Sid Meier is a game designer of legendary proportions, often referenced as the "Father of Computer Gaming". His radiant personality and creative brilliance (primarily the latter) have brought him to incredible success over the past decades, and with his current projects at
Firaxis Games, it appears that even the sky is no longer a limit.
The career of Sid Meier began when he co-founded
MicroProse Software in 1982, and created
F-15 Strike Eagle, one of the first ever
combat flight simulators. Other similar games followed, including
Hellcat Ace (1984) and
F-19 Stealth Fighter (1988), as well as the
WWII subsim
Silent Service (1985), numerous
wargames (in 1985), and
Tom Clancy license
Red Storm Rising(1987).
From then on, classic titles began to pour from the mind of Meier. (NOTE: Many of his titles are prefaced by his name.) These titles, all under the MicroProse banner, include
Pirates! (1987),
Railroad Tycoon (1990),
Civilization (1991),
Covert Action (1991),
Colonization (1994),
CivNet (1995),
Civilization II(1996), and
Magic: The Gathering (1997). He then moved from the plummeting MicroProse to Firaxis Games, and created
Gettysburg! (1997),
Antietam! (1998), and
Alpha Centauri (1999).
Sid Meier and his games have received innumerable awards over the ages. Perhaps the most important of all is his 1999 induction into the
Hall of Fame of the
Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences. He is the second person to receive this honor, following only
console god
Shigeru Miyamoto.
Strategy gamers worldwide rejoiced at the 2001 release of Meier's next game:
Civilization III, another chapter in this, the greatest of sagas.