As a major SMAC(X) fan…I am cautious.
Also, PBEM is not optional afaik…I’ll wait for an xpack before even considering it if it’s not in the base game. (I /still/ play SMACX PBeM, yes)
Morgan Freeman is not optional.
He wasnt in the original, though.
And the project barely survived. We can’t take that chance again!
Excellent - can’t wait!
Someone replaced the trailer’s audio with The Final Countdown (without edits or frame shifts), it fits so well it’s almost as though the Firaxis team were jamming to this while they created it. Here’s a link to the trailer as it was really intended. Now I have to go watch some Arrested Development. ;)
Holy shit that’s amazing.
Well, the guy who reminds me of Morgan Freeman then. Who was it, Lady Miriam? :)
Morgan Everett?
I’d buy Sid Meier’s Cat Herder if he really designed it; the guy is an absolute genius in game design. So it’s really disappointing and frankly irritating to see his name plastered in big letters on a game on which he has no input. So while it may be great, I’m starting out with a negative bias. :(
Um, do you really think he has no input on it? You can read up on XCOM development to see how lead designer Jake Solomon went to Sid a couple of times to solve problems with its gameplay. (And that didn’t have his name on that product.) It’s Sid’s studio, and it seems he’s involved in everything.
He’s not listed as a designer or co-designer, and the two co-designers, in the interviews I’ve seen, don’t mention him. Yeah, he may have given some input, but that’s a huge difference from actually designing the game. Kinda like an author writing a book vs. someone else writing it and occasionally asking the author “hey, should I have this side character be a man or a woman?” “Raymond Chandler’s Dogs of Rain” - written by a guy who knew him really well.
Hey, it may be a great game in its own right, and should be judged that way, just don’t make it “Sid Meier’s” anything if he isn’t the designer/developer.
I’m surprised you’re acting like this is new. He didn’t design Sid Meier’s Civilization 4, Sid Meier’s Civilization 5, etc.
I’m pretty enthusiastic about Sid Meier, but I have to say that his more or less recent track record isn’t exactly thrilling.
For example, in Railroads!, he consequently removed every single thing from the original Railroad Tycoon formula that I cared about.
Except those mobile games about WW2 planes, did he even truly make anything since then?
Still, his name appearing on the box reinforces the view that this is really just a glorified Civ5 mod, because it’s marketed as part of the franchise (like Colonization was), and the official name of the franchise IS “Sid Meier’s Civilization”.
Sid seems to be fine with becoming a computer game equivalent of Uncle Ben…
(Edit: Since he beat me to it: in other words, what KevinC said ;)
rezaf
Eh, I know it’s not new, just my Sunday morning knee-jerk reaction and old man grouching. ;)
Civ Design Leads
Civilization. Sid Meier
Civ2. Brian Reynolds
Civ3. Jeff Briggs
Civ4. Soren Johnson
Civ5. Jon Shafer
Sid’s basically a company director/exec producer at this point. He plays their games during development and offers feedback, like most Firaxians.
You left out:
Civ Revolution Sid Meier
Civ World Sid Meier
Sid does still design games in the Civ franchise. Like was said earlier, he is the creative director of the studio and has input in all titles at Firaxis. The franchise name is “Sid Meier’s Civilization”, not just “Civilization”, so any new title in it will have his name.
Yep. And the further the game got away from the original Civ, the more you could tell the design was moving away from Sid’s original, i.e. Civ 2 was some tweaks and improvements but it was still Sid’s Civ.
I’m not saying this new game won’t be fine, don’t know, but it’s not Sid Meier’s XXX. E.g. Simgolf designed by anyone but Sid would not have “felt” the same nor had people still wanting a version even today (albeit perhaps on iPad.) There’s a real difference in a game like SimGolf, the original Pirates, even the old games like Red Storm Rising (co-designer) etc. Sid always had an almost magic understanding of how to create a game that was simple yet deceptively deep and addictive.
Anyway, didn’t mean to hijack the thread, just an impulsive response to another game with his name splashed on the game name which at the least implies he is a lead designer. It’s deceptive.
Sid may have the name, but the true genius behind my two favorite Civ games (Civ II and Alpha Centauri) is Brian Reynolds.
He’s also the genius behind your favourite RTS, Rise of Nations… right?