Just read this terrible news from the BSW forum.



What am i supposed to do now?

WHAT?!

Oh come on....that just blows. And not in the good way. But where chunks come out of your nose type way.

What is this new way they speak of?

What a bummer. This was one of the primary draws for me on BSW...

I was so close to 900 plays, just 5 more.

BTW here is the link to the BSW forum thread.

http://www.brettspielwelt.de/Forum/index.php/topic,85719.0.h...

This is very unfortunate news. PR is the very main reason I log onto BSW.

Damn, that sucks.

Well ... I suppose, if anything, this will get me to play it more often face-to-face; I usually nixed ftf games simply because I could play it online.

Such is greed life ... oh be fair, greed.

Argh! Terrible news! On top of Alhambra being taken away again, this just feels awful. At least I knew that Alhambra was only back for a short time.

This is the worst boardgame related news I have heard ever... getting to play PR on BSW was one of the most memorable passtimes I ever had... this is devastating and I'm quite upset.

I can't even imagine what I'll do instead

....

Being able to play these games online for free was a gracious gift. One should not lament its passing, as it means perhaps it is destined for bigger, better, (and not free) things.

That is true but I am still going to indulge in self pity. It still feels like the passing of an era.

Play the Evolver? It ain't pretty, but the AI seems good to me (not that I've played hundreads of games on BSW or any such thing). It's in the files section here.

I'm guessing your guess is correct. Considering that they are now pushing to remove Carcassone and Settlers from BSW as well, since those liscenses were sold to developers to make those games available only on XBox Live for the 360.

just finished my last game...

this is really the end of an era for me personally and I'm sure for many of us boardgamers that frequented BSW. I still am in a denial of sorts, as if my mind can't fathom the fact that PR won't be there tomorrow....

I remember clearly my first game on BSW, which was also my first game ever (I had bought the game but didn't have anyone to play it with at the time). That was in August of 2002 I believe. Now it is February 2007 and 525 plays later I can say those games were some of the best times I've had in my life, certainly the best times I've had sitting in front of a screen.

This whole experience comes to show that nothing lasts forever. I took for granted that I'd be playing PR on BSW for years if not decades more, and now I will never play again... all I have is fond memories of the best game I ever played at the best website for real time gaming.

Don't despair, there is an alternative ...

I recommend playing on www.pr-game.com

the interface is just as good, maybe better than BSW, and you can play games at your leisure instead of at the breakneck pace demanded by most BSW users. I haven't been on BSW for months once I discovered this site.

Yeah, but given the reasons stated, don't you think the same thing will happen to pr-game?

K

Bigger (and not free) doesn't frequently evolve to better...

Damn Xbox360, it's makers and paid online gaming to hell.

I for one am glad PR has been axed.

Life is good again.

All is aligned in the kosmos.

Lrt the whining begin. It's almost as good as hearing Mets fans cry.

Good news:
-Microsoft is doing a great job with their XBox 360. They're even catering to us by doing their homework and bringin great boardgames like Settlers, Carcassonne, Alhambra and, apparently Puerto Rico.

Bad news:
-This IS Microsoft after all so it looks like any other implementations of the games will be nixed.

John;

I tried pr-game.com and found the turn based pace too unnerving

curious because I love the games on SBW and MabiWeb... I guess I was just too used to real time PR on the computer.


The PR interface on BSW was brilliant in how functional it was- I doubt any other implementation will come close...

Amen to that.

Hot and steamy Puerto Rican love on my XB360? Yeah, I'm down with that! This can't happen fast enough. Sorry BSW people. Better to have loved and lost, eh?

'Fraid I can't see any real reason for glee. What was once free, well implemented, popular, and readily available to all who had even a fairly poor Internet connection is now restricted to the paying few. You'll have to pardon me if that doesn't seem like a real triumph to me.

Here, here!

You pretty much sum up the 21st Century, neo-Conservative, corporatist point of view. Nothing freely accessable to the public can survive. Let's privatize everything! Makes me sick.

If this is indeed going to Xbox360 LiveArcade (not confirmed, but probable) then it requires the initial $300/$400 console investment. Beyond the cost, there are all kinds of negative points to games moving from BSW to consoles:

1) When traveling, I can play BSW games from anywhere, just using my laptop and an internet connection.

2) Say goodbye to playing games with multiple people from the same home (something we did frequently back in my BSW days) -- unless you have multiple consoles.

3) For playing online boardgames, I'd rather not sit 6-8 feet from the TV.

4) No more in-game chatting. Sure you can do voice chat (I'm guessing), but I think I'd miss the ability to chat with whomever I like (in the game or otherwise) while playing

5) Harder to web surf or do something else while someone is taking forever to complete his/her turn

6) All of the BSW metagame stuff is gone.

To be fair to the publisher, it's probably hard for a business to turn down an offer to be paid for rights you had previously given away (I'm assuming BSW didn't pay Alea for PR rights).

Having said that, I'd like to see a finer distinction than "electronic exploitation" when it comes to these rights. For many of the reasons I stated previously, playing games on a proprietary console seems like a much different realm than playing games on a universal java client over the web. I can certainly understand Microsoft's desire to get exclusive rights... but what if the publisher counter-offered and said: "We'll sell you just the console rights."?