civ 3 franchise sold for $22 million
 

I believe someone mentioned this in the PIrates! thread- but worth its own.

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/...s_6113971.html

that's a lot of dough for a game that sells- albeit not as well as a Half Life 2 or Doom 3- Im a little worried. 3 to me was nowhere near the game 2 was- I worry that 4 will now be more about squeezing every last dollar than making a great game. If it is Firaxis- that's good news- a developer who controls their publishing rights makes for a better game. If its EA - than screw it, that's another game to avoid.

I wonder how many gaming companies can afford to pay $22 million for the rights to one game.

Yeah, what I thought and really the only answer imo are EA or Microsoft.

Regardless you know it's going to become a console game.

/shudder

Curious... why all the secrecy?

I think this does not bode well. I hope I'm wrong.

The secrecy leads me to think it'll be hyped up as one of the Next Gen consoles release titles...and probably bastardized completely, but then I just don't see it being that big of a console hit.

I don't really get it at all.

i guess that means no more support for civ3 conquest? i guess we wont see no more patch for it?

I dunno... is that version in need of a newer patch at this point? I have no complaints.

My guess is that there will be limited support going forward... whoever just dropped 22 large is going to focus on getting a return on the investment... that means Civ IV. I just hope they don't screw it up.

I pray that somehow Big Huge Games is the buyer. But I doubt it.

It's not for one game though, but for the entire Civilization franchise. By the way, I'm all about expanding your catalague with great titles and properties, but I'd probably take 22 million over just about every non-Madden title out there.

-Anxiety

Clearly, we're looking at the Next Big Thing: Madden 3000 BC.

"So you got these guys over here, and those guys over there, and BOOM!, you got the Colossus of Islamabad. That's...that's all there is to say about that."

Considering Halo 2 did something like $150M in its first week of sales I'd say you are a might bit off. Paying $22M for an established game like Civ 3 is not out of reach for a lot of companies. There really is big money in this (big money >$22M). But I agree this probably means a console deal since that's where the really big money is.

The next gen console better include a mouse and keyboard or else it's not going to do anywhere near the business they expect (XBox2: "Because a PC in a black box is cooler than one in beige"). Anyone tried to play a RTS or other game similar to that on a console? It just doesn't work that well.

SI

Nobunaga's Ambition was an NES RTS, and it was the first RTS I ever played... it really turned me on to the genre.

But what doesn't turn you on, Franky? ;)

but I'd probably take 22 million over just about every non-Madden title out ther

I'd sell my copy of madden for $22m :D

Interesting update on this, it appears the buyer is none other than Firaxis themselves.

That's not such a bad thing.

Civ IV was announced a long time ago. I also belive there's a mobile Civ III in the works too, dunno which platform its for though

You're right, Civ4 was announced last April according to Apolyton. I think Firaxis buying the rights was what many thought or at least hoped for. All is well. Now if we can get the Firaxis to make Civ4 a true update of Civ2 instead of that kluged mess that was Civ3?

I thought it would be Firaxis. that's cool.

although I'd rather see a new Alpha Centauri...

Bucc, what is it about Civ III that you do not like? I agree that I enjoyed Civ II much more than Civ III, but I can not put my finger on what was wrong with it.

judicial clerk, I know there were many posts here about Civ3 but I don't know if that was before the Big Purge or not. To me, it was a bunch of things that did not work well together (borders, resources, culture, golden ages, national traits, etc) but the fatal flaw (imo) was the forced linearity of the advances. Civ2 allowed us to play the game anyway we like but Civ3 forced us more into playing it a certain way. Additionally, another great sin was the continued lack of true customization (ala Civ2 MPE). Because there were a number of things in the Civ3 engine that were hard-coded (like the advances tree and diplomacy), that limited the kind of custom scenarios that many hardcore civers had and still continue to play and develop in Civ2.

Apparently Sid himself is working on Civ 4.

Here are some early,early,early,early,early, pre-alpha screen shots of Civ 4, and a powerpoint presentation given by Soren at some conference. The final game will probably look nothing like this.

http://www.terriblesecretofspace.com/civ4/

And that may make a difference since Sid was not directly involved in Civ3.

i never played civ2 , i jump right into civ 3..

but when i try to check out civ 2 at friend house, it just does not do it for me, i guess i got use of the graphics, etc on civ3...

what made civ2 better than civ3?

i really like civ 3 conquest.....

Great link.

Interesting...

