News Flash: Pre-Order Splendor Expansion, Guardians of the Galaxy Card Game Announced

Pre-order Splendor Expansion
You can now pre-order Cities of Splendor. "Cities of Splendor contains four expansions for the critically acclaimed Splendor, offering not one, but four new ways to play the favored classic."
Source: https://www.asmodee.us/en/news/2017/7/11/expand-your-route-to-victory/

USAopoly Announces Guardians of the Galaxy Card Game
The card game is coming soon. "Custom Event cards add a new twist to every round and all bets are off when Ego comes into play.  Bluff, trade and steal your way to victory!"
Source: http://usaopoly.com/games/guardians-galaxy-vol-2-gear-and-rock-out-awesome-mix-card-game

Interview with Author Tristan Donovan on Popularity of Board Games
The interview looks at the popularity of board games in the digital age. "Author Tristan Donovan discusses his new book about the enduring popularity of the old-fashioned board game platform."
Source: http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/why-old-fashion-board-games-thrive-in-the-internet-age/

Various Versions of Hanabi
In an interesting little article about the various editions a board game can go through, Opinionated Gamers took a look at the various editions of Hanabi. "For fans of Hanabi, this will likely be a fun post walking through the history of the game and its various iterations."
Source: https://opinionatedgamers.com/2017/07/04/the-many-versions-of-hanabi/

Five Games for Traveling
Best Play suggests five games that are extremely portable for traveling, or convenient if you just don't have a lot of room. "This list is a whole fresh set of tiny games that you and your friends will love but your shelves won’t notice."
Source: https://www.bestplay.co/5-best-tiny-travel-games/

'Step Ladder' Games
Meeple Mountain suggests a series of games which complement each other. "Each group of games that we present here begin with a game that’s pretty standard and fairly easy to find. Then, we follow that up with other games that take the concepts and core mechanics the first game presents and then build upon or improve them. As you climb the ladder, the games become more involved and more challenging."
Source: http://www.meeplemountain.com/articles/top-6-boardgame-step-ladders/

Reviews
Portal of Heroes (RPG.net): “Though the game is fairly simple, it nonetheless has great strategy and tactics that make it quite enjoyable as a filler game taking less than an hour.”
Source: https://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/17/17183.phtml

Cottage Garden (Hiew's Boardgame Blog): “It is a straightforward, pleasant game.”
Source: http://hiewandboardgames.blogspot.com/2017/07/cottage-garden.html

Valley of the Kings (Mechanics and Meeples): “Though Valley of the King’s mechanics are simplistic, the introduction of set-collection creates a nice variant of deckbuilding play that’s innovative and intriguing.
Source: http://www.mechanics-and-meeples.com/2017/04/24/a-deckbuilding-look-at-valley-of-the-kings/