Slitherine and Matrix Games have announed Pandora: First Contact. The game promises to “follow in the footsteps of classics like Alpha Centauri and Galactic Civilizations”. Now, I like Galactic Civilizations. But I absolutely, positively LOVE Alpha Centauri! Needless to say,  my hopes are very high for this game. Here’s the list of the planned features so far:

1. Survive encounters with the planet’s dangerous wild life. Agile predators in the steppes, deadly insect swarms in the jungle, or gigantic creatures lurking in the abyss of the oceans.
2. Ruins and artefacts, the relics of an ancient alien civilization long forgotten, provide bonuses.
3. Progress through a vast research tree spanning dozens of technologies that provide new buildings, units, weapons, and more.
4. Negotiate trade or research pacts with other factions for mutual benefits. Forge alliances to stand united against common foes.
5. Found new cities to expand the borders of your empire. Manage cities by selecting what structures they build or units they recruit and by assigning priorities to your colonists.
6. Shape the landscape with terraforming: construct farms, mines, forts, or other improvements to increase the productivity of your colonies or to fortify positions.
7. Command vast armies on the battlefield against enemy factions, making use of the variety of terrain types to gain an advantage.
8. Design your own units, choosing from a variety of different classes, weapons and armour to maximize the strength of your forces.
9. Unleash hell on your opponents with powerful military operations, ranging from drop pods behind enemy lines to black hole generators eradicating entire landscapes.

Head on over to Slitherine to check out Pandora: First Contact. While you’re there make sure to sign up as a beta tester!

Best New Year wishes to EVERYONE!

I know AAR Central has been very quiet this year but hopefully that will change. I may have to start including a game review or two. If so I’ll include old games as well as new.

Yes, it’s true! You can read about it here.

The newest patch for Civ5 is out today! I think it’s time I fired up this game up again. And I can’t wait to try the hot seat mode. The patch notes: Continue reading →

GOG.com has released Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri! If I had to choose only one game to spend the rest of my days with I think it just might be Alpha Centauri. I love everything about it especially the diplomacy. No sign of the Alien Crossfire expansion yet but maybe it will arrive later. In the  meantime, go buy this game!

The demo for Pride of Nations has been released and you can find it here. I’ve been looking forward to this game since I first heard about it and have high hopes for it. At the same time I’m also a little afraid of the learning curve. I’ll try to post my first impressions about it in the forum.

A new patch for Civ5 was released on 4/28/2011 (version 1.0.1.275) and the details can be found here. Also, it was announced that the Vikings (Denmark Civilization) are coming next week along with a new Explorers Map Pack which will include five new map scripts and five new maps. I always look forward to any new thing Civ!

Alienware has released it’s newest laptop model, the M14x. It’s a wee bit pricey for me and I wish they had included a better graphics card. I would also have liked better LCD options. I still haven’t decided what I’m going to buy yet. I’m still looking at both the XPS 15 and the XPS 17. I like the LCD option on the XPS 15 but I like the other hardware options on the XPS 17 better. I think the XPS 17 would be a little more ‘future proof’.

Now that the Intel Sandy Bridge processor has been delayed I guess my new laptop upgrade will have to wait. That’s okay, I still haven’t even started to back up my current drive for the coming move.