Civilization 5: Free Until Sunday 1 PM PDT

Buy Civilization 5 as a Father's Day Present 
They say that the most exhilarating part of any show or game series are the first 2. For the third one, you're going to have to come up with something astounding and breathtaking. For the fourth and fifth?

I'll be honest and say that I didn't like the first incarnations of the game initially. Simulations or god games were an acquired taste for me. One that I've learned through my dad. He was a Civilization nut. When I was a kid, we only had one computer and my dad always had to use it at night up to the early hours of the morning - just to play this game. I guess this was his way of relaxing after his long hours at work.

Bored and with nothing interesting to watch on TV, I'll just sit by and watch while he played.

Most of the time it was a quiet ritual. That is, until someone breaks the peace treaty and nukes three of his cities at the same time.

"%@#%@^ Egyptians!!" He'd roar

~Danny, could you make me a cup of coffee? Sure.... That was my job.




30 minutes later and then he'll talk about retribution. I'd see a whole barrage of artillery units, the howitzers and a bunch of tanks circling a small dinky doodle enemy city with a population of 1. (100,000 actually), then he'd waste them all with the nuke - including his own tanks. Normally I would have said, "Hey dad, your tanks are going to be obliterated along with the city if you nuke it."  


But he'd just say, "So be it!"


Up to the very moment when he presses the move key on the keyboard to move the nukes (No, he actually slams it...) it became an entertaining and slightly humorous facet of our dad-kid relationship.
Obliterating enemy cities by nuclear bomb - best dad and kid moment. 

CIVILIZATION V

   
Reasons To Get Civilization 5 

1. Values resource management. Sure you can also do that with StarCraft or in Diablo 3, but the level of complexity is quite different. 
2. Values diplomacy. Or at the very least, understanding the workings of an AI opponent.
3. An exceptional game about history. You're thinking that if you're going to buy a game for your kid, it might as well be a semi-learning game. This game takes away the inherent boredom of learning about facts of old, by presenting them as "objects" which you can use in the game.
4. Values long term planning. Your civilization will not be built in a day. You can play it today, then play it next week at your own leisurely pace.
5. Very affordable. Getting a premier game from a popular and aged franchise at a price of less than $10 dollars is a steal.