Sid's links
Sid Meier, the game designer behind Civilization, Colonisation and Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, has been talking to Maxis's Will Wright, the man behind Sim City and The Sims, about SimGolf. The game involves building and managing a golf course, just like Sim City.
The two programmers have been competitors for almost two decades. However, things have changed since Meier left Microprose (which was swallowed by Hasbro Interactive, which was sold to Infogrames) and Maxis was taken over by Electronic Arts. EA will publish SimGolf on the Maxis label later this year. See Gamespot at http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/previews/0,10869,2717147-1,00.html
Meier has been developing SimGolf at Firaxis, the company he co-founded after Microprose. Meanwhile, devotees of intelligent war-gaming are waiting for the company to ship Civilization III. Still, progress is being made, according to the Civ III website (see www.firaxis.com/civ3).
Results
Electronic Arts, the biggest independent producer of computer and video games, has reported annual revenues down slightly to $1.3bn. In the last quarter, the company lost $12m on sales worth $307m.
Larry Probst, its chairman and chief executive, said: "PlayStation and Nintendo 64 sales declined significantly and were only partially offset by PlayStation 2 sales, which were hampered by shortages of PlayStation 2 hardware."
EA had 14 PS2 titles out for Christmas and claimed a 40% market share for the format.
Activision, which did not bet heavily on the PS2, fared better. Its annual sales increased by 8.4% to $620m, and it turned in a profit of $21m, compared with last year's $34m loss.
However, Activision is thought to be working on 13 games for Microsoft's Xbox console.
On the way
Championship Manager, the essential football management game, is to make its first appearance on a games console: Sports Interactive is developing a version for Microsoft's Xbox. It is due to be a "European launch title".
Sky-diving fans who also like surfing might be tempted by Skysurfer, from Swing Entertainment, which is supposed to combine both. It should be out on the PlayStation 2 this summer.
Space combat fans who also like first person shooters will find the two combined in Maelstrom, according to Virgin Interactive. The game should be out for the PS2 at Christmas. And while we're future-gazing, Revolution Software is developing Good Cop Bad Cop, which should be out on next-generation consoles towards the end of next year. This is "the ultimate cop game", says the company.
