The game studio Firaxis is taking aim at a new market with its venerable PC game franchise, called Civ for short: the Xbox and PlayStation crowd.
The Civ games, in which players take a young society and guide it to world domination through careful balancing of resources, diplomacy and firepower, are famously cerebral and complex.
This is not a type of game that has been a hit on the Xbox or PlayStation, where the blockbusters tend to be more focused on action.
Firaxis hopes to change that with its upcoming title Civilization Revolution.
The video game industry is so young and growing so quickly that it always seems to be in a state of reinvention.
Last month, for example, Sony announced that a movie download service for its PlayStation 3 console will start shortly.
The idea is that PS3 owners will be able to buy or rent video via the system's built-in wireless Internet connection.
Microsoft has a similar online store already in operation for its Xbox 360 console.
By re-crafting its flagship computer title for the console market, Firaxis is similar to any company keeping stride with the latest technology.
Apple is now a music store and a phonemaker that also sells computers, after all.
Games designed for consoles like the Xbox have grabbed an increasing share of buzz, and consumer dollars, in recent years.
Retail sales for PC games, the market where Firaxis made its fame, have been mostly stagnant.
A recent report by PricewaterhouseCoopers projects that PC game sales will drop from $3.8 billion last year to $3.6 billion in 2012.
The firm forecasts that the game market overall will grow at a rate that outpaces other entertainment sectors, from $41.9 billion to $68.4 billion over the same period.
"There's an energy to the console market," said Sid Meier, the studio's head designer.
"We're seeing an explosion in the quality and creativity in console games."
Meier is a star to gamers in an industry where there aren't a lot of marquee names.
He was recently awarded a place in Guinness World Records for having won more awards than any other game designer.
Meier designed his early games by himself; the first Civilization debuted in 1991 on floppy disk and CD-Rom.
Counting three sequels and a few add-on packs, the franchise has sold 9 million units.
Firaxis, which now employs 85 people, was bought by Take-Two Interactive Software in 2005.
Take-Two has made headlines this year as the target of a hostile takeover attempt by publisher Electronic Arts, one of the world's biggest game companies.
For Civ fans, the ones who stay up all night playing the game, the latest hot topic hasn't been the prospect of EA owning its favourite studio, however.
The question has been whether Firaxis has had to dumb down its game to appeal to a more mainstream audience that doesn't have a long attention span.
Previous versions of Civ could take more than a dozen hours to play.
The Xbox and PlayStation versions will take only about three hours to complete.
Meier calls Revolution a "more gentle, more entertaining introduction" to his game franchise.
Designing a version of Civ meant to be played by punching a game controller's triggers and thumb sticks required a different approach than designing another version for the PC's keyboard and mouse, he said.
The shift required him "to go back and focus on the fun parts".
Wilson Gan, the proprietor of an 8-year-old website called CivFanatics.com, said the fans who frequent his site tend to be the ones who will miss the intricacies Meier has taken out of the new version of the game.
"People are definitely complaining," Mr Gan said.
He plans to pick up a copy for his PS3, even though he hopes Firaxis has another old-school version of Civ in the works.
"There's no way to please everybody," he said.
Firaxis is "trying to bring more people to the series. It's always good to have more players".
This style of strategy games has not been popular on consoles, said Mike Hickey, a game industry analyst with Janco Partners.
But, he said, Civilization is a powerful brand and Meier is a famous name.
"Sid Meier is one of the most respected developers in the industry, and this one of the biggest franchises in the world for that category of game," he said.
"I think it has a shot at doing pretty well." - Mike Musgrove
