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Zoomba's Articles In GalCiv II News
December 7, 2006 by Zoomba
As 2006 winds down, the gaming press begins to look back on the year that was, and tries to determine which games stood out as the best of their class.  GameSpy is one of the first of the major media sites to put up their annual Gamers' Choice polls, where any gamer can go and vote for their favorite games of the year across 16 categories (7 of which are reserved for PC Genres).  Our game, Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords has been nominated in two events: PC Strategy (Non-...
December 12, 2006 by Zoomba
The holiday award season marches on!  This time it's our friends at 1Up.com that are asking for the votes of you, the gamer, to determine their top ranked games of 2006.  Again, Galactic Civilizations II is in the running for : Best Strategy Game Game of the Year! The difference between 1Up and GameSpy is that the 1Up awards aren't broken down by platform, so when you're voting in the Best Strategy Game category, you're picking from the best strategy games released across ALL p...
December 12, 2006 by Zoomba
With less than two weeks left to Christmas, I'm sure some of you are wracking your brains for ideas on what to get for the other gamers in your life.  Well, we here in the GalCiv2.com Research Department have been diligently looking for ways to make your gift shopping easier.  After careful consideration and exhaustive research into the field of Great Gameplayology (it's a field, trust us, we're experts!) we feel that Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords is one of the best gifts you ...
December 13, 2006 by Zoomba
One of the most touted features of Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords was the artificial intelligence, which can give even the best players a run for their money.  The AI was written by Brad Wardell, who took some time recently to write up some of his thoughts on the AI in the upcoming expansion, Dark Avatar, for an IGN Developer Diary . It's an interesting look into AI and how technology like the new dual and quad core processors open up a lot of potential for better AI in games wi...
December 18, 2006 by Zoomba
You've shown your support for us at GameSpy.  You've spread the love and merriment at 1Up.  I'm sure you've also told all of your friends and family which game is the best PC game this side of Barnards Star.  Well, though your tireless efforts on our behalf are always appreciated, we must once again reach out to you, our devoted fans, to help further spread the word of Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords. This time around, it's the GameSpot Best & Worst 2006 Awards.  T...
December 19, 2006 by Zoomba
Last week, we let everyone know that GameSpy was doing their Readers Choice voting for various Game of the Year categories.  The votes cast there were not for the main GameSpy Game of the Year events, just Readers Choice.  Well, today GameSpy fired off the editors picks for best PC games of 2006.  We placed #6 on the overall list , but took the gold for Best PC Turn-Based Strategy Game of the Year ! Here's a sample of what GameSpy had to say about Galactic Civilizations II: ...
January 11, 2007 by Zoomba
2006 was a great year for us, starting out with the release of Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords.  The game received a great deal of critical praise with multiple editors choice awards, and we ended out the year with a good number of Game of the Year nominations and awards. We were nominated for: 1Up.com - Reader's Choice Strategy Game & Game of the Year GameSpot - Strategy Game of the Year GameSpy - Reader's Choice Strategy Game (Non-RTS) and Game of the Year ... an...
January 12, 2007 by Zoomba
IGN's Steve Butts takes a look at a recent build of Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar and posts his impressions of the upcoming expansion to one of the top strategy games of 2006.  The preview takes  a look at features such as the new races in the expansion (Korath Clan and Krynn Consulate), the new espionage system, and the new additions to the star map.  If you aren't in the beta, of particular interest is how with Dark Avatar you can not only create your own custo...
January 22, 2007 by Zoomba
Today we have two new previews of Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar to point you to.  With the release of the expansion drawing ever closer, the press is really ramping up and sharing their first thoughts on how the game is shaping up. The first preview is for you French-speaking folk.  HardGamers.com , a prominent French-language gaming website has posted a preview. Second, for our English-speaking fans, comes a preview from our friends over at GameSpy .  Allen 'Dels...
January 22, 2007 by Zoomba
 Game of the Year awards continue to trickle out as we pass safely into the 2007 gaming season.  Today, we move on to GameShark and their picks for 2006.  We received two nods of recognition this year. PC Game of the Year Runner-Up. We made it to the final round and were up against PC gaming heavyweights such as Bethesda's Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion,  Monolith's F.E.A.R: Extraction Point, Civilization 4: Warlords from Firaxis, and the ultimate winner of this year's PC ...
January 29, 2007 by Zoomba
Last week was a good week if you're a Galactic Civilizations II fan eagerly awaiting the release of Dark Avatar.  Two great previews went up that are packed with a lot of information. The first comes from 1UP.Com, posted last Wednesday.  Writer Mike Nelson took a crack at the latest beta build and is personally comforted by the Drengin's continued dominance in the interstellar culinary field.  But Drengin Fire Chili aside, Mike took some time to look closely at some of the new ...
February 1, 2007 by Zoomba
So the game is "Gold" and your mouse finger is getting that galactic genocidal twitch again.  You want to subjugate races, forge treaties, establish your trade empire and deploy your newly designed "Vicious Knid" Class destroyer against your opponents.  Alas, you'll have to wait a bit longer before satisfying your inner megalomaniac, and for the time being draw your Galactic Civilizations sustenance from these two succulent previews from GameShark and GamingNexus . Tyler Sager took...
February 5, 2007 by Zoomba
UPDATE:   If you can't make it to the developer chat but still want a shot at having your questions asked, you can sign on to our IRC chat and join #chatquestions early.  Just ask your question in the channel and I'll log it, and add it to the potential list for the dev chat Wednesday night! This Wednesday, February 7th at 4pm PST / 7pm EST / midnight GMT we will be hosting a developer chat to answer questions about the upcoming release of Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avata...
February 13, 2007 by Zoomba
If you've been past the PC section of IGN today, you'll see a massive, evil looking robot staring at you framed by the words "Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar Review."  This makes IGN the first media outlet to put up a review for the expansion to one of the top games of 2006.  The review is a glowing endorsement of the expansion and a good read if you're on the fence about the game. Another indicator of how good Dark Avatar it that after awarding Dread Lords an 8.7 last year,...
February 14, 2007 by Zoomba
Review #2 is in, and boy is it a doozie!  GameSpy took a look at the final version of the game and, let me just say, they were very pleased with what they saw.  The three page review, written by veteran strategy gamer Allen Rausch, pretty much waxes poetic about the new features we crammed into Dark Avatar.  A choice quote: "In my original review of Dread Lords I said "Master of Orion is dead. Long live Galactic Civilizations II." After a week of playing Dark Avatar, you...