I’ll admit that my first thought upon seeing that there was a Civilization VI [official site] launch trailer was to get that Brentalfloss version of Baba Yetu which adds parody lyrics stuck in my head so I watched that first. Civ VI’s actual trailer is far more SRSBSNS. It’s all about cinematics showing the key achievements you can use as markers of progress in the game and dramatisations of some of the conflict:

… [visit site to read more]

As it was prophesied, soon it will come to pass. The Steam Charts approach their endgame: where all sales and all pre-order shenanigans converge to ensure that just one game occupies all top ten placements. Soon, there shall be unity. Terrible, terrible unity. … [visit site to read more]

This is the second part of a Civilization VI diary, running from the beginning of recorded history to the atomic age and victory (?). Part one is here.>

“He’s not the Messiah, he’s a very naughty Great Prophet.”

No, scratch that. Wrong Python movie.

Spanish persons, today the blood of many a brave samurai shall be avenged! In the name of Horace, we shall not stop our fight till every one of you lies dead, and the Holy Grail returns to those who Horace Himself has chosen!

This entry of my Civilization VI [official site] diary is about my quest for the Holy Grail.

… [visit site to read more]

In this first part of a Civilization VI [official site] diary series, which will follow my glorious nation from its birth to eventual victory (or abject failure), we trace Japan’s steps from the ancient to the classical era. Along the way, I’ll be explaining the rules of this new entry in the series as well as telling the story of my people.>

Rome is bristling with spears and its leader, Trajan, is not very happy. Not very happy at all. It’s 1160 BC and I’ve already sworn off wonders, stabbed my only friend in the back, and found myself caught between faiths. Let’s rewind almost three thousand years though, to the founding of Kyoto and a time of great promise. Let’s go back to the start.

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I had all the characteristics of a blogger frayed jeans, opinions, laptop, tea but my depersonalisation was so intense, had gone so deep, that my normal ability to compile charts had been eradicated, the victim of a slow, purposeful erasure. I was simply imitating top ten articles, a rough resemblance of a best-sellers list, with only a dim corner of my mind functioning.

And yet. … [visit site to read more]

A month ahead of its release, I ve spent a week with Civilization VI [official site]. The build of the game is near-complete, though only ten of the twenty civs are playable and there are some limits on startup settings. When I heard that I d be able to play so much of the game so long before release, I hoped that was evidence of 2K s confidence in what they had to show.

Whether that s true or not, they should be brimming with confidence. Civ VI is excellent.>

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I’m trying to think who it could be. I don’t really have enemies any more, or not knowingly so. Some forgotten bully from school who never left our hometown and is still obsessed with tormenting me? A fellow journalist whose article I might have drunkenly tweeted something rude about in 2009? Someone I unfollowed or unfriended because they were tiresome or awful? You Know, Those Guys? Or: all of them, working together. Pooling their life savings to buy as many copies of a certain game as they can. Make no mistake: someone’s out to get me. It’s the only possible explanation.

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The Iain Banks novel Complicity> dedicates a fair few words to the system requirements of Despot, a fictional game which is basically Civilization (Banks had a bit of a Civ problem). If even Iain Banks didn’t shy away from such responsibility, I hardly can.

With Civilization VI [official site] now less than a month away from launch, the system requirements are now finalised. As you’d expect, they’re not too strict, running on most PCs from the past four years or so.

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Last month I spent four hours playing Civilization VI on a very hot day in central London. I came away wishing I could play for another four hundred hours, and also wishing that I had an ice cream. Mint and choc chip preferably.

Since then, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what Civ VI is doing and how its many systems create a brilliant competitive race through history while also producing some weird tensions around the idea of what a civilization actually is in the context of the game. Are cultures defined by the choices they make, by their surroundings, their neighbours, by determination or by chance? Whatever the answer might be, one thing is sure: Cleopatra hates> me.

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I made a silent promise to myself that I wouldn’t post every single new leader/civ reveal for Civilization VI [official site] because, really, do you need a video to tell you that France is likely to have some big cultural advantages based around museums, and that Japan might have its own warrior code, and cities that enjoy the benefits that come from island life and seafood? The Egyptian video is a good one though, teasing out some details of the new adjacency bonuses for improvements, and the ways that early game strengths might change through the course of a campaign.

… [visit site to read more]