sid meier
Latest
Even 'Civilization VI' is getting a battle royale mode
Firaxis and 2K are taking an all-too-familiar approach to revitalizing a game: tack on a battle royale mode in a bid to capture the Fortnite crowd. They've released an update to Civilization VI that introduces Red Death, a 12-player competitive mode that grafts battle royale on to a strategy game that was definitely not designed for it. Instead of filling the shoes of a historical political leader, you play as one of numerous post-apocalyptic factions (no nuclear Gandhi, though) determined to get off the planet before a radioactive storm closes in and wipes you out. The basic mechanics remain intact, but your focus is clearly not on advancing society.
Watch Civilization maestro Sid Meier discuss his storied career
While you wait for the October 24 debut of Civilization: Beyond Earth you can pass the time with this lengthy presentation from Civilization creator Sid Meier, in which the legendary developer offers insight into his impressive career and the strategy games that have made him such a revered figure. [Image: 2K Games]
Civilization: Beyond Earth for Mac is still on the way, just delayed
Yesterday we ran a story announcing that the Mac version of Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth has been postponed for an indefinite, or undetermined, amount of time. We have since reached out to a source working on the Mac version of Beyond Earth for a comment on the story. While they cannot give a hard release date yet, they want readers and Mac fans to know that the title is still on the way. In their words, "coming soon really does mean coming soon." A release date for the Mac version of the title will be announced sometime in the near future. We'll let you know as soon as the information becomes available.
Civilization dev launches Firaxicon fan conference
Following in the footsteps of Blizzard and Mojang comes Firaxicon, an upcoming conference dedicated to Civilization developer Firaxis Games. According to Eventbrite, fans attending Firaxicon will enjoy "unique Firaxicon swag," a tour of the Firaxis offices, a chance to meet the developers and an early opportunity to play Civilization: Beyond Earth. Firaxis co-founder Sid Meier is also scheduled to host a presentation dubbed "An Evening with Sid Meier." There are no details on what Meier plans to discuss, but after three-plus decades of developing the most addictive games in history he's probably got some great anecdotes. Tickets for Firaxicon are available for $40 and can be purchased from Eventbrite. The event itself is scheduled to kick off on September 27 at 10 a.m. and run until September 28 at 10 a.m. Though events are only scheduled through Saturday evening, the organizers plan to keep the gaming area open all night for boardgames and PC gaming. [Image: Firaxis Games]
Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth coming to Mac this year
Sid Meier's Civilization series has sold millions of copies and inspired countless sleepless nights from addicted players. Over the course of five titles the series has allowed players to experience building the greatest empires in the history of the planet Earth. This Fall Civilization will leave the planet for the first time with Beyond Earth, a new beginning for the series. Best of all, Mac users will be getting the game at the same time as Linux and Windows. So far only a few screen shots have been released showcasing game play, but a trailer has been posted which you can view below. Players will be able to play in the world of Civilization for the first time without the series' famous interplay between real life historical characteristics. In an interview with Polygon Lena Brenk, one of the game's producers, said they hope not being able to draw on history will expand how the game is played. "If you think about it," Brenk said, "in Civ historically, it's similar. The player has the reference of history and [can] fill in the gaps with their imagination and what their play style looks like. They know the rough outlines. They probably are not all historians. They probably don't all know the specifics and details, but they know the rough outline of what happened with Genghis Khan or who he was. "We're trying to provide something very similar, except here for the future, where we give rough outlines and the player fills in the gaps with their imagination because that will really be the place that they remember: the choices they made and how that impacted their playthrough. A hard release date for the title has not been announced. We'll update you when more information becomes available. In the meantime watch the game's trailer below and let us know what you think in the comments.
