order under the auspices of the European Union.

You don't have to agree with the author's conclusions to appreciate the historical anecdotes contained in this book. Well worth the read, if not for the treatment of controversial historical societies, then for the good ideas you will get the next time you wish to run an intrigue/conspiracy based RPG session or campaign.