Gaming News - October 2005

New York, NY (October 25, 2005) -  2K Games today announced that Sid Meier’s Civilization IV for the PC has shipped to retail stores in North America. Sid Meier’s Civilization IV will be in retail stores in Europe on November 4.

From 2K Games:

Sid Meier’s Civilization IV comes-to-life like never before in a beautifully detailed, living 3D world that expands the gameplay experience. This latest installment takes the franchise to new heights with the addition of new ways to play and win, new tools to manage and expand your civilization, all-new easy to use mod capabilities and various multiplayer modes and options.

“With more than six million units sold, the Sid Meier’s Civilization franchise is recognized as one of the greatest PC game franchises of all-time,” said Christoph Hartmann, Managing Director of 2K Games. “Sid Meier’s Civilization IV expands on the popular gameplay in the Civilization series with new features including religion, some of history’s most influential people and for the first time in the Civilization series, a full 3D engine.”

"The Civilization series is very close to our hearts," said Jeff Briggs, Founder, President and CEO of FIRAXIS Games. "We’ve worked diligently to make Civilization IV even better than its worthy predecessors, and are really proud of the end result.”

"Each new Civilization is a major undertaking," added Sid Meier, Director of Creative Development at FIRAXIS Games. "Creating Civilization IV was a monumental task, but everyone at FIRAXIS was determined to create the best Civ experience yet, and I think we succeeded. Fans will absolutely love this game and folks new to the series won’t be able to resist."

Key Features:

• Faster-Paced Fun – Gameplay has been streamlined for a tighter, faster, and more compelling experience.
• Greater Accessibility and Ease of Play – An easy-to-use interface will be immediately familiar to RTS and action game players, and newcomers to the series will be able to jump in and play.
• Tech Tree – Flexible Tech tree allows players more strategic choices for developing their civilizations along unique paths.
• Grow Bigger Empires – More Civilizations, Units, and Improvements to enhance and grow your empire.
• Multiplayer – LAN, Internet, Play-By-Email, and Hotseat offer players all-new strategies and ways to play when competing or cooperating with live opponents.
• Team Play – Whether playing multiplayer or single player, team play offers a new way of setting locked alliances that result in shared wonder effects, visibility, unit trading, and shared territory that delivers a plethora of new strategic and tactical options.
• Beautiful 3D world – Sid Meier’s Civilization IV comes to life with a beautiful 3D world, dozens of fully animated units (including culturally unique units), and totally customizable armies. Cities and wonders will appear on the map. Wonder movies are back!
• Mods and Community Tools - Designed from the ground up for modability, the game contains a powerful map editor with XML and Python support.
• Choose Your Leader – Most Civilizations now have two leaders from which to choose, with each Leader having traits that provide various bonuses to the player.
• Civics – With the discovery of new techs, civic options can become available. Freedom of speech or slavery? Hereditary rule or open elections? This creates endless government choices and possibilities!
• Religion – Now there are seven religions in the game that are unlocked through researching. When unlocked, the religion spreads through a player’s empire allowing them to use the religion to help manage happiness, gain gold and create Great Prophets.
• Great People – As the player uses specialists they gain Great People points in the city that is utilizing the specialists. Great People include the Artist, Tycoon, Prophet, Engineer, & Scientist. They can be used to get free techs, start Golden Ages, or join a city to increase its output.
• Promotions – Each unit has a promotion path that emphasizes specific unit traits. Promotions include bonuses to Attack/Defend on specific terrains/features, movement bonuses, sight/visibility bonuses, and increased withdrawal chances.
• In-Game Cinematics – Sid Meier’s Civilization IV has over 40 in-game cinematics.

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