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Entries Tagged as 'Firaxis'

Culture as a Mechanic or, Get Out of My Head Michael

March 3rd, 2008 · 5 Comments · Blogs, Design, Firaxis, History

While trying to use propaganda posts in Sins of a Solar Empire last week, I started thinking about cultural control in strategy gaming, how culture assimilation is an either/or proposition, how an homogeneous culture is assumed to be better than one with spillover from neighbors, how rival cultures bring nothing with them but trouble. Then […]

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Civ Revolutions Stalled on Wii

January 29th, 2008 · 5 Comments · Consoles, Firaxis, Industry

IGN is reporting that 2k Games has put the Wii version of the upcoming console Civilization on hold “indefinitely.” The DS version goes on, though it looks a lot like other turn-based strategy games on that platform, only more crowded and a little uglier. Plus, it has ninjas.

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Soren Johnson Interview

January 9th, 2008 · 2 Comments · Blogs, Firaxis, Maxis

Soren Johnson is also good for a quote, so it’s only natural for Rock, Paper, Shotgun to hit him up for an extensive interview about the PC market, game design and inspiration. Some highlights: On the shrinking range of AAA titles: [T]here’s still a few blockbuster Triple-A franchises that are still cranking out… but if […]

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How the Pros See Design

August 19th, 2007 · Comments Off on How the Pros See Design · Design, Firaxis

It’s the second link to Soren Johnson’s blog in a week, but he’s answered a question that people have been asking for while. Alpha Centauri had a unit creation tool, but this feature was not included in Civ 4, even though the latter drew many lessons from the scifi title. Apparently Firaxis thought the tool […]

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Five Out of Five But…

July 24th, 2007 · 9 Comments · Firaxis

Fellow Civ Fanatic Tom Chick’s review of Beyond the Sword is up at Yahoo Games. It gets top marks even though he agrees with me that the espionage stuff is “a mess” and corporations are “a crap shoot.” (I disagree that all the new naval stuff makes the sea matter; in my opinion, it’s still […]

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The Problem with Expansion Packs

July 19th, 2007 · 2 Comments · Firaxis

The problem with expansion packs is having to relearn everything because they’ve messed with some pretty familiar mechanics. This is my big issue so far with Beyond the Sword. While I love the scenarios and mods I’ve tried, the new techs and espionage system really mess with my mojo. You know how it is when […]

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