PC gaming strikes back

While journalists continue to report about the death of PC gaming, Forrester Research recently presented an interesting report named North American Video Gaming: Surviving A Midlife Slowdown.

Forrester points out that the PC is not only the gaming platform with the biggest installed base, it also has the highest number of people playing online and Forrester predicts that PC gaming will grow significantly in the next couple of years. While the consoles will go through a midlife crisis, the PC market share will be boosted by better broadband solutions and the introduction of gaming PCs.

Fredrik

1st Editors Choice Award

It's official, Gal Civ II is not only the players favorite, the reviews are starting to trickle in and the verdict so far is unanimous. Gal Civ II is currently listed under "Most popular" games on Game Rankings and has a review average of 92.7%.

IC-games 93% Editors Choice Award
"Fun and enjoyment wise nothing has touched Galactic Civilization II this year and we’ll be surprised if that stance changes in December. Stardock and Paradox have without doubt created a hugely enjoyable and highly customizable space simulation that deservers every ounce of your attention. Immersive and addictive, Galactic Civilization II is the perfect compliment for the megalomanic Galactic Commander desperate for that extra control."
Read complete review

Next Level Gaming 95%
"The replay on this game is gigantic; I have rarely seen games that offer so much to the return player."
Read complete review

Susana

In-game footage TC2M

This Civil War title will give every gamer out there the chance to really Take Command and affect the outcome of this great battle. History fans, strategy fans and wargamers will be able to immerse themselves in this RTS that prides itself on it’s detail and challenging gameplay.

See what others are saying about it:
Wargamer preview

See what the developers are saying about it:
Developers interview Game Zone

Judge for yourself by watching the new in-game video footage on Gamers Hell or Gamespot .

Susana

GalCiv2 box

When I came out of a meeting this morning, the GalCiv2 box (limited edition) was on my desk. Without saying too much, the box looks GREAT.

Fredrik

Awards

When Wargamer.com presented their Readers Choice Awards - 2005, Paradox and partners did very well. The following categories and awards are in some way connected to Paradox:

The Readers' Choice Awards - Strategy. Hearts of Iron 2 - Silver award.

The Readers' Choice Awards - Wargame. Civil War: Bull Run by Mad Minute Games - Gold award (MMG is the team behind upcoming Take Command: 2nd Manassas, to be published by Paradox in April 2006).

The Readers' Choice Awards - Developer. Silver award to Mad Minute Games and Bronze award to Paradox Interactive.

The Readers' Choice Awards - Publisher. Silver award to Paradox Interactive.

Looking at our upcoming titles, we really look forward to seeing the outcome of the Readers Choice Awards of 2006.

Fredrik

That first review...

Every time we release a game we are nervously awaiting the first reviews to be published. Will the reviewers really think the game is as good as we think?

With the first review of Galactic Civilizations 2 published on PC Game World there are no doubts at least this reviewer shares our opinion of GalCiv2.

The next nervous wait for the first review is now just a month away with the release of Hearts of Iron 2: Doomsday...

Fredrik

Doomsday for Japan

Although Japan is not a big market when it comes to PC games, you will be able to find Doomsday on the shelves at least in some stores in Nippon. The release of Hearts of Iron 2 on the Japanese market turned out to be a success so our partners Cyberfront decided to release the expansion pack as well.

Fure fure Nihon!

Fredrik

Flower power!

With the annoucement of EU3, flowers where sent to our office from one of the fans of EU2. This came together with a promise to buy 10 copies of the game. I don't know if we're supposed to be scared or overwhelmed... :)

Fact remains: If all our fans decide to buy 10 copies of EU3; we'll get that well deserved vacation on Bahamas.

Fredrik

Europa Universalis 3

It is always great waking up the morning after sending out those "big" press releases. With the annoucement of Europa Universalis 3 yesterday we are looking forward to the biggest project in Paradox history.

