Blame Game: The Blood Bowl Generational Debate

When Warhammer Online was first announced, the game aroused resentment among many younger gamers, as it resembled World of Warcraft in many of its aesthetic features — even after those arguments were quashed by older gamers, who pointed out that the tabletop game by Games Workshop has been around for a quarter of a century. Now, another Games Workshop tabletop game is getting the digital treatment. And it’s no surprise that the same allegations are starting to surface once again.

This time the game is Blood Bowl, a strategic approach to football (not to be confused with futbol) that involves Warhammer races, a spike-covered ball and all the bludgeoning you would expect whenever orcs get involved. Instead of accusing a current blockbuster, young gamers are pointing their fingers at the cult classic Mutant League Football as the source for developer Cyanide’s inspiration.

History would have it, however, that Blood Bowl was originally produced in 1987, whereas Mutant League Football didn’t grace the scene until 1993. The sad truth is that most gamers don’t recognize Warhammer’s younger cousin so readily, even after receiving its first video game makeover in 1995. Mutant League Football is considered by many to be one of the first parodic takes on American football, which paved the way for titles like NFL Blitz and NFL Street. The most recent game to employ this model is NFL Tour, in which the tabletop Blood Bowl lives not in a digital sphere, but alongside Warhammer miniatures and Magic: The Gathering cards at comic shops.

But what about this newfangled Blood Bowl? Could it possibly live up to the kind of hype that such misunderstanding can bring? Well, Cyanide has recently released a new trailer that shows a good deal of promise (and I’m not just saying that because I owned The Galadrieth Gladiators back in the day). The trailer shows a face off between teams of orcs and elves, complete with acrobatic stunts, footballs that fly in unrealistic fashions and the brutal beating of an elven receiver; it’s easy to see why people like this idea so much.

It is still too soon to tell if this game is going to live up to its potential, since we’ve only seen a few scant seconds of gameplay and a handful of screenshots. But keep your eyes out for Blood Bowl, which should be released by the end of the year for PC, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS and PSP.