Ask Sid Meier Your Questions

[Hercules]

I also would ask about the possibility of a new Smac2 in the near future.

[Murg]

1. What are your thoughts on a Civ based MMO?

2. What are your thoughts on a possible merger between EA and Take2?

3. As a game industry veteren, what is your take on the controversy of violence in video games?

[Hercules]

Originally posted by Murg
1. What are your thoughts on a Civ based MMO?

That would be amazing and I think a distinct possibility.

[LordShiva]

That would be unspeakably horrible, but I wouldn't be surprised. Civ4 is to Civ what WC3 was to WarCraft, and look where that got us

[Nikolai]

Originally posted by Hercules


That would be amazing and I think a distinct possibility.

And they got an outline of it already in The List.

[Jeje2]

Question: Sid, you became famous with making new types of games - do you still have some new type of game that you would like to try? What?
(SimGolf is you're last try iirc)

Is it even anymore possible for you to try something totally new or... ?

[DanQ]

Thanks So Far, and Additional Points

Thanks to everyone who has submitted questions so far. The response has been higher than to any PC interview announced before hand to date already, but that's not surprising.

There are a few additional pertinent points that we would like to mention at this time given both the volume of questions and some of their content.

First, Sid is only available to speak to us for an hour. Given his busy schedule, we are most appreciative for any time he is able to give us! That said, if you would like to increase the likeihood that your question(s) will be asked, submit it in audio form with you asking it -- he's going to get to hear enough of us regular co-hosts as it is. Leave a voicemail or record and submit as an MP3 (no lesser quality than 64kbps please) to do so. If the latter, include a link to the audio version of your question(s) at the end of your post; if you have already posted and would like to do this, update your post to include such a link at the end of it.

Second, we won't be asking questions that we know Sid won't be able to answer at this time (i.e. any announcement about future games not yet public knowledge).

Third, we'll be reserving most any Civilization IV: Colonization questions for possible interviews with developer team members in the months ahead (pre- and/or post-release).

Nevertheless and with these points in mind, please continue to ask away.

[Jeje2]

Originally posted by DanQ
Second, we won't be asking questions that we know Sid won't be able to answer at this time (i.e. any announcement about future games not yet public knowledge).

DanQ: I know my question breaks you're second point to some point, but I still feel it very important that we (the community) also encourage Sid to still go for something new once in a while. (SimGolf was some time ago already)

Sid is the visionary of computer games - let's give him the opportunity to fly again and again... Cause even though some attempts would face Icarus fate , like simgolf &/ Dinosaurs - the other attempts... well, we all now them too well...


Here you find my "crappy" question as a zipped mp3 - feel free to do what you want... (edit, cut, etc.)


And I'm still the biggest Col fan, after Sid & Brian - gratefully eagerly awaiting my early Christmas this year. - But I do hope Sid still continues, every now and then, to try new boundaries - to boldly go where no man...

[Locutus]

We won't be talking about specific unannounced titles like SMAC2 or Civ5 -- we know he won't be able to say anything about that anyway so he'll give some lame PC answer (that he's given a million times in other interviews), so that would be a waste of the little time we have with him. But that doesn't mean more general discussion about the future isn't possible, so your question is a fine one.

[MikeH]

Everyone knows the problem with making SMAC2 anyway don't they? There's a rights problem between Firaxis, EA and BHG. I'm sure we don't need Sid telling us all that again.

[Dale]

Strategy genre questions:

1. In the last ten years, strategy games have become extremely complex beasts, which is the often mentioned cause of the strategy genre fall to simpler genres such as FPS and arcade. Like Soren has spoken about in his recent interview with Gamasutra about how Spore will bring strategy back to the casual gamer, is CivRev your attempt to do the same thing?

2. Out of the Civilization franchise, only Civ1 and CivRev have been designed/coded by yourself (and both originally for consoles). And in many ways, CivRev is being talked about as a return to the simple complexity of Civ1. Do you consider CivRev to be the TRUE sequel to the original Civilization?

3. Recently, even though strategy games have generally become massively complex games (Command & Conquer, SimCity4) and very visual games (Supreme Commander, Company of Heros) we have seen some very unlikely successes in much less complex and less visual games (GalCiv, Sins of an Empire). How do you explain this?

4. What are you (and subsequently Firaxis) doing to help promote the resergence in strategy games?

Civ Questions:

1. Did you ever get Civ RTS as original planned to work as you wanted it (outside of what was actually released)?

2. Do you have a favourite Civ iteration, and why?

3. What's your favourite BtS mods?

4. What has the community done that made you sit up and go, "Holy ****! That's brilliant!"

[El_Cid]

Question 1:

In today's market place will we ever get to see another 'Microprose'?

By that I mean have we left enough slack in the system(of game development) to allow a strong name to develop that same respect amongst gamers, even when covering a wide variety of game types and styles?

Or has the industry changed so much that it would be very hard for one to emerge?

Question 2:

Which of your games did you enjoy working on the most and which gave you the greatest sense of achievement?

[Locutus]

Originally posted by MikeH
Everyone knows the problem with making SMAC2 anyway don't they?

You'd think so, but we've gotten the question multiple times already.

[MikeH]

Another question:

Are you sick of people asking you about SMAC2?

[Nikolai]

Originally posted by Locutus


You'd think so, but we've gotten the question multiple times already.

The rights is a three-way tie, but how difficult can it be to make a SMACesque game that goes around that?