Tropico 3: Dictate Your Thoughts

Here's a story that got lost in our weekend of commenty madness. Reader John reminded us it was announced on Friday that Kalypso, a publisher of Sins of a Solar Empire and Gal Civ II, had acquired the rights to the Tropico series from Take 2. The consequences of this being the declaration that there will be a Tropico 3.

To be developed by Haemimont Games, the Bulgarian studio behind Glory of the Roman Empire and Imperivm - Great Battles Of Rome, they're currently suggesting a Summer 2009 release.

Remember Tropico? It's been a while. PopTop's original came out in 2001 (and an expansion in 2002), with the sequel, Pirate Cove, in 2003. Then Take 2 let the franchise fall silent. It never took the world by storm, but the dictator-em-up took an interesting angle on city building management sims. Newly installed as the dictator of an obscure Caribbean island, you could choose to be benevolent, or more entertainingly cruel and malevolent to your people.

We know there are dedicated fans out there. How do you feel about Haemimont's appointment to the project? Imperivm and Glory of the Roman Empire received an interesting mix of reviews. And what do you want from Tropico now, six years later? What does it need to do to be true to its roots, but be different enough from other city management games?