Humble Sid Meier Bundle adds Civilization 5 DLC, Sid Meier's Pirates
The good people at Humble Bundle have opted to make the Humble Sid Meier Bundle even more attractive, with two additional DLC packs for Civilization 5, as well as the 2004 remake of seminal swashbuckling simulator Sid Meier's Pirates. As it now stands, those who spend any amount of money between $0 and $9.19 for the Humble Sid Meier Bundle will receive Civilization 3 Complete Edition, Civilization 4 Complete Edition, Sid Meier's Railroads, Sid Meier's Ace Patrol and that game's Pacific Skies expansion pack. Spend between $9.19 and $15 and you'll walk away with all of the aforementioned software, plus Sid Meier's Pirates, Civilization 5 and the Gods And Kings, Scrambled Nations and Scrambled Continents DLC additions spawned by the strategy game. Any amount over $15 will add Civilization 5: Brave New World to the Bundle, completing that game's range of DLC releases. Additionally, the highest pricing tier includes the Civilization 5 soundtrack as well as "Baba Yetu," the Grammy-winning theme from Civilization 4. As with all Humble Bundle collections, those who purchase the Humble Sid Meier Bundle are given a choice on how to allocate their cash. You can either reward publisher 2K Games for making these games available, or you can shift your money toward Action Against Hunger, a humanitarian group working to end starvation and malnutrition throughout the developing world. Visit the Humble Bundle website for more information. [Image: 2K Games]
Humble Sid Meier Bundle: Civ 3, 4 and 5, plus Ace Patrol, Railroads
Humble Bundle offers three tiers of entry into Sid Meier's epic, world-building simulation games: The first package offers Civilization 3 Complete, Civilization 4: The Complete Edition, Ace Patrol, Ace Patrol: Pacific Skies and Railroads for any price you want. The second tier adds Civilization 5 and its Gods and Kings DLC if you pay more than the average, and the third tier packs in Civ 5's Brave New World DLC for $15 or more. The Humble Sid Meier Bundle is live for two weeks and benefits the charity Action Against Hunger, a humanitarian organization with the goal of ending world hunger. As always, spend more than $1 to get Steam keys with your Humble Sid Meier Bundle order, and split whatever you pay among Humble, the developer and the charity.
Civilization Online not currently planned for North America
You might be tremendously excited about Civilization Online right now, especially if you read our interview with Jake Song yesterday. But if you live in North America, it's time to crank that excitement down to a dull interest because XLGAMES and 2K Games are not currently looking at a release in the region. 2K Games PR Manager Brian Roundy delivered the bad news: "Civilization Online is developed by South Korea-based XL Games in partnership with 2K, and will be available first in Korea. No release date has been set. There are no plans for a North American release at this time." This doesn't mean all hope is lost, of course. It might be that the studios are holding their cards close to their chest or that they don't want to commit until they see how it performs in Korea. But if you were camping in front of a retail store (why?) for this release in America, you should probably go home for now.
Massively Exclusive: Jake Song introduces Civilization Online
You might have heard about a little project called Civilization Online, a new MMO in development based on the popular Civilization series of turn-based strategy games. You also might have heard that XL Games CEO Jake Song, of ArcheAge and Lineage fame, is overseeing the project as Executive Producer. But chances are, that's really all you have heard. Until now, that is. We had the opportunity to sit down with Song, XL Games Senior VP Jung Hwan Kim, and Producer Garrett Bittner from 2K Games to get the scoop on the project. Follow along for all the juicy details about building up civilizations in a new open world environment, including crafting, PvP, and more!%Gallery-195539%
Daily iPad App: Sid Meier's Ace Patrol is an excellent game sold badly
My birthday was last week on May 6, and Firaxis must have heard about that because in recent weeks they've released not one, but two great turn-based strategy games. First, Haunted Hollow was released as a great, original free-to-play title, and now the legendary Sid Meier (of Civilization and Pirates) has released a game called Ace Patrol, available as a free download on iOS. Ace Patrol is excellent -- it's a turn-based dogfighting game, where you manuver pilots in WWII around a battlefield, climbing, diving and swooping around into position all while trying to accomplish certain goals or take out the other side. Progression in the game is marked by "maneuvers," so pilots who have leveled up have access to more and advanced moves. Weapons fire for free, but you've got to line up closely to the enemy, preferably behind them, to avoid any incoming attacks. Unfortunately, as good as the game itself is, Firaxis really missed the mark on this one's freemium plan. The in-app purchases on Ace Patrol are just plain confusing -- you can play through a number of missions for free, but then when you spend some money to unlock the rest of the missions, you (currently -- I'll bet this is fixed soon) don't get to keep your progress. Additionally, while in-app purchases give you access to other nations, you also sometimes need to pay to get your lost pilots out of being captured. Fortunately, there are "superpacks" you can buy (which essentially open up the game's content), but the whole scheme just isn't well-thought-out. Haunted Hollow's IAP was clear and well-designed, but the same care hasn't been taken here, unfortunately. Still, Ace Patrol is an excellent game, a very well-designed set of battles put together by a master game developer. There are quite a few of these turn-based battle simulations to go around (Leviathan Warships is another recently released variant, though that one takes place on sea and is more complicated than Ace Patrol), but Ace Patrol does an excellent job of combining really deep strategy with easy and accessible gameplay. Grab this free download right away for sure.
