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Andrew writes "GamerDad has an article up about how religion is handled in computer gaming, titled 'Game With God'. The article features quotes from Sid Meier, Jane Jensen, Will Wright, Peter Molyneaux, Phil Steinmeyer, and Richard Garriott. Here's a snippet: 'While religion and spirituality add a lot to a game world, they often aren't used effectively. 'I don't think there are any games that treat religion at anything more than a superficial level,'; says Firaxis founder and Civilization creator Sid Meier. PopTop Software's Phil Steinmeyer agrees, noting that 'Religion is ignored in gaming, or if it is portrayed, it's wildly caricatured.'"

Thanks to Evil Avatar for pointing to a CivFanatics news post discussing new information about Civilization IV from this year's Game Developer's Conference in San Jose, recently released online as a PowerPoint slideshow. Apparently, the in-development Firaxis PC strategy sequel, not yet officially revealed, features "Continuous, immersive 3D world (what-you-see-is-what-you-get)... Drop unfun legacy (pollution, rioting, maintenance, corruption/waste)... New killer features (religion, civics)... RPG elements (unit upgrades/experience)... Coding from scratch (multiplayer, mod-friendly)", with the important note from lead designer Soren Johnson: "Can still take over the world!" There are also a host of other GDC slides/lecture notes now available on the official site, including "Winning the Race Against Pirates And Crackers: Next Generation Copy Protection" by Erik Simon (PDF), and "Managing the Hydra: Successfully Running Multiple Projects in a Videogame Studio" by Dr. Greg Zeschuk of BioWare (DOC, PPT including some fascinating graphs.)

Thanks to Firaxis for its press release announcing that Eagle Games are making a board game version of forthcoming PC remake Sid Meier's Pirates!, following Eagle's earlier release of a Sid Meier's Civilization board game, as well a previously mentioned Age Of Mythology tabletop title. The official Eagle Games site hints at "Other [Boardgame] Projects in the Works", including "A Railroad Game" - possibly Railroad Tycoon, another Sid Meier-created videogame classic? Elsewhere, there was GameSpy coverage and a GameSpot preview of the Pirates! videogame itself at E3, with GameSpy noting: "It's an easy game to jump right into: heavy on action and big on pirate", and the Firaxis site also mentions another Meier-related story, the announcement of Civilization for the Nokia N-Gage.

Thanks to Firaxis for their press release revealing their founder Sid Meier has been inducted into the Computer Museum of America's Hall of Fame, after the museum "asked the public to choose their favorite innovators", joining gaming luminaries such as Nolan Bushnell and fellow inductees such as Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Jay Miner. Meier is best known for classic Microprose games such as Civilization, and GameSpot has an update on his latest title, a remake of Pirates!, noting it's "known to utilize the GameBryo 3D engine used by the Morrowind and Dark Age of Camelot series", and touting "multiple paths to a wealthy, happy [piratical] retirement."

Thanks to Firaxis for their press release revealing their founder Sid Meier has been inducted into the Computer Museum of America's Hall of Fame, after the museum "asked the public to choose their favorite innovators", joining gaming luminaries such as Nolan Bushnell and fellow inductees such as Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Jay Miner. Meier is best known for classic Microprose games such as Civilization, and GameSpot has an update on his latest title, a remake of Pirates!, noting it's "known to utilize the GameBryo 3D engine used by the Morrowind and Dark Age of Camelot series", and touting "multiple paths to a wealthy, happy [piratical] retirement."

Thanks to Firaxis for their press release revealing their founder Sid Meier has been inducted into the Computer Museum of America's Hall of Fame, after the museum "asked the public to choose their favorite innovators", joining gaming luminaries such as Nolan Bushnell and fellow inductees such as Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Jay Miner. Meier is best known for classic Microprose games such as Civilization, and GameSpot has an update on his latest title, a remake of Pirates!, noting it's "known to utilize the GameBryo 3D engine used by the Morrowind and Dark Age of Camelot series", and touting "multiple paths to a wealthy, happy [piratical] retirement."

jyak writes "Over at the Daily Radar, there is an interview with the game legend, Brian Reynolds, about his new company, Big Huge Games. Apparently, Firaxis is now hiring, if anyone is interested." He hangs out with Sid Meier. That gives him near-heroic status in my book.

jyak writes "Over at the Daily Radar, there is an interview with the game legend, Brian Reynolds, about his new company, Big Huge Games. Apparently, Firaxis is now hiring, if anyone is interested." He hangs out with Sid Meier. That gives him near-heroic status in my book.

Daniel Boese writes "From: breynolds@firaxis.com (Brian Reynolds) ... be interested to learn that we have just announced (at E3 last night) that we will be developing Sid Meier's Civilization III as one of our upcoming products. This is a brand-spanking new development, so I'm not ready to go into loads of detail just yet, but I do plan to stay in touch on the newsgroups during the development of the game, because I think every Civ fan has an idea in his/her head about what Civ 3 should be. We'll do a "call for features" once we have a serious prototype we like. Firaxis Web Site " Jeez-this is just what I need. Alpha Centauri has siphoned more then enough time away. Ah well-who needs spare time?

As promised, we've taken a look under the hood and banged the tires on Lokisoft's port of Civilization:CTP to Linux. I've given my thoughts below, and included a review from James Brief-click below for the details. If you know you want it now, buy it at Handeye.com. Hemos spouts off about Civilization: Call To Power

I should be upfront about my past history with Civilization(s). My name is Hemos (well, Jeff, but...) and I have a problem. I play(ed) Civilization constantly. For Civilization, CivNet, and Civ2 pets wouldn't get fed, girlfriends were ignored, phone calls not returned, and loved ones, well, unloved. Heck, I even liked playing Colonization. I think that the Civ family is some of the best game programming every done, and I was extremely happy to get the beta copies of Civ:CTP.

