Hi,
I'm new here, although I'm an old hand at Civilization. I bought the very first one in the early 90s for the PC and spent much of the following weeks going without sleep, literally. But you don't need me telling you how "one more go" it is so I'll get on with things...
My original Civ is long gone, lost in a number of house moves and although I quite enjoyed the sequels I somehow preferred the elegant simplicity of the original (I also tried Alpha Centauri recently and found it to be very dull as it was full of non-existent technology). Also, am I the only one who actually preferred flat 2D to isometric?
But I've now found (since they announced Civilization for the N-gage) that Civ and my paths might cross again in the near future, which is why I'm here.
Shabbaman said:
Nothing plays very comfortable on an n-gage. But there's a new model coming up, so that might be an improvement. There's definately room for improvement.
The new model, the N-gage QD, has been a HUGE improvement (so much so that I've actually replaced my original with a QD). The sales of the original were something dismal like 100,000, but since the QD came in June they shot past the million barrier by the start of September. I've been on the N-gage Arena (the multiplayer online hub for N-gage, it's a bit like Xbox Live) and before the QD it was a ghost town. After the QD though, it's been absolutely packed and been fuller every day.
The QD was better in almost every way:
- it's really nice and compact, here's a comparison to a Game Boy Advance:
- you hold and talk into it just like a normal phone, no more sidetalking, and it has a sort of rubber grip round it so it fits in your hand nicely (and you can use it as a speakerphone too...)
- the QD has an external gamecard slot which means you can change games just like on a gameboy. You don't even have to switch the power off, it's exactly like using a disk drive on a computer. (The original N-gage suffered terribly because it had an internal card slot so you had to practically dismantle the thing to change games!)
- there's an extra large capacity battery, so you get 6 to 10 hours of gameplay per charge (depending on how much processing power the game uses... an elaborate 3D game would be nearer the 6 hour mark but something simpler-looking like Civ or Civ II would probably be nearer 10)
- they changed the frequencies the US model uses so it's compatible with more service providers, the upshot of which is that it's a lot cheaper than the original model. The basic service-free unlocked QD costs $199, but if you get it with a service plan and rebates you can get it for $50, $0 and even (if you buy it with a plan via Amazon.com) for a negative price: T-mobile gives you a $250 rebate so you end up with a QD and $50 more than you started out with, and AT&T give you a $300 rebate so you get a QD and $100.
N-gage QD (T-Mobile)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0002UBO30/
N-gage QD (AT&T)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000630M2W/
N-gage QD (Cingular)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0002UBZ48/
- the direction pad and keys are now much more sturdy and feel much nicer to press, they feel like a really solid joypad rather than the slightly flimsy remote control the original felt like.
- the screen's brighter so you can see more detail in games. I know the screen shape looks odd but once you get into the game you really don't notice, and the latest crop of games have been developed for the 'Gage as opposed to being ports from other systems, so they use the screen much better than the games it launched with.
The graphics in the games themselves have also developed in leaps and bounds as developers got to know the system, for example take a look at these screenshots:
N-gage games circa 2003:
N-gage game circa November 2004:
However... the reason why I'm particularly excited about Civilization for the N-gage isn't its graphics, but its gameplay. There's the possibility that Civ might allow you to play online via the N-gage Arena which is particularly well-suited to turn-based games (due to the 3 second lag on cellular data networks). If it was done right this could be VERY cool.
Just to give you an idea of how cool this could be, there's an extremely high profile N-gage exclusive game called Pocket Kingdom which was developed for 2 years by Sega (and bought from them by Nokia along with a system called SNAP, an infrastructure to run massively multiplayer online games). It's the first ever Massively Multiplayer Online game, a sort of surreal fantasy strategy game involving thousands of players which has been extremely well received by almost everyone who's tried it:
http://www.pocket-kingdom.com/
This is the reason I got an N-gage, and it's the reason I'm such a fan of the concept. Unlike other portables like the Nintendo DS or the PSP (which have to be within 100 yards of a hotspot to go online), you can play the N-gage online anywhere that your phone works, you can be in the car, on the train, in a waiting room, on the toilet, it works everywhere. I had to go on a 2 hour train journey to a hospital quite often over the past year, and I cannot overemphasise how much it compressed the apparent journey!
At first the online stuff was just posting scores to the Arena leagues, then it involved downloading recordings of other players so you could "shadow race" through game levels, then there was one-on-one online with the golf sim Tiger Woods, and now we're starting to see the first really full use of the 'Gage's internet connection not only on Pocket Kingdom but also on Nokia's own much awaited online multiplayer turn-based strategy Pathway to Glory:
http://www.pathwaytoglory.com/
They've spent an absolute fortune on this game, and it has all kinds of nice side-features like a simulation of the soldiers' field radios where you actually send voice clips to fellow players round the world over the internet by speaking into the phone. They're really banking on this being a "killer app", and it cleverly lets you carry on playing while the consequences of other players' actions are playing out upon you, so although it's turn based you don't completely have to wait for your turn to get on with the game.
There's also a much praised version of Worms World Party which also allows turn-based multiplayer online:
http://web.n-gage.com/en-R1/games/gamedata/worms.htm
Now, imagine if they managed to get the features of PtG, PK and Worms somehow integrated into a version of Civ, it might be the most addictive game ever! And because it's a phone you'd always have it with you and you'd be constantly tempted by it and you'll never ever get any work done ever again! And you'd end up destitute!
Unfortunately they've been pretty silent about what the 'Gage version of Civ will be like, they haven't even said which version it's based on or if it might be a brand new game. I think they're busy promoting the games coming out before Christmas, but after they've launched we might hear a bit more about what N-gage Civ will be like.
