My all time favorite game designer, Sid Meier, took the time to sit down with the folks over at Gamespot and discuss the Civilization Chronicles boxed set, the experience of Firaxis being bought by Take-Two Interactive and the prospects of Civilization making it's way onto next-gen consoles. While the interview doesn't really break any new ground as far as things we know about the man, the myth and the legend that is Sid, it does offer some hope to dedicated console fans during the course of the latest generation of hardware - here's what Meier had to say about he possibility of the Civilization series coming to consoles;
"I think the latest consoles have the processing power to deliver fun experiences with the bigger strategy games. It's definitely something we've been keeping our eyes on, and we'll let you know where we'll go from here." - Sid Meier
While that's by no means a guarantee of any kind, the thought of being able to play Civilization on any console is enough to catch my attention, and as such, you're reading about it now. The one thing I would hope for should Civilization find it's way to consoles would be keyboard and/or mouse support. I just couldn't picture how annoying the later stages of a game like Civilization could get if you were just using a controller.
While that comment was certainly the highlight of the interview, Meier also mentioned another project that had somehow completely evaded me - Firaxis is bringing Pirates! to the PSP. You know folks, if Sony would just drop the price of the PSP a bit more and Pirates! was available on the system, I could easily see myself running out and grabbing one.
You know, therein lies the magic of Sid's game design - he creates games that offer such a rich and fun experience that gamers are willing to buy them time and time again, across platforms, as they get updated, etc. I can't begin to even count how many hours I've burned away with just the Civilization and Pirates! series alone. I guess as long as Sid keeps turning them out, I'll keep lining up to get them. He's truly still the one designer who's never sold me up the river on a purchase - and that's saying a lot. (Though I never bought the Civ III online kit, and that Civ III collector's Edition set came close though - where were all the promised goodies?!)
Those of you who want to hear more from Sid should check out the Gamespot interview by clicking on this link.