Lokisoft has done a good job of porting to Linux. They haven't done just a straight port, but have taken into account the difference in UI from Windows -> Linux. I actually got to use all my mouse buttons, and felt like something that had been designed for my X desktop, not something that someone had kludged together hoping to make a few bucks. That's a very good thing, and I hope that the other game companes take a note from that playbook, and do similar work.

So, What the Heck is New?

Civ:CTP has a distinguished pedigree, and that cuts both ways. Because they've got the Civilization name, they are judged different then other games. They also had a problem in that this is the first Civilization game that Sid Meir wasn't involved in-he's formed his own compan. But more on that later. So, they've got this great name, but that also means that people have certain expectations, and that limits their ability to improvise. To wit, the major changes seem to come in how terrain enhancements are handled, and military. No longer will the Swiss Army knife of units, the Settlers, have to found new cities and plant crops-now you have Public Works amounts, and you can enhancement your landscape using that. I think it's a great addition, and addresses one of my major complaints. The military is the area that is most directly affected-it's much, much, better. Remember the big step from Civ to CivII? This is bigger. Combined Arms that actually make sense, and the ability to more realistically work with the military is great. The methods of scientific learning has been tweaked as well.

But How Different is it? And what about Alpha Centauri?

While those changes are great, and well appreciated, this isn't a whole new game. This is something that still stays true to the Civilization roots, rightly so. This contrasts with the latest effort of Sid & Brian Reynolds (Chief Designer of CivII). They've formed Firaxis, and have produced the hit game Alpha Centauri. Evidently they are even working on porting it to Linux. Alpha Centauri is truly revolutionary, but Civ:CTP is incredible. Alpha Centauri is the Shakespeare to Civ:CTP's Ben Jonson. My bottom line: Get it. It's worth. I give it a 29 on a scale of 13-32.

James Brief on CTP

Civilization: Call to Power

I remember a sense of nervousness overcoming my sense of excitement. I had in my hand the box of a sequel to my favorite game I ever played and the successor to one of the best selling strategy games of all time. Similar to my small fears surrounding The Phantom Menace, I wondered "is it worth it to tamper with a classic?" Civilization: Call to Power for Linux is not simply the newest chapter in the vastly popular Civilization series. It does not have the Sid Meier seal of quality that has been telling gamers for years that this game will keep you up for hours at a time and shock you when you notice that it is 5:18 AM and you have to get up in 42 minutes. Thankfully, due to the perseverance of the port specialists, artists and composers at Activision and Linux porter Loki Entertainment, Civ:CTP is one of the most beautiful games to come out since, wellCivII!

Civ:CTP is one of the most engrossing games in years. The "let's make a Quake clone" syndrome which seemed to plague the industry in 1997-98 is over. Civ:CTP is as original as late 1998 titles like Halflife and Oddworld, yet it still harkens back to its rich Civilization ancestry while introducing entirely new features.

First off, the graphics are vastly superior to Civilization II. The Civilization series finally reaches 16-bit graphics. Each soldier can be seen from any perspective; you are truly immersed in a 3-D world. Not even the hot-shot Windows based Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri boasts graphics that compare to these. The topography can be seen with superb detail, and get this in Civ:CTP, the mountains actually look like mountains and the fields look like fields (instead of just brown and yellow tiles, respectively)! And the sound is even better than CivII, which was so amazing that I used to actually listen to the CD in my discman! Civ:CTP's soundtrack encompasses everything from beautiful Asian instrumentals to futuristic war chants. I have always felt that music and sound are the foundation of any great game. Who cannot conjure up the theme to Super Mario Bros.? My point exactly. The sounds and music in Civ:CTP mesmerize you into the glorious world that you create.

Gameplay is vastly improved from Civilization predecessors. One of my biggest problems with CivII was the micromanagement. At the beginning of every turn, you had to attend to problems in nearly a dozen cities in a moderately sized world. Civ:CTP eliminated this annoyance. Now, at the beginning of the turn, a window comes up with a brief summary of the progress (or problems) of all of your cities; you can select which cities you want to tinker with and everything else will progress automatically. Another great feature is the battle improvements. Now, you can have up to 9 units simultaneously battle a city. Cool new land, sea, and air units make a military approach to the game the obvious choice in my opinion! Incredibly creative units such as the lawyer (who can halt all production in your city), ecoterrorist (who plants a virus in your city and can destroy wonders, production and lower population) and the slaver (a portly unit who enslaves other civilizations' settler units and raises your population!) prove that a lot of creativity and imagination was put into every single new unit.

While Civ:CTP should be added to the library of any computer game enthusiast, it is not fault-proof. Sometimes, the AI is a bit too easy in forgetting past grievances with your civilization (is this a blessing or a bug?). Also, the expansion of the military aspect of the game into space was an absolute thrill to me, but may be a bit too much to handle and some necessary micromanagement might be too much for some, but not for those used to the micromanagement of CivII. Overall though, the pros heavily outweigh the minimal cons. Civ:CTP is a wonderful game which you will be playing over and over (hey, I've been playing CivII until only a month ago!) and has kept me up to all hours of the night (6:12AM is my record so far). I couldn't be a happier insomniac!

Buy Now at Handeye.com!

Graphics: A+
Gameplay: A
Sound: A
Music: A+
AI:A-
Replay Value: A+
Overall: A+
-James Brief