If you’re a fan of PC strategy games, then you’ve probably ran across a few of Sid Meier’s works of art which include Civilization, Railroad Tycoon, and Alpha Centauri to name a few.
Sid Meier is a visionary designer who started his career as a systems analyst back in the early 80’s. As a programmer, he saw the great possibilities that video games could have in the future.
He could also pwn anybody in certain arcade games because he knew how they were programmed and he could base his strategies around that knowledge. This led him to his future business partner, J.W. "Wild Bill" Stealey.
The two men went on to found MicroProse, now a multi-million dollar company. Meier fondly remembers when his partner uttered the phrase, "If you can make it, I can sell it!" And that is exactly what they did.
Through Meier’s vast programming and design experience, he decided to leave MicroProse in 1996 to form his own software development company called Firaxis. Since then, he and his employees have gone on to sell more than 10 million units of their most successful creations.
Recently, Meier expressed his fondness with Sony and the Playstation 3. He says he is stepping away from the PC because of the new power behind the next-generation consoles. He noted that the Playstation 3’s hardware is nearly as powerful as many top-of-the-line computers on the market today.
Meier mentioned God of War II as an example of the power of the next-generation consoles, specifically the PS3. God of War II (for the PS2) showed that developers need time to crank out blockbuster games.
Meier is trying to say that if God of War II can do what it does so well on the PS2, imagine the possibilities on the PS3, which has hardware hundreds of times more powerful.
Meier stated, ""Look at the level of content you’re seeing on current-gen systems right now in the form of games like God of War II. Remember: The PlayStation 3 is light years ahead of this technology. As with any new platform, it’s going to be a challenge and take designers some time to come to grips with the hardware. But believe me, you’ll be amazed by the possibilities."
Meier is still gaming at the young age of 53. He owns a PS2, PS3, and PSP and has recently been playing Resistance: Fall of Man and Gran Turismo 4.
Almost every article I’ve personally read in the recent weeks has stated the same thing as Sid Meier. That is, if you give the game developers time to get to know and manipulate the new hardware, then you will get some really killer titles.
[Via Playstation.com]
