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Firaxis teams up with Hasbro
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Alpha Centauri Forums
The Game
Firaxis teams up with Hasbro
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| Author | Topic: Firaxis teams up with Hasbro |
| rogera |
posted 05-06-99 02:45 PM ET 
Maybe there teaming up for Civilization III or a remake of Pirates |
| jsorense |
posted 05-06-99 03:01 PM ET
This was posted at Computer Games Online: Firaxis joins with Hasbro for new title
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| Frank Moore |
posted 05-06-99 03:46 PM ET
Very interesting! But if they make civ3 what will i do, play SMAC or civ3? |
| Old_Guy |
posted 05-06-99 03:56 PM ET
It's been a looooooong time since I've posted here, but here goes. This news is very interesting. I guess time is truly circular, not linear. I would think if it's a choice between Civ3 or Pirates2, it would be Pirates since SMAC and Civ2 gold were released fairly recently. |
| Aredhran |
posted 05-06-99 04:50 PM ET
YES ! FIRAXIS, WE DEMAND A MULTIPLAYER PIRATES ! Aredhran |
| Victor Galis |
posted 05-06-99 05:41 PM ET
There are rumors that the next Firaxis game will be a trading game. therefore this partnership, leads me to believe that this game will be Pirates 2. |
| Goobmeister |
posted 05-06-99 05:43 PM ET
PIRATES! Mp, sp, no p, I don't care I just want to be sailing the Spanish Main, and hiding in the reefs off Belize. Goob |
| Imran Siddiqui |
posted 05-06-99 05:48 PM ET
Hmmm, Sid Meier and Brian Reynolds working with the owners of Microprose. Interesting, no? Imran Siddiqui |
| SnowFire |
posted 05-06-99 05:55 PM ET
I seriously doubt Civilization III for awhile. And also, Colonization! II is unlikely since Imp II came out recently. So Pirates! II seems as good a guess as any, though Cutthroats should be out soon. Me, I'd rather see MOM II over Pirates II. |
| Sand |
posted 05-06-99 05:59 PM ET
Hmmm... Interesting question. Remember that Hasbro just bought out Avalon Hill, opening lots of possibilities there - Advanced Squad Leader maybe (done right instead of the two abortive previous attempts)? Sand |
| Imran Siddiqui |
posted 05-06-99 06:03 PM ET
Remember that Hasbro has all those board games... Although, I hope for a true Sid Meier's Civilization 3! Imran Siddiqui |
| CatsAt8 |
posted 05-06-99 06:06 PM ET
Hasbro ?? SMAC ???
Well...Yang looks like Slobbering Molosobitch of Yugoslavia.OOPS...Maybe is wrong place to say that....Hasbro ?? LOLOL
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| jsorense |
posted 05-06-99 06:27 PM ET
Oh, please, please, please let it be Pirates! II. This thread is making me almost optimistic. We will know one way or another next week. Capt. jsorense of the privateer: Sister Miriam's Revenge (cruising off Roatan) And if there is an "Advanced Squad Leader" down the road I will be a happy happy joy joy kind of guy. |
| Imran Siddiqui |
posted 05-06-99 06:54 PM ET
No, jsorence! Civ 3! All the way! Can you imagine, getting a tech like Democracy and hearing an actor read some lines from the US Constitution! Or an Albert Einstein actor describing Relativity! A social engineering for Civ! My God! Make Civ3! Imran Siddiqui |
| Sparky |
posted 05-06-99 06:59 PM ET
BTW, who owns the companies? Microprose took over Hudson Soft. Then EA took over Microprose. Firaxis split from Microprose and teamed with EA a few years ago. So where does Hasbro fit in? |
| Jimmy |
posted 05-06-99 07:39 PM ET
A space version of Pirates !! |
| Shining1 |
posted 05-06-99 07:47 PM ET
At the risk of sounding stupid - what is pirates? I'm a bit late to sidgames, personally. Secondly, wasn't there talk that Firaxis was going to work on a couple of projects simultainiously - so there's a possibility that Brian will do CivIII and Sid will do PiratesII. Doesn't that sound like a nice idea... Shining1 |
| jsorense |
posted 05-06-99 07:55 PM ET
Shining1, For a good overview of what Sid Meier's Pirates! was check out: http://www.sidgames.com/pirates/ See if it is something you might enjoy. |
| Shining1 |
posted 05-06-99 08:46 PM ET
Ummm... Yes, it is. |
| Analyst |
posted 05-06-99 08:58 PM ET
