I'm so excited! What's up with the name, lol

[ramatheson]

I really can't wait for this to come out. I've been a fan of Sid's stuff since first playing "Pirates!" on my Commodore 64 back in 1987. I've been playing a lot of FreeCol lately, and it's amazing how great a game "=Colonization. It is rare to find a game that still plays well a decade and a half later. The only other one I know is "Seven Cities of Gold", which I fire up on my C=64 emulator from time to time

I don't get the name though. Shouldn't it just be "Sid Meier's Colonization II"? Why are they going with such an unwieldy monster as "Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization"? I mean, it's a stand alone game. I'm guessing this name will hurt sales. People that don't have Civilization IV may pass this up thinking that it is an expansion.

Any ideas?

 

[Macezek]

I'm guessing the opposite way, that having Sid Meier's Civilization IV attached to it will help with sales and marketing. Most people haven't played the original Colonization, or even heard of it, so if Firaxis decided to release it called Colonization II, the idea most people would have is, how good can it be if I haven't even heard of the first one? Plus its completely based on a modified Civ4 engine, they didn't go and create the game from scratch. So if people like this game, they will know that they will also like Civ4 and want to buy it. It's great advertising by Firaxis. As for the stand alone thing, I think most people will understand that it means you don't need the original Civ4 game to play it. It will be properly labeled, so when it's in stores or online you will know that you don't need the original Civ4.

 

[ramatheson]

Well, Colonization was based off of the Civilization 2 engine, but it wasn't called "Sid Meier's Civilization 2: Colonization."

I guess I just disagree with you. You are assuming too much intelligence on the part of the average PC gamer. Most people (I've worked in computer retail stores in the past) that buy PC Games (I'd say, 9 out of 10) have no clue what any of the games are about. They come in, browse, and read the back and decide that way. We have a slanted opinion of PC Gamers because the ones we interact with are on message boards, and therefore have some initiative derived of a love for the hobby. 90% of the people that buy games, however, are Joe Smiths with a low-end Gateway or something, who just got "High Speed" (see: 128 kbps, lol) internet in 2006 or so.

Most will look at it and say, "Oh, it's a Civilization game. I don't have that so I can't play this."

If someone (unlikely) happens to point out the "DOES NOT REQUIRE CIVILIZATION 4 TO PLAY" label, that will likely be missed by these people, they will probably say, "Oh. Well, I haven't played Civilization so I'm not sure how good I'd be at this," and put it back on the shelf assuming that some previous knowledge of the Civilization games is required to be able to play the game to any decent degree.

 

[Peristarkawan]

Well, Colonization was based off of the Civilization 2 engine, but it wasn't called "Sid Meier's Civilization 2: Colonization."

Er, Civilization 2 was released in 1996. Colonization was released in 1995. Besides which, Civilization 2 was a Windows game with isomorphic tiles, and Colonization was a DOS game with rectilinear tiles.

It may well have used the original Civilization engine. Never having played the DOS version, I couldn't compare the two.

 

[Padma]

It was developed as an expansion pack for Civ4. But, because the game isn't really an X-pack, like Warlords or BTS, but rather an almost completely new game, is was decided to make it stand-alone (not needing Civ4), but still to highlight its roots.

 

[Fintilgin]

I think I'd have preferred it if it was switched, giving Colonization precedence, something like:

Sid Meier's Colonization
A Civilization IV Universe Game

But, frankly, they could call it "Sid Meier's Barbie Unicorn Dream House Adventure" as long as I get my Colonization fix!

 

[ramatheson]

Er, Civilization 2 was released in 1996. Colonization was released in 1995. Besides which, Civilization 2 was a Windows game with isomorphic tiles, and Colonization was a DOS game with rectilinear tiles.

It may well have used the original Civilization engine. Never having played the DOS version, I couldn't compare the two.

Oops, yes my mistake. I was confusing 1 with 2.

 

[Macezek]

You are assuming too much intelligence on the part of the average PC gamer.

Hehe, yea, I do that a lot.