14 DAY TRIAL // Publisher 2K Games and developer Firaxis have surprised everyone by announcing that Civilization V would be coming in the fall of this year with a host of changes to the underlying mechanics that seem very appealing to long time fans of the franchise and those who spent hundreds of hours reaching for space or military victories in Civilization IV. And it seems that the brain behind the series, well-known game maker Sid Meier, is also thinking about using the tech developed for the new Civilization to remake classics like Railroad Tycoon and Alpha Centauri.
Speaking on the Kotaku Talk Radion podcast, Sid Meier said, “It's always great to hear from people and hear the games they'd like us to redo and revisit, bring them up to date, etc. Part of the fun of being at Firaxis is having these games in our past that we can kinda draw upon for inspiration and talk to people about.”
He also shares the views of fans who see Alpha Centauri as one of the most interesting designs following Civilization, saying, “That is certainly a game that we had a lot of fun making, an interesting evolution of the Civilization approach. We appreciate your enjoyment of the game and we'll put that on the list of games we ought to do”.
Sid Meier made it clear that he was not spilling the beans on the projects which Firaxis would be creating alongside or after Civilization V but rather talking about what games are close to his heart. Any remake of Alpha Centauri would hinge on Sid Meier actually getting the rights to the name from former publisher Electronic Arts, which might be a problem. Of course, there's also the possibility of creating a spiritual successor which shares and upgrades the mechanics while changing names and setting.
For those who want an update right now, there's the Planetfall mod which uses the Civilization IV engine to remake Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. The mod is quite well built, although it seems to lack some of the atmosphere of the original.