Comments on: Civ Chronicles – Full Disclosure

By: Gamer’s Bookshelf: Civilization or Rome on 640K a Day

Gamer’s Bookshelf: Civilization or Rome on 640K a Day — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 15:24:32 +0000

[...] Recent Comments Gamer’s Bookshelf: Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World on Gamedaily’s Top Ten RTS GamesTroy on All I Want For XmasNatus on All I Want For XmasShane on An Early Effort At Edu-gamingFive Out of Five But… on Civ Chronicles – Full Disclosure [...]

By: Five Out of Five But…

Five Out of Five But… — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 18:20:02 +0000

[...] of course, can’t review BtS in any real way because of my tainted love. I will have more comments next week, many in response to the inevitable flurry of reviews. Just [...]

By: roberton

roberton — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 20:35:33 +0000

“I’m sure I can count on you and Steve to keep reminding me what an untrustworthy sellout I am.”

Yes, Bruce “Dominion” Geryk will keep you pure :-)

By: Jozef

Jozef — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 15:55:28 +0000

Jason, many thanks for your reply. I’m glad all games would be able to run under WinXP. As for Alpha Centauri, I understand the copyright ownership issues. All I was saying was that it would greatly increase the value of the package. I don’t know how difficult EA is, but considering that all they do with AC is to release it occassionally in a compilation (SMAX was included only once, in the Laptop Collection), they shouldn’t value the franchise too highly.

CivNet is another story. True, it is controversial, and I still remember how I cursed Microprose two months after I purchase it, when I saw Civ II in a store window (at that time, I didn’t have Internet or game magazine subscriptions to learn about Civ II before it was released). Still, this compilation creates the perception that it includes the history of the series. For historical purposes, it should’ve been included. For marketing purposes, of course, you don’t want to show it, but I’m too much of a purist to be happy about that decision.

Manuals are another story. I understand why the printed manuals are not included. However, before replying I ran a small test at home. I took the Civ III metal box and placed four DVDs and all Civ manuals in it. It fit. I paid $60 for that metal box, which at that point included only one game, a documentary DVD, the manual and the tech poster. That was at launch. I consider payig $70 for another metal box with games of an age ranging from one to fifteen years old to be a fair price. Not so for a cardboard box with CDs and .pdf manuals, which I’ll purchase only because I’m a fan of the series and because of the history book (which, I hope, does include a CivNet entry).

I’m not trying to recommend a different marketing campaign for the compilation. I know next to nothing about the game publishing industry, and I was never fond of my marketing classes. However, I learned that sometimes the opinions of those who choose not to buy a product are more important than those of people who will purchase it. Unfortunately, I can’t offer you the former, but I can always play the devil’s advocate.

By: jason bergman (2K)

jason bergman (2K) — Sat, 09 Sep 2006 22:29:06 +0000

Gremmi: I haven’t a clue…that’s a marketing question. I handled PR for Civ IV (I’ve since moved into production), but that was only PR for North America, so I have no idea why the pre-order edition wasn’t offered out there.

Chronicles is for now North America only, but we’re hoping to get it out in Europe early next year.

By: Gremmi

Gremmi — Sat, 09 Sep 2006 18:56:33 +0000

Well, I meant inspired in the sense that “Compilation boxsets are appearing”, rather than “EA are a bunch of idiots who couldn’t organise a piss-up in a brewery, let’s copy their idea”. :P

Incidentally, why was the pre-order edition of Civ4 not released in the UK? I wanted my leatherbound box with ringbound manual. :(