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Old 06-05-2010, 19:38   #1
Shabbaman
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Default Civ5 already available for pre-order

And it includes a bonus civ... odd. As it is announced by 2k:

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2K Games and Valve today announced an agreement to power all PC versions of the highly anticipated Sid Meier’s Civilization V with many of Steamworks’ features and offer a special Digital Deluxe Edition via Steam. In addition, customers who pre-order the regular or Digital Deluxe editions of Sid Meier’s Civilization V on Steam will be rewarded with a free map pack when the game launches in fall 2010.

Sid Meier’s Civilization V players will enjoy the benefits of the Steamworks’ features included in all PC versions such as auto-updating, Steam Achievements, downloadable content, multiplayer matchmaking and more.

Sid Meier’s Civilization V Digital Deluxe Edition will expand players’ conquests with the new Babylonian civilization and their ruler, Nebuchadnezzar II (c. 630 – c. 561 B.C.). As King of Babylon, gamers will be able to expand their empire with advanced Babylonian Bowmen to rightfully earn the title of Nebuchadnezzar the Great. Sid Meier’s Civilization V Digital Deluxe Edition will also include an in-depth “Behind the Scenes at Firaxis with Civilization V” video feature, as well as the game’s epic soundtrack.

Gamers who pre-order any version of Sid Meier’s Civilization V from Steam will receive the downloadable bonus content, Cradle of Civilization Map Pack: Mesopotamia, for free when the game is available. The map pack will let players experience the traditional Western and Middle Eastern “Cradle of Civilization.” The pack will include the Fertile Crescent with the Nile River valley to the west and extending east down the Tigris and Euphrates river valleys to the Persian Gulf. Leaders will be able to explore new terrain, cultures and conquests.

For those who can’t wait for the immersive experience of Sid Meier’s Civilization V, 2K Games is proud to offer a Steam-wide sale on all previous Civilization titles for a limited time beginning today.


Steam promotional blah blah:

Quote:
Sid Meier's Civilization® V is the fifth offering in the multi-award winning Civilization strategy game series featuring the famous "just one more turn" addictive gameplay that has made it one of the greatest game series of all time.

In Civilization V, players strive to become Ruler of the World by establishing and leading a civilization from the dawn of man into the space age, waging war, conducting diplomacy, discovering new technologies, going head-to-head with some of history’s greatest leaders, and building the most powerful empire the world has ever known.

* Believable World: More than just a strategy game -- the expanded visuals and immersive audio invite would-be kings to take up the reigns of power and forge a mighty empire. Civilization V offers a limitless variety of vast, realistic and diverse landscapes for players to explore, battle over and claim as their own.
* Inviting Presentation: An intuitive interface eases both new players and Civ veterans into the game. Guided by a set of trusted advisors who will explain game functionality and provide counsel for significant decisions, even first-time players will be confident in the choices they make.
* Huge Battles: Combat is more exciting and engaging than ever before. Wars between empires feel massive with armies spreading across the landscape. The addition of ranged bombardment allows players to fire weapons from behind the front lines, challenging players to develop clever new strategies to guarantee victory on the battlefield.
* In-Game Community Hub: Compete with Civ players from all over the globe via the Internet or compete locally in LAN matches, offering endless ways to rule the world. The game itself now serves as the hub of community activity, featuring the ability to share scenarios, compare scores, brag about achievements and visit one of the thriving Civ fansites without leaving the game. It's now easier than ever for players to become involved in the global Civ Community.
* Modability: With unprecedented modding tools, players will have unlimited options for modifying Civilization V any way they like.
There's a major downside about Steam: you have to be online to play your games. This is pretty much t3h suck if you want to play it on your laptop in remote areas like Drenthe (right, Propain?). And getting deodorant is pretty tough.
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Old 06-05-2010, 21:45   #2
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Can attest to that. I have a disk of Napoleon Total War and after installing it found out that it is hard-bound to Steam. So, cannot play offline. And there is no usable deodorant. Good thing, the disk is not needed. Also, the Steam client is very glitchy piece of software and is essentially a malware/spyware combination with undisclosed mechanism of copy protection. They also update it constantly and then you need to restart everything and this is very annoying.

But, if one does not want to play online, there are a number of options to bypass these connection requirements via regular Windows options. I'm sure you need Vista/Win7 or XP Professional to do that.

On a positive side, and considering heavy patching history of previous Civ versions, there is essentially mandatory save game compatibility with older saves. Which means that key features cannot me modified and multiplayer games should still be playable after patching. This might be able to take care of annoying assets compatibility problems and synchronization issues as well as P2P communications which are very screwed in Civ4.

It also adds a good layer of quality control which had been essentially missing from Firaxis products.

So, IMO, it is a positive thing. For offline/no internet connection issue, they can include some limited feature version of the game. But seriously, there are very few places left where you cannot connect, even in not so civilized world (I mean Russia).

Price is apparently standard as well ($50), no surprise there.
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Old 06-05-2010, 23:35   #3
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I am against such practices, no surprise...
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Old 06-05-2010, 23:45   #4
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There's an upside to steam though, it's absolutely brilliant for communicating in-game. I'm also happy with the automatic updates. Valve is also very good in supporting their own games. But I wish there was something like a "verify once a week" thing for games that don't need constant internet connection.
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Old 07-05-2010, 05:10   #5
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I play lots of steam games in offline mode, completely disconnected from the internet. I don't know what Akots and Shabba are talking about in regards to being forced to play online only. Perhaps Shabba is thinking of TF2, which actually is an online only MP game.
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Old 07-05-2010, 09:23   #6
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As I said, the only thing I have is Napoleon TW. I tried to start it offline but it did not start. I think though that I had drop-down battles enabled. May be, it would work if these are disabled. Will try tomorrow.
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Old 07-05-2010, 10:10   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by grahamiam View Post
I play lots of steam games in offline mode, completely disconnected from the internet. I don't know what Akots and Shabba are talking about in regards to being forced to play online only. Perhaps Shabba is thinking of TF2, which actually is an online only MP game.
Really? I had no idea. I am going to try that. I have col2 on Steam as well.
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Old 07-05-2010, 18:48   #8
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If you actually unplug your computer and try to load Steam, it should try to connect for a bit, and then come up with an error message asking you if you want to try again or work in offline mode.

If that is not the case, then there may be a checkbox somewhere in the preferences that requires the software to prompt for offline mode if disconnected. I've been using it for years and, in the beginning, it was as described. But they changed around 2007 after some notorious Seattle area internet meltdown (may have just been Valve, but I seem to recall it was out of Valve's control). After that, Steam created an offline mode.

http://support.steampowered.com/kb_a...3160-AGCB-2555
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Old 08-05-2010, 04:31   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by grahamiam View Post
If you actually unplug your computer and try to load Steam, it should try to connect for a bit, and then come up with an error message asking you if you want to try again or work in offline mode.
Tried today with Napoleon and internet battles set to off. Stem itself loads but the game fails to start : cannot connect to steam account error.
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Old 13-05-2010, 22:01   #10
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Ok, after 3 or 4 additional client updates, finally it worked! Need to restart steam in offline mode and then the game can start just fine. Moreover, for some strange reason, I can still play multiplayer online via in-game interface. But steam remains dormant. I think a few more updates are coming though to fix that.
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