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Sid Meier, Soren Johnson on state of games
GameSpy spoke with industry luminary Sid Meier and Civilization IV co-designer Soren Johnson at DICE last month. The Firaxis dynamic duo weighed in on everything from the state of PC gaming to World of Warcraft to escalating game budgets. Here are some quick takes: Meier: "I think there are a lot of opportunities for the PC to make a comeback. It has some inherent strengths. Connectivity, certainly. Massively multiplayer games. Email! The things that a PC does well, what snuck it into the home in the first place, is still there." Johnson: "I think the thing is, if you're going to make a multiplayer game, the days of trying to 'shoehorn' in multiplayer are over. As an aside, I think we're almost reaching a point where single-player games are getting under-served. One reason I really enjoy World of Warcraft is that there's so few good single-player RPGs for the PC right now."
Mario Party, Civ IV help give Amazon.com record holiday season
It was a very good holiday season for Amazon.com. The ever-popular online store has reported approximately 108 million items have been ordered since November 1st - their best holiday season yet. In their press release, Amazon.com notes that "video games were popular this year," citing their top sellers as Mario Party 7, Civilization IV, and Age of Empires 3. Top in video game hardware were, unsurprisingly, the three portable consoles: the pearl blue Game Boy Advance SP (not Micro?), the electric blue Nintendo DS, and the Sony PSP value pack. How many of you used Amazon this year for the majority of your holiday shopping? [via Gamasutra] Read
Rematch: AoE III vs. Civ. IV, who's buggier?
The two went head to head in a metareview showdown: Civilization IV versus Age of Empires III. AoE III won in sales, but got edged out in overall rankings, but then it was revealed that Civilization IV was playing injured. Reports of buggy software flooded the nets, and then it was AoE III's game to lose. Then today, a reader informed us that AoE III suffered from a plentitude of bugs as well. The forums are buzzing with comments like: vodka-mike: Ensemble's devs and brass should feel ashamed [of] this release. Vincedia: OK, so we bought this game, get it home, start to play, and find out we are paying to Beta test? I've had the game for a bit over 2 weeks now and I still can not stop the crashing to desktop. gman: What I haven't seen is a response from ES at all. There are hundreds of posts just like this one, on this forum alone! Is this a case of two competitors both rushing their competing titles out the door only to have them compete against another rushed product? Or was the lucrative holiday season looming, so the "patch it later" mentality kicked in. We love Sid Meier, but we want him to know that the DS doesn't work that way. Now, if Microsoft brings AoE to the 360, maybe they could patch it... but let's not even think about that.
Civ IV needs fumigation and delousing
Civilization IV has been winning accolades from game critics, but customer experience with the title has not been quite as positive, with widespread reports of buggy software behavior piling up at Amazon.com and at other sites that accept user feedback (MetaCritic, too). We're talking roach infestation here. In sum, gamers complain that the game simply overpowers even gaming rigs with multiple gigs of RAM. Here are some typical complaints: "Even after a clean uninstall/reinstall of Civ4 and the updated ATI drivers, I continued to get the increasing (and ultimately fatal) number of late-game crashes on my Sony VAIO desktop (3.6GHz P4, 1GB RAM, WinMCE SP2, RADION X600)." (Bruce Webster, on Amazon.com) "2+ minutes game load time, 1+ minute between turns (large pangaea) and circa 1999 graphics which lag and sputter make this game unplayable for all but the most devoted of Civilization fans." (Duane Pye, on Amazon.com) "I think the game itself is pretty interesting, but what does it matter since I can't play a game all the way through? Once I get to the 1800s or so, the game crashes every 2 or 3 turns." (Lawrence Wisne, Jr., on Amazon.com) "I installed this on two computers. On one, the graphics completely don't work. While there are ways to fix this, they basically involve cheating and revealing the whole map. No no no. On the other computer, the game runs at a snails pace. I have to wait 3 minutes between ACTIONS. ACTIONS, not TURNS. It took me 7 hours to advance 20 turns. This is NOT an acceptable rate." (S. Wong, on Amazon.com) Chance are, the game can be quite fun and is worth $50, but we can't encourage anyone to buy a game that was released in such a raw state. It's a shame to see a game with such giant promise taken down by a Lilliputian army of defects. [Thanks, Jake]
Metareview: Age of Empires III vs. Civilization IV
Whilst Age of Empires III and Civilization IV are classed in the same genre as strategy games, they have very different styles. AoE is real time and has a permanent "down with the troops" view and feel. Civilization IV, on the other hand, is turn based and features a lot of micromanagement. Rather than trying to represent one age as best as it can, it tries to cover the whole of civilization; from cavemen to spacecraft. The two games took the 1st and 2nd place on the PC games sales chart for the week ending November 13th. So we thought it'd be very appropriate to write up a versus metareview of the two games - in the style of our previous F.E.A.R. vs Quake 4 metareview. Take the jump to find out what reviewers thought of these two strategy game behemoths.
Best selling PC games: AoE 3 and Civ IV battle for top spot
For the week ending November 13th, here's the best sellers list for PC games in the U.S. 1. Age Of Empires III 2. Civilization IV 3. Call Of Duty 2 4. Star Wars Battlefront II 5. World Of Warcraft 6. The Sims 2 7. City Of Villains 8. The Sims 2 Nightlife Expansion Pack 9. Battlefield 2 10. Call Of Duty 2 Collectors Edition As is obvious from the list, Civilization IV and Age of Empires 3 are deeply involved in a strategic battle for getting the most cash out of gamer's wallets. Age of Empires 3 has been out over a month now but is still topping the chart. With Civ IV being out just under a two weeks, has it already lost the momentum required to knock AoE 3 off the top spot?
