Sid Meier Humble Bundle

[MojoJojo]

https://www.humblebundle.com/

Mostly civilisation, and I suspect most fans of that will have already have all of them. But $7 for Civ5 might appeal to those like me who haven't got it because of the dodgy reports on release.

Has Civ5 been patched to goodness yet?

[Zetetic]

The problems (that I understood, and to a lesser extent) with Civ 5 weren't entirely patchable - it's that the game itself had a tendency towards being boring as fuck and the rules needed to be significantly overhauled.

I felt that Brave New World ($15+) went a long way towards sorting that though.[nb]It's possible that just Gods & Kings did as well, but I think that the Ideology stuff in BNW is rather significant.[/nb] I've really enjoyed some of those games, while I often felt that I was just going through the motions in the vanilla game.

[KLG-7DD]

Gift codes for whoever clicks them first:

Civ III
Civ V

[Jerzy Bondov]

No Sid Meier's Sim Golf, no sale.

[Gurke and Hare]

No Sid Meier's Sim Golf, no sale.

Maischuno!

I was disappointed by this, because Humble Bundles tend to be Linux friendly. When I saw they were doing a Sid Meier one, I got excited and thought that they'd ported some of his games, only to be let down.

[Jamie Oliver is fat]

damn that Simgolf was a good game

so many great games never got version 2's, and yet here we are on the COD treadmill every fucking year, with Splinter Cell and Hitman turning into shit as well

Transport Tycoon, Railroad Tycoon Rollercoaster Tycoon.......where are all these games nowadays

[George Oscar Bluth II]

More bad news for residents of Homs:

DISCLAIMER: This bundle is not for sale to residents of Burma, China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria, and the games in the bundle will not operate in those territories.

[Gavin M]

They say it was the heartache of not being able to buy VVVVVV in a bundle that drove Kim Jong-Il to his death.

[Bleeding Kansas]

Transport Tycoon, Railroad Tycoon Rollercoaster Tycoon.......where are all these games nowadays

http://www.openttd.org/en/

[Jamie Oliver is fat]

http://www.openttd.org/en/

Yeah cheers, but I can't stand that

Seemed to have lost the charm and simplicity of the original

[WesterlyWinds]

Is there a Rollercoaster Tycoon version of that? That was the best one [after Theme Hospital, of course[nb]I know they are entirely different series[/nb]].

[George Oscar Bluth II]

Rollercoaster Tycoon was brilliant. It's a real pity that the Civ lot seem to be the only people making those kind of games these days.

Although there's probably micropayment heavy tablet versions of some of the classics out there if you feel like making yourself really depressed at the state of gaming.

[Ignatius_S]

Rollercoaster Tycoon was brilliant. It's a real pity that the Civ lot seem to be the only people making those kind of games these days.

Although there's probably micropayment heavy tablet versions of some of the classics out there if you feel like making yourself really depressed at the state of gaming.

IIRC, Chris Sawyer did say he would like to do an iOS/Android version of Rollercoaster Tycoon – and there was a deal between Atari and Frontier Developments, which means that such a port could happen.

Not that long ago, Sawyer did such a port of Transport Tycoon (it was on iOS and I think also Android), which was very well received. However, this was published by his own company, but he has links to FD (I assume these still exist).

Going from memory, but I'm pretty sure that Sawyer said that the game's design didn't lend itself to the F2P model – and he isn't keen on that kind of model in any case.

However, ultimately, the market does dictate prices and there's a lot of resistance from punters paying upfront for a game. The most recent X-Com was ported brilliantly, it had been on special offer for half price (so about £7) – even though this is the same version as the PC/console versions, I lost count of how many people commented that the discounted price,  never mind the full price, was a rip-off and the developers weren't just history's greatest monsters, but the greediest ones as well. I remember one person said they might – just might, mind you – buy it if it went down to £1.99 to which I pictured the developers weeping with joy.

In one recent forum discussion, one developer said that so many gamers essentially want the full game on smartphones/tablets for free –offering a Lite/free/try before you buy version and a paid, full version just doesn't work. (This is something that I've heard from other developers and there's certainly been a shift away from people bothering with it.) Something that he commented upon – and this was also mentioned in a Wired article that I linked to in the Nintendo thread – is that in the top games charts for iOS and Android, it's almost exclusively free-to-play games... and that ain't because there are no paid-for games. As this developer says, a good many punters will think a one-off fee is a gyp, but will happily spend far more in in-app purchases playing  a 'free game.'

Also, on Android a lot of developers have moved to the F2P model, because of piracy. Some have claimed that the ratio of pirated copies to bought copies was 10:1 – like with Football Manager.

[George Oscar Bluth II]

People do seem to have weirdly fucked perceptions of what's good value or not in gaming. As you say, they'll wail when asked to pay up front for something on iOS or Android, but the same people will happily pay money in-game (often way beyond what the game is actually worth) or drop £45 on a new 360 or PS3 release.

[KLG-7DD]

Yeah cheers, but I can't stand that

Seemed to have lost the charm and simplicity of the original

Yeah, totally. All of these open source versions of game engines seem to blend out the quirks, humour, character and art style of the original games. There is never any passion behind them, you almost expect to see everything in a standard grey GTK window.

FreeCiv. C'mon.

[Hanslow]

Which one is the best of the pile?

[Repentia]

Civ IV complete edition. No finer game exists in the turn-based genre. It can become a disease of the mind, mind.

You can lose yourself for years and still find new tricks. Went with pure espionage the other day, a completely new experience. Steal tech instead of researching it, turn everyone against everyone else, awesome.

[Jerzy Bondov]

I only wanted Civ IV and I've got a Mac so here's codes for the other games, fill yer boots.
Civ III
Ace Patrol
Pacific Skies
Railroads

[Hangthebuggers]

I only wanted Civ IV and I've got a Mac so here's codes for the other games, fill yer boots.
Civ III
Ace Patrol
Pacific Skies
Railroads

Thanks Jerzy, I've claimed Pacific skies.

Thanks again.

[KLG-7DD]

Thanks

See, whoever claimed the freebies I posted above? It's that easy.

[Ignatius_S]

See, whoever claimed the freebies I posted above? It's that easy.

In the 'Free shit to give away' thread, people started using PMs to distribute stuff as when keys were just posted, they started being taken without anyone saying anything - people thought it likely that this was because of lurkers and non-members

[KLG-7DD]

I demand that they sign up and pay respect.

[DJ Solid Snail]

I only wanted Civ IV and I've got a Mac so here's codes for the other games, fill yer boots.
Civ III
Ace Patrol
Pacific Skies
Railroads

I grabbed Civ III - cheers!

[Hobes]

I remember there was a fantasy (LotR?) mod for CivIII I played to death, the sight of my giant Spiders ominously heading towards a rival Capital City was great fun.

[thenoise]

And Railroads is mine!  Many thanks Jerzy :D

[Jerzy Bondov]

Nobody's took Ace Patrol yet... Railroads looks sweet, I wish I could play it. There is a Mac version so I don't know why they didn't include that. Oh well, I only paid a dollar anyway. Feels like theft.

[Ignatius_S]

.... Railroads looks sweet, I wish I could play it. There is a Mac version so I don't know why they didn't include that...

It's not published by 2K, at a guess.

I demand that they sign up and pay respect.

And pay respect – blimey, no wonder no one said thanks, you demanding rascal, you.

[Hobes]

Nobody's took Ace Patrol yet...

They have now.

Thanks.

x

o

x

[Jerzy Bondov]

They'd added Pirates and some Civ V map packs if you pay above the average now

[telephone/tough.guy]

cracking deal. Just a shame Alpha Centauri wasn't included.