Podcast: Choral languages, ancient worlds, and a little golf: The music of Christopher Tin

By | July 23, 2023
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Meena Shamaly, host of the “Game Show” on ABC, and who also sings in the game score of “Old World“, has interviewed Christopher Tin. They talk about his career, how he got to compose Baba Yetu, how the grammy gave him many more options, like going into opera, and why he liks choires.
An excerpt from the description:

Along with scores for machines colonizing Mars in Offworld Trading Company and pro golf simulation in the PGA Tour sereis, Tin’s output in the world of video games is as diverse as it is constantly surprising. His career extends to the world of film (such as creating Mandarin big band arrangements for Crazy Rich Asians) and collaborating with ensembles such as the Soweto Gospel Choir and the Angel City Chorale. In 2023, his work has led him to an opera commission, where he’s been tasked with creating a new ending for Puccini’s famously unfinished masterpiece, Turandot.

You can listen to the whole podcast here, and discuss it with us here.

Play the new Civ4 “Game Of The Month” #254

By | July 22, 2023
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For the Civ4 GOTM we have this time an easy, but confusing game. You play Zara Yacoub of Ethiopia on a standard size donut map on Noble level. This game has unrestricted and aggressive leaders, tech brokering is deactivated, alliances are permanent, and sea levels will rise, it’s a chaos! You have until August 15 to get through this mess in any way you want.

For more information please check this thread.

Hexarchy turns Civilization into an accessible 4X card game that you can finish in an hour

By | July 21, 2023
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Today, PC Gamer has published an article about Hexarchy, titled “Hexarchy turns Civilization into an accessible 4X card game that you can finish in an hour”. In this article PC Game describes a bit how the deck building mechanics work, how you gather resources, and that you can finish a match in a single evening.

An excerpt:

While it prevents you from executing the kind of grand, hundred-turn-long schemes that the most exciting Civ games often end in, it serves Hexarchy’s quickplay format. Virtually everything you’ll do will inch you closer to victory, and a few of my matches still ended memorably. After the Russians destroyed the heavily buffed mamluk I was relying on to defend my capital, the city was left wide open. A spot of pillaging later, and they’d sent a Cossack forward to capture it, sweeping up all the points generated by its wonders and clinching the game.

You can read the full article here, and discuss it with us here.

Play the new Civ6 “Game Of The Month” #163

By | July 20, 2023
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And we continue the GOTM at scenic places, this time you get a lake view! You play as Elizabeth I of England on a hot and wet standard size island plates map with abundant resources on Deity level. You need to go for a science victory, and prevent all other civs from getting one of the other victories as well. You have until August 18 to win all the Noble prizes!

For more information please see here.

TurnBasedLovers: Top 20 Modern Turn-Based Strategy Games to Play in 2023

By | July 19, 2023
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TurnBasedLovers has published another article/video, which is interesting to the CFC community, called “Top 20 Modern Turn-Based Strategy Games to Play in 2023“. The authors have made a list of interesting turn-based games from the last year, with no particular order in them, but all interesting.
For the 4X fans among us, there is plenty of fodder, as they mention Old World, Master Of Magic, the coming Galactic Civilizations IV, Myriads: Renaissance and Revival: Recolonization, and they are all worth checking out. For more tactical and other types of games you also have your choice from the article.
There is definitely not game shortage until Civ7 arrives!

You can read the whole article here, and discuss it with us here.

Play the new Civ5 “Game Of The Month” #225

By | July 15, 2023
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Also for this “Game Of The Month” we give you a summer feeling with a nice beach scenario! You play as Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon on a standard size inland sea map on Deity level. You need to strive for a science victory, but at the same time you must prevent all other civs from reaching another victory. The deadline for your summer holidays is August 15.

For more information please check this thread.

GameHistoryOrg: 87% Missing: the Disappearance of Classic Video Games

By | July 11, 2023
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The video game history foundation has posted an article, which is not about Civ1 or Civ2, but still in the current context very relevant. The article describes that 87% of historic video games (range 1960-2009) are currently not available at all. While many games can be bought on online platforms like Steam or GoG, the vast majority, nearly 9 out of 10, are actually not on these platforms. According to the study this is comparable to the survival of American silent-era movies (14%). This means for many old games the only possibility to preserve them right now is to preserve the legacy systems which run these games, and hope that the floppies or other media they are stored on don’t degrade.

These facts are very relevant for the Civ community. While the series from Civ3 to Civ6, and also including Alpha Centauri, is available on online platforms, the first 2 games of the series are still not legally downloadable.
Let’s hope that these classics will be preserved for the future.

A summary of the study, including further links, can be found here, and you can discuss this study with us here.

Old World update #110

By | July 6, 2023
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Mohawk Games, the developers of Old World, have released the latest update for their game. This update includes, among other things like bugfixes and performance improvements some changes to MP like allowing players to change midgame when loading a save, and tribes and AI nations can now also raze cities.

Discuss this update with us here (and read the full list of changes too).

Old World is currently available in the Epic Store, on GOG and Steam.