Games are always hardware-intensive. The rest is just as Activision designed it. The game is designed to run from a CD, but due to space limitations on the CD, it can't currently be run that way. The files on the CD are compressed and would have to be uncompressed on the CD to run from there. We have no release plans for a CD-based Civilization, but we are aware of the need for such features and will be looking into that possibility for future games.
Civilization is truly a breakout product.
It is a triple-A product released hot on the heels of the Windows version going into stores. That includes SuSE in Europe and Macmillan Publishing in North America. Wherever you see Red Hat, you'll see our game. That's not true for the average Linux game at this time. By doing this, we've shown there is a market for this game, and games in general, on Linux.