7 NEW FILES
(16 September 2005, 14:20 | Civ3) Since the last update 7 new Civilization 3 filse have been posted:
Graphics
Napoleonic cities by Niessuh
TBX-R Title Screens by The Kingpin
Leaderhead
Dido of Carthage : 3D animated era-specific leaderhead with pcxs by R8XFT
MOD
The Balancer Reloaded (TBX-R) by The Kingpin
Scenarios
Nationalism: Loyalty and Bloodshed by ElConejo
War on Terror Multiplayer V1.0 by JMInternelia
WW2 Europa V2. by el mencey
- Gramphos
TRIAL + NO SLEEP = ONE GAME
(15 September 2005, 23:11 | Civ3) One American Internet Service Provider (ISP) wants to help keep its broadband subscribers who are also avid multiplayer computer gamers happy by delivering their own Games-on-Demand (GoD) service. For an additional $15US/month, Verizon customers can have unlimited use of more than 230 games. Writes The Boston Herald`s Brett Arends in the newspaper`s edition yesterday, [t]here`s a two-week free trial period –- about enough time to play one game of Civilization III, provided you don`t sleep.
For just over half that monthly amount, cusomters can choose a family package which excludes the more violent and obsessive games. The service is only avalable to the ISP`s PC customers: the Macintosh platform is at least to date unsupported. - DanQ
PATCH THE PREVIOUSLY UNPATCHABLE
(13 September 2005, 21:06 | Civ3) A German-language computer gaming magazine has heard the annoyed and at times outraged cries from subscribers and non-subscribers alike about the obstacles in updating the copy of Civilization III that comes included on the bonus DVD accompanying their September 2005 issue [see story], and have responded with a 34.8MB patch and instructions on how to correctly apply the patch.
The publication in question is PCGames (PCG) and, by extension, are also supporting similar technical difficulties encountered if readers also acquire CivIII`s Conquests add-on through the purchase of the current issue of fellow magazine SFT-Magazin (SFT). Its bonus CD contains this second and final CivIII expansion pack, and it too cannot be updated using official game patches from developer Firaxis Games and then-publisher Atari. The said patch being distributed through PCG will not only update the copy of CivIII from PCG with or without Conquests installed too, but also Conquests itself.
To download, users must be a registered user of and logged into PCG` forums. Registration is free. Thanks to CivIII fansite civ3.de for the news reference. - DanQ
BUYER BEWARE: ON MAGAZINE DVDS
(7 September 2005, 16:36 | Civ3) 
German gaming magazine PC Games (PCG) has what they believe to be a treat in store for computer games, particularly those into strategy for the suggested retail price of 4.99€. In their September 2005 issue now out to both subscribers and on newsstands across its home country`s national market, a copy of Civilization III is included on the bonus DVD. For an additional 2.99€, gamers can also pick-up the Conquests expansion pack in the currente issue of the fellow Germany-based publication SFT-Magazin (SFT), also dated this month. There appears to be a catch to the deal, however, one that is being documented on an ongoing basis on Civ fansite civ3.de.
Those who have purchased one or both of these magazines are outraged at the quality of the offering, beginning with the understandably misleading byline "Premium Version". The copies of CivIII and C3C are old, `out-of-the-box` versions that have since been patched more than once by developer Firaxis Games in conjunction with then-publisher Atari, formerly Infogrames. The official game patches do not recognize the magazines` DVDs as authorized copies of the game and add-on, meaning that they cannot be updated to correct errors identified and then fixed after their respective releases in 2001 and 2003 respectively. Moreover, the PCG version of CivIII reportedly no longer functions after the installation of the Conquests add-on from SFT.
Attempts by civ3.de`s management to contact SFT to date have met with failure, but an individual who wrote as a buyer of the magazine did receive a response with a friendly demeanour. According to the unnamed SFT representative who wrote the reply, a third step after installing CivIII from PCG and C3C from them must be followed in order for the game to run: the PCG DVD must again be inserted in a computer`s DVD drive. Concerned and annoyed PCG customers are being referred to the company`s official forum by civ3.de staff to add their voice to the ongoing debate. - DanQ
FUN, EDUCATIONAL GAMES FOR OLDER YOUTH
(23 August 2005, 23:01 | Civ3) Educational games for young children are plentiful and generally enjoyed by those they are targetted and marketed towards, but titles that offer similar benefits and hold similar interests are fewer and farther between contends an article published today on Business Week`s website. For the four-period 2000-2004, revenues to gaming companies developing and publishing so-called `edutational` titles have fallen more than two-thirds. As video games become a common part of childhood, educators and researchers are looking at the ways children play and think about "fun" titles, the uncredited author writes. With many of today`s most complex and sophisticated popular games, they say it`s possible to help turn gameplay into an educational experience. And some developers are changing the way they create educational titles for older children. [..]
