I'm usually OK with soundtracks as long as they don't actively annoy me; of course, it's nice when they do something more than just provide not-too-irritating background noise I may or may not turn off. Douglas Wilson looks at the relationship between gameplay, music, and meaning (and what makes for a 'musical' game) over at GameSetWatch, picking a perhaps unlikely example to illustrate the relationship he's talking about: Civilization IV. After explaining precisely what he's getting at, Wilson opines:

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With the discussion generated by 'what I learned by not playing Civilization,', I thought L.B. Jeffries' thoughts on creating a 'universal model' for games was pretty interesting. Part of the issue is convergence — 'pure' games are hard to find, and more and more incorporate various design strategies and elements. Would it be impossible to design a game that would appeal to a really diverse swath of players? Players that are sometimes playing entirely different kinds of games? Refinement is key:

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The August '08 Blogs of the Round Table is up, with the subject being what positive lessons writers have learned from video games. It's a diverse crop as usual, and Chris Bateman at Only a Game looks at what he learned by not playing a game: Civilization in this case, or any Sid Meier game, for that matter. And what did Bateman learn from not playing? Well, a few lessons on the audience for games in general:

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Sid Meier, how can you still be making games about colonisation?

Variety reporter Ben Fritz knows that Sid Meier made a Colonization game back in the day. And he knows that the new one, the upcoming Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization, won't quite force you to sail to a new land so you can kill all the natives and screw them with the exchange rate.

But he's troubled. He's spent a good amount of time on his blog to show that he's thought this through. Colonization was and is racist and appalling, he states. He doesn't call for a ban. He's a First Amendment guy. But he does call for a reaction.

Goddamit, am I the only one who think it's morally disturbing to make a game that celebrates COLONIZATION?

Bonus reader challenge: Reply to this post, pro or con, without using the old conversation-stopper: "It's just a game".

Civilisation IV: Colonization... Wow that looks offensive [Variety's The Cut Scene Blog]

And for once, it's a demo I'm genuinely looking forward to. No, really! I've still no idea how this is actually going to play. The PC version of Civ, I can see it in my sleep, but the nuts and bolts of a console version intrigue me. And a ton of other people, which is probably why 2K have announced that they'll be releasing the demo on both PS3 and 360 this Thursday. The 360 version will roll out globally, while the PS3 one is North America-only for the moment.

Civ Revolution demo upends XBLA, PSN [GameSpot]

Does an entry in the Guinness World Records count as an award? If so, chalk up another one for Sid Meier, who has just entered the 2008 Gamer's Edition of that prestigious publication as the game industry's most award-winning creator. Among his many achievements are numerous awards for the Civilization series, induction into the Computer Museum of America's and Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences' Halls of Fame, and a commemorative star on the Walk of Game. How does it feel?

"I'm fortunate to be able to do what I love and am grateful for all of the wonderful recognition I've received over the years," said Sid Meier. "It is every kid's dream to make it into the Guinness World Records and I'm thrilled to be a part of the prestigious book. I'm thankful to the many game critics who have enjoyed our games and hope they are as excited about our upcoming Civilization Revolution title as I am."

And there, my friends, is why great men are great. They are never too proud to slip in a little marketing. Go read some more marketing in the official press release, while I apply some watercolour Photoshop filter love to this great, great man.

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Take-Two didn't just say "no, thanks" to EA this morning. They went out and put a little document together, aimed at showing their shareholders just why they should say no. Most of it's taken up with stuff like GTA sales, but one page is interesting. This one, above. Labelled "potential untapped opportunities", it shows that while 2K are currently under-represented in the MMO, mobile and media markets, they've got the franchises to change that. BioShock, for example, could be turned into an MMO. And a mobile game. And a movie. Civilization, well, it could (presumably) be made into some kind of global, online strategy title. Take-Two shareholders, while you may have cause to doubt Strauss Zelnick's motives during this whole mess, you can not doubt the company's intentions to milk their best franchises to within an inch of their lives.

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According to an email Q&A I just received from Take 2, Sid Meier is going all out on the console adaptation of his epic series.

Sid Meier is very much involved. It's a little known fact that he only developed Civilization 1 by himself, the next iterations had different Lead Designers. This is the first Civ since Civ1 where Sid Meier is in charge of the design and coding himself.

If you missed it yesterday, I had a chance last week to play a preview build of Civilization: Revolution.

It's hard to imagine a game like Civilization working on a console. Sure, there's nothing technically stopping it from functioning, but tweaking the controls and interface so they can be managed almost effortlessly using nothing but the limited selection of buttons on your average gamepad has to pose a bit of a problem.

It'd have to be extra painful for a developer so intimately familiar with the PC. Yet, Firaxis has taken up this exact challenge. Civ: Rev represents the first time the series has ventured to other platforms.

Last week I had a chance to play the Xbox 360 version of Civilization: Revolution up at Take 2's HQ in Hornsby. I was hesitant to pick up the control pad, feeling that it would somehow taint my love of the series, but then I wouldn't have been able to write this hands-on.

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