Sid Meier on mobile and the value of hardcore gamers
You know you're getting old when legendary PC developer Sid Meier gives interviews about his foray into mobile gaming. It's not as bad as it sounds, though, because the man behind the Civilization series tells GamesIndustry.biz that the core gaming audience is still driving the industry regardless of platform. "I think we've seen historically that the more casual gaming platforms and markets do have a kind of rise and fall pattern to them, whereas the hardcore gaming market, the serious gamers are much more stable, and they're going to be around for a long time and will keep playing games," Meier said. Meier also ruminates on his approach to mobile free-to-play, which is basically the same try-the-demo-buy-the-full-game-if-you-like-it model that PC gaming has employed for decades. "It's not something like a constant stream of purchases every day, but it's more just unlocking the rest of the game and then you are done," he explained.
Sid Meier's Ace Patrol review: Strategy simplified
There's a certain stigma attached to strategy games, where deep systems and mechanics can hoist a sky-high barrier for the uninitiated. Sid Meier's Ace Patrol sidesteps these stigmas, presenting a turn-based experience so simple that even the strategically challenged will be able to play and excel. Designed for iOS devices, Ace Patrol is a dogfighting game set in WWI. With a series of taps, intense air combat is engaged over a battlefield of hexagonal grids. Using these taps, players execute everything from strafing to swooping dives, hard banking, the Immelman turn and other expert maneuvers.%Gallery-188035%
Sid Meier's Ace Patrol now available on the App Store
We've been blessed with not one but two great strategy games from 2K Games recently. The first, the freemium Haunted Hollow, was a Firaxis title that put some board game mechanics around a haunted town. And this latest title, Sid Meier's Ace Patrol, is now out today on the App Store, and it's a turn-based flight combat simulator put together by none other than the grandfather of strategy himself, Sid Meier. This one is also free to play, and you can unlock extra nations to play with via in-app purchase. There are over 120 missions to play through, and as you go, you can upgrade your pilots and their maneuvers, giving you more options to take down the opposing team. The whole game seems very fun, and this is an iOS exclusive, straight from Sid Meier and his team. Both this and Haunted Hollow are excellent games, so if you haven't yet, go pick up Ace Patrol for yourself.
Will Wright shares admiration for the three Ms: Miyamoto, Molyneux, Meier
Bespectacled brain Will Wright is one of the world's most revered game designers, both within the industry and in the more mainstream eye. But which game designers does he admire the most? Speaking at the Game Horizon conference in the UK via a video stream, Wright said he regards a great number of designers highly, including many up-and-comers. However, the Sims creator reserved special praise for three luminaries from his generation: Shigeru Miyamoto, Peter Molyneux, and Sid Meier. Nintendo veteran Miyamoto was "obviously" Wright's first choice. "He always takes the player first," Wright said. "Right off the bat he works with the controller, what does it feel like, how tactile and kinesthetic is what he's working on. He works from the inside out: 'what is the first five second player experience?' So his games have this craftsmanship behind them that's amazing and unique." The feeling is mutual; a few years back, Miyamoto said he was particularly impressed by Wright as "a very unique person and someone very special." Aw.
Sid Meier's Ace Patrol lands on iOS May 9
Sid Meier's next project is an iOS game set in World War I called Ace Patrol, a dogfighting strategy game created by Meier himself. Ace Patrol will launch on the App Store May 9 as a free download. Ace Patrol is comprised of four campaigns – all downloads gain access to the British campaign and multiplayer side; in-app purchase is required to access the other campaigns. Of course, you can also throw some coin down on the typical tactical and cosmetic boosts, like new planes and elaborate paint jobs. Multiplayer pits two squadrons against each other, allowing for either hot-swapping a device or asynchronous matches over Game Center.%Gallery-187246%
Civilization 2 10-year-game predicts nuclear wasteland future, Sid Meier 'can't believe' it
A few days ago, a thread on Reddit revolving around a tense Civilization 2 match received quite a bit of attention. Within the thread, user Lycerius detailed a scenario within the game that has been in play for about ten years. The American, Viking, and Celtic nations in his decade long battle remain locked in a 1700-year-long war, fighting over what little resources remain following years of nuclear carnage; in-game the year is 3991 AD. Now Civilization's mastermind, Sid Meier, has weighed-in on the nearly two thousand (in-game) year conflict."My first thought was, 'Wow! I can't believe anyone has been playing Civ II for that long,'" Sid Meier told The Associated Press (via Yahoo) in an interview. "It's been more than 15 years since we released that game, and I don't think any of us expected a decade-long game would come out of it. It would be amazing if we could come back in 2025 and find out if someone's had a 10-year game of Civ V going."We note, for future generations, not to look to the global landscape in Lycerius' Civilization 2 match for hints into our own destiny. It's just a game. We wouldn't want this intense match to become the Mayan calendar equivalent for our family in the far-flung future.
