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Microsoft Packs Up, Moves To Catan

Posted by simoniker on from the german-board-game-attach dept.

Klytus writes "According to a press release posted at GamingReport.com, Catan GmbH and Mayfair Games have made a deal with Microsoft for the creation of the 'Catan Online Game', based on the popular Settlers of Catan board game. From the post: 'Available on Microsoft's Premium Game Service, the Catan Online Game will be accessible via both the MSN Zone and MSN Messenger. There will be multi-player online and download variants, each with rich graphics and a sophisticated AI.' Now we can play Catan endlessly through MSN." This deal is in addition to Capcom's various versions of Catan for console and PC in Japan.

4 of 40 comments (clear)

  1. I smell a lawsuit... by 0x0d0a · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Let's see -- Microsoft just bought a license to do an online version of Settlers of Catan, and there's already an excellent GPL implementation in the form of Gnocatan. I have a bad feeling that the poor maintainer may be llooking at a lawsuit. :-(

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    May we never see th
  2. No Solo by hambonewilkins · · Score: 4, Interesting
    My friends and I got hooked on Catan over the summer and found the Java version that you could use for netplay. Obviously, however, we prefered the real deal. Now, however, we're spread across the country, some of us without internet.

    We talked about how strange it is that no "single-player" Settlers of Catan game (for computer) existed and hypothesized that it is due to the sheer complexity and the AI implementation would be quite difficult. There have been computer versions of Risk, but I actually think Settlers is more complex.

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    God Bless America. Why? Did it sneeze?
    1. Re:No Solo by Nyhm · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I'm not an AI expert (but I worked with some in school). Catan is a GREAT game, but it seems to have a number of balance-swaying heuristics. That is, there are limited high-level strategic directions you can choose, which can really affect the gameplay. This is perfect for humans, but an AI routine can iterate a few general strategies to find out which one works with the current state of the board.

      My point is, an AI could be too easy to develop and be too good at the game. Then again, I've seen a lot of games rebound unexpectedly.

      Anyone out there have real experience developing an AI for Settlers?? Are my comments accurate at all?

  3. Oy... by cjpez · · Score: 3, Interesting
    ... what do you want to bet that the existing independant SoC programs are gonna get Cease+Desisted once it's been released? That'll suck. I know that Klaus was very unhappy about the existance of s3d, but with the legal and financial power of Microsoft to back him up, he could probably be much more successful in closing these things down.

    I mean, in all fairness, he *does* own the copyrights for this stuff, but it sucks for those of us who have been buying Mayfair's stuff forever now and like playing online too.

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