Maple Story Card Game: iTCG fo iBucks

Wizards of the Coast announced yesterday that they'll be producing a new trading card game based on the popular free Korean MMORPG Maple Story. Scheduled to debut this November, Wizards' Maple Story "iTCG" is a real-world game unto itself, but features a number of cards with codes players can take online and redeem for new content (hats, hairdos, shinny beads, that sort of stuff). WotC's Brand Manager Laura Tommervik says that "Unlike codes in other TCGs that redeem online for limited value vanity items, codes in the MapleStory iTCG will unlock exclusive online rewards and game experiences such as highly sought-after artifacts, rare virtual pets, and all-new quests."

Sound familiar? Maybe a lot like the World of Warcraft TCG (which I hear had a wildly successful release then unfortunately hit a brick wall after folks realized that the odds of getting that turtle mount were about as likely as being struck by lightning)? Weird. Hopefully it'll be cool and I can add it to my TCG collection, right between Loony Tunes and Neo Pets. Or I might start a new shelf for "iTCGs," ‘cause I'm betting that phrase is going to catch right on.

You can check out more on Maple Story over on their main site. I don't know much about it, but the art is pretty cute.

[via icv2]