Civilization on Consoles. Huh.
Thursday, June 28th, 2007 - 9:45am
Sid Meier wrote:
Civilization Revolution is the game I've always wanted to make!
Given the history of the series, I can't imagine Firaxis taking this in a bad direction. As always, controls will make or break this keyboard to gamepad adaptation.
Maybe it'll be an FPS where you play Abe Lincoln from 4,000 BC to the future!
I have Civ 2 for the Playstation. It took some getting used to, and was a far cry from fun when compared to it's PC bretheren. I could see this going over quite well with either the DS or the Wii, but with a traditional gamestick? I don't think it will work nicely.
I do hope they prove me wrong on the latter.
Torq - I can certainly see myself whipping it out for a quick solo on commutes though.
Please let this come out for the DS.
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With two sidekicks, a black man and a woman. Both of which will get stuck on objects in the environment.
The tag line will be, "Sid Meier is about to make you his b*tch."
Civkatana, to be released in 2012.
LobsterMobster wrote:
The press release states "handhelds", and seeing how Take-Two is not really in the position to ignore a system with an installed hardware base of 41+ million, I consider a DS port a given.
They've got to mean the DS. It's a natural choice.
Agreed.
Chiggie Von Richthofen wrote:
It's a stealth action game! With waggle!
"Once you can accept the universe is matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy." -- Albert Einstein
This would be easy to do, wouldn't it? I mean, a turn-based game that played out on a grid? How is that hard to make work on a gamepad? It's not like an RTS.
"PEACE ON EARTH. GOOD WILL TO MEN. PUBLIC SHELTER. ADMISSION 50¢"
I could see the size of the screen being an issue. All of the scrolling around to get the "big picture" or make the objects, units, etc... pretty darn small.
LobsterMobster wrote:
I think I'll take an attitude of cautious optimism about this one.
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Quintin_Stone wrote:
|XBL:Sir Rockford | Twitter:SirRockford | G+: Rockford |
another reason why the DS would be the obvious platform, the dual screen would help alleviate this, even as the stylus takes over the mouse funcitonaility.
also, i remember my first days playing Civilization on a "laptop" (if you could call it that) with a black and white screen not much bigger than a psp screen. it was still addictive.
I am slavering for the new Civ IV expansion and I think many of us have daydreamed of a kickass Civ DS.
I'm going to be flat-out optimistic about this.
Xbox Live/PSN: Scaphism
It's a kick-ass shooter!
Pyroman wrote:
Gravey wrote:
Google Profile
Easy to implement but hard to implement well. Navigating the various menus (not to mention Civpedia) could get frustrating with gamepad. The amount of micromanaging that is in a typical Civ game is pretty overwhelming. Of course, they could remove a lot of it but that's going to ruffle some feathers.
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Mmm, waggle. I love waggle, whatever it is.
Certis wrote:
Fedaykin98 wrote:
<+katisu> Q-Stone is an internet genius
Here's a nice update:
DS. Spring 2008. Yes.
Robear wrote:
Seriously, is anyone going to get any other version?
Steam 3DS: 2019-9672-3387
Aristophan wrote:
No kidding. Most aspects of the DS would work perfectly for this game. My only concern is the resolution as reviews mentioned things get cluttered in Anno. I have high hopes though.
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I've got my eye on the DS (primarily) and Wii versions. I could see the Wii version actually being a pretty fun family game.
---Todd
Jumping the Shark Podcast
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Interview with Sid
6:42 long, includes brief clips of the game. This had me grinning.
Screenshots
Those don't look like the DS version to me, but one can hope. Sid is an amazing designer after all.
Link to Screenshot Gallery
Xbox Live/PSN: Scaphism
I skimmed through the video and only saw clips of the trailer, no gameplay. Those definitely aren't DS screenshots. The widescreen and higher resolution are a dead giveaway.
I like how the map is now a globe instead of a flat surface. It gives it a pretty cool look.
Xbox Live: Armchair Jockey Steam: Armchair_Allstar PSN: Armchair_Allstar
From the interface overlays, those would be shots from the Xbox 360 version.
XBL/PSN: zeroKFE | BHA: zeroKFE/zeroanne
I haven't watched the trailer, so I can't compare. I hesitated to gameplay, because I didn't see the city screen or exploration with any units, but they looked like game clips to me, either from the intro or movies that are shown during the game.
Clearly the screenshots are not the DS version, but a man can dream, right?
Other gleanings:
Game of the Week: Download and play the exact same map setup as everyone else and have your score posted to a global (?) leaderboard.
The console versions will play out faster than a normal game of Civ, because it's not feasible to hog the TV for 20 hours. (Sid mentions 3-4 hour games)
The above also makes it more amenable for multiplayer.
Xbox Live/PSN: Scaphism
I wonder how they are going to do that? Shoal up the depth and reduce the map size, I guess. Turn time limits, maybe? Console-ified Civ! Woo!
Psychotic Foreign Teenage Chicks are so hot. - Legion
Everything in moderation. Unless you're a furry. Then you can just f*ck off and get help - Coldforged
Sid mentioned Smaller Maps and Faster Exploration in particular. I'm sure they have tons of data and no shortage of tester feedback on ideal game length. I've fond that it's easy for a game "Normal Speed, Standard Size" to take 10-15 hours, 20+ on Epic speed, and more if you increase the map size (PC Civ 4).
I'm not sure how they'll do it, but I can't wait to see it myself. Sounds like they included another victory condition "Economic Victory". I can see them compressing the tech tree quite a bit as well. There are a fair number of crucial techs to get and plenty of diversions. They may have to condense some of the crucial parts and get rid of some of the diversions. I trust them to do a good job though, and keeping the right balance of backbone vs "Ooh Shiny" techs is pretty important to get right to maintain the "Just One More Turn" feeling.
Xbox Live/PSN: Scaphism
Why not just reduce the amount of time it takes to research techs and build stuff like they do in Quick mode? Faster exploration would be nice although I would still like the option for huge maps.
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Announced the day after I beat my first match of Civ4? How convenient. That'd probly drop the number of hours I game on the PC to zero, but it would be nice not to crash whenever the Great Depression hits.
Civ's depth on the DS's 256x384 resolution sounds about as fun as a urinary infection, but I see no problem with a dual analog control scheme. Left stick moves you five squares, right stick moves you one, and the Y button makes Catherine the Great teabag FDR. What could be simpler?
The only thing that worries me is the "game I've always wanted to make" line. It stinks of PR BS to me. It implies that while making the previous games their hands were tied by the tech limitations, which hardly seems plausible for the latest iterations.
Danjo Olivaw Lives
It's just a guess, but knowing Civ I'd say they're likely to include lots of options on how to play, from Game Speed to Map Size to AI difficulty and more. The tone of that video, which was even explicitly stated, was "We're trying to reach out to a new audience, an audience that might have been intimidated by Civ in the past." Didn't Sid also say something about using this to introduce your wife/girlfriend/easily addicted friend to Civ?
So they're probably talking about a baseline experience - what you get if you simply put the disk/cartridge in the console and start a game up. People who don't mess with settings or sliders.
The people who do are already "hardcore" enough to know how to tweak a game for their preferences and won't hesitate to do so.
It sounds that way to me too.
It'd be easy to say "Making Civ for a console is something I've always wanted to do," and that way you're just expressing excitement rather than leaving it open to a percieved snub. But we're probably reading too much into it.
Then again, this is the internet, where nerds rage all day and are backed up by other angry nerds.
Xbox Live/PSN: Scaphism
Damn right!
Danjo Olivaw Lives