These games inspired Cliff Bleszinski, John Romero, Will Wright, and Sid Meier
Everyone in the industry has a story about their formative experiences with video games, but Jon-Paul Dyson, the director of the International Center for the History of Electronic Games, was a bit more blunt than most."Great artists don't borrow. They steal," Dyson said, borrowing a quote from Pablo Picasso as he introduced Wil Wright, Sid Meier, John Romero, and Cliff Bleszinski. Speaking in front of a packed house at GDC, the four industry luminaries shared the games that inspired them as creators, and continue to influence them today.
Sid Meier indirectly involved in XCOM: Enemy Unknown
XCOM: Enemy Unknown's lead designer Jake Solomon may be part of a conspiracy at Firaxis that finds studio head Sid Meier experimenting on employees. Asked by PC Gamer if the legendary creator of the Civilization series is involved in the development of XCOM, Solomon noted he and Meier interact on an almost daily basis."I say 'Look, I have this problem. What do you think I should do?' and he's a very gifted designer. He can look at a situation and he can say 'have you tried this?' And I'll be like, 'oh, that's really good.' I claim all the credit for it, but I rely on him so much," Solomon said, before saying too much. "I'm now to the point where I can basically hear his voice in my head, which is probably not healthy. He tells me to hurt people. [laughs]"Fight the chip inside your head, Solomon! We believe in you.
Sid Meier: modern graphics have lowered the barriers of entry to gaming
In this interview with Game Informer, legendary developer Sid Meier says even he has succumbed to the lure of modern graphics. "I used to love to try and challenge the players' imagination," he says, "to show them a few pixels in 16 colors and try and convince them that they're ruling an empire to stand the test of time. But I think today's player is not really willing to make that investment, so we're able to bring the worlds to life in 3D."But he also believes that beefing up the graphics has brought in a much bigger audience than games could have picked up 20 years ago. "You had to kind of suspend your disbelief and be willing to step into that world," says Meier. "Today we make it a lot easier," and as a result, players who want more than a few pixels on screen can also get their fix.Meier's currently the creative director of game development at Firaxis, and though he's not participating directly on XCOM it doesn't mean he's not working. Every morning, he says, he comes out of the shower with "about 10 ideas," and is constantly iterating with his team on different prototypes. "Most of them," he says, "just go back into the trash heap." In other words, anyone who wants to make an awesome game should probably go root around in the garbage cans near Sparks Glencoe, Maryland.
Sid Meier, Keiji Inafune and Riot Games folks added to GDC seminar list
Sad your favorite game designer isn't getting his or her deserved time in the spotlight? Well dry those eyes, friend! It's gonna be hard to hold onto that grudge because today industry legends Sid Meier and Keiji Inafune have both been added to the GDC talk docket, as well as League of Legends proprietors, Riot Games. But hey, if you're not going to GDC, feel free to keep crying while you read the rest of this post.Meier's talk, entitled "Interesting Decisions," will revolve around his viewpoint of gameplay as "a series of interesting decisions" and how developers can recognize and add these kinds of decisions, ultimately providing the player with a more fulfilling experience. Maybe he'll also talk a bit how that philosophy will play into XCOM: Enemy Unknown?Inafune will aim to analyze the current state of the Japanese game industry in his sixty-minute talk, "The Future of Japanese Games." Along with his unnamed cohorts, he'll delve into the current problems facing the region and analyze the past success of Japanese game development. We imagine he'll also probably suffer through a lot of questions about Mega Man.Finally, Riot Games offers a postmortem on its successful Dominion expansion for its runaway hit, League of Legends. Lead producer Travis George will offer insight into the expansion's genesis, all the way through production and launch.
