AE REVIEWS HISTORICANADA
(21 June 2007, 17:53 | Civ3 | 1 comments) Civilization III modded and then reviewed over at The Armchair Empire.

The Armchair Empire (AE) interviews Nathon Gunn (NG), and here are a few tidbits out of this article: AE: Whose idea was it to make this game, and why did you choose to focus on Canadian history? to which NG responds The idea began over lunch with Dr. Thomas Axworthy in 1996. Tom had run the CRB Foundation when it created the iconic Canadian Heritage Minutes (one-minute clips about Canadian historical heroes, Alexander Graham Bell (telephone patent), Joe Shuster (created Superman), James Naismith (invented basketball) etc) which popularized history for an entire generation of Canadian youth. Tom’s next question was, “What about games?”. From this moment on we worked hard to build HistoriCanada so that kids would love it and it would break new ground in popularizing history.

AE: Will this mod play like a typical round of Civilization, or did you need to make any changes to the gameplay in Civilization III in order for this mod to be used in a school setting? NG answers that with It will play like normal Civilization gameplay, but we contextualized everything with unique civilopedia entries from the Canadian Encyclopaedia and a website with videos and other information from historical experts, including lesson plans for teachers.

Check out this informative article and then post your thoughts as well in our thread! A link for the download of this Mod is also there! - Grandpa Troll

TOP 5 DESERT ISLAND PICK
(15 April 2007, 17:03 | Civ3) Gamasutra reports Ted Price, who is Insomniac Games CEO and president, pick as one of his top five favorites, Civilization III to take on a deserted island. Read the article and he as many of already know, why civilization is so addictive. - Grandpa Troll

INFOGRAMES RESTRUCTURE A POSITIVE DIRECTION
(25 January 2007, 17:52 | Civ3) Infogrames turns the corner toward a successful restructuring. Many people will remember Infogrames, Inc. was founded in 1993 as GT Interactive, purchased in 1999 by Infogrames. In 2001 Infogrames, Inc. purchased and absorbed Microprose, Atari and Game.com. On May 7, 2003 Infogrames named its U S subsidiary to Atari,Inc while its European Operations were named Atari Europe,. Read the article and our gaming Industry hopes look good for this first phase of debt restructuring! - Grandpa Troll

LORD OF THE MODS INTERVIEW
(13 November 2006, 16:47 | Civ3) Tolkien fansite The Chamber of Records has posted an interview with mrtn, the `Head Henchman` of the Civilization III modding team for Lord of the Mods, a mod set in the world of the Lord of the Rings series of books by J.R.R. Tolkien.

The interview discusses the mentioned total conversion mod for Civilization III that has been under development for over two years, which provides all-new graphics for the game and is set entirely in the Tolkien universe, with 15 civs ranging from Rohan to the Shire to Mordor, around 300 new units and 25 Great Wonders stretching from Age of the Sun to the end of the Third Age.

We will make a brand new interface to the mod. We will also rewrite all text files and change most of the graphics, so there shouldn`t really be anything much left to remind the player that you`re playing a version of Civ.

You can find the full interview on the Chamber of Records forums. Thanks to Planet Civilization for the news tip. - Locutus

2K HAS DISCOVERED STEAM POWER
(25 October 2006, 00:40 | Civ3) 2K Games, publisher of Civilization IV, and Valve have announced that they have reached an agreement to distribute a number of 2K`s games on Valve`s online distribution platform Steam. Among these games are the Firaxis products Civilization III, Civilization IV as well as Sid Meier`s Pirates!

With titles from legendary designer Sid Meier and 2K`s world renowned developer, Firaxis Games, 2K is one of today`s foremost publishers. Through this initial agreement with 2K, Steam`s game library expands to include four great strategy games. We look forward to delivering more from 2K in the future, said Gabe Newell, co-founder and president of Valve.

Paul Crockett, Strategic Sales and Licensing of 2K Games commented: We are excited to add Valve to our roster of partners in the digital distribution area. Being included in their vast network will assist us in expanding the reach of our products to a much larger audience.

Steam is a somewhat controversial online platform for distributing PC games and digital entertainment that with its more than 10 million users is the largest system of its kind. The new Firaxis titles will be available on the service later this week. - Locutus

CIV3 ON GAMETAP
(18 October 2006, 00:09 | Civ3) This week Civilization III: Gold Edition was added to the online games collection of GameTap, a digital game distribution and broadband entertainment site run by Turner Broadcasting.

[GameTap] delivers more than 700 authentic versions of the greatest console, computer and arcade games on demand, including original and exclusive episodic properties. In addition to games for every age and interest, GameTap offers more than 600 original entertainment programs, popular video streams and thriving virtual communities to broadband-connected PCs.

As part of its one-year birthday celebration you can enjoy a limited-time offer (expires October 22) of a one-year subscription for $59.40. GameTap is only available in the U.S. and Canada. - Locutus