I'd kill for some Battletech vs. Gundam vs. Robotech vs. Shin Getter vs. Voltron action but due to copy right laws in the US if WK was going to get the green light to do something like that it would be very expensive. The Super Robot games we get in the US have to have all of the copyrighted robots replaced for some magical legal reason. However, since all of the bots in those games are owned by one company (Bandai) maybe if WK was nice something like that could happen. I know a bunch of people are "Don't get chocolate in my peanut butter" but this game is dying and someone/something has to salvage it before the inevitable end.

Gundam Clix...i've said it before and I'll say it again, a space-combat Gundam game would be totally excellent. the MS should be the size of light mechs in MW:AoD on the same sized bases (no heat dial, and keep the two damage values...every MS has a ranged and close combat damage value) and the carrier ships should be on Colossal bases (not to scale with the MS obviously, but still pretty big- this avoids the fact that ships become HUGE later on in the timeline),
the sets could be released in order of the show's releases: One Year War, Zeta, Double Zeta, CCA, F91, with action packs and battleforce sets based on the miniseries and movies that didn't introduce loads of new MS (like a 0080 Zeon Battleforce with RickDomII/Gelgoog Jaeger/Kampfer/Zaku Kai).

God, I'd play the heck out of a Gundam Clix game, especially if it's compatible with MW. The only problem would be that some of the MSG units would be way tstrong to counter using Mech stuff. A combo like Amauro in Gundam, Char in his Gelgoog, Black Tri Stars, or Ramba Ral in a Gouf (That's no Zaku!) could singlehandedly wipe most armies off the map, and lord knows what mobile armors could do. Assuming that the game stayed within the UC era (although G Gundam was made of win and hot blooded manliness) there would be more than plenty of units for a few sets, and god help me if a Char Aznable pack came out. (He's had enough giant for at least one and mabey two)

Well, I've gotta say it. Super Robot Taisen, Gundam, Shin Getter, Voltron, Robotech... what the heck are those? Okay, yeah, I know they're probably anime TV cartoons or something, but they're hardly mass appeal. They all have a small devoted group of fans (most of whom cross over from one mecha show to the next), but that isn't what WizTopps is looking for.

The WizTopps corporate bubbas want *MASS* appeal -- they want to sell lots of product, I mean boatloads worth -- that means they need to get into the chain game/hobby stores and big box outlets: Kay-Bee Toys, Target, GameStop, WalMart, HobbytownUSA, K-Mart, Toys-R-Us... that sort of thing. That means that the appeal of the show has to be *BIG* with mainstreet America, every mom-n-pop buying Junior a booster or two for his birthday and another when he finally gets a C+ on his social studies report on Botswana. Average mom-n-pop don't know Gundam from Voltron or Cowboy Bebop -- that dog ain't gonna hunt. Yeah, mecha anime tie-ins might work for us folk in the local game-store geek crowd, but that's not what WizTopps is shooting for.

I said it previously and I'll repeat it: going with a TV/movie/book/console game tie-in is likely to require too large a licensing fee for WK to realistically consider it unless they're absolutely sure of getting a return on their buy-in buck. HALO-clix is probably a good option for them -- HALO has been an extremely successful (and fairly long-lived) online game: there will be some crossover buying by those not in the usual CMG crowd. But I don't think it's likely to be a big success for WK as I personally don't see a whole lot of depth to the genre (get gun, kill aliens -- get bigger gun, kill bigger aliens); the excitement's gonna wear pretty thin in short order. I'm willing to bet they went for HALO as a short-term profit grab based on name recognition, and because the licensing fee wasn't very high.

I'm curious to see who (if anyone) picks up the CMG option on other online games, like "Warcraft" and "Everquest," or if the industry's collective sense is that the market's already saturated between D&D minis, Dreamblade and the like.

Hey pal, if those giant robot shows were never made MechWarrior/Battletech wouldn't exist. Good old CBT draws most of it's origins from the old Macross/Robotech shows.

that is part of the problem. It's close enough where there is a lot of set crossover. The cool thing about halo clix, is if the name recognition is enough for the set to make some profit, the side benefit is that a few, even 10% or less is fairly good, like the game mechanics enough they might be willing to try hero clix.
What wizkids needs to do is to open up the market without cannibalizing their current market. I.e. If you would play the heck out of the other robot games you would spend less time playing mechwarrior. They would just be better off producing more mechwarrior and not paying the additional liscensing fee, but if they got a new crowd, that is close enough but has a disctinct fan base and can get some of them to play the game that is a new player. Not just an old player playing a different "version" of the game.