Johan reveals some game details in a Gamespot Q&A and this time we even have a lot of concept art one year before release. I'm impressed :)

Fredrik

Update from Budapest

Just came home from Budapest after a meeting with Stormregion. The game (Rush for Berlin) looks great and is in the hands of one of the best RTS teams in the world. The cover art is ready within a few weeks and we will keep you updated on demos and other goodies from the game.

On the Rush for berlin homepage you can now participate in a Pimp My Tank competition. All participants have the chance to win a Königstiger or Panzer IV replica tank.

Today I saw a Gamespot preview on GalCiv2. I guess fans of the 4X sci-fi games will only need to read the headline "Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords Hands-On - The Spiritual Heir to Master of Orion II?" to make up their minds... :)

Fredrik

The Buzz on Paradox

2005 has been the best year in Paradox' history and it looks like we will be able to look forward to an even better 2006. We are still growing and developing our business in an industry that is suffering from a hangover after several years of what looked like never-ending growth. Not only do we sign titles from experienced and well-known teams, but we are also learning to be better in our own publishing and production efforts.

It is also great to see that others appreciate what we do. I found one example browsing through Gamespot last week, where a gamer posted a comprehesive list of all promising PC games slated for 2006 release". By "promising" the author meant games with big chances of scoring at least AA, while extremely small chances of scoring below 7.

Out of the five games Paradox will publish during the first 6 months 2006, all five made it on to the list. Lists like these and feedback from many other parties in the industry are indicators that we are constantly strengthening our position as one of the leading strategy games publishers. However, it is important to stress that we are not striving to be the biggest publisher out there, our main goal is to publish the games we like and that we know our fans will like.

An extract from the list (with user comments):

Rush for Berlin
From Stormregion (makers of Panzers, which got 8.8 here)

Hearts of Iron 2: Doomsday
An add-on to 8.3 game

Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords
Sequel to best space-based 4X game in recent years (8.4 from GS)

Heart of Empire: Rome
A city-building game by DeepRed(makers of Monopoly Tycoon, also a city-builder (which scored 8.5 at GS)

Take Command:2nd Manassas
Sequel to Bull's Run. Which is considered the best civil war game ever made. It got Wargamer's 5 stars and award of excelence, Gamezone rated it 8.5. ComputerGamesMagazine called it "one of the most dramatic wargames you'll ever play".

Keeping in mind that we have have only presented titles for the first six months so far, it looks like we will have a great 2006 indeed...

Fredrik

Historically correct vs politically incorrect

Recently we have received lots of inquiries about our upcoming Hearts of Iron 2: Doomsday expansion. Questions vary from what features will be added to the title to why the Paradox Interactive development team decided to go from games with accurate historical information to a "what-if" World War III scenario where we may freely interpret history our own way, thus possibly walking into a politically sensitive area.

Initially we can say that the Doomsday scenario (1945+) will not be for those looking for a historically correct game. However, if you belong to those who have ever wondered about what a war between the allies in late 1945 might have turned out like, the game is definitely something you should look into.

In brief, our reason for choosing to develop Hearts of Iron 2: Doomsday can be described in three bullets:

- World War III - we wanted to put a lot of effort into what could have happened in a war between the allies. Pure speculation mixed with all historical data for the time period and techs that cover the time period until 1953.

- Intelligence features. The extra tab in Doomsday will add an extra meta-level of gameplay where nations in peace will be able to have their own "invisible" conflicts. This opens for new and cool ways of playing, especially in multiplayer.

- Perfection. When Hearts of Iron 2 was released we were very happy with the result and we still consider it one of our best titles ever released. However, much like anything we could have perfected a few things even more and we took time to add things like automatic sliders in Doomsday, thus perfecting the gameplay of the series even further.

Mixing the three bullets above with lots of new historical information, events, scenarios and a brand new graphical scenario editor, the result is spelled Hearts of Iron 2: Doomsday. Did I mention the pre-orders start today?

To summarize you could say that Doomsday is leaning more towards the politically incorrect than the historically correct.

The first multiplayer AAR from inside the Paradox office should reach you within a few weeks. Don't miss the latest screens from the game, published here

Fredrik