This might be reaching, but then again, might not. The latest issue of Computer Gaming World has an article in which Hasbro claims that it intends to develop and bring to market a cumputer version of the Avalon Hill game "Diplomacy" (a very personal favorite of mine). For those who don't know, Diplomacy is a seven player board game in which players try by a combination of negotiation and tactical skills to dominate a map of turn of the century Europe. It's been called seven handed chess. All previous attempts to make a respectable Diplomacy AI have been pretty lame, but Hasbro says that it intends to package an AI with the game that will make it a challenging single player game. It seems a reasonable speculation to connect the dots between Mssrs. Reynolds and Meier and the need for a Diplomacy AI to be developed. Those of us who are Diplomacy enthusiasts would be very excited to find such top notch AI programmers at work on that engine. If someone told me that I had to chose between that and a new Pirates! I'd probably be writhing on the floor in agony over that decision (to Shining1--Pirates! was that good, oh yes). |
| ejrolon |
posted 05-06-99 09:04 PM ET
after all this talk about pirates II i went in search of my old copy of pirates gold and i have lost it...D*MN'carajo etc. so firaxis should start working fast before i commit ritual suicide. analyst i have never heard of diplomacy but i was actually very good at axis and allies do they share something or not? |
| Urban Ranger |
posted 05-07-99 08:04 AM ET
I would guess they re-make Magic: the Gathering. Sid Meier was involved in the original MtG computer game, but it pretty much sucked, being extremely repetitive and good only for multiplayer online duels. Since Microprose has both MoM and MtG, they can merge the two see what they can come up, with Sid and Brian's help, of course. |
| Earwicker |
posted 05-07-99 08:12 AM ET
I'm looking forward to SMAC II where the FIraxis/Hasbro alliance replaces Santiago with GI Joe (feel that Kung-Fu grip, Morgan!). |
| Jimmy |
posted 05-07-99 10:40 AM ET
If Firaxis and hasbro are making a computer version of "Diplomacy" or any other game that requires diplomacy, I have a suggestion for how to make diplomacy truly revolutionary. Drum roll ... ( Brian, Sid are you listening?) Instead of prescripted messages and choices that you select, diplomacy should use an engine where you type in anything you want and the computer constructs a response by analyzing the words you used and the grammar. |
| MoSe |
posted 05-07-99 11:50 AM ET
DIPLOMACY!!! Oh, boy! First attempt we went with 15 min. diplomatic contacts and 5 min. writing down orders. Next we reduced it to 10 and 3 min. So fun, so much cunning [convincing the ally of the benefit of he/she letting you attack and invade his/her dotted territory!], but endless. PC Diplomacy shold really be "live" MP. I actually thought of a LAN version, but the programming was way beyond my skills then. I designed a planar graph with territories as nodes, and borders as arcs (sp?). Made a lot of lists and cross-tables too. Printed brand new orders sheets, making full use of Wingdings font! Really like chess! few pieces, few rules, but huge strategies and abismally bottomless tactical possibilities... I won't be thinking a second taking a week holyday (sort of free-lance, so no real need of asking permission, and I won't get paid for that week) anywhere in Europe to play a full 7-players Diplomacy game till its conclusion. MariOne |
| Sand |
posted 05-07-99 12:10 PM ET
Jsorense: I doubt we will see a true ASL game anytime down the road. So far there have been two attempts - Close Combat and a game currently being developed at BigTime Games. Both split for "artistic differences", but the truth is that the game was simply over their heads. Simply developing a coherent AI for ASL would take a *lot*, not to mention LOS, special rules, etc., etc. ASL is currently the most complicated game in existence (IMHO, of course, but probably true - although SMAC is certainly climbing up the complexity scale near ASL). It would truly take a kickass development team to be able to devlop it (i.e. Sid Meier and group). I think it more likely that if they were to pick an Avalon Hill game to develop, it would be Diplomacy. Not my choice, since I'm a registered ASL addict (and have the biggest ASL web site on the web to prove it). But if all these people are drooling over Pirates II, that could be a good choice, too. Sand |
| Analyst |
posted 05-07-99 12:38 PM ET