Really if WK started doing more giant robot stuff outside MW and fused it into MW under the guise of "what if" storylines I'd play the game a whole lot more. I'd love to see how well the old unseens would fair against their anime counterparts.

Well, that would be the beauty of Super Robot Taisen. Over in Japan, it's a mech strategy game series that pretty much has every mecha from just about everything ever. It's basically a series that aggregates all the highly-recognizable mechs into one place. And while you may not know what Gundam or Evangelion are, there are a lot of people that do, so there's certainly a potential market for it.

Ultimately, though, it's highly unlikely to happen and Mechwarrior will just keep on barely surviving all alone as it is.

"...while you may not know what Gundam or Evangelion are, there are a lot of people that do, so there's certainly a potential market for it."

I won't argue that there's a potential market (or that I'm largely ignorant of the whole anime/mecha fan culture). What I will argue is that what you define as of "a lot of people" is not necessarily what WizTopps hierarchy defines as "a lot of people." Mecha and anime are pretty much niche market entities; yes, I readily admit that there are quite a number of rabid fans of those genres, but you're not going to bring Joe Sixpack and his Little League kids into the hobby with those tie-ins as the draw.

That, I suspect, is the chief underlying issue: WizTopps is trying to target the "average middle American" market. What I don't think they fully comprehend that the "average middle American" consumer has little interest in CMGs, no matter what the subject or tie-in. Witness the utter failure of both the MLB and NASCAR lines, two sports that have huge mass appeal. Joe Sixpack doesn't want to play tabletop games -- it's too wimpy to appeal to him, and he probably doesn't want his kid playing them either, as in his mind tabletop games are too "effeminate" or "geeky" for his macho boy to be involved with.

I'll readily agree that a CMG or CSG linked with any of the anime/mecha shows you mention (or any of the other movie/TV shows that I suggested earlier) would probably generate decent sales in comparison to other similar hobby gaming products. But I'm convinced that's not what WizTopps wants -- they're looking to break into the big chain/department store market with high volume/fast moving products, similar to what Milton Bradley, Parker Brothers, and Hasbro have. That's where the "Big Money" is.

While this is purely annectodal, I think it's illustrative of my point: both the WalMart and Target stores near where I live (in a rather rural area near Seattle/Tacoma) have "Sports and Collectible Card" sections where they also carry WK's "Pirates" CSG. They get cases of the "Pirates" stuff in at a time, and invariably it's sold out within a couple weeks -- they can't keep the game in stock. Conversely, the local game store in Tacoma that I visit also has "Pirates" stuff for sale; they're never sold out of it -- not because they restock frequently (although I'll concede that they may), but rather because the demand for "Pirates" in normal gamer-geek circles for it really isn't that high.

So, why doesn't "Pirates" move well with the gamer crowd? Largely because it's no longer a "hot" new title; gamers tend to buy mostly whatever's new on the market. But also because those gamers who still do play "Pirates" regularly already have most of the bits they need to play, and so they do most of their purchasing of key "gotta have" power pieces via the secondary market (or they buy a single case of the product right after it releases, and little else).

Whereas the stuff in Big Box stores moves very quickly, even if the game isn't "hot" in the gamer-geek circles any more. Parents buy them in onesies-twosies for their kids -- kids who couldn't care less about the game, they just like cute little ship models. I know three of my son's young buddies who have small collections of "Pirates" stuff, and in each and every case they were either had no idea of how to play the game or were totally unaware there was even a game associated with the little ships.

THAT'S the target audience WizTopps is hoping to catch.

Then if that's the case with Joe Sixpack it's a good thing that they are just buying stuff because "it looks cool" instead of having an interest of joining the local gaming group. You can generate a larger profit by marketing to the big box stores, but you can't really create an able community out of them. If you market towards the common person while not alienating the nerds that have faithfully stayed with the game since it's conception? Sell to the big boxes if you must, but pander to the true audience of the game to.

Also from Xbox Live, MMOs, and the Internet a community of 9000 screaming teenagers is a lot worse than a small group of irritating dorks.

But that's my point. If WizTopps truly is trying to break into the Big Box market in a large way, that means they *don't* really need to care about creating and maintaining a "community" of gamers anymore. They won't need to -- once they're in the Big Box outlets, gamers won't be the ones buying the stuff; kids and the parents/relatives of kids are.

Once a product is on the shelves in Big Boxes, it effectively sells itself. At least as long as it has consumer appeal (i.e. "cool" figures that grab the attention of the kiddies). Have you looked at some of the dreck that's in the "toy" sections of Big Box stores? Stuff I wouldn't give to my dog as a chew toy. But the dreck sells! And more to the point, it sells in large quantities (otherwise the Big Box chains wouldn't stock it -- they monitor sales volume *VERY* closely).

