POLYCAST YAK ON `CIVILIZATION: REVOLUTION`
(23 July 2008, 20:36 | Misc | 1 comments) Last month, Apolyton Civilization Site (ACS) ran a contest on the release of Civilization: Revolution in Europe and its then pending release in North America. On the entry form, participants were given the option to be contacted by telephone if they were a winner on the understanding that the resulting conversation could be used in an upcoming episode of PolyCast, an official podcast of ACS that focuses on Civilization strategy.

Given the number of those who won who opted-in to this, a number of conversations resulted between them and ACS Chief Owner/Administrator and PC regular co-host Daniel "DanQ" Quick. The length and content of these conversations as edited warranted a feature unto itself leading to the birth of another occasional side series for PC, "Yak". Its first edition, on CivRev with Quick and these winners, is now available for listening. In order of appearance, the in-turn interviewees are Akash, Galen "Cybexx" Ryder, Craig "Fadingbeano", Joe "joebreeves" Reeves, Steven "jsilvrs" Silvers and "UnOrthOdOx"; total runtime is 46m34s.

With PC and its sibling show ModCast, ACS is the only known community on the Web to produce its own Civ podcasts. - DanQ

MODCAST #14: `KUNG-FU ZOMBIES`
(20 July 2008, 22:18 | Misc | 4 comments) For once on schedule, episode 14 of ModCast, "Kung-fu Zombies" (45m16s), is here and features core panelists Tony "GarretSidzaka" Kiehl, Wouter "Locutus" Snijders, Kenneth "Impaler[WrG]" Ferland and first-time guest host "ruff_hi".

ModCast is a bi-weekly ~45-minute audio production of Apolyton Civilization Site and is an ongoing effort to give the Civ community an interactive voice on Civilization modding; its sibling show PolyCast focuses on Civ strategy. To date, ACS is the only community on the web to produce its own Civilization podcasts. - Locutus

ASK SID MEIER YOUR QUESTIONS!
(17 July 2008, 12:40 | Misc | 52 comments) Next month, Apolyton Civilization Site (ACS) will produce and publish a landmark fiftieth episode of PolyCast, a podcast on Civilization strategy. To help commerate this and also extend the celebration of ACS` tenth birthday, game developer Firaxis Games` Director of Creative Development Sid Meier will be its honoured guest. Moreover, he will be in the spotlight answering questions not only from ACS staff but -- hopefully -- also from other members of the Civ community. To make this so, he needs to hear from Civ community members!

To ask Sid one or more questions, you can either post them or leave a voicemail: (301) 637-7659 (North America), +44 121 288 7659 (Europe) or VoIP for free via Skype. Where identities are verifiable and service available, those whose questions are selected for use in this very special conversation with Sid as released will receive a four-month subscription to "PLUS!", ACS` optional subscription service. Questions must be submitted on/by 11:59PM EDT on July 29th for consideration and will be screened for appropriateness and suitability. Suggested topic categories include the Civilization series, strategy gaming, Sid`s games more generally and the Civ community.

Meier was previously interviewed on ACS in 2001 for his then up-and-coming SimGolf, which became the first interview with him on a Civ fansite. ACS is the only known community to produce its own Civilization podcasts. - DanQ

SOREN ON SPORE, CIVREV, STRATEGY
(13 July 2008, 19:29 | Misc | 0 comments) Civilization IV lead designer Soren Johnson did a lengthy interview with game industry developer site Gamasutra recently, in which he talks about his role on his latest game Spore, which he`s putting the final touches on for Electronic Arts, his opinion of Civilization: RevolutionJ and his views on the future of strategy gaming in general. On his role on Spore, Soren says:

Well, I come from a classic hardcore strategy background, yeah. I think that experience has been good for the team, in the sense that I know what the conventions are for strategy games, but we`re not trying to create a typical RTS inside Spore. [...] We`ve got plenty of gamers here, but as a practical matter, they haven`t made really competitive games at Maxis, I would say. I think that really affects things. [...] I`m kind of there as an advocate for the gamers, but I`m not doing it dogmatically. I`m not saying, "It`s got to be this way."

On CivRev he says: [I]t`s an important product, because Civ Revolution is a significant notch down in complexity compared to what Civ would normally have. This is a battle we were fighting with Civ III and Civ IV, where we knew that this was a sequel to the main franchise, and we`ve got to make it more complex. There`s got to be new stuff in there, otherwise people would not be interested, but how do we do that without making the game too complex and unwieldy?

And Johnson talks quite a bit about strategy games in general as well, about where they are now and where he thinks they`re going in the future. About turn-based games, he notes: It`s really weird how the turn-based genre is this red-headed stepchild, because there are a lot of turn-based tactical games... most people would call them RPGs, and not classical strategy games. But to go to a publisher and say, "I want to make a good old-fashioned turn-based, grid-based strategy game," you`re more or less dead in the water.

You can read the full 7-page interview over at Gamasutra. - Locutus

ACTIVISION BLIZZARD MERGER
(13 July 2008, 19:07 | Misc | 0 comments) This week Call to Power publisher Activision finalised a merger deal with Vivendi Games (which among others includes the critically acclaimed and highly successful studio Blizzard Entertainment) to form a new company called Activision Blizzard. The deal, which was formally closed on July 9th after 8 months of negotiations between the parties involved, makes Activision Blizzard the world`s largest game publisher, responsible for franchises like Call of Duty, Diablo, Guitar Hero, Quake, Spiderman, StarCraft, Tony Hawk, (World of) Warcraft, Wolfenstein and countless others. It also places additional pressure on the now second largest game publisher in the world Electronic Arts who`ve been trying to take over Take-Two Interactive (owner and publisher of the Civilization franchise) in recent months in a $2b bid.

This event also reunites former CtP programmers Joe `Mr Ogre` Rumsey and David `Pyaray` Ray, who are now working on the World of Warcraft franchise for Blizzard, with their former employer. Thanks to Peter Triggs for the heads-up on this news. - Locutus

POLYCAST EPISODE 48: `ORANGE JELLO`S JUST TOO POWERFUL`
(12 July 2008, 20:37 | Misc | 26 comments) Its green counterpart doesn`t stand a chance even with pineapple. Putting that and other points into context is the charge of the panel on the forty-eighth episode of PolyCast, featuring returning guest co-host Costas "Keygen" and first-timer Lance "Lancer" Gross. Regular co-hosts Daniel "DanQ" Quick and Makahlua with Annalee "Cartimandua" Barney are also present. Entitled "Orange Jello`s Just Too Powerful", it runs for 44m59s in length. Ken "Carch" Baudicher is also present as the interviewee.

An official podcast of Apolyton Civilization Site (ACS), PC is a bi-weekly audio production of ACS is an ongoing effort to give the Civ community an interactive voice on game strategy; its sibling show ModCast focuses on Civ modding. To date, ACS is the only known community on the Web to produce its own Civ podcasts. - DanQ