MoSe, sure we finished Diplomacy games. More to the point, there is, right now, a thriving PBEM Diplomacy community. Games are arranged and adjudicated through a computer program called The Judge. There's about a dozen Judge servers operating. No more arguing over rules interpretations. The pace of play is such that it typically takes 9 months to a year to finish a game, but that ain't bad, considering the nature of the game. Plenty of time for negotiated intrigue over that time span. Very high level of play in the community. Reasonable level of dedication. A typical game finishes with about half of it's starting players intact and the mechanism of soliciting replacements for dropouts is very refined, meaning games are seldom stalled by the dropout phenomenon. Don't have the URLs for the websites that explain how all this works handy, but if you enter "Diplomacy" into a search engine, you'll find what you're looking for pretty quick. Look for The Diplomatic Pouch--it's the center of the online Diplomacy universe. Newsgroup at rec.games.diplomacy is also quite active. |
| MoSe |
posted 05-07-99 01:02 PM ET
<recovers from fainting> -thinks he might as well quit SMACing right away... |
| MoSe |
posted 05-07-99 01:16 PM ET
Oh, gee, life is so short.. |
| Goobmeister |
posted 05-07-99 02:34 PM ET
First, attempting to compare Axis and Allies to Diplomacy is like... I don't even want to go there ( my first thought was checkers to chinese checkers, but then I realized Go was the better analogy). Second while the sites Analyst mentioned sound great, (MoSe if I can ever get a game -real life - going here in the states you are invited to join) and I intend to check them out. Can you though really expect an even reasonable AI version of Diplomacy? The mechanics of course are simple enough but the game play, the lying..., the double meanings, and humanness of it could not be duplicated. It has been somewhat accepted that SMAC has a good to very good diplomacy engine. It pales in comparision to what would be needed to enjoy a SP diplomacy game. Give me the game that allows a full and rich MP diplomacy experience, either Live or PBEM and I will be excited beyond belief, but I do not expect an adequate AI. (how could the AI ever play the Italians - one of the most delicate and balanced positions ever to be seen in a game.) Goob |
| jimmytrick |
posted 05-07-99 03:43 PM ET
Hell, I used to play Dipomacy. It makes SMAC look like a kindergarten diversion. Really deep, no way the AI could work. It would be a bust as SP but, well, maybe Sid could...... Sid Meier's Diplomacy Multi-Player On-Line only, thats it. I think I still have my dipomacy stuff somewhere.....(headed for the closet) |
| evil_conquerer |
posted 05-07-99 04:34 PM ET
I hope it's not a Pirates! II or Civ III. They're all great games, but it's time for something original. Gamers are hungry for something new that isn't a sequel (although the sequels are great, _especially_ SMAC). I would like to see something unique, something that's not a sequel, or worse, a clone (Ack!!!!). Diplomacy would be great, but it would be hard to simulate the complex diplomacy that would seem to artifical with an AI. One of the main elements in Diplomacy is the human end of it, which would sadly be lacking in SP. But multi-player would rock, because any *board* game with PBEM must have great MP. BTW, they couldn't make a diplomacy system where the AI recognizes natural language. Systems for that are still being prototyped, and they don't work that well. In a computer game, it would be horrible to have to reload because a computer player misinterpreted your request. (Oh, you said TRADE cities!! I thought you said NUKE cities!) Also, what's Advanced Squad Leader? |
| evil_conquerer |
posted 05-07-99 04:48 PM ET
Here's a couple more ideas for another Sidgame: A 3D TBS game, either a godgame (Civ III 3D) or a different kind. The godgame would have to have multiple zoom levels and could optionally have tactical combat. A _good_ RTS game, not a "Command & Clone". It could be 3D also. A persistent-world TBS game, which would be taken over by an AI when you left. This would be hard, because no modern AI is as good as an experienced human player (Try playing SMAC on Librarian and you'll know what I mean :-) ) Jacob |
| Analyst |
posted 05-07-99 04:53 PM ET
Just so we don't misunderstand, according to CGW, Hasbro *will* be doing a computer game version of Diplomacy. The only question is how will it get done. I can't think of anyone better qualified to tackle the problem than Sid & Brian. My personal expectation is that the games against the AI will be primarily meant as a tactical exercise. With no negotiations whatsoever (what is refered to as "gunboat" play) or, possibly with a crude negotiation dynamic not unlike SMAC. I can't see natural language diplomacy as possible. Still, this is a much bigger challenge than you might think. As has been said above, the tactics in this game go *deep*. Gunboat Dip may seem boring--it did to me until I tried it--but it's not boring at all. It very well demonstrates just how critical to the game the tactics are--and just how difficult and complex. Gunboat games are also not entirely without possibility of negotiation. Just creating an engine that could play a tactically respectable gunboat game would be a huge accomplishment. |
