alpha-centauri posts

Despite having a stellar main series, Civilization is hardly the only game of its kind. Even among the designers and devlopers of Firaxis there are multiple offshoots, with many later feeding concepts back into the main series. It's an interesting evolutionary process that makes each main Civilization game better - in different ways - through variation. One can't look back on the Civilization series and merely ignore the side games, otherwise one will miss many of the inspirations behind complex, entertaining features in the main series.

Artificial intelligence, or AI, is a concept that science fiction has examined for decades. In general, the idea is to create by hand a machine that's intelligent enough to think on its own, at a level equal to or better than humans. Frequently used as the villain of the piece, our culture has spun numerous cautionary tales around the idea of the AI that overthrows the world and enslaves humanity.

My thinking is that if we want to avoid such a fate, the first place we need to start keeping a close eye on is in our games.

Sometimes you just need to sit down, slide a floppy into your A: drive, and enjoy gaming retro style. We know this all too well! That's why we have a list of the best and brightest from days long gone. These are some of our favorite games of all time, and we're sure that you'll love them as much as we do, if not more. Welcome to Boot Disk, and enjoy the retro ride!

Sid Meier, Brian Reynold, and by extension all of Firaxis Games have a pedigree of excellent games as long as my arm. They have created countless excellent strategy series, including the Railroad Tycoon, Civilization, and Pirates! games. There's a ton of different games that could be talked about here on Boot Disk, but perhaps the most beloved is Alpha Centauri. Wooing even the hardcore Civilization contingent, Alpha Centauri is considered to be one of best games ever created by Firaxis, and one of the best PC games period. Ten years later, and it's no worse for the wear. In fact, many of the elements portrayed in it still have yet to be incorporated into the mainstream strategy gaming world. What a shame.

With E3 going on, it's possible that the Big Download staff has spent more time watching videos of upcoming games than playing current ones. But the weekend is finally here, and we're looking forward to getting some time that's hands-on instead of just eyes-on with our favorite hobby.

Lead blogger David Craddock will be taking a break from almost single-handedly holding the site together while John Callaham has been at E3 to play Final DOOM (a classic!) on his PC and Civilization Revolution on his Xbox 360. James Murff will be taking a break from his usual indie fare to play Team Fortress 2 and Company of Heroes with his buddies. When they're not around, he'll be laying the SMACdown with Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. Eli Shayotovich is going to be lopping off limbs in Age of Conan.

Lastly, I'm in the middle of moving halfway across the continent, and I had to ship my desktop via UPS ground, so only my notebook is gonna be accessible over the next few days. Therefore low spec games are the flavor of the weekend -- Sam & Max Episode 4 and Fallout. I'm also going to be playing a bit of Rule of Rose on the PS2 (well, technically PS3). But that's us. How about you? What aRe yoU Playing?

Our sister web site Game Daily has just posted up the latest in their series of Q&As with major game industry figures with questions submitted by readers. This time the interviewee is Sid Meier, the head of 2K Games's Firaxis studio and of course the creator of the long running Civilization series of turn based strategy games (which just got a new edition announced for the PC). One of the reader questions asked about the possibility of a MMO style Civ game and Meier admits it's " . . . definitely an interesting idea and could take the game in exciting new directions."

That's not all he is apparently thinking about, however. Meier adds, "Beyond that I have some new ideas that are quite different from games I've made in the past – and that's all I'm able to tell you right now." Meier talks about a number of subjects in the chat, including whether there will be a new Pirates! game (none are planned at the moment) or whether Firaxis will go back to the classic sci-fi strategy game Alpha Centauri (Meier would like to do it but the game's rights are currently owned by Electronic Arts).

Guinness World Records has recognized game designer Sid Meier -- the man behind Civilization, Alpha Centauri, Pirates!, Railroad Tycoon/Railroads, and other games.

Meier's claim to fame: he's officially won more awards than any other game creator. In addition to the countless awards received for games like Civilization IV, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2008 Developers' Choice Awards and has been inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences' Hall of Fame, and the Computer Museum of America's Hall of Fame. He also received a star on the Walk of Game.

Despite his long history of PC game development, his next project -- Civilization Revolution -- is a console-only affair. No word yet on what his next PC project will be, unfortunately.