More to the point, once WK gets into the Big Boxes, they effectively break the "gamer-geek" paradigm. They no longer need to run sanctioned events, provide prize support, organize national/world championship events, publish focused ad campaigns in pricey gamer journals, etc... It really reduces the product support overhead for them, meaning profits go up. While they need the "gamer-geek" consumers now, in order to establish a basic sales record and build credibility to attract the Big Box buyers, once they're "in" we're no longer required (we'd certainly still be a nice bonus/side market, but we wouldn't be the primary target audience).

Now, is breaking into the Big Box market *really* what WizTopps is trying to accomplish? I have no idea. I acknowledge that up front -- I don't know what's going on. Which is the fundamental problem here: WK isn't telling us anything, so all we can do is speculate. And speculation leads to rumor, conjecture and worst case scenario predictions -- that's human nature.

I sincerely hope the Big Box Blitz isn't what WizTopps is attempting, because if it is I don't think the move bodes well for those of us in the "gamer-geek" crowd (a group I'm proud to be a founding member of). But some of the recent statements by the WK bubbas have that unpleasant odor to them: that odor of Corporate and Boardroom greed. An obsessive desire for "maximized growth potential" and "increased stock values" that typically results in the devoted consumer (aka - Rabid Fan) being trampled underfoot as the money-grubbers go chasing off after elusive profits. I hope that isn't what we're about to experience... again. (I keep thinking about "MageKnight 2.0" and how that brilliant concept was supposed to "revitalize" flat sales).

I'm cautiously optimistic. I've said it before and I'll say it again: MechWarrior succeeds in spite of, rather than because of everything WizKids has done. I'll stick with the game until I see what comes next; I've too much love for MW to do otherwise.

Another thing, the Boardroom crowd are not particularly good at predicting where interest lies. For instance, cancelling Firefly and seeing Serenity picked up and released as a blockbuster movie must hurt somewhat. Serenity is alongside Alien as one of the only Sci-fi movies that my TV magazine has ever given a full five stars to!

There is money in niche markets. But niche markets need more attention, more focus, more things to retain their interest than mass appeal. Because you need to keep the attention of more of the audience.

People point out how CBT still survives. Yes, it does. It survives. It doesn't exactly thrive though, does it? How much turnover do you think it makes?

The point is that either you need low overheads and low maintenance and a cult fanbase or else you need broader appeal. MW is a collectible game and an expensive one at that with high overheads. In order to survive in the incarnation we had before they needed broader appeal. They didn't get it so they trimmed overheads. It's inevitable that a niche game is sidelined. No company can divert continual resources into maintaining a "problem child" or "dog" product.

The model I'm thinking of is the Boston Consulting Group Matrix...
Star = high market share/high market growth
Cash Cow = high market share/low market growth
Problem Child = low market share/high market growth
Dog = low market share/low market growth

Companies look to Cash Cows to provide capital to support resources devoted into turning Problem Childs into Stars and in creating new projects intended to create new Cash Cows and/or new Stars. They would prefer to let sleeping Dogs lie (and when they no longer break even, die).

In that matrix, where would you see Mechwarrior? 'cause it don't look like a Star, Cash Cow or Problem Child to me...

Though this is true, one of the main reasons 'Firefly' was cancelled was high production costs. Both the studio and network admitted that the show had an adequate (trending towards good) market share, and was assessed as having solid growth amongst a prime demographic. The problem was that a single hour-long episode of 'Firefly' cost something like 3-5 times what a comparable legal or medical drama cost, and 10-12 times that of a reality show.

Theoretically, MW may be in a similar situation. MW's sculpts are more complicated (i.e. "expensive") to produce, paint and package than comparable Heroclix or Horrorclix figures, and *way* more expensive than simple stamped out CSG products. If you were on Corporate staff and needed to find a way to cut costs, which product line would you recommend for the axe? It ain't rocket science.

Again, overhead and cost. Which is the more "niche" line: MW or Heroclix? Which requires more active support to keep the line open? Which is most likely to experience downsizing?

You've hit the proverbial nail on the head, dude. The situation isn't one that inspires confidence, is it?

heck, Char Aznable would need like a frickin' set for himself (the only reason Zeon lost was they spent so much time and money customizing MS for this guy!)
Char Aznable would make a good 1-player starter pack though, if it had his custom Musai cruiser, a Red Zaku, and two "normal" zakus

What about Heavy Gear... from dreampod9... They too have robots and it is similar to battletech.