The best games, researchers say, are those in which the player controls and manages his or her own world... The three titles mentioned to this end are SimCity 4, Zoo Tycoon and Civilization III. The writer then mentions a focus on CivIII made in the latest issue of Innovate magazine published last week [see story].
If executed correctly, even "fun" games can become a balanced part of the child`s educational diet, the piece concludes. - DanQ
FOR A FATHER`S DAY PAST
(20 August 2005, 23:02 | Civ3) Did you give your father a computer game for Father`s Day 2004? GamerDad`s Andrew S. Bub published his alphabetized recommendations a few days before the big event. Civilization III: Conquests was one of seventeen titles to make the list. Its company included Battlefield Vietnam and Knights of the Old Republic also for the PC.
Overall, six of the titles were for the PC outright with another two available for it and other platforms. Titles for the GameCube 2, PlayStation 2 and the X-Box in whole or in part also made the multiplatform index. - DanQ
RELEASED UNDER NEW PUBLISHING LABEL
(17 August 2005, 21:52 | Civ3) Civilization III: Complete, the composite title that combines CivIII with expansion packs Play the World and Conquests, has been re-released by developer Firaxis Games and publisher Take-Two Interactive under the latter`s subsidiary label, 2K Games. A a report on this on GameInfoWire notes that Pirates! too is now being sold under the 2K umbrella, both selling for a suggested retail price of $29.99US in North America.
2K is set to publish CivIII sequel Civilization IV this November. - DanQ
A FORMULA FOR GAMING IN CLASSROOMS
(13 August 2005, 23:52 | Civ3) The Assistant Professor of Educational Technology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is a boardmmember of and author in the Innovate digital journal. He is also a fan of Civilization III, in particular its educational uses. In his debut article for Innovate, entitled "Changing the Game:
What Happens When Video Games Enter the Classroom?", he explores the positive use of the game in high school history classrooms. [His] case study reveals that CivIII appeals particularly to those students for whom a traditional education is simply not working, the synposis reads. Students who do well in the classroom, however, are more reluctant to view gaming as a legitimate learning tool and experience much more frustration when playing the game. Squire looks to the hierarchical organization of the classroom as the reason behind this perhaps suprising result.
This ~3,400 word write-up appears as part of Innovate's current and sixth issue to date, August/September 2005, released on its website earlier this week. To read this and other articles in the online publication, Internet users need to subscribe for a free access account. Innovate is a publication of Nova Southeastern University. For related stories on Squire and his ongoing research efforts, click here. - DanQ
EASTER WHEN YOU LEAST EXPECT IT
(13 August 2005, 22:48 | Civ3) It`s some months since last and until next Easter, but fansite Civilization Fanatics Center (CFC) has completed their list of `Easter Eggs` for Civilization III. As CFC describes it, Easter Eggs are "bonus" stuff hidden in the game for players to find. They are often for entertainment purposes or contain a reference to something.
CFC also contacted Firaxis Games Tool Manager Mike Breitkreutz and received a response not only clarifying details on known `goodies` but also those never previously documented. The latter include specially timed unit appearances, advsior dialogue cultural references and a Psychadelic Editor. - DanQ
FOR OUR CHILDRENS` FUTURE
(30 July 2005, 23:56 | Civ3) Another article documenting Kurt Squires` efforts to educate children in science, history and mathematics has been published in the Winston-Salem Journal. Author Gil Klien talks about the education professor at the University of Wisconsin`s focus on Firaxis Games developed Pirates and Civilization III as his titles of choice. On CivIII, Squires notes how in ongoing summer sessions with fourth and fifth graders that [a]bout 75 percent of them are attentive and that by the third week, many... are begging me to come in on my day off.
A report recently published by UoW`s Education department says that computer games, often decried by parents and teachers as bad influences on children, should be viewed in a more positive light. Games currently available won`t replace schools as we know them any time soon, the report reads, but they give a glimpse of how we might create new and more powerful ways to learn in schools, communities and the workplace. - DanQ
