Civ V on its way this year

[Kamakazie]

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but doesn't that mean no offline play then if you order it via Steam? I mention this since this is one of the few games I would like to have the ability to play offline. Also, I haven't fired up Civ 4 in a while, but the pitboss feature was another nice addon that did not work correctly with the Steam version. That one allowed you to essentially have your own Civ server where other teammates could hop on and off to do their turns as needed.

I can't speak for the Pitboss functionality in Civ 5, but unless there is DRM similar to Ubisoft's craziness, any Steam game can be played offline.