Civ V doesn't load

It doesn't strike me that this is a bug, so I'm posting this here, but I am having difficulty starting Civilization V;
With all the updates installed and the internet finally running at top speed, I clicked on Play and the the only option available to my, play DirectX 9. The Civilization V window pops up for half a second and then closes, with the Steam status, turning from Online to In-Game during the launch, and then back to Online a few seconds after the window closes. I've checked this process using the Task Manager. What exactly is happening?
This is also why I'm frustrated at the notion that I need the internet to install and play a game that should be all on the DVD-Rom. I've had to wait for a week to get my internet speed back up to download and install the game. I shouldn't need the internet for this process at all.

For the first time in my experience, Civilization has just scoring real points against itself. Maybe if I can get in it I may change my mood.

There are some reports of the most recent patch, which was just released a few minutes ago, is causing people not to be able to launch the game.

this has happen to me too i works on my brothers windows 7 but not my XP

Well, right now I'm trying to reinstall the game, but one thing I neglencted to point out fully is that I don't currently have the option to play on DirectX 10/11, whichever it is. Can there be a link there, or am I just over-analysing?

[Additional] This is very interesting, the most recent update causing the game to fail to load? Very very odd.
Also, according to the recent patch;

Full screen crash fix. Game will now restart in Windowed mode if it cannot find a suitable full-screen resolution on first start.

Click to expand...

I see the window for that split second, then it closes. Therefore it is apparent that my issue has yet to be resolved via patchs thus far.