Abouttimeboardgame.com goes live

We made it - the new About Time website and e-shop are now live and we hope people like it. Of course we are also working on a viral campaign to create awareness and interest in the game and pull people to the site. The work on that is underway now and should show fruit in a month or so.

The death of Patrick Swayze has brought back memories of his most famous role, in Dirty Dancing. It's no secret that the film was hugely popular with female audiences. I personally remember him most in two other great movies - Point Break, the Kathryn Bigelow directed adrenalin classic in which he starred as the leader of the surfer bank robbers, the ex-Presidents - an ultimately cool role. He also played a drag queen in To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar. Then, a dcade later, he appeared in Donnie Darko in a very uncool role, as the motivational speaker who (warning - spoiler coming) is exposed as a paedophile. That was surely a very brave role to take, and in stark contrast to his early heart throb and action hero roles, before he somewhat disappeared while fighting alcoholism and recovering from a serious riding injury.

Optimism about the US game market in 2009 based on 23% bounce last year

For every global recession there is a silver lining. Last year's sales of board games in the US were up by 23% to $808 million according to a Forbes report in July. This is likely because board games are recession proof to the extent that they are a cheaper alternative to other kinds of entertainment, such as the cinema or computer games.

Historically board game and puzzle sales in the US are about ten times sales in the UK, with Germany the world's second biggest boardgames market. And so there is little surprise that we are launching in the US this fall and launching our German 'Die Zeit' edition of About Time at the Frankfurt Bookfair and at the Essen Spiel games fair next month in Germany.

Monopoly teams up with Google to promote 3D game

Christmas is not far away, and in the games sector we are all geared up for the big season. Hasbro has already announced its Christmas Monopoly promotion which is a free online game partnering with no less than Google. Using Google Maps and Google Earth, it allows any player to buy a street or building anywhere in the world. Now that really is impressive, it is as big as you can get with the Monopoly concept. The bar has been set high and I am intrigued to play. Once a property has been 'bought' you can't have it, so a global race is created. This is a brilliant idea for an online game. We are in the process of developing some great online concepts for About Time, although nothing can be revealed as yet. Monopoly has shown that you can take a very 20th century concept - the classic board game - right up to date into 2009.

The ultimate wedding gift for a man who has almost everything

I got married, I bought a house, I moved into said house and started decorating it, well more accurately my wife (that sounds strange and probably will for some time) and James and Andy  the decorators did that mostly. I - sorry, we - were given some wonderful wedding gifts, one of them was a cappucino maker, which was all I wanted really. Fancy cutlery is overpriced and I fear for becoming too smug and bourgeois...Still, when I opened the box I fully understood the lyrics to the Talking Heads song "And you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife, and you may ask yourself, well, how did I get here?" But here I am, with a beautiful coffee machine, which is strange, for someone like me who is at some level anti-materialist or anti-consumerist, and a shopaphobe (is that the opposite of shopaholic, I'm not sure?). Yes, this is a product I am truly excited about, and it is a wonderful distraction from domestic and work tasks. If I could drink 10 cups of my own coffee a day I would. I am the proverbial boy in the sweet shop - except I've moved on  through beer to coffee and wine. I suppose the only thing that could be more exciting than being able to make your own half-decent cappucino at home, would be a champagne machine...now that would truly be dangerous. However, I think you might need a vineyard and some French soil and a few barrels. Ah well. I will remain thrilled to know that my cappuccino is only minutes away whenever I want it. I am now at my desk - the same old desk but now in a new sun-filled attic. What more could I ask for - a holiday!

I should add that About Time is definitely in America now, and so, it must be on the shelves of Barnes & Noble anyday now. If you are near one, and you happen to see it there (pine green box, beautiful design), drop us a line.