Sid Meier and Firaxis Games will take this incredibly fun and addictive game to new heights by adding new ways to play and win, new tools to manage and expand your civilization, all-new easy to use mod capabilities and intense multiplayer modes and options. Civilization IV will come to life like never before in a beautifully detailed, living 3D world that will elevate the gameplay experience to a whole new level. Civilization IV has already been heralded as one of the top ten games of 2005, and a must-have for gamers around the globe!

2K Games and Firaxis Games are proud to congratulate composer Christopher Tin for writing the first piece of music for a video game to ever receive a Grammy nomination. Tin’s beloved “Baba Yetu,” commissioned specifically for Sid Meier’s Civilization IV, has been nominated in the category of “Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists,” while the album in which the track appears, Calling All Dawns, has received a nomination in the category of “Best Classical Crossover Album.”

"Working on Sid Meier’s Civilization IV was a thrill for me - not only because it was a game that I grew up playing obsessively, but because it was my first-ever video game job,” said Christopher Tin, composer for Sid Meier’s Civilization IV. “Firaxis gave me the time, space, and means to create something unique and special - you can't ask for better creative conditions as a composer. I look forward to working with them again and again, from now until the end of... well, civilization.”

Originally composed for Sid Meier’s Civilization IV, “Baba Yetu” achieved great success after the game’s release, first winning two Game Audio Network Guild awards for video game music, and then becoming one of the most popular and frequently performed pieces of video game music ever written. It became a fixture of the Video Games Live touring concert series, and was played during performances at the Hollywood Bowl, Kennedy Center, Royal Festival Hall, and many other renowned venues. It was also used in the opening ceremonies of the World Games of 2009 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and as a featured segment in the choreographed Dubai Fountain, the world's largest interactive water feature.

In composing “Baba Yetu,” Christopher Tin tapped into the rich history of African choral music. Missionaries of the 19th-century used Swahili as the lingua franca for spreading Christianity across East Africa. As a result, a rich tradition of vocal music arose that blended European harmonies with traditional African call-and-response. “Baba Yetu” literally means “Our Father,” and is a Swahili translation of The Lord's Prayer. Tin re-recorded the song in 2009 as an overture to Calling All Dawns, and supplemented it with 11 companion pieces in 11 other languages, including Japanese, Farsi, Hebrew, Maori and more.

Features :

• Faster-Paced Fun - Gameplay has been streamlined for a tighter, faster and more compelling experience.
• Greater Accessibility and Ease of Play - An easy-to-use interface will be immediately familiar to RTS and action game players, and newcomers to the series will be able to jump in and play.
• Tech Tree - Flexible Tech tree allows players more strategic choices for developing their civilizations along unique paths.
• More Civs, Units, and Improvements to enhance and grow your empire.
• Multiplayer -LAN, Internet, PBEM and Persistent Turn-Based Server (PTBS) offer players all-new strategies and ways to play when competing or cooperating with live opponents.
• Team Play - Whether playing multiplayer or single player, team play offers a new way of setting locked alliances that result in shared wonder effects, visibility, unit trading and shared territory that delivers a plethora of new strategic and tactical options.
• Civ IV comes to life! - Beautiful 3D world with dozens of fully animated units (including culturally unique units) and totally customizable armies. Cities and wonders will appear on the map. Wonder movies are back!
• Mods and Community Tools - Designed from the ground up for modability, the game contains a powerful map editor with XML and Python support.
• Choose Your Leader - Most Civs now have 2 leaders from which to choose, with each Leader having traits that provide various bonuses to the player.
• Civics - With the discovery of new techs, civic options can become available. Freedom of speech or slavery? Hereditary rule or open elections? This creates endless government choices and possibilities!
• Religion - Now there are 7 religions in the game that are unlocked through researching. When unlocked, the religion spreads through a player's empire allowing them to use the religion to help manage happiness, gain gold and create Great Prophets.
• Great People - As the player uses specialists they gain Great People points in the city that is utilizing the specialists. Great People include the Artist, Tycoon, Prophet, Engineer, & Scientist. They can be used to get free techs, start Golden Ages, or join a city to increase its output.
• Promotions - Each unit has a promotion path that emphasizes specific unit traits. Promotions include bonuses to Attack/Defend on specific terrains/features, movement bonuses, sight/visibility bonuses and increased withdrawal chances.
• In-Game Movies - Civ IV will have over 70 in-game movies.