Civilization IV demo released
Firaxis went ahead and released a demo of the fourth game in the Civilization series. The 314MB demo features a tutorial and 100 turns of a demo level. It's a good way to check out how the game will run on your machine but - let's face it - if you're a Civilization fan you'll already have the full version. First thoughts: whilst this game's no Age of Empires 3 (in terms of graphics) it's certainly very pretty. You can get the demo via Gamershell at the "Read" link below. [Via GameGossip]
Take-Two buys Sid Meier's Firaxis Games
The house that Sid Meier has built, and made successful, is now officially a part of Take Two Interactive. The notorious publisher has been publishing Firaxis-developed titles for a long time now, including Pirates! and the Civilization series via its subsidiary 2K Games, so do not expect anything to really change other than some minor business-related shifts - no worries, Sid Meier is staying. In his own words, "2K Games has already been a tremendous partner to Firaxis...we're excited about all of the possibilities ahead of us as we work together to explore new ideas, new products and new consumer markets."
Civ IV pre-order deal gets fancy
If you were a fan of Civilization IV, you were already giddy by yesterday's announcement that Sid Meier's precious baby would be arriving on store shelves a month early. Now you have even more reason to be excited: if you pre-order the game, you will receive the aptly titled Civilization IV Pre-Order Edition. On top of a very nice game box - which looks very much like the Gideon Bibles one finds in hotels - you will also receive "a CD soundtrack, a keyboard template, a tech tree poster, and a spiral-bound manual." Very nice, indeed – and the best part is that there is no additional charge to you, the strategy-loving fan.
Take-Two takes a hit in revenues; Civ IV to ship before Halloween
Who needs trick-or-treating when you can conquer the world? Take-Two, in reporting losses of $28.8 million this quarter, has announced a couple of changes to the shipping dates of its upcoming games. Civilization IV, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, and The Warriors will all ship before the end of October, but Bully has been pushed back to sometime after February 2006. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, whose hidden sex minigame caused it to be pulled off the shelves (and likely the big reason of Take-Two's quarter losses), will return to stores sex-free next week. Also announced for 2006, though in vague references, were two PSP games, a sequel to a Rockstar game, a brand new franchise for the Xbox 360, and of course "extensions of the Grand Theft Auto franchise." Because, honestly, what would 2006 be without some Grand Theft Auto controversy?
E3: More on Civ IV
Here's another screenshot of Civilization IV, and some more dope about the game that Firaxis games promises will be even more addicting than the original. faster pace: remember how the early years of a Civilization map tend to blow by, but the years approaching 2050 can take what seems like hours? Firaxis promises "streamlined" gameplay for a "faster" experience. easier interface: Firaxis promises an interface that will be familiar and easy for veterans and newbies alike. The screenshots we've seen look a little chaotic, but they're not showing the city interface yet. more flexible tech tree: Flexibility and "open-ended gameplay" are the buzzwords of the moment, so there's no surprise that every game is touting this. new multiplayer options: There will be a persistent, turn-based server option, and it could be huge. It'd be great to be able to line up a game with someone over the net and have some trusted server somewhere store the information. Saving game information client-side (with the players' machines) exposes it to shenanigans. team-play: "team play offers a new way of setting locked alliances that result in shared wonder effects, visibility, unit trading and shared territory that delivers a plethora of new strategic and tactical options" The game's marketing team has also produced a funny little guide to help players of the game overcome their debilitating addictions to it. The brochure they're handing out on the show floor shows gamers in AA-like settings saying things like, "By the time I got to the Industrial Age, I was a full-blown junkie," and "The addiction just takes over. One more turn, one more turn, one more turn..."
Interview with Civ IV Producer
IGN has posted an interview with Civilization IV's producer Barry Caudill, who provides more detail on the what's changed since the last Civilization title 3D engine still covers the 4000 BC to 2050 AD timeframe revamped movement and combat mechanics animated, dynamic landscapes (moving cows, flowing rivers) 18 civilizations better AI additional resources for trade new "religion" system for theocratic governments addition of the touchy (but historically accurate) topics of slavery and emancipation elimination of terrorism options (poisoning a city's water supply has become a taboo topic since the last Civ game) the most moddable version of Civilization ever Visit the folks over at CivFanatics.com for great commentary and analysis on the IGN interview linked below.
Sid Meier sits down with the Europeans
Sid Meier, the ultimate in Game Gods, the peak of game design gurus, the upper crust of digital cake, etc. sits down with Eurogamer to give his two Euros on Pirates! The newly released game is getting the kudos it deserves. Anytime you follow up on one of the most beloved titles of all time, you have to be a little nervous. But now is his time to relax, and work on the Xbox version of the game, and, of course, Civilization IV. The interview is short, but we should be grateful for every word we get from this man of mans, this gamer of legends, etc.
Infogrames sells Civilization franchise
In the "Hmm..." department, Infogrames has sold it's rights to the Civilization franchise. The video game behemoth seems to have a few financial problems at the moment and sold off the rights. See? This is what happens when you anger the ghost of Atari. The news is early in the article. The rest is all tedious financial stuff. Well worth reading if you can't sleep. You'll be out like a light. So, with the Civilization franchise having split in recent years, and now this, I guess we'll be seeing yet another company put out a Civilization game. If this goes on much longer, every company in the business will have put one out by the year 2020.
Civilization IV updates an old favorite
It's the gift that keeps on giving. The next Civilization game is now official. The new screenies already prove that it will be a generational leap in the eye candy department. Spong says the game may be developed for consoles, as well as the PC. This is a good idea for a number of reasons. One, bigger audience. Duh. Two, there's nothing else even close to it in the console area. Three, a lot of the original fans who aren't playing games anymore may see it's available on their kid's Xbox and jump back in. Any chance to bond with the kid is a good idea, right?
