A huge update for Sid Meier's Civilization V launched on Steam yesterday, bringing the long-awaited Hot Seat multiplayer mode along with heaps of changes and updates.

Hot Seat multiplayer lets several players compete in front of the same computer, taking their turns, well, in turn. The changelog also notes, "While play-by-email is not yet implemented, we did include an in-between turn saving option for those that want to play via email." Read more »

The Aspyr Media-developed, Mac version of Civilization V has just received a swell of new content [via BigDownload]. Premium DLC for the turn-based strategy game is currently available on GameAgent.com and is expected to arrive on Steam soon.

Downloadable add-ons include packs featuring the Mediterranean, Mesopotamia, Asia, and the Americas for $2.99 each or $9.99 as a bundle. The Babylon Civilization pack and Spain and Inca pack are available for $4.99 and $7.99, respectively. The Mongol DLC pack is also available, albeit for free, and "will automatically download upon launch of the Steam client in Online mode." Read more »

Yesterday, it was announced (unofficially) that Jon Shafer, the lead designer of Civilization V who recently left Firaxis, had been hired by Stardock to help with the continuing development of Elemental: War of Magic and eventually lead his own team for another game down the line.

Shacknews caught up with Jon for a quick interview, which is presented below. Enjoy! Read more »

PC Exclusive: StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty

It was definitely a close race between the two top games here, but in the end StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty edged out our runner-up. StarCraft II shipped with Blizzard's requisite level of polish and tons of content, which was quickly snapped up by a huge community from casual players all the way up to Korean progamers. In fact, some of us played the StarCraft II beta more than most other games this year, which continued when the game was released. Read more »

Strategy:

href="http://www.shacknews.com/reviews/game.x/4110">StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty Read more »

Hot on the heels of the announcement that The Double Civilization Scenario Pack: Spain and Inca is coming soon, Firaxis and 2K Games have revealed that a Civilization 5 patch will be available "on or before" the DLC's December 16 release.

The list of fixes posted on the 2K Games Forum is quite massive, due in part to the fact that the list includes all changes to made to Civ 5, and not just the ones included in the upcoming patch. It's a huge list, so let's just get to it, shall we? Read more »

Firaxis and 2K Games have announced that they'll be providing Civilization 5 players with some more options for world domination via a downloadable expansion on December 16.

Called 'The Double Civilization Scenario Pack: Spain and Inca,' the pack adds two new playable civilizations and one new campaign scenario. On top of bringing Queen Isabella of Spain and Incan leader Pachacuti into the mix, the new scenario, set in 1492, let's players sail the ocean-blue in search of the new world, and of course, lay waste to their enemies in the name of Thanksgiving. Read more »

The various "Cradle of Civilization" map packs that were released as retailer-specific bonuses with the launch of Civilization V are now available to purchase, as promised.

Each of the four packs can be snagged for $2.99 or bundled together for $9.99. Read more »

The time has come for all Mac owners to dust off their marching boots and dominate the world. As was announced earlier this month, today marks the release of Sid Meier's Civilization V for the Mac.

On Steam, Civilization V is available as a SteamPlay title--meaning purchasing the game for either PC or Mac will give you free access to both platforms. Unlike the PC version of Civilization V, the Mac version does not support SteamCloud for game saves; however, the porting team at Aspyr Media says a patch to add the feature will launch "soon after the Civilization V Mac release." Save games will not be accessible between platforms. Read more »

Aspyr, the company responsible for porting Civilization V to the Mac, has announced a release date for the game: November 23. It will be available in both retail and digital flavors.

There will be a limited number of Special Edition Mac copies signed by Sid Meier. These are said to be "extremely rare" and will only be sold through GameAgent, Aspyr's boxed and digital storefront. Read more »

A little over a week ago, Firaxis announced that a major patch to address bugs, UI changes, and exploits in Civilization V, was on the way. As promised, the first major update to Civilization V has been released today, and the list of changes is a bit longer than initially reported.

Read more »

Porting veteran Aspyr Media has announced that it'll be bringing Sid Meier's Civilization V to Apple's shiny white computerators some time this holiday season.

"The Civilization franchise is a fan-favorite and one of the best-selling Mac games ever. We are thrilled to be able to participate in this newest version and bring Mac gamers this native experience so close to the PC launch," said Aspyr executive VP Ted Staloch. Read more »

Civilization 5 publisher 2K Games announced two add-on packs for the game will be available next Monday, October 25. As a thank you to the fans, the 'Mongols Civilization and Scenario Pack' will be free. It lets players try their hand at leading Genghis Khan and his Mongol horsemen in conquest to unite the largest continuous empire ever under one banner.

The 'Babylonian Civilization Pack', which came as part of the extras with the digital deluxe edition of the game, will also be available for $4.99. It gives players access to the Babylonian civilization with their advanced Bowmen and ruled by Nebuchadnezzer II. Read more »

An upcoming patch for Civilization V, revealed in part on the official 2K forums, is set to fix a laundry list of small issues plaguing the game. Included in the update are crash fixes, a bug that resulted in "never ending" deals with other civilizations, fixes to units in select situations and more. Read more »

MacRumors is reporting "that Civilization V for the Mac is due very soon -- likely in the coming weeks." No additional details are available at this time, but it is likely that the Mac version will be available through Steam and utilize Steamworks as its PC counterpart.

A Mac version was always planned, but Firaxis has been careful not to mention any release dates or timelines. Shacknews has contacted publisher 2K Games for more information, but for now, assume this is still just rumor.