Sid Meier Developing New Civilization Title

Civilization Revolution will bring the classic Civilization formula to next-gen consoles and handhelds.

The Gods of Gaming have been busy. John Carmack is working on a next-gen game engine, Chris Taylor is already cranking away on a new Supreme Commander, and now Sid Meier is dedicating himself to a new Civilization title. The publishing label 2K announced on Thursday that Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution is officially in development by Firaxis games.

Meier is most well-known for the Civilization series, which he spawned in 1991 and carried through its last title, Civilization IV, in 2005. The biggest change for the upcoming Civilization will be its platform: Meier is specifically designing it to be played on next-gen consoles and handhelds. As part of this change, the game’s timeline will be streamlined to make games quicker and keep players in constant action. Online play will also form a major chunk of the game, with teamplay, head-to-head and free-for-all game styles, as well as auto-matching, ranked games, leaderboards, achievements, downloadable extra content and integrated video and voice chat.

Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution will be available in the spring of 2008 for North American gamers. No details were given about exactly which next-gen consoles and handhelds would be supported, or whether a PC version will follow.