Civilization V: Brave New World info and screens demonstrate new features

We recently had a chance to check out Civilization V: Brave New World, an upcoming expansion that looks to add new elements to the wildly popular strategy game. But besides adding more replayability by way of heaping on additional features (and races, such as Poland, Brazil, Assyria, Portugal, and Zulu), Firaxis is using the expansion to further balance Civilization V's core game, letting the new things balance out the old ones.

One major way the game is changing is with the additional of a World Congress, formed when every civilization has been discovered. The Congress votes on different rules to apply to the world, like Nuclear Nonproliferation, bans on certain luxuries, or global religions. There's also a new element of exploration added late-game with the addition of Archeology, which dynamically creates different dig sites around the map based on the events of the first half of the game. There have also been major boosts to Culture, changing the victory conditions significantly. Will it help balance out Civ's peaks and valleys to make for a more consistant game? We'll know when it launches on June 9.

Looking for more? Check out some screens of the game in the following slides, along with short descriptions as to what's going on.