| Goobmeister |
posted 05-07-99 05:21 PM ET
Analyst, in MP gunboat (I have played my own SP version of gunboat Diplomacy) is there any mechanism for coordianting attacks? It would seem there must be. Goob |
| Goobmeister |
posted 05-07-99 05:23 PM ET
I saw the Hasbro/Diplomacy mention just this morning on my Friday Donut/bagel run (with a stop at the magazine stand). Odd that I find this thread today. Goob |
| Analyst |
posted 05-07-99 10:37 PM ET
Goob, there's no way to *directly* coordinate attacks with other powers in gunboat Dip, but there are ways to communicate through writing unit orders. Using a unit order to issue a friendly support order to a neighboring unit of another power is one way to communicate a request for alliance. If the support is clearly unnecessary, so much the better for communication, since communication will be more readily percieved as the intent of the order. You can issue convoy orders for your fleet units that suggest alliance (convoying a neighboring power's army to Switerland) or a joint attack (convoying a neighboring power's army to another power's capital). And sometimes you just catch the same wavelength as the other player and good alliance coordination, based on a shared perception of best play, naturally results. I once had a Russia-Turkey alliance last for 12 full game years in a gunboat Dip game, with some uncanny instances of mutual cooperation during it's history. I've never had an alliance last that long in a game where people could actually talk to each other. When seven experienced Diplomats play gunboat, alliances form, coordinate, shift and are betrayed in nearly the same patterns as if the players could talk to each other. The balance of power dynamic is no less vigorous for the inability to speak. |
| Imran Siddiqui |
posted 05-08-99 01:18 AM ET
From CNET GameCenter: "With mere days to go until the start of E3, it looks as if Hasbro Interactive plans to tie the publishing knot with none other than Firaxis Games. On Friday, May 14, Hasbro Interactive will hold a reunion party with the so-called Civilization Dream Team, in which it will formally announce plans to enter into a publishing agreement with Sid Meier's Firaxis Games. Speculation is that Meier, the designer of the original Civilization computer game, will develop Civilization III for Hasbro-owned MicroProse. Civilization and Civilization II, the latter designed by Firaxis's Brian Reynolds, are among the most commercially and critically successful computer games ever. The games are so popular that Activision recently released its own take on Civilization with Civilization: Call to Power. Electronic Arts' Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri was considered the unofficial follow-up to Civilization, and MicroProse is working on Civilization II: Test of Time, an expanded version of the game. Neither MicroProse nor Firaxis would officially comment on the matter. Interestingly, Firaxis recently signed a multititle publishing agreement with EA, which also published Sid Meier's Gettysburg. It's not clear how this impending announcement will affect the EA deal, nor does it signify the end of Firaxis and EA's long-term relationship. However, Firaxis will not attend the E3 show in any official capacity and will be conspicuously absent from the EA booth. To date, both EA and Firaxis have remained tight-lipped regarding their next titles." Imran Siddiqui |
| Lee Johnson |
posted 05-08-99 03:02 PM ET
Lest anybody get too excited about Diplomacy, the CGW preview on the new computer version in development clearly identifies Meyer-Glass Interactive as the developers. These are the guys who did the recent conversion of (ahem) Axis and Allies (ahem) for Hasbro. If I were a betting man, I'd guess that the rumoured Firaxis/Hasbro collaboration will be for a new version of Pirates!, but since I never played Pirates! and the subject matter isn't personally appealing, I won't be upset if I'm wrong. ;-) |
| TheHelperMonkey |
posted 05-08-99 10:38 PM ET
What is Pirates! anyway (I know it's game, but what is it about)? |
| Urban Ranger |
posted 05-08-99 11:57 PM ET
Pirates! is an early Sid effort that runs on the 8-bit computers (Atari, Commodore, etc.). It is an interesting mix of arcade actions, adventure, and stretagy. I tend to suck at the arcade sequences so I hope they drop that part  |
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