Sid Meier Q&A: Bringing 'Civilization' to Consoles

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Some of the more hardcore Civ fans have expressed concerns about the mouse-and-keyboard controls being mapped to a gamepad. How did you approach the control setup?
SID MEIER: That was actually one of our concerns when we started the project; if the interface isn't smooth and easy to play, then your game's just not going to make it. So, that was one of the first things we addressed when we started prototyping the game. We wanted to know if playing with a console controller would feel natural. And we found that because the game is turn-based and you're moving one unit at a time, that the controls were able to map really nicely onto buttons and joysticks. It actually feels very natural.

Any plans to bring Revolution to the Wii?
I think the Wii is a cool platform, and there are other cool platforms, like the PSP, out there. We'll need to see what happens going forward, but for the kind of game we wanted to make and the resources we had to make it, the 360 and PS3 and DS made the most sense for us.

Do you see this as a relaunch of the franchise? Might we see more Civ games on consoles?
I think it is. We're not abandoning PC Civ by any means. But this is the beginning of a new thread, a new line of Civilization games designed for the console marketplace.

Would you consider introducing your popular Pirates! or Railroads series to a new generation of gamers?
[Laughs] Anything is possible. Our focus right now is Revolution, but after that we'll take some time to relax and think about what's going to happen next. We're lucky to have games in our past that people have enjoyed playing, and ask us to bring back every now and then.

So what's this we hear about you being in the Guinness Book of World Records?
Apparently I was, just recently...yeah, something for most awards for computer designer.

Congratulations on that.
Thank you very much. It's very exciting. I'll have to get one of those books. [Laughs]

As a gamer yourself, are there any designers or development teams you especially admire?
I think we're in a real golden age of games; there have been a ton of great games in the last couple of years that's been very impressive. I think the work that Blizzard has done, not only on World of Warcraft, but going back to Starcraft and Diablo...every one of their games has been high quality, and that's really the mark of a first-class development studio. Also, the folks at Ensemble with Age of Empires. Gran Turismo and BioShock are quality games. It's a great time to be a gamer.

Do you stay pretty current on games? Would you, for example, check out Grand Theft Auto IV?
I think it's important as a designer to be current in terms of what other games are doing. I really like driving games, so I'll spend lots of time with those. I definitely try and take a look at everything. As a designer you're always saying ''Well, I would have done this or that a little differently...'' Because of that, I probably can't enjoy games as much as other people. [Laughs]