PlayYourTurn.com releases beta version of new Turn Tracker!
(15 December 2009, 05:23 | Civ4) Inverse Icarus published a post in the Civ4-Multiplayer forum in which he tells us about his new turn tracker for Civilization IV Pitboss Games.

He wanted to create a successor to the famous but outdated civstats.com turntracker. "It started off with adding the new options and civilizations in Beyond the Sword, and quickly I found myself adding new interesting features." he shares with us.
Especially the customizable score graphics look promising!






















To participate in the beta testing and immediately enjoy the fruits of this new turn tracker everyone can surf to http://www.playyourturn.com/ to download the application and register new or existing Pitboss games.

Inverse Icarus says there`s no worry about running civstats and playyourturn at the same machine! "there is absolutely no reason you cannot run this turn tracker in addition to CivStats."

For more information and graphics visit the thread in the Civ4:Multiplayer Forum. - Robert Plomp

"For Completeness Sake": Win a Copy of 'CivIV: Complete' Signed by Sid Meier!
(3 December 2009, 05:18 | Civ4) PolyCast, the entertaining and informing Civilization series podcasts, are giving away 25 copies of Civilization IV: Complete in conjunction with developer Firaxis Games. The title combines CivIV and its two expansion packs Warlods and Beyond the Sword which retails for $39.99US. But 5 of these copies include a something special extra: the signature of Sid Meier, the Director of Creative Development at Firaxis.

Between December 1st-25th, 2009 (ET-North America), complete the following sentence in response to this thread here on Apolyton Civilization Site:

"Civilization IV makes my life complete by..."

The 25 most creative and constructive responses, across this as well as corresponding threads on Civilization Fanatics Center and WePlayCiv (reference #1/#2), will be selected to win its poster one of these copies -- the top 5 to receive one with Sid`s signature on it. One entry per person; note that any responses that indicate they have been edited will not be considered. Further, if selected, one must respond with mailing address and phone number for delivery within the specified time period. The judging of these entries is being done by Daniel "DanQ" Quick, PolyCast`s owner, primary editor and one of its flagship show`s regular co-hosts.

The total retail value of these prizes exceeds $1000US (related reference: signed litograph by Meier, valued at $99.99US). - Robert Plomp

Civ IV Lead Artist talks about his favourite artwork
(2 October 2009, 16:30 | Civ4) Steve Ogden, lead artist of Civilization IV, talks about some of his favourite civ4 artwork in a new article in Firaxis "Behind the scenes" series.
"It just said "Civ" to me – building something awesome that was going to last for ages." Ogden says about an image in the Pyramids wonder movie.

Read more about Ogden`s favourite art right here - Robert Plomp

Firaxis is "Calling All Spies!"
(28 September 2009, 16:25 | Civ4) A message was delivered, mysterious and unclear:

"A coded message has been posted on our site. Is it a contest with fabulous prizes? Decode the message and find out!

http://www.firaxis.com/community/bts_crypto.php"

This message and it`s meaning can be discussed in our forums - Robert Plomp

Patch v3.19 released for BTS!!
(11 June 2009, 12:34 | Civ4) Firaxis released the v3.19 patch for Civilization IV:Beyond the Sword today!
Unexpected but very welcome.

The complete changelist for this patch is available in our forums
Firaxian `alexman` listed some additional changes in the forums of civ fansite CivFanatics.

The patch also takes~away the need to put the Beyond the Sword CD or DVD in your computer to launch the game!

Thanks to secondsaber87 for informing us!
Discuss the news on our forums - Robert Plomp

A RELIGIOUS REVIEW
(19 July 2008, 00:21 | Civ4 | 30 comments) Jordan J. Ballor of Blogcritics magazine posted an article that reviews Civilization IV from a religious perspective. First summing up what other religious sources have said about the game, Ballor postulates:

Indeed, while Civ IV deserves praise for integrating non-material elements like religion and culture into the game play, in the end these pieces suffer the same fate as the rest of the game`s components. Civ IV, ultimately, is less about the development of civilization than it is about the expansion of imperial tyranny.

He continues to explain what role religion plays in the game but how in the end it still boils down to conquer[ing] your opponents, by any means necessary.

The author concludes the the game`s popularity is well deserved as it taps in to a fundamental human drive for dominance in a way that promotes critical thinking, problem solving, and creativity. He compliments the interface while taking issue with the repetive nature of the gameplay and some of its bugs, as well as the underwhelming graphics. Overall the author considers it a suberb game though, but the adeptness with which it meets the deepest human desires for power and control teaches us as much about ourselves as it does about the progressive unfolding of history.

Read the full two-page review on the Blogcritics site. - Locutus