More importantly, we have neat new games for you. I know we have a few skeptics in our midst, but the new game is very cool—based on a salary cap model and will also provide much more flexible ways to join leagues with friends, a prettier interface for selecting your slate of movies and lots of great tools like using projected results as well as actual so you have a better idea how you’re doing against others in your league at any given time.

By salary cap model, we mean that everyone gets a certain amount of fake money--$100—and you select a slate of movies that fits under that amount or “cap.” We’ve set movie “prices” based on their projections. For more on how that works, check out how to play or start a studio and you can see a list of how movies are priced. (The games are still free to play, so don’t let that $100 thing confuse you.)

And, yes, for those of you who played the previous game, that means the salary cap method of selecting your movies replaces the draft.

Why, you say? Here’s an actual question we got from Tyler last week:

With many blockbusters coming out this summer it seems like 3 are poised to dominate.  Shrek, Pirates and Spidey.  A group of friends are about to start a league but several members feel that if you don’t have one of these movies there is no way to make up their huge blockbusters.  We have been thinking of dropping these three movies from the draft.  However another groups counters that you can’t do a summer blockbuster movie fantasy league without the top three movies.

You have been running this site for a while, how do you deal with this issue.

Our answer (it’s actually Jake’s response, but he nails it and I’m lazy, so I’m just reprinting it here):

Hi Tyler!

Thanks for getting in touch. Your timing couldn’t have been better. We just looked into this issue and are making some changes to our games specifically to address it.

Starting with the next season that begins May 4, we’re changing from a draft format, where each movie can only be owned by one studio, to a salary cap format, where multiple studios can own the same movie.

Each studio will have a budget to use to acquire a slate of movies, with movie prices based on their projected real-world performance. A top-grossing movie like Spider-Man 3 will cost a healthy chunk of your budget, while a limited-release independent movie would be relatively cheap. Movie prices will be set up so it won’t be possible to own every blockbuster, and you’ll have to be creative in building a lineup of movies that fits under your budget.

We’re really excited about this new format. It solves the problem that you identified, and generally makes the game more fun – You have more choices and can own any movie you want, but with the strategy involved in trying to stay within your budget and projecting the performance of movies beyond the blockbusters.

You’ll be able to set up leagues in the new game starting April 17, with the new season starting May 4.

Thanks for your question, and hope this helps address your concern. If you have any feedback on this or any additional questions, please let us know. And good luck in the new season!

So what does that mean right now?

• You can now create studios and leagues in the new game. Next season starts May 4 (Spider-Man opening weekend).
• If you’re currently playing a game (the draft model), you’ll still be able to continue to play your existing slate through that season. Just no new signups under the draft model.

You’ll also notice that we’re starting to add a new few elements here and there that help you promote “your” movies…you can grab snippets of code or share to social networking sites to tell folks to go see movies on your slate. Here's an example:

Boost my Fantasy Moguls score!

Go see Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End!

Opens Fri May. 25

We have a lot more coming that will keep things lively and engaging during season including more email update options for standings, projections, results, plus more dynamic updates on your studio pages. For now, jump on in and play now, invite friends to play and let us know what you think.

Oh, and let us know if you see any funkiness—we have some kick ass developers here but as anyone who has done anything like this before knows, it’s hard to be perfect. (Actually, you people being who you are, I’m sure you all know just how hard it *is* to be perfect.) Give us a shout if you see anything you think we should check out, and be as specific as you can about what kind of computer (PC vs Mac) and browser you’re using, and exactly what happened and where (cutting and pasting urls is encouraged).

Thanks for playing!

Brenda

aka "moviebabe"