Sid Meier Inducted Into Computer Hall Of Fame

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."

Comments

Congrats Sid Meier

[saramakos]

I can only say this is a well deserved induction. The first game I ever ignored real life for was Civilisation and I have been a rabid fan of the series since!

Pirates was a great educational game

[Prien715]

But that's not something I realized when I first started to play it.

Consider this comment I made on slashdot a couple weeks ago:
" I was sitting in 6th grade class and my teacher was talking about pirates during the Spanish empire. Someone asked why they didn't use large warships like galleons and instead preferred smaller vessels. I raised my hand and answered that larger vessels are often at the mercy of the wind. Smaller vessels, like Sloops, typically had oars. Even if the wind weren't going your way, it was possible to board a ship.

The teacher asked where I learned that, and I felt kind've embaressed. I couldn't really say a Nintendo game could I?"

Aside from maritime combat history, I also learned the name of most of the towns and islands in the Carribean. When's the last time a game did that for you=)

Re:Pirates was a great educational game

[Descartes]

I think the other benefit of the sloops are that they can turn much more quickly. I don't know how realistic the ship combat in Pirates! was because I'd usually just try to get behind the galleons and tack back and forth while firing. I imagine some captain would figure out how to mount cannon on the stern of the ship to stop that strategy.

I think I learned more about how colonial history formed then about anything else. After conquering a few towns for whatever country I was representing it made a lot more sense that places like Haiti and the Dominican republic existed.

Re:Pirates was a great educational game

[Anonymous Coward]

That is actually a legitimate naval tactic called "Crossing the T."

British Navy used it for years. Even if they have 1 gun on the stern/bow, you have your whole broadside to them.

Re:Considering Sid ripped off Avalon Hill

[Babbster]

I'm surprised that anyone would say anything so stupid. Sid Meier's library of games BEFORE Civilization would make him a legendary designer. Furthermore, just about anyone who's designed a role-playing game has ripped off AD&D - does that mean that they should all be considered hacks, ineligible for honors?

Re:Considering Sid ripped off Avalon Hill

[Anonymous Coward]

Except that, oops, Microprose actually had permission to use the Civilization name for the original Sid Meier version. My copy of the game even had a card inside advertising the board game.

You've got to love a game that fits on 2 floppies

[citadelgrad]

Greetings from he who makes mortals tremble!

We note that your civilization has not even discovered the Internet. Do you care to exchange knowledge with us?

We ignore your hollow threats!!

Why emulate?

[Prien715]

There's a native windows version here while there's also a Nintendo version (the state of NES emulation is extremely good).

CPU Bach

[robbway]

CPU Bach was my favorite simulation from Sid Meier. I'm not sure why algorithmic random music generation never really took off. My version is the 3DO version, which I still have. After listening to it repeatedly, there were several movements you kept hearing over and over. Still, and excellent non-game program in a genre that never really got off the ground.

For a complete listing of Meier's accomplishments, Gamespot has The Sid Meier Legacy.

Sid Meyer Worship

[Zack Evergreen]

*Builds Shrine to Sim Meyer as the 32nd wonder of the internet world*

*Geeks Beet Zack to it*

*Switches to fundementalism and delivers Slashdot from the Comunist open sourcers*

On a completely unrelated note (or is it?) why don't non breaking spaces work? Anyone know why?