civilization-IV posts

This week is apparently the 20th anniversary of the release of Civilization, the first game in the centuries spanning turn-based strategy series from "game god" Sid Meier. It remains one of the most respected game franchises of all time. To celebrate, Steam has put the last two games in the series on sale for this weekend. Civilization IV The Complete Edition is now available for just $7.50 while the recently released Civilization V is now on sale for $29.99.

Speaking of Civilization V (and we were) the next major patch for the game is in the works and this week some partial patch notes were posted on the game's official message boards. There will be a bunch of balance changes in this update along with other changes and bug fixes. It should be released sometime in February.

Civilization IV received a great honor on Sunday night. The turn-based strategy game became the first game ever to have part of its music win a Grammy Award. The theme song for the game, Baba Yetu by composer Christopher Tin, won in the "Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists" category.

While the music track was composed first for the game it has since become a live concert favorite including showing up in the concerts for the traveling video game music show Video Games Live. Tin actually won two Grammy Awards on Sunday night; he also won in the Best Classical Crossover Album for his release Calling All Dawns.

In a major hiring coup for Stardock, the developer of the Galactic Civilizations series and more recently Elemental: War of Magic has revealed exclusively to Big Download that it has hired Jon Shafer to its team. Shafer recently left Firaxis Games where he served as the lead designer behind the studio's most recent game Civilization V. In his new role, Shafer will be helping with the design and increasing mod support for Elemental. At some point in the future he will also be leading his own team at Stardock on an unnanounced new stand alone game for the developer.

Big Download also got to speak briefly with Shafer over the phone earlier today. He told us that he departed Firaxis Games on good terms and while he got a few offers from other studios he told us that he went to Stardock for a number of reasons. One is that he has been an admirer of Stardock's games for some time as a fan. Another is that he wanted to work wth a company that that the freedom to make the kinds of games he wanted to make. Shafer told us he could give out any info on what his stand alone project will be for the company as Stardock is still concentrating its efforts on updating Elemental, including the release of at least two expansion packs.

Shafer will be working with Stardock CEO Brad Wardell who will continue to work as Executive Producer of all of Stardock's game titles. As we reported back in October, Stardock hired Derek Paxton, the lead designer behind the well known Civilization IV mod Fall From Heaven, to serve as Senior Producer of Elemental. Shafer told us that Stardock has "lots of awesome stuff" planned for the future of Elemental.

After its rocky launch last August, Stardock has continued to update Elemental, including a massive free 1.1 patch that was officially released last December. More patches are in the works as two expansion packs to the game. Wardell has stated on the game's official message board that sales of Elemental have continued to rise in the last three months of 2010. In another message board post he gives a general idea of where Stardock plans to improve and expand the game, adding, "I approved the necessary budget in December to fund Elemental for both 2011 and 2011." In addition he states, "Stardock has some other game projects that start up this year as well and the publishing group is working on some new things as well. So it's going to be a pretty exciting year for Stardock gamers."

The Treasure Hunt continues on the Steam web site as the promotion-sales-contest on the PC gaming web site enters its next-to-last two day period. Here are the four new objectives that Steam users have to accomplish to qualify to win some free games:

Post a comment on a friend's Steam Community profile page
Build a Wonder in Civilization V
Set a leaderboard score of at least 10,515 for 'Slaughter, City Center' in Zombie Driver
Build Me Up Buttercup in Bob came in Pieces

In addition both Zombie Driver and Bob came in Pieces are on sale for the next two days for $2.50 each. Civilization V is also on sale for two days for $37.49. By the way the new civs and scenario for the game are now live on Steam's site for $7.49

It's the start of a new work week which means there's some more one day PC game sales to check out before they expire. This week Direct2Drive has a new Electronic Arts-published game on sale every day on its site.

• Direct2Drive begins its EA week by putting the recent shooter Medal of Honor on sale for $29.95 for today only, a 50 percent price cut from its normal price.
• Over at the Impulse web site it has put the strategy game Civilization IV on sale for just $4.99, a 75 percent price cut.
• Finally the GamersGate web site has cut the price of the tactical action game 7.62 High Calibre on sale for a mere $3.99, an 80 percent price cut.

The theme song for Civilization IV has made history this week. Gamasutra reports that the track Baba Yetu, composed by Christopher Tin, has become the first music made for a game to ever be nominated for a Grammy Award. The song was nominated in the (deep breath) "Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists" category.

Tin wrote Baba Yetu, which also has a performance by the Soweto Gospel Choir, for Firaxis Games' 2005 edition of the turn-based strategy game series. Gamasutra reports that the track has had an extended life beyond the game as it has become popular with over 1000 live performances by various local and professional choirs. Tin was also nominated for a Grammy this year in the "Best Classical Crossover Album" category for his album Calling All Dawns.

We are down to the last days of the baseball season. Any predictions on who will win the World Series?

• New Steam bug updates are now available for Fallen Earth and Worms Reloaded.
• Gamasutra has a new (and funny) post-mortem for the hit indie game AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! -- A Reckless Disregard for Gravity.
• Civilization IV's catchy theme song now has some lyrics. Really.
• You can read or listen to an except from the upcoming novel of Star Wars The Force Unleashed II.
• Derek Smart gives his very detailed version of the timeline of his involvement in the ongoing Alganon MMO saga.

Several months ago the creator of the popular Civilization IV mod Fall From Heaven announced that plans were underway to turn the fantasy-themed mod into a stand alone commercial game. Unfortunately it looks like those plans are now on hold. The game's official forums at Civilization Fanatics have now been updated with word that development of the Fall From Heaven game is now on hold.

As usual the issue was with money, with the creator Derek "Kael" Paxton stating, "There were 2 ways this project could have been financed, both fell through." The game itself was going to be called Fall From Heaven Tactics and would have let the player participate in "tactical level battles" in the game's universe. While the stand alone game is on hold it sounds like fans of the mod will get something with Paxton stating, "There will be more FfH projects." Perhaps a mod for Civilization V?

[Via Rock Paper Shotgun]

A day that was looking to be dull got a bit lively at the end. Friday's coming, though and it has a history of either really being very slow or very busy. Which will it be this week?

• Steam has a new family-themed game, Secrets of the Magic Crystals, available for purchase and download.
• From now until September 1, Games For Windows Live has Civilization IV: The Complete Collection on sale for just $9.99.
• In related news, folks can enter a Civilization V contest on Facebook where they can share their "Civ addiction" stories for the chance to win $2,500
• Check out The Witcher 2: The Papercraft RPG. We wish we could get our hands on this.

The PC game download site GamersGate is in the middle of its month-long summer sale where prices for a number of games are cut by as much as 75 percent for a week. This week the site puts the spotlight on a number of strategy and RTS games.

Among the many deals gamers can take atvantage of this week are Hearts of Iron 3 for just $8.98. Company of Heroes Gold for $11.98, Civilization IV Complete Edition for $9.98, Blood Bowl for $19.97, Europa Universalis III Complete for just $6.98, and Grand Ages Rome for a mere $4.99. GamersGate will end its summer sale with one final week of price cuts next week.