Highly Anticipated Sid Meier's Civilization IV Makes History Using Gamebryo Technology
CALABASAS, Calif. and CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (October 4, 2005) - Emergent Game Technologies today announced that Firaxis Games' Sid Meier's Civilization IV, one of the most highly anticipated games of the year, was built using Emergent's Gamebryo technology. The strategy game, which spans the entire range of human history, will ship this month and has already been named by Time magazine as one of the hottest new games of 2005.
"Gamebryo has been a great fit for our engineers and artists," said Bretton Wade, director of technology at Firaxis. "From the prototype phase to the final product, Gamebryo enabled us to spend our development time on the unique challenges that make Civilization IV great. The tool set and flexible design of the system have been a great boon to a content team tasked with spanning all of human history. When Civilization IV hits the shelves, our customers are going to be blown away by the quality of the game."
In Civilization IV, players will have greater control over the roles of major foundations such as governments and religions, with less emphasis on more routine tasks such as pollution cleanup. Players will also enjoy easy modding, with the ability to create new units, game maps, scenarios, and even entire civilizations.
Firaxis is no stranger to Gamebryo, having used the 3D graphics engine and toolkit for its blockbuster hit title, Sid Meier's Pirates! "We've always enjoyed working with Sid Meier, Jeff Briggs and the entire Firaxis team," said John Austin, senior vice president of business development and strategy at Emergent. "Their games are always highly anticipated, and this is no exception. The Civilization series holds a special place in the history of computer games and we're thrilled they trust Gamebryo to help make it one of the most exciting games in the industry."
Other well-known titles that use Gamebryo include Sid Meier's Pirates!, Empire Earth II®, Freedom Force vs. The 3rd Reich, Dark Age of Camelot: Darkness Rising, Imperator, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, The Guilds II, and STACKEDTM with Daniel Negreanu, a Texas Hold'em poker game.
About Emergent Game Technologies
Headquartered in Calabasas, Calif. and with offices in Chapel Hill, N.C., Walnut Creek, Calif., and Austin, Texas, Emergent Game Technologies provides software, tools and infrastructure for the video game and military simulation industries. The company recently merged with NDL, the award-winning developer of the Gamebryo 3D graphics engine & toolkit. The company is developing the Emergent PlatformTM, which provides any of the tools and technologies that game developers need to deliver better games on-time and on-budget. To learn more, please visit www.emergentgametech.com.
About Firaxis Games
Firaxis Games, founded in 1996 by veteran gaming executive Jeff Briggs, is one of the world's premier independent game development studios, and home of legendary designer Sid Meier. Headquartered in Hunt Valley, Maryland, FIRAXIS has created some of the most successful and award-winning computer and video games on the market. The company's most recent hit titles include: Sid Meier's Pirates! (PC and Xbox), the blockbuster Sid Meier's Civilization III series, and Sid Meier's SimGolf. Firaxis has a rich history of great games including: Sid Meier's Gettysburg!, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire and Sid Meier's Antietam!. Sid Meier's Civilization IV will be released in October 2005. For more information on Firaxis Games visit www.firaxis.com or contact Kelley Gilmore at kgilmore@firaxis.com.
Sid Meier's Pirates! is a registered trademark of Firaxis Games. Firaxis Games is a registered trademark of Firaxis Games.
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