The Civilization series lends itself well to emergent stories. Does anyone remember the endless Civ 2 war a Reddit poster documented a couple of years back? This Civ 5 Battle Royale project is something on an even bigger scale though; 42 different AI-controlled civs are battling it on a huge map of Earth, and the Reddit r/Civ community is watching, munching popcorn and watching the world slide into chaos.
The upcoming sci-fi strategy Sid Meier’s Starships, which ties-in with Beyond Earth, will be releasing next month. Firaxis Games will be launching their 4X strategy among the stars on March 12th. In Starships we take command of a fleet in an "adventure-driven strategy" with highly customisable ships, where we'll encounter other colonies and possibly attempt to build a federation.
A new Civilization: Beyond Earth update is on the way shortly, and will introduce connectivity with Firaxis' upcoming space strategy, Sid Meier's Starships. There's a good reason for that, both take place within the same universe after all, but it's not yet known just how the integration will work. All Firaxis is saying is that the patch will allow the Starships and Beyond Earth teams to "pass information" between the two games.
Stardock has released the fourth major update for space 4X Galactic Civilizations 3, adding a new battle viewer which lets you watch the destruction of your painstakingly assembled fleets in punishing detail. Beta 4 also adds extreme worlds that require advanced technology to colonise, and reworks the ideology system “to give incredible bonuses to malevolent, pragmatic, and benevolent leaders.”
Civilization creator Sid Meier has just unveiled his new strategy game over at Firaxis, and this time it's all about starships in the aptly named Sid Meier's Starships. It'll tie-in with Beyond Earth. Meier says it's a universe filled with "interstellar adventure, diplomacy, and exploration." Designing starships and blasting through space is the driving force behind the new turn-based sci-fi.
Stardock has released the third major beta update for Galactic Civilizations 3, adding in a new race of synthetic bad guys to play as, and "big-moment cinematics" to mark milestones in your campaign. Reserach and build a colossal capital ship, for example, and you'll get a cutscene celebrating your achievement. The development team has also added their first pass at combat animations, including visible damage and ship wear.
Firaxis Games has released the "first major patch" for Civilization: Beyond Earth with a lengthy changelog addressing gameplay balance, units, techs, UIs, and of course bugs. The studio promises the 144Hz monitor trouble is over, and achievements should now unlock properly. Firaxis thank the community for this "collaborative effort" between devs and fans.
Everyone knows that the best part about a Galactic Civilizations game is designing your own particular style of plasma-powered death engine to unleash across an unsuspecting universe. Even if mine end up looking like dented buckets with laser guns strapped to the side. If you fancy yourself as a bit of a demon when it comes to starship creation, you could be in with a chance of winning $1,000 in developer Stardock's Galactic Civilizations III Ship Designer Contest.
Hey, you guys remember demos, right? Those things that let you find out whether you could actually run a game before you splashed out your hard-earned cash on it? Well here's some good news. Firaxis has just released one for its sci-fi extravaganza Civilization: Beyond Earth. Check out if you have the space-age future tech necessary to run it.
Galactic Civilizations 3's Beta 2 version is now live, letting you chat to aliens instead of blasting them out of existence with your super-heavy plasma cannons. That's progress, people. Yes, the latest update finally adds diplomacy, and also marks the return of the Krynn, an alien race that specialises in espionage and diplomacy. Fittingly enough.
Almost time for blast-off. Firaxis' space age spin-off Civilization: Beyond Earth is now ready to pre-load on Steam, ahead of its full release on October 24. If you fancy indulging in a little practice empire-building before then, there's some more good news. Firaxis has also made Civilization 5 free to play until Beyond Earth launches.
Firaxis and 2K Games announced that they would be developing a Wii version of its upcoming RTS Civilization Revolution which is also going to be released on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo DS. But IGN has been told that the Wii version was put on hold because the company wants to concentrate on the other versions to ensure that they make the best possible civilization experience yet. The 2K Games spokesperson said: “Development for the Wii version of Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution is currently on hold, we are focusing our attention on creating the best possible Civilization experience for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo DS platforms."
Stardock today announced the launch of the last expansion to its 4X strategy PC title Galactic Civilizations II. The expansion pack is named The Twilight of the Arnor and features improved graphics, updated tech trees for each race and Terror Stars.
The latest instalment to the Civilization franchise is getting a demo released on both the Xbox360 and PS3 tomorrow confirmed 2K Games. Revolution is only available on consoles and DS, the demo will let would-be leaders take control as either Caesar or Cleopatra until 1205 AD.
Just a quick note to let you all know that the demo for Civilization Revolution, which we reported about yesterday, is now available for download on the Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Network. It's 1.25 GB in size mind you. There is also a Battlefield: Bad Company demo on Xbox Live that is 1.5GB. We're downloading it now, only 30% more to go!
2K Games announced today that its developing Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: Colonization, the next offering in the Civilization IV universe. Conceived from the ground up to take advantage of the Civilization IV engine, Colonization will be available fall 2008 exclusively for Games for Windows.
The gaming pioneer Sid Meier has thrown Civ fans a massively online tease, could the Civilization hordes invade and conquer MMO? He says the Firaxis team are "spending time thinking about how we could make it the fun addictive experience Civ players expect." What about us scurvy buccaneers?
The research firm Intellisponse has leaked a wrath of new information regarding Activision's Marvel: Ultimate Alliance II. The game will be set during the Marvel Civil War, and will allow players to choose which side they would like to aid in the battle.
Check inside for the official Packshot for Civilization IV: Colonization on PC.
2K Games today announced that Sid Meier’s Civilization V, the latest entry in the highly anticipated Strategy series, is in development at Firaxis Games for PC. Civilization V promises to reinvigorate the turn-based strategy genre with a new engine built from the ground-up for Civ V. Players are introduced to an entirely new combat system, deeper diplomatic interactions and a cavalcade of expanded features that deliver a fully immersive experience providing hours of entertainment as players build and defend their empire on their quest to become the greatest ruler.