:D
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/europauniversalisiii/news.html?sid=6144284

Announced for First quarter 2007. I predict it will be patched until 2009...

Mh, I think I will shorten this time, playing the new Hearts of Iron II-Addon announced for April this year.

Don't know how much of my lifetime I have already spent on Paradox-Games, but it'll be some weeks (counting 24h per day) already...

That's excellent new, indeed! EU2 already comes pretty damn close to perfection as far as the genre is concerned. Actually, the only thing I would really love to have added is the option to jump in at any historical point of time. Some nations only turn up later in the game, and so they're unplayable which is a pity.

Other than that, there's certainly room for refinement, but not much more. All the more interesting to see what they'll come up with...

As far as I understood, the game-mechanics and balance will be like EU2 mostly, but the interface and presentation will get a main-refacturing, kicking the old engine they used so often.

I hope they don't screw up again, like they did with diplomacy...

That's doesn't sound too interesting, to be honest...

I'm sorry, but are you saying they made yet another computer version of the board game 'Diplomacy'? I absolutely love that game (and reviewed two computer versions for the site), so any information about that version?

We'll see. A bit more investement of love into this area can't hurt. Just hope they don't create a Medievil-Ego-Strategy-Shooter...


Yes, they did, but it sucked.

Some reviews:
http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/926262.asp?q=diplomacy.
And their page:
http://www.diplomacy-pcgame.com/
And their forum with a lot of disappointed diplomacy-players:
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=295

The main critic focues on the fact, they took out the heart of every diplomacy-game. The communication...

Only, if I had someone to play diplomacy (board-game) with me.

Don't know what for. The graphics are already excellent and extremely practical. The only thing which would have to be improved is that armies have to be shown on the 'political' and 'economical' map as well.

That's pretty much the problem of every conversion of the game. The original one by Avalon Hill doesn't have any negotiations. The one from 1991 by the same company is virtually unplayable. The one by Microprose (late 90s) is a joke. The only version which has some merits is the one by Virgin for the C64. Actually, the latter is as good as it can get, I guess. AI opponents simply can't be proper substitutes for humans in Diplomacy.

I don't really understand why they always try themselves at Diplomacy anyway. That game's fun stems from human interaction which can't be simulated by an AI and which is also lost when playing online. Why don't they make a computer game out of Supremacy, for example. That'd work just fine, and I'd love to see it!

Come here, and we'll already be two. Only five more to go then

I applied to beta test this...but I was not fortunate enough to be picked.

I'm "concerned" about their decision to further shorten the game time - it's 1453 now instead of 1419, and the early game is very intense and...well, plenty of things happened. They're probably thinking this time frame belongs in one of their other very similar games ("Crusader Kings").

Exactly. The game I played as Byzantium was really great, and that wouldn't be possible anymore with this new version. What I'd actually like to see would be an extended period of time starting as early as possible. Of course, this could result in some gameplay problems (simulating the smaller scope of 'world' views). After all, just playing a tiny country without any potential to expand, because it doesn't know its neighbours isn't too exciting...