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Sid Meier, Firaxis Director of Creative Development, is heralded as "The Father of Computer Gaming." In his extraordinary career of over twenty five years, Sid has created games that have captured the imagination of tens of millions of gamers spanning the globe.
Throughout his career, Sid has constantly endeavored to "push the envelope" in computer gaming. In 1982, Sid co-founded MicroProse Software. At MicroProse he created a number of popular and innovative games, including: F-15 Strike Eagle, one of the first successful combat flight simulators (selling well over a million units worldwide), and Silent Service, a ground-breaking submarine simulation. Sid's breakthrough game, Pirates!, was a unique blend of historical simulation, arcade action, strategy, and role-playing that blew the doors open on game design and set the stage for the emergence of an industry. By introducing strategy into flight simulation with F-19 Stealth Fighter, Sid created one of the most popular flight simulations ever.
Perhaps Sid's most important contribution to computer-gaming was his invention of the so-called, "God Games". In 1990 Sid released Railroad Tycoon, in which the player took the role of a railroad mogul at the start of the Steam Age. Railroad Tycoon was part sandbox (you built a rail network across the US), part economic simulator (you had to protect your empire from takeover by other robber barons), and part asset-management game (you bought and sold the engines and cars for your railroad, you chose the cargo they'd carry, you picked their routes, in short, you made the trains run on time). It has been suggested that the incredible success of Railroad Tycoon created the entire "Simulations" genre, which is still going strong today.
Sid brought the definitive strategy game to the PC in 1991 with the launch of the original Sid Meier's Civilization. With the ultimate goal of ruling the world, each player began the game in 4000 BC, in control of a tiny group of primitive settlers. Over the course of the game the player would create cities for the settlers to inhabit, determine what technologies they learned, arm and train their military, and guide their political development. At some point the new nation would come into contact with other nations; it was up to the player whether his people would greet the foreigners with open arms or drawn swords. The player had to guide his civilization through the entire course of human history - starting in the Stone Age, and ending in the Space Age. Once again, Sid challenged his players on many levels: city-planning, economics, education, military strategy and global diplomacy. For 18 years, Civilization, now in it’s fourth version having sold over 9 million units worldwide, has been widely recognized as one of the greatest gaming series ever created.
In addition to being enormously popular and extremely addictive, Civilization has also been recognized for its "stealth-teaching" qualities: ever since its release, educators around the world have been using Civilization to teach students about history, science and global politics.
Throughout his career Sid and his games have been recognized with virtually every major award in gaming, landing him in the 2008 Guinness World Records for the most videogame awards received in the history of the industry. In 1999, Sid was the second person ever to be inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Science's Hall of Fame, was honored with an induction into the Computer Museum of America's Hall of Fame in 2002, joining other industry luminaries like Bill Gates, Adm. Grace Hopper and Clifford Berry, in 2006 was the recipient of a commemorative star on the Walk of Game, the landmark located at Metreon in the heart of downtown San Francisco dedicated to honoring the icons and pioneers of the interactive entertainment industry, and recently received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2008 Game Developers Conference presented at the Game Developers Choice Awards show.
As Director of Creative Development at Firaxis, Sid continues to deliver the most addictive gameplay on the planet. Sid and his teams at Firaxis, have released a string of incredibly fun and compelling games, including Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, Sid Meier's Gettysburg!, Sid Meier's Civilization III series, Sid Meier's SimGolf, Sid Meier's Pirates! (PC and Xbox), Sid Meier's Civlization IV series (including Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization), Sid Meier's Railroads, and most recently, Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution. |
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