OK. I imported a HaloScan script so now anyone can comment and leave a name or email address.

Almost makes me want to learn HTML so I can do this myself.

I just learned that non-blogspot members can only comment anonymously. Lame, lame, lame.

If you have a comment, just sign it at the bottom of the box.

Civilization 4 is on its way. Not sure when, though screenshots of an early build can be found in PC Gamer’s January 2005 issue. So sometime in late 2005 is not a bad estimate.

Like many, I found Civ 3 close to greatness, but not close enough. Too much seemed confused or poorly considered. Huge maps were unplayable because of corruption, captured settlers worked more slowly but it was sometimes easy to forget which was which, the idea of unique units did nothing for me and the lack of an early source of fresh water would kill you quick.

Though it did little to fix these problems, the Conquests expansion made Civ 3 one of my favorite games of all time. Not sure how, but the addition of more civilizations and a few new traits and wonders made me forgive all the sins of the first incarnation. Corruption was still and issue and the AI’s diplomatic cheating became more noticeable as I got better. The new maps and units for the “Conquests” part of the game were a blast too. It’s been a year and Conquests is still my TBS of choice.

Early reports say that Civ 4 will take out the “unfun” parts. This was how Soren Johnson put it at the Game Developers Conference last March. For him (and some of us), the unfun means corruption and pollution.

Both of these game mechanics have been in Civ since the birth of the game. They are concepts that longtime players understand and have resigned themselves to. Now they will be removed in what appears to be a major reimagining of the Civ franchise.

Ah yes. The franchise. It seems that every strategy game out there now is a franchise. Heck, every game. No one is more excited to see a Pirates! remake than me. (please Santa. I’ve been good.) Still, a part of me wonders why the talent at Firaxis hasn’t done anything really, really new in a long time. Meier’s Dinsosaur game was abandoned, and probably for good reason. He knows more about game design than I ever will. But Civ 4 is just another step in the “sure thing” “make a hit” mill that the industry is turning into.

I will buy Civ 4. So will millions of others. But you know what? Based on reputation, I’d buy almost any game Firaxis made.

The 2005 Independent Games Festival nominees have been announced and there’s a strong strategy presence.

In the Open Category, Slitherine’s Legion Arena, Black Hammer’s Supremacy: Four Paths to Power and Donohoe Digital’s War! Age of Imperialism go head to head with seven other games.

War! Age of Imperialism is a bit of a surprise since I reviewed it for Do-It-Yourself Games over a year ago. It’s hardly a new game. Still, it’s a very good turn based game, best enjoyed in multiplayer. I have an ongoing game at the moment and find myself in a lot of trouble. I have an obvious target, but it will take some time to get all prepared for the attack.

Legion Arena is Slitherine’s latest ancient wargame and is certainly an exciting idea. It’s sort of an RPG game where you build the ultimate ancient army through a series of victories against historical enemies in an RTS combat environment. Arena is most exciting since it is the debut of the combat engine for Slitherine’s upcoming grand strategy sequel Legion II. I’ll be honest – to this point I’ve found their games range anywhere from average to poor. I hate to say this, since the McNeil’s who run Slitherine are two of the nicest guys I’ve met in the industry. They always have time for questions. Legion II will certainly be seen as a Rome: Total War rip-off, which is a shame since Slitherine’s been mining the ancient world for grand strategy ideas for years now.

I know very little about Supremacy: Four Paths to Power. Its graphics look dated, but the idea of a turn-based space soldier game is very appealing.

In the Web/Downloadable category there is no strategy game that looks as brilliant as last year’s winner Oasis. Lux is a Risk-type game, but looks like there is a little more customization to it. I should try the demo before I say too much about it. Pretty colors. And Canadian too. Like me.

Star Chamber from Nayantara Studios is a 4X multiplayer strategy game – a tough market to break into since the idea of a MP strategy game is pretty off-putting given the time that most of them take. The developers promise short sessions, though. It looks a little like Master of Orion, only it’s clearly different. It uses cards to control play (a much more common mechanic than it used to be. The Magic the Gathering influence is spreading pretty far and wide. Star Chamber even has deck building. Odd concept for a 4X game.

I originally wanted “Porcius” to be the address of this blog, since it is my pseudonym in a number of online communities. Some guy in Alberta has it though, and is using it to write a decent daily blog. So I went for “Cato” and it was taken too, though the blog it’s attached to seems to be inactive. So I went with Uticensis, the honorific title given to Marcus Porcius Cato the Younger after his suicide at Utica. (The younger Cato is a hero of mine.)

Portico is just Latin for doorway, and some vain side of me hoped that this blog could be a doorway for some people into something.

So what is this blog about?

Good question. It took me a while to answer it.

Computer gaming is my major hobby, and something I am sometimes paid to write about, so I thought “Why not write about games?”

Well, for one thing, there is no shortage of gaming blogs out there. Look around. Hundreds and hundreds of blogs devoted to every wannabe tech writer’s opinions on what is wrong with games today.

Well, here’s one more but with a little more focus.

Strategy games are my thing. I play almost every one I can get my hands on and it is something that I know a little bit about. So that’s what I’m going to write about. Not just the games themselves, but design issues, philosophy, some general game culture critique plus the usual raving about games I like and games I don’t.

As a former member of academe, I may get a little pedantic at times so feel free to smack me if you need to.

Time is precious, and I have precious little of it. So we’ll see how long I can keep this up. In the meantime, play some strategy games, get some opinions of your own, and we’ll see how much we line up.