The Glade 4.0

Composer Christopher Tin has received two Grammy Awards nominations, one of which is for his work on Civilization IV's opening theme -- the first time a video game song has received Grammy recognition.

The track, "Baba Yetu", which features the Soweto Gospel Choir, was shortlisted for the "Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists" category. It will compete against Roger Treece's "Baby", Vince Mendoza's "Based On A Thousand True Stories", Geoffrey Keezer's "Don't Explain", and Herbie Hancock and Larry Klein's "Imagine".

Tin originally created "Baba Yetu" for Firaxis' 2005 turn-based strategy title, but local and professional choirs have extended its popularity beyond Civilization IV, singing it at nearly 1000 live concert performances. It's also a staple of Video Games Live, the concert tour featuring game music played by orchestras and choirs.

It deserves the nomination, and an award. I just thought they generally did stuff for the same year. This seems strange.

Civ IV is a better game than Civ V, too.

Veto. Give Civ V an expansion or two to catch up on features, and it will be awesome.

I don't feel that way. I think they're comparably deep, but the social policies offer more breadth and room for growth than the slightly more complex version of culture in Civ IV.

Ya know what's funny? I haven't won a game of Civilization since II, except for one freak random game where I was the Germans on an ultra-tiny landmass, and was able to actually crush my neighbors in III. I think the game outgrew my ability to keep up with it mentally or something. I liked III a lot, but could not for the life of me win a game. IV? Kind of bleh, had trouble getting past the graphics and new interface.

Nice music, though, hope the guy wins his Grammy.