Well, it's the post-Gen Con issue of SHADIS, so I'm going to devote this month's offering to gamer Nirvana, and the most important trade show of the year. Don't let the folks at GAMA fool you. Gen Con is the place to be. This is the show that every manufacturer attends, and they all wait for this show to unveil their big plans and new goodies. Sure, there are tons of consumers getting between you and Those In The Know but for every major game company with a busy booth, there are 10 lesser companies and a host of upstarts, and usually you can find some real gems to take back home if you do a little hunting.

Except this year. And you have no one to blame but yourselves.

This year, the gems were everywhere lying around waiting to be picked up. Why? Because most companies - big and small - were showing "new" role- playing, board and miniature game products that many gamers saw for the first time. Why? Because retailers and distributors never showcased these "new" products in their stores and ordering books. Why? Because they were so busy this year worrying about card games.

Most of those "new" products had been released months ago.

Hey, it's understandable. You have to pay attention to the big movers. But that is no excuse to completely ignore profits. I realize I'm starting to should like a Ferengi here, but that's how every retailer should think. Always look for the big bucks.

On the other hand, the game companies themselves had one of their best years ever.

Yes, it's true. The fact is that many game companies sold more products on Thursday (historically the worst sales day) than last-year's Sunday (historically one of the best sales days). Think about that. Consumers were hungry for new products.

I spent a lot of time talking with manufacturers (which I always like to do) and the number one sentence almost all of them heard this year was, "Hey! I didn't know this was out!" Typically, this was followed by a rolling of the eyes from the other side of the display table and the frustrated response, "Yep, it's been out for months."

This was even more disappointing (from the point of view of a "retail analyst") because there really wasn't that much to get excited about at Gen Con this year. Sure, there were some good things. A company called Pinnacle Entertainment had a cool new game called Deadlands. Atlas Games had one of the best stand-alone card games to come down the pike in years with Lunch Money. But mostly it was "more of the same". That didn't stop manufacturers from moving a ton of product. Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned.

Maybe the real lesson of Gen Con this year was that when it comes to a game, the size of the ad campaign doesn't matter, nor does the clout of the parent company, or even the name under the cover art. What does count is the basic law of supply and demand. But this time, I'm going to give that law a twist. Usually, you wait for demand, and then you supply it. When it comes to games, You can't have demand until you first supply. Most games don't have ad campaigns. Your customers won't buy what they simply don't know about.

Game companies (well, most of them) really don't want to sell directly to consumers. When a player buys a game directly from them, it means that player's store is not stocking their products. It also means that every player who sees an older product for the first time at Gen Con equates to dozens or hundreds more who won't see it at all. That is bad news, especially when the product is not that old. They don't want to sell directly. Lately, they have no choice.

This is especially true with the real moneymakers - game supplements. Adventures and supplements to existing RPGs are enormous profitmakers. They are easy to sell; you usually already know who will buy them. But only if you supply them.