civilization v

Farewell, Civilization V

The Civilization series of games moves in cycles. On October 30, 2001, Civilization III was released; October 25, 2005 brought Civilization IV; the latest incarnation of the series was released September 21, 2010; and now Civilization VI arrives on October 21. There is a wistful sense of loss in thi

Civilization is coming to classrooms, and that’s a bad idea

If you wanted to find a small, distilled encapsulation of the Civilization series of grand-scale strategy games, you need go no farther than the musical trailer for Civilization IV’s (2005) original game and its theme song, “Baba Yetu.” The trailer depicts—as only Civilization can—the vast scope of

Pretty much everyone ever owns and plays Dota 2 (apparently)

The dark fantasy esport Dota 2 is undeniably Steam’s killer app, according to the number-crunching-smiths at Ars Technica, who found that over 25 million copies have been downloaded and played on Valve’s popular digital download service. We shouldn’t be shocked that such a hardcore, complex game—eve

This artist is playing Civilization 24/7. You know, for art

You can find the artist Diego Leclery at a makeshift desk outside the Whitney Museum, staring at a monitor displaying Civilization, hand clutching a mouse. He has previously dressed up as a polar bear and allowed people to be photographed with him as art. His new piece is called Me Playing Civilizat

Some awesome modder created Papers Please’s totalitarian regime in Civ 5

Despite being the locale for one of our favorite games of last year, traveling to Arstotzka is probably not advised. However, it’s a fine place to go to war, now that a modder has created the fictional state in the Brave New World expansion of Civilization 5.  The beautiful thing here, aside from th

Civilization V designer wants to give Attila the Hun his due

The history of the West is a violent, teeth-gnashing, and unholy succession through the centuries. And while empire-builder games let us toy with the past — to stroke our chins and speculate what if Rome had been defeated, say, in the War against Nabis in 195 BC — they’re typically a war of attritio