There certainly has been no end to the excitement in this industry this summer. My apologies for slacking off. I know that many of you enjoy the news and analysis we provide. As life gets busy, though, as it does with the many outdoor sports I enjoy, something has to give. So, we'll try to make up for things here. And please be assured that we do intend to continue publishing this Update newsletter.

The core data contained in our newsletters is and will always remain available to you in a timely way. Our New Releases catalog http:/www.finegames.com/text/new_rels.txt, and our Pending Releases catalog http://www.finegames.com/text/new_pend.txt are updated each week

Huge, huge changes in the hobby industry continue apace this summer. We'll try to summarize them key ones here.

Wizards of the Coast, makers of those collectable revenue streams called Magic and Pokemon, did what many feared they'd eventually do this summer. First, they have aggressively expanded their efforts to sell directly to consumers. Wizards owns 7 large retail stores in their Seattle (home) area. In June, they purchased the 51-store Game Keeper chain of modest sized retail stores located in cities throughout the U.S. In many retailers' minds, this puts them in direct competition with retail stores.

In early Summer, Wizards announced its Premier Store program. Designed to promote direct ties to first-tier retailers, esp. those in mall locations, Wizards effectively circumvented the distributor level of the traditional distribution system of the game hobby industry. And that scared the crap out of many, many people.

Wizards next shifted where it was selling its current hit, Pokemon, to favor its own and the Premier stores. While the latter were alleged to have received basically all they can handle, distributors have complained that they have been receiving no more than 10% of what they've ordered, and even that dribbles in unpredictably. Wizards acknowledged that they didn't plan well or monitor the allocation of the Pokemon product through the summer in a printed interview.

Then, Wizards struck a deal with the Southland Corp, otherwise know as 7-11, to sell its Pokemon product. As part of that deal, Wizards was alleged to have cleaned out its warehouses to provide stock to 7-11 (at a time when hobby retailers and distributors were crying for stock).

For some distributors, this was the final red flag. One gave up any attempt to collect orders for Pokemon as simply futile. All saw the anticipated gross profit from sales of this wildly popular product simply vanish from the combined impacts of Wizard's moves. And perhaps with it their future viability. As the final twist in this saga (for this summer, at least), Hasbro announced its intention to buy Wizards for $325mil. So, we have 40-ton gorilla eating the 4-ton gorilla that ate just about everything else. Word is that Hasbro will allow Wizards to continue its current marketing plan and management regime for at least 3 years and then review the situation.

Three of the largest distributors sold themselves to iEntertainment Network (iEN). This sale was a shock to the industry, including yours truly. And is the single most significant change for those of us in the wargame end of things. The nation's largest distributor, Alliance (formerly Chessex and Armory), together with Berkeley Topline and Zocchi, were to be purchased for an undisclosed sum by iEN who claimed to see possibilities for "...Electronic gaming, virtual warehousing, internet marketing, and LAN based gaming" via these 3 distributors.

The bad news is that iEN is said to be a rather small firm, entirely foreign to the hobby industry, with problems of its own. Among them, it's stock (ticker symbol IMGK) was seriously threatened with delisting just prior to the merger announcement leading some to suggest that this was partly motivating the deal. And several of you pointed out that the record of the company's present and its prior CEO ("Wild Bill" Stealey) give considerable reason for pause.

The consequences of iEN failing, and taking the 3 distributors it now owns with it, would be catastrophic for this industry, in my opinion. More so than anything previously discussed in this newsletter.

Another recent merger affecting the gaming industry (but not so much board gamers) is that Decipher is purchasing FASA as well as Ral Partha (a subsidiary of FASA). Times, they are a'changing.

Hasbro will deep-six all remaining Avalon Hill Stock...Soon! We'd previously alerted subscribers to this in August. All indications are that it is still a"go" but that Hasbro can't get together to get it done when it said it would. Instead, the target date is now sometime in October.

When it happens, the entire inventory of Avalon Hill games Hasbro still has will simply be sent to the landfill. This includes games with inventory ranging from a few dozen copies to a couple thousand, and both dogs and hot titles. Seems that maintaining this inventory was an ongoing headache for Hasbro -- they never could accurately count their inventory -- so they're fixing the problem by throwing out the baby and the bath water together.

When this happens -- and we believe its not really an "if" -- look for AH titles to dry up at distributors within 1-3 months, and prices to generally rise over time, depending on game popularity and supply. For the moment, you can still order AH games direct from Hasbro. See the Avalon Hill web site at . Note the many cop-outs about delivery time and box damage at the bottom of the order form, however.

Hasbro increased prices to distributors on AH games by 20% in August. This increase was immediately reflected in Fine Games prices. Just so you know. (And it further exemplifies the mind of Hasbro: they want to rid themselves of inventory, yet they hike prices without notice by 20%.)

The 'new' Avalon Hill makes its appearance. The first Hasbro release under the New Avalon Hill brand will be Stratego Legends. This is Stratego with several twists, all in a big box. It features "customizable" -- read collectable -- fantasy playing pieces and terrain, and the same simple system we all know -- read 2 pages or less of rules. This is the New Avalon Hill; oh boy. The second NAH game will be a reprint of Axis and Allies.

Clash of Arms Games are going, going...Last call for Clash of Arms products. While you may be able to get most of their stable direct from them at full price, it is now very much hit-and-miss ordering from distributors.

Still haven't received a refund for your AH General Subscription? Then talk to the man himself, Jack Dott. Reach him at (410) 254-9200 x245 (or x113 for voice mail), or by email at jyd@ix.netcom.com. This is the last time we will mention this here.

That's enough excitement for one summer!