BTS PATCH 3.17 OUT NOW!!!
(18 June 2008, 22:53 | Civ4 | 80 comments) Firaxis Games, producers of Civilization 4 and Civilization 4:Beyond the Sword, have released a new update to their title Civ4:Beyond the Sword. This patch updates Civ4: Beyond the Sword to version 3.17 and should supersede all other patches. It corrects many bugs, including those corrected in Bhruic`s unofficial patch, and also contains many enhancements and balances based on fan feedback.

You can download the official patch in one of several places, depending on which version of the game you have.

If you have the retail (boxed- CD/DVD) version, you may download the patch from Apolyton`s servers, a 168 MB download. You may also obtain the patch by logging into Civ4`s multiplayer Gamespy service, which will prompt you to patch automatically.
If you use a game purchased on Steam, do not install these files; Steam will automatically update you if you have it set to do so, or you may choose to update from the Steam client.
If you purchased the game from Direct2Drive, you may download the update from their website. The Direct2Drive patch is somewhat larger at about 258 MB.

Please ensure you are downloading the correct patch for the game you are playing, as otherwise it could render your game unplayable.

Further details, and a full changelog, may be found in the forum thread. - snoopy369

RTW ADDON PACK 2 AVAILABLE NOW
(15 April 2008, 09:27 | Civ4 | 27 comments) Apolyton Civilization Site is pleased to announce that Dale "Dale" Kent has released an expansion to his highly popular mod, The Road to War: RTW Add-on Pack 2!

With a recorded 90,000+ downloads (from all sources) the Road to War has become the second most popular mod for Civilization IV! Join the war and rewrite history today!

There have been a great many changes in the Road to War over the last six months. The changes are so comprehensive that no definitive change list exists. However, you will notice differences in every aspect of the game.

Some of the major noticeable changes include: new maps, new events, new wars and much much more!

The Add-on Pack 2 rounds off the Road to War mod to be the most complete World War II mod available.


Add-On Pack 2 is available at the RTW Homepage as a 410MB download. It is a full install and replaces any previous installation. RTW Add-on Pack 2 requires BTS with the 3.13 patch. - snoopy369

POLYCAST SPECIAL ON `CIVILIZATION IV: WAR OF TWO CITIES`
(8 April 2008, 19:19 | Civ4 | 4 comments) Available on some mobile phone carriers` models already and more of both into the future, Civilization IV: War of Two Cities based on the Civ franchise for the PC has been developed by Floodgate Entertainment and published by Oasys Mobile. As the name implies, it`s you as the player versus an opponent -- one city matched against theirs. Defend and nurture your city as your neighbour does the same, each coveting the prize of the other`s land. Little has been known about this title to date, and that is now changing.

Last month Apolyton Civilization Site (ACS) Chief Owner/Administrator Daniel "DanQ" Quick and staff member Tony "GarretSidzaka" Kiehl spoke with representatives from both developer and publisher about CivIV: WoTC on topics including its technologies, civilizations and -- of course -- units. Entitled "Focus: Civilization IV: War of Two Cities", it is being released as a special edition of PolyCast (PC), an official podcast of ACS. Quick is one of PC`s regular co-hosts and Kiehl a regular on its sibling show ModCast. The four interviewees are made up of two representatives from both Floodgate and Oasys: Founder and Creative Director Paul Neurath and Lead Designer Scott Kimball, and Vice President of Product Development Rick Raymer and Producer Jason Rice, respectively.

Total runtime is 52m17s. PolyCast is also the collective banner for both series. ACS is the only known community to produce its own Civilization podcasts. - DanQ

`WAR OF TWO CITIES` QUESTIONS FOR DEVELOPER/PUBLISHER
(3 March 2008, 19:15 | Civ4 | 2 comments) Coming soon to mobile phones near and not-so-near you is Civilization IV: War of Two Cities, based on the Civ franchise for the PC. As the name implies, it`s you as the player versus an opponent -- one city matched against theirs. Defend and nuture your city as your neighbour does the same, each coveting the prize of the other`s land. Little is known about this title to date, and now is a first and ideal chance to bring your questions directly to the source.

