Civilization coming to consoles

Stephen Withers
Friday, 29 June 2007 02:17

Your IT - Entertainment

The first console game from Sid Meier's Civilization franchise is set for release in northern Spring 2008.

Civilization Revolution will retain the historical empire-building theme of its predecessors, but will introduce "accessible maps and streamlined time scale for quicker games, intense combat, and constant action" in order to appeal to the presumed shorter attention span of console gamers.

Online play will offer the usual features such as auto-matching, ranked games, leaderboards, achievements, downloadable extra content and integrated video and voice chat. Team, head-to-head and free-for-all matches will be supported.

"Civilization Revolution is the game I’ve always wanted to make!" said Sid Meier, director of creative development at Firaxis Games.

The new game is being designed and developed from scratch for next generation consoles and handhelds - presumably some combination of Wii, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PSP and Nintendo DS.

"Civilization is one of the world's top selling PC game series with more than 8 million units sold, and continues to be recognized as one of the greatest franchises ever created," said Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K, the Take-Two label that publishes Firaxis' products. "We are excited to have Sid Meier getting back to his roots as the game's lead designer to carry on its legacy with Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution."