All you youngsters out there may find this hard to believe, but there was once a time when people didn’t play games on their TVs or computers. There were no “Xboxes” or “PlayStations” or even “Wiis”. Nope. Instead, people used to gather around the family dinner table and play games on cardboard “gameboards” using dice, cards and little plastic statuette characters. And the most unbelievable part about these “boardgames”, as they were called, was that they didn’t even feature online multiplayer modes! Everyone who wanted to play had to physically be in the same room. Can you believe it?

Okay, of course you know what a boardgame is. You might even have gotten one for Christmas just a few weeks ago. But if you did, hopefully it wasn’t Risk, the classic “Game of World Domination” from the good folks at Hasbro, because Electronic Arts has just announced that they plan on making that old “analog” version obsolete when they release Risk: Factions on XBLA in early 2010.

From the sound of it, this won’t be a straight-up remake of the classic board game either. Not only will it add that online multiplayer mode, but as the title suggests, players will now be able to choose to play as one of five different factions, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Factions will also include “dynamic terrain” and “Overkill” moments; although no specific details were given as to how these two features will work.

Stainless Games, makers of the well-received Magic: the Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers, will be handling development duties so Risk fans should be glad to hear that the digital version of their favourite boardgame is in capable hands.

So just put that copy of Risk you got for Christmas back in the closet (that’s right – way up there on the top shelf where you keep your Monopoly and Boggle) because Risk: Factions drops in early 2010, and when it does, playing the boardgame version will be so 2009.

[Via: EA.com]