Is Firaxis Just Like Microsoft?

[sprucemoose3311]

Firaxis is just like microsoft

first: microsoft created an exceptional opertating system in windows 2000 Pro. pretty much all it needed was some tweaking and system restore. Windows Xp (xp is so poorly put together, just do some research) before the service pack had troubles competing with 98SE. So the people at microsoft decided to end support of 2000 and build off of 98SE. Why? you cant make people upgrade from a great OS to one that has almost no change. Why would you buy windows 2002 if windows 2000 is near perfect?

Second: Firaxis has always known people want diplomacy and governments like alpha centauri. But if you want people to buy civ 4 you cannot put those in Civ 3. Civ 3 is all the little tweaks everyone wanted minus the things that would make it an exceptional game. Expect better diplomacy in civ 4... Why build off of AC, which was only missing more civs and an updated Multiplayer when you can build off of civ 2 and make 3-5 "new, better" games (civ4,civ5,civ2012) afterwards. Lets just hope they dont make single player and multiplayer separate again

(note they dont call it civ 6, they give it a year, see the resemblence to microsoft?)

[vmxa1]

Just like them minus the billions of dollars in the bank....
Is it just possible that we are not required to assign the most devious of motives to people we do not know?

[ChaotikVisions]

Your comparison isn't that great, its more your opinion then anything else. I've been using WinXP ever since I got this new comp, and its far improved over Win98 and has had no crashes but some related to my onboard sound and games that don't like it. I've never had a reason not to like it, quite a good OS for me.

What you're basically proposing is just either not making a new game or cloning and slightly improving the old one. I'd much rather them strive for new concepts then old ones redone, it makes the game much more interesting and worth it for me. Of course these new concepts can backfire, or alienate the group the loved the old game, but thats a risk more companys should take. Too many games are just being rehashed. But anyway, just my opinon.

[vondrack]

What a wonderful rant!

I guess the awesome example with Win98, Win2000, and WinXP just sums it up... using WinXP Pro myself for almost a year now, being absolutely 1000% happy with this OS, I find it rather ironic seeing that as an example of how bad the Firaxis approach to Civ3 should be...

[Nubclear]

Re: Is Firaxis Just Like Microsoft?

I have to agree with the others, your comparison isn't that great.

However Windows XP in my experience, well, sucks. It's incompatible with almost every piece of software I own....In fact, Civ3 didn't work at all (And stpuid support didnt help..."Oh your not an administrator" ugh.). But thats just me.

[vmxa1]

I also have ben on XP PRO since May, with no problems.
Here are the games I am running now.

Perm:
Ascendancy
Civ II Test Of Time
Civ III + PTW
Heroes II Gold
Heroes III Complete
Master Of Oion I/II
Might & Magic 6/7/8
Pax Imperium
Space Empires III/IV
Stars!

Now:
Age Of Wonder I/II
Alien Legacy
Diablo II LOD
Disciples I Gold
Disciples II
Heroes IV + TGS
Master Of Magic
Might & Magic IX
Morrowwind - The Elder Scrolls
Reach For The Stars
Red Alert 2 + Yuri
Star General
Star Ships Unlimited I/II
Warcraft II Battle Net Edition
Warcraft III
Warlords3

[sprucemoose3311]

Tangent: wondows 2000 pro. Min requirements: 64 mb ram, 2 gig HD, pII processor
No program is allowed to touch start up files, if a program needs to use those files it is allowed to create a copy of the needed file and put it in another folder


XP: Programs can use most OS files if programmed to do so, system suggested requirements: 1.3 gig processor or higher, 512 ram, 20 gig hard drive

Back on subject:

CLARIFY ARGUEMENT (yes it is opinion, I wont stress fact as opinion unless i become a college teacher): AC had a great foundation for good gameplay etc. Civ 2 was not as good. In my opinion firaxis decided to update civ 2 rather then build off of AC which already had what most people wanted in Civ3. They pulled the same crap microsoft pulls.

