Alpha Centauri Demo Due

On Thursday, December 24, GameSpot and ZDNet's Launchpad will debut the demo for Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. Developed by Firaxis Games and published by Electronic Arts, Alpha Centauri is a turn-based empire-building strategy game in the grand tradition of Meier's best-known work, Civilization. The designers have tried to envision what will legitimately be possible 200 years in the future, in essence trying to bring history to the future. Those familiar with Civilization will recognize that Alpha Centauri begins where its predecessor left off: A space ship has escaped from a dying Earth and arrives in a new world. By the time it completes its journey, and Alpha Centauri begins, the crew has split into seven factions.

The demo weighs in at 20MB and will include a 100-turn single-player game. The final version is scheduled to ship in spring 1999.