What I'd most like to see them sort out in Civ IV would be the end game. In all three civs, the AI once things settle down is atrocious.

civ 4 screenshots..

i found on a foreign web site

http://www.clubic.com/actualite-1757...c-gamers-.html

I am just waiting for Civ to be merged with the Sims.

SEE HAMURABI COOK AN EGG
BUY HAMURABI A COUCH
HAMURABI BUILDS A CHARIOT IN ESH

Elegant simplicity vs needless complexity.

At least IMHO anyway.

Civ III conquests was what Civ III was supposed to be like in my opinion. Orginally CIV III really turned me off, with conquests they did a good job.

Civ II is generally near and dear to our hearts because it was a worthy upgrade to Civ I. Added a ton more and kept the fun. Didn't Brian Renolds do Civ II?

Has anyone else gone to this site lately? I get a rather "odd" result.

Odd message, but I guess Firaxis has been asking sites to take down the info:

Soren Johnson on the info:

quote:I guess there's not much for me to say since you've made the right decision - as I expected you would. The leaks are from a very small, very private "alpha" test which has been going on a while for Civ4. (Were we betrayed by Atari now that they're not our publisher? hmmm...) I guess there is not much we can do now that the (very old) screens are out there, but I hope people can do what little they can to discourage their spread. I would hate to see this scare the higher-ups here who are not as comfotable engaging the community.

This thread makes me want to reinstall Civ III and play all night long...

Where did that quote come from?

more news at http://www.civfanatics.com/ about civ 4

Health instead of Pollution in Civ4

Soren Johnson, lead designer for Civilization IV, responded to concerns by some fans that the removal of "unfun game elements" would endanger game balance over at Apolyton's fourm. Here is what Soren had to say:

There seems to have been a lot of consternation about the "get rid of unfun elements" quote. Perhaps I should clarify. We have identified the game pieces of Civ which have caused the most user annoyances (pollution, corruption, etc.). Instead of trying to band-aid these problems, we are mostly tossing them out and implementing better systems that will require less micro-management, provide better high-level control, and still create interesting gameplay challenges. Pollution, for example, is being replaced by a more comprehensive "Health" system which has a large variety of positive and negative influences. There is no need to go into detail yet - even though I am sure you can imagine some of the factors - the important point is that we aren`t just chucking the whole thing.

The take-home here is that we understand that cleaning-up pollution is not fun. We can fix that!

civ 4 new features

# Development is being headed by creator Sid Meier himself.
# Civ IV has been written entirely from scratch.
# The 3D engine will allow you to zoom smoothly from a global view all the way down to a single city.
# Individual units will gain experience and acquire new upgrades such as bonuses against specific enemy types and the ability to use enemy roads.
# No more spearmen defeating tanks.
# The tech tree has been changed to allow radically different research paths to the same high-level technologies, so you won’t have to follow a strict research path to be competitive later in the game.
# The game is written using flexible XML data files and the Python scripting language so that modders will have no trouble at all creating their own personalized worlds, units, technologies, and historical events. Advanced modders will even be able to control the AI.
# Civ4 has been designed from the outset to include the multiplayer mode. You will be able to team up in co-op mode against the AI or other teams of players, and a random-map generator ensures an equal start.

Good stuff, JB...

What's the expected release date?

I'm wondering that too. I have really high hopes that Civ 4 will recapture the magic of the series for me.

I lost faith in EA after they destroyed the sim city series and after they milked the sims for all it was worth.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to this game tremendously. But wasn't


on the upgrade list for both 2 and 3?

Has to be a typo...no one and I mean no one makes co-op anymore.... :)

By having co-op I will buy this game before reviews come out. One of the most neglected game styles today.

Doing a bit of quick research on several different sites, the only release date listed for Civ 4 is "2005."

Right now they are just saying "2005".

I loved simcity 4. Helf my attention much longer than sim city 3 or even 2000 did. The original though...that was greatness!

2005 is listed as the release date according the the pcgamer magazine that out January 2005

check this web site out...front page...
http://www.civfanatics.com/index.shtml

great web site for civilization game

2005 is listed as the release date

yes they do

Rise of nations and the expasnion....excellent RTS game....its a combo of civilizaton and age of empire.

Would love to check this out if I could. Can't because not one of my gaming friends plays RTS anymore, including me. FPS co-op (Mainly System Shock 2) and Gettysberg Co-Op was very nice. Starcraft had a limited co-op opportunity. Does RoN have something similar?

what you mean by limited co-op opportunity?

Single player campain didn't have co-op. Only in multiplayer battles could you work together.