[asleepathewheel]

You think that Firaxis conciously says "hmm we could put in that option, but then what would we do in 5 years when civ 4 will be released?"




Xp pro requires a 1.3 Ghz processor? what are you, crazy? My fiance runs it fine on a 700, and she's under in ram and harddrive space. And it runs perfectly. It doesn't help you to distort the facts.


There are many people here, myself included, who are glad many of the "advances" of SMAC were not included in Civ3.

Why would the "advances" of SMAC be in Civ3, anyway, they were designed by wholly different teams.

I think it was Ruby on the grassy knoll who told sid to shelve some of the SMAC ideas in order to make more money on the back end.

[sprucemoose3311]

One more thing

Firaxis was thinking in terms of creating a franchise (which is another word for profit ) as opposed to creating a single game. They are in no way the only company doing this.

[sprucemoose3311]

"Xp pro requires a 1.3 Ghz processor? what are you, crazy? My fiance runs it fine on a 700, and she's under in ram and harddrive space. And it runs perfectly. It doesn't help you to distort the facts."


read closer, it is suggested requirements. what microsoft claims to be needed for optimum preformance

[asleepathewheel]

Originally posted by sprucemoose3311
"Xp pro requires a 1.3 Ghz processor? what are you, crazy? My fiance runs it fine on a 700, and she's under in ram and harddrive space. And it runs perfectly. It doesn't help you to distort the facts."


read closer, it is suggested requirements. what microsoft claims to be needed for optimum preformance

from microsoft.com

Here's What You Need to Use Windows XP Professional
PC with 300 megahertz or higher processor clock speed recommended; 233 MHz minimum required (single or dual processor system);* Intel Pentium/Celeron family, or AMD K6/Athlon/Duron family, or compatible processor recommended
128 megabytes (MB) of RAM or higher recommended (64 MB minimum supported; may limit performance and some features)
1.5 gigabytes (GB) of available hard disk space*
Super VGA (800 × 600) or higher-resolution video adapter and monitor
CD-ROM or DVD drive
Keyboard and Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device

Of course thats the minimum, where is the optimum listed?

[Civfan]

I'm not sure about this. I have a question. Does it take lying and cheating your customers to make it big in the software, gaming industry?

Also in defense of Firaxis, Infogames is just days away from being delisted from the NASDAQ stock exchange in AMERICA. This maybe is a real indicator that infogames seriously pushed Firaxis to release Civilization 3 and Play the World in their current state to the market and the ones to suffer are of course us people. Then again I won't buy play the world until its 100% complete. I was had once by this company, I ain't getting had again by them!

[Cyclotron]

vmxa1, you have Ascendancy? Awesome! I love that game, nobody knows what it is anymore...

Well, I like Windows XP just fine (no problems yet) and I like Civ3 just fine (no crashes yet) so I'll have to disagree with the thread author. Sorry.

[vmxa1]

Sure do and plan on getting in another game soon. I have original manual and strat guide, got it off of Ebay and it was the third time I bought it so I will hold on this time.
As to the creating a franchise, they do not own the rights as far as I know to Civ and anyway it already is a franchise.

[CapTVK]

Originally posted by cyclotron7
vmxa1, you have Ascendancy? Awesome! I love that game, nobody knows what it is anymore...

Ascendancy....by the logic factory .. Awesome!???? You must be being sarcastic right? At least I hope so because Ascendancy is one of those eye&ear-candy games that intially appear to have amazing depth turn out to be as shallow as a puddle.

I played Ascendancy in it's prime and the graphics for the spaceships and the galaxy maps were excellent with a nice spacey background music. Too bad the AI is a lame duck. Explore a bit, colonize and build up a few planets, invent some techs, get better ships....rinse and repeat....(oh yes, sometimes you meet an AI player but that shouldn't pose too much of a problem if you took the time to create some decent ships and attack their planets on time). I always ended cruising through every game.