Led by Apolyton Civilization Site (ACS) Chief Owner/Administrator and regular PolyCast (PC) co-host Daniel "DanQ" Quick, two representatives from developer Floodgate Entertainment one from publisher Oasys Mobile Inc. will be available to answer questions from around the community about CivIV: WoTC. The feature will be released under the banner of PC, the official podcasts of ACS. Floodgate`s Paul Neurath is its Founder and Creative Director; Matthew Bellows oversees the company`s operations, sales and marketing. Oasys` Rick Raymer is their Vice President of Product Development.

You can either post your question(s) in this thread or leave a voicemail by calling or VoIPing your message. There are no limits on the number of questions you can ask, but note that not all may be asked or make it into the final release of this special. Where identities are verifiable and service available, those whose questions are used in this episode will receive a three-month subscription to "PLUS!", ACS` optional subscription service. The deadline for submitting questions is this Friday, March 7th, at 11:59PM EST.

This special is anticipated be both recorded and released sometime this month. - DanQ

2 SID MEIER INTERVIEWS
(29 February 2008, 19:06 | Civ4) On February 20th, in the Game Developers Convention `08, Sid Meier talks about Civilization, Portal, and Dinosaurs.

Meier also admits that he did not expect Civ to become so addicting, "I actually did not really expect the game to be as addictive as it was," said Meier. "Every game had its fans but this kind of universal addictiveness.. was scary." FULL STORY

Also on February 20th, Game|Life asked Meier two questions, one about his game`s expectations and another about if he ever get nervous.

Here is Sid`s answer to the question about his games. Meier: "I think my name on the game box has come to mean that people can expect a certain type of game experience when they buy one of our games. Our games are known for addictive, fun gameplay delivered in exciting environments that offer players lots of choices and interesting decisions to make. FULL STORY

Thanks to shacknews for the first news tip and Game|Life for the 2nd. - AAHZ

SOREN: MAKING OF CIV4
(26 February 2008, 21:46 | Civ4 | 5 comments) Gaming site Rock Paper Shotgun posted a two part interview with Civilization IV lead designer Soren Johnson this past week. In part 2 of the interview, they discuss the making of Civilization IV, and the priorities and issues Soren and his team considered while developing the game.

Soren on what wasn`t going into Civ4: [T]here were a lot of gameplay mechanics that it was clear to me weren’t adding any fun to the game and were definitely tripping newcomers, making the game more difficult to get into.

Soren on the decision to go 3D: We wanted it to be in 3D, with a living, breathing world – the term we always used internally. We wanted to see what we could do with 3D.

Soren on 3D versus 2D: [S]ometimes I wonder what it would’ve be like if we had just stayed on the 2D train for 4. It’s weird. The gameplay could be the exact same. There’s no point where the graphics changed the way we would have written the game rules – it’s still a board game inside your computers. With 2D, we wouldn’t have had the same performance issues and we’d have been able to prototype the game perhaps even faster than we did – there’s a lot of stuff we were waiting for because we were developing this 3D strategy engine as we were going along.

Soren on one of the inspirations for Civ4 MP: Age of Kings really showed me how good a strategy game could be if they took the time to balance it well. They really thought long and hard how everything stuck together. You really had multiple ways to play the game, which usually manifested itself in you being a cavalry guy or a ranged guy or a melee guy or focusing on a specific unit. Which is just cool.

Soren on how mods make him feel: it feels good we’re empowering their creativity. If they weren’t being creative with Civ 4, I’m sure there’s something else they’d do, but it’s neat to see they chose our format over all the other options they had for making cool and interesting stuff.

For more, see the full article or discuss the article on the related thread.

Thanks to JulianD for the tip. - snoopy369