Legendary game developer Sid Meier’s newest installment in the venerable Civilization franchise was supposed to be a big deal. It was supposed to be Civilization, but on Facebook — Sid Meier’s gaming genius unleashed upon the unsuspecting FarmVille, social, casual gaming masses. It may not have seemed like it, but some gamers knew Civilization World could’ve turned the tide of gaming, bridging the gap between casual and hardcore gamers, becoming a gateway game to the wonderful world of what hardcore gamers would call “real” gaming — something Nintendo attempted with the Wii, but never quite achieved.

I’ve been loyally playing Civilization since it was released back in 1991. I was born in 1984. I built an entire scenario in Civilization II with the rudimentary map editors. I never succumbed to unhappy citizens in Civilization III, and I played Civilization IV — easily the best installment in the franchise — for more hours than most people play any singular thing. I was ranked in the top 10 on the head-to-head leaderboard for the PlayStation 3 Civilization Revolution, the franchise’s surprisingly successful attempt at building a Civ that actually worked on consoles rather than PCs, for as long as I actively played said installment. I was also disappointed and underwhelmed by the recent Civilization V, like any good Civ fan. I know Civ, and after Civilization Revolution’s successful attempt at translating the game to a faster-paced, slightly more casual crowd, I was looking forward to see what happened with Civ World. Despite my two decades of loyalty, Civ World would not let me into the closed Beta no matter how many times I applied. After the game recently launched its public Beta about a week ago and finally getting my hands on the product, the conspiracist in me thinks he knows why they didn’t let me into the closed Beta: Because I am a Civ fan, made that very clear on my closed Beta applications, and so far, this game is, sadly, not worth my time and the dev team knew how I’d feel. Funny thing is, it doesn’t seem worth the casual Facebook gamer’s time either.

So, if you care about Civilization, Facebook, casual gaming, or the metanarrative of hardcore and casual gaming, head on past the jump, and don’t worry, the post isn’t as long as it seems. There are a bunch of screenshots.

Maryland may be small (and by small I mean 42nd puniest state in the U.S.), but it’s home of pop culture staples like Big Huge Games, Bethesda Softworks, The Wire, Hairspray, and Tom Clancy’s The Sum of All Fears. But perhaps most important is developer Firaxis Games, responsible for the Civilization series, which likely comprised a good chunk of the $1 billion in tax revenues the state drew from the video game industry in 2008.

Now in honor of that annual gamer-generated windfall, Maryland State Governor Martin O’Malley will be recognizing September 21st as the first official Sid Meier’s Civilization V Day!

The box art for Civilization V was revealed today. We explore the evolution of Civ box art:

Professors, if you’re wondering why some previously very bright and organized students start turning in rushed or no assignments this September, I have the culprit. Civilization V is going to come out on September 21st.

Earlier this week, 2K Games announced that they are in development of Civilization V, promising that this fall a lot of gamers will loose several months of their lives to hexagons and world domination. Just one more turn, right?

2k Games has since released the first trailer for the new Sid Meier game, embedded after the jump, for your convenience.

In an announcement that is surprising no one, Firaxis has announced that Civilization V is under development. And while much is being made of the game’s promised features — including additional civilizations, leaders who speak in their native tongues, and long-range bombardment by units (but wait, wasn’t that in Alpha Centauri a decade ago?) — no one seems to be covering the drastic change apparent in the screenshots.

That’s right — the map uses hexagons instead of squares! What is this, some Avalon Hill monstrosity? Sid Meier must be rolling in his #9 Power Grid slot.

Today was going to be MMO-focused, what with the launch of Star Trek Online and the debut of our associated Power Grid, but an unexpected deluge of Civilization-related news has turned this into Civ Day (or…We Love the King Day?)

Anyway: FreeCiv, the open-source member the Civilization family, is now available for free, in your browser. Forget Battlefield: Heroes and browser Quake — this is how the twenty-something creative underclass should be wasting its daylight hours.

Gamers weaned on Sid Meier‘s Civilization and tired of the waves of zombies, mafiosi, and Farmville farmers who accost you daily on Facebook, rejoice: Civilization: Network, a Civ-based Facebook game, is coming out in beta in June.