Duels of the Planeswalkers is a unique product. It does some things spectacularly right, and does other things spectacularly wrong. The things it does right represent some great work and show a lot of promise for other, better projects in the future. The things it does wrong range from places where I think priorities were misplaced, to places where we will need more time to improve the product to places where the game is intentionally being held back for reasons both good and ill. Overall, this is a great game at its absurdly low price point that has the promise to mature into something far greater.

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Interested in getting your hands on that alternate art foil Garruk? You’re going to have to download Duels of the Planeswalkers, which finally released yesterday for the Xbox (available through the Xbox Live Arcade). Scheduled to release yesterday morning, the game was not available for download until late last night (around 11:30pm EDT by my estimation) due to some technical snags on Microsoft’s part. Early buyers will receive a code which can be redeemed through the Wizard’s site for a limited edition Garruk.

For anyone who has the game already (or is thinking of getting it soon) there are two awesome events on the horizon: Game with Fame and Game with Developers

The Game with Fame event, scheduled for June 20th, will pit players to against these notable/notorious MTG figures:

Richard Garfield, creator of Magic: The Gathering
Mike Turian, a Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour Hall of Famer
Jon Finkel, a Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour Hall of Famer
Gerry Thompson, Pro Tour player
Jamie Parke, Pro Tour Player
Brian Kibler, Pro Tour Player

Game with Fame will be followed up with the Game with Developers event, scheduled for June 27th. Players will be able to compete against 27 of the games designers, developers, and producers from Wizards of the Coast, Stainless Games, Microsoft and VMC.

I have been anxiously awaiting the Duels release since WotC announced the date a couple of weeks ago. Expect a review of the game early next week.

~WillPoP

PS: For anyone who isn’t on Twitter, check out this Russian site with some awesome looking M10 artwork. Notice anything interesting?

Rumors that Duels of the Planeswalkers, the XBLA Magic: the Gathering game, was going to be released early blipped momentarily on the Twitter radar yesterday, but were quickly dismissed. When was the last time a game was finished ahead of time?

Wizards released this press release today, announcing that Duels of the Planeswalkers will be released on June 17th, with organized play events planned for as early as June 20th.

Early buyers/downloaders will be rewarded with a code that can be redeemed for a foil, promo Garruk Wildspeaker.

Gameplay footage has been around for a while, and the game looks fantastic. As a pseudo Xbox 360 owner (roomate owns one, ding!) I am excited to try the game out when it releases.

Who else is planning on getting MODO: Xbox edition? Have you been anticipating this release? Let us know what you think about Duels of the Planeswalkers in the comments.

~WillPoP