In what form will the game come?

[Rince]

As the game is nearing completion i would really like to know the following things:

- Will the game ship on CD's in North America and DVD in Europe?

- Will the game be on more than one CD?

- Will the german version for example also contain the english version and if yes, will this english version be undistinguishable from the US version (important for patching)?

- Will there be a 250 page manual only in the preorder version or also in the US/European normal versions?

This is really important because i'm trying to find out if it is worth for me to order in the US or if I should wait until the game is released in my country.

Greetings,

Rince

 

[Flak]

I wish they would arrange some sort of secure internet released version. But I suspect that that Firaxis has been unfortunately brainwashed into thinking that copy protected CD/DVDs are a good thing. I've bought other software over the internet: Graphics software, disk management suites, anti-virus, various engineering programs, but never a game. It's unfortunate in this day and age that is still not possible with all software, especially in the gaming industry, a field that typically is the leader for that kind of thing.

Anyway, I too would like to have some info here. As an American living in England running a German version of XP, things are a bit complicated for me. The sooner I know what my options are, the better.

 

[Aks K]

Floppy disks !

Aks K

 

[NHJ BV]

I'm guessing that even the North-American version will be on DVD, although I can't back that up. Europe's version will probably be on DVD anyway. The normal version of Civ4 also has a hefty manual, I think, the difference is the binding used.

 

[Cassius Maius]

As the game is nearing completion i would really like to know the following things:

- Will the game ship on CD's in North America and DVD in Europe?

- Will the game be on more than one CD?

- Will the german version for example also contain the english version and if yes, will this english version be undistinguishable from the US version (important for patching)?

- Will there be a 250 page manual only in the preorder version or also in the US/European normal versions?

This is really important because i'm trying to find out if it is worth for me to order in the US or if I should wait until the game is released in my country.

Greetings,

Rince

I'm guessing it'll be a minimum of two CDs worth of data.

Either way, there will be a DVD and CD(s) versions for North America. (most likely)

 

[toft]

It will be on CD. If you look at the info on civiv.com then it says PC CD-ROM.

 

[Rince]

I wish they would arrange some sort of secure internet released version.

This reminds me of Steam and Half-Life 2. Ok, Steam was not working very well in the beginning but the idea of letting customers download the whole game one month before the release in encrypted form and then letting all players in the world 'simultaneously' activate their copy minutes after the offical release is very convincing and worked perfectly for me.

Rince

 

[Thomas Davie]

Floppy disks !

Aks K

Whats a floppy disk

Tom

 

[weakciv]

Floppy disks !

Aks K

how many 5.25 disks will it take to put Civ4 on ...

 

[m15a]

do you think there would be mention (warning) if the game came out on dvd? i'm not really sure because i haven't bought a game or looked to buy a game in, well, since civ 3 came out or so. but i didn't think that dvd was really standard.

i'd rather it came out on dvd than multiple cds. and i'd rather there was multiple cds worth of graphics and sounds than just one.

 

[oldStatesman]

I wish they would arrange some sort of secure internet released version. But I suspect that that Firaxis has been unfortunately brainwashed into thinking that copy protected CD/DVDs are a good thing. I've bought other software over the internet: Graphics software, disk management suites, anti-virus, various engineering programs, but never a game. It's unfortunate in this day and age that is still not possible with all software, especially in the gaming industry, a field that typically is the leader for that kind of thing.

Anyway, I too would like to have some info here. As an American living in England running a German version of XP, things are a bit complicated for me. The sooner I know what my options are, the better.

Agreed, I will not buy shrink wraped software anymore. The legal internet download is the way to go. I have bought everything from advanced firewalls to anti-virus to highly specialized network management apps to games (yes, you CAN buy some games legally online through game download services ...Civ2 being one, and I even think Civ3 is available too).

The inconveniece of hardware anti-piricy methods are just a part of it for me - but the software ant-piracy measures today are very very good when implemented properly. Either can be broken, but to me, anti-piracy measures are like locks on a house - they are meant for honest people. True professional theives will get around any security measures in place.

The real key to solving the piracy issue is to be pro-active and address the root causes of piracy and resolve them rather than throwing a reactive consumer-side anti-piriacy band-aid on things that stems the bleeding but doesn't dull the blade. But until the stodgy 20th century mindset of the Corporate world changes, this will not happen.

 

[bobbobjack]

I'm not sure about cd-roms, but i the box art clairly says DVD-ROM... just check it.

BBJ

 

[TastySheriff]

Wel amazon says CD-ROM, as does Firaxis, but sometimes people forget that DVD-ROMS shouldnt be labeled as CD-ROMS. As for dl-ing software, i like my goodies. Especially for this game. The manual will be by my side always

 

[Urederra]

Floppy disks !

Aks K

1500 of them

without numeration. randomly packaged, so you have to stick one floppy disk after another to find out which one is the first one, and so on until you install the whole game.

 

[Thomas Davie]

1500 of them

without numeration. randomly packaged, so you have to stick one floppy disk after another to find out which one is the first one, and so on until you install the whole game.

Urk; 1500! It would take a lonnnngggggg time to install this puppy.

Tom

 

[covenant]

Urk; 1500! It would take a lonnnngggggg time to install this puppy.

Tom

You cant install it due to piracy concerns. you have to swap floppies depending on what your doing.

 

[m15a]

You cant install it due to piracy concerns. you have to swap floppies depending on what your doing.

this gave me a fond flashback of the civ I tech tree piracy control. for those that don't remember, after a certain number of turns, it'd ask you what the requirements were for a certain tech (i think they'd show the image assosciated with the tech instead of the name of the tech) and if you didn't answer correctly, your game was aborted. kind of funny because it ended up helping me learn the tech tree. almost as cool as sim earth asking you for cosmological facts, like the length of a jupiter year in days.

 

[Rince]

I'm not sure about cd-roms, but i the box art clairly says DVD-ROM... just check it.

I checked and the north american version (with ESRB rating) it looks like this:




and the german/european version (with PEGI rating) looks like this:



Rince

 

[Flak]

I suppose different distributors could package and sell the game different ways.