Pirates is one of those titles where no one element is incredibly amazing, yet as a whole, Pirates is easily one of the most addicting games that we've ever played -- ever!

Windsor, UK – 17th Nov, 2005 – 2K Games, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), announced today that Sid Meier will be traveling to the UK on 25th November to meet with fans of his hit series Civilization. The signing will commence at 1.00pm, will continue until around 3.00pm and will take place in HMV’s superstore at 150 Oxford Street, London, W1 – nearest tube stations, Oxford Circus and Tottenham Court Road.

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So, if you’d like the opportunity to meet, greet and chat to one of the founding fathers of the videogames industry, simply make your way to HMV on Friday 25th November.

We’ll be looking forward to seeing you all there.

"Firaxis Games, founded and led by industry executive Jeff Briggs, and inspired by the genius of Sid Meier, is among the most innovative and successful development studios in the industry," said Christoph Hartmann, Managing Director of 2K Games. "The Firaxis and 2K Games union is a strong fusion of creativity and vision that will continue to result in the development of innovative games with mass appeal. We're excited to welcome Jeff, Sid and the entire Firaxis team to the 2K family."

"This is a tremendous opportunity for Firaxis," said Jeff Briggs, Founder, President and CEO of Firaxis Games. "2K Games is an energetic label that shares our goals and vision for making great games that stand the test of time. We are pleased to be associated with the energy and commitment to quality work that 2K represents, and look forward to a great future together."

Sid will be chatting with gamers on Monday, September 26 beginning at 5:00 P.M. Eastern, 2:00 P.M. Pacific. You will need a .NET Passport to participate. If you've got a hotmail or MSN account, you've already got a Passport. Need a Passport? Set one up in a few easy steps here.

Click here to add a chat reminder to your calendar!

The chat room can be found here. The chat room will only hold 500 people, so get there early!

In trying to figure out some of the key moments from the development process, I found that there were actually quite a few. The first time I saw a ship navigating the Caribbean on an Xbox dev. kit – albeit briefly. The first time we had the full game running on the dev. kit but still using the kit’s full 128 Megs of Ram. When we finally got the memory usage down so the game would run in 64 Megs. Hearing the first trash talk from a vs. ship battle game. Even seeing the first prototype for the Even the Odds mini game was special but there were a couple others that were even better.