The great tragedy about Galactic Civilizations III being announced today is knowing how unlikely it is that Tom Francis will write a book-length diary about it, as he so marvellously did for GalCiv2, what with him off being a highly talented indie developer now. At least we get the game, at long last. It is, as the name might suggest, a sweeping, interstellar strategy colossus rife with potential for epic victories and epic disasters. And it is announced, as a somewhat Mass Effecty trailer reveals. Interestingly, it’s going to be “exclusive to 64-bit PCs.” So if you’ve only got a 63-bit one, I’m afraid it’s time to upgrade.





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The aforementioned 64-bittiness is explained thusly: “The move to 64-bit architecture heralds a new era of game development at Stardock,” said Derek Paxton, vice president of Stardock Entertainment. “The technology allows players to experience a level of graphical detail and on-screen activity unprecedented in large-scale strategy PC games. It dramatically increases the size and scope of the maps, and opens the door for modders to add a virtually unlimited amount of new content to the game.”

Look here, it’s either unlimited or it isn’t, none of this virtually business thank you very much.

Also promised are black holes and a much-expanded ship-builder. These sound like good things to me.

No release date as yet, but Stardock are offering alpha and beta access when relevant builds are available, for $100 and $40 pre-orders respectively. I know what we all think about pre-orders, please don’t shoot the messenger.