Thanks to
Evil Avatar for pointing to a CivFanatics news post discussing
new information about Civilization IV from this year's Game Developer's Conference in San Jose, recently released online as a
PowerPoint slideshow. Apparently, the in-development
Firaxis PC strategy sequel, not yet officially revealed, features
"Continuous, immersive 3D world (what-you-see-is-what-you-get)... Drop unfun legacy (pollution, rioting, maintenance, corruption/waste)... New killer features (religion, civics)... RPG elements (unit upgrades/experience)... Coding from scratch (multiplayer, mod-friendly)", with the important note from lead designer Soren Johnson:
"Can still take over the world!" There are also a
host of other GDC slides/lecture notes now available on the official site, including
"Winning the Race Against Pirates And Crackers: Next Generation Copy Protection" by Erik Simon (
PDF), and
"Managing the Hydra: Successfully Running Multiple Projects in a Videogame Studio" by Dr. Greg Zeschuk of BioWare (
DOC,
PPT including some fascinating graphs.)