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[Teletraan1]

Looks incredible but I don't like the publishers track record with keeping servers running. Plus I wasn't enamored with D3 being always online and I trust

Spoiler

ed

Blizzard way more than EA.

 

[AppleSmack]

Graphics are so incredible.

I've been holding off buying a new PC for so long, just so I could get the best bang for my buck; Sim City is really going to pull me back into PC gaming.

Agreed. The art style really stands out. I just hope they optimize the game well.

 

[Twinduct]

Is that a superhero in the last screenshot?
Looking forward to this!

 

[Rhomega Beta]

Yeah, and it looks like Mario has a sports car. Also, the nighttime shots are gorgeous. I just love nighttime cityscapes.

 

[Jintor]

Fuckin' give me this game already GAWD DAMN

 

[GlassBox]

Some new screens,

Quoted for goodness that belongs on new page. This is looking very nice indeed.

 

[bodyboarder]

That looks awesome. Makes me almost wish I had a gaming pc.

 

[Suairyu]

Just signed up for the beta. Going to download SimCity 4 off Steam tonight methinks...

 

[yellow submarine]

Online-only single player? Not even once.

I'm seriously pissed off that they chose to do this stupid DRM measure. And am also pissed that they tried to pass it off as a "feature" of sharing cities' resources. How dumb do these people think gamers are? (*looks at CoD/D3/shovelware title sales figures topping each NPD year after year* ... *puts head down and walks away*)

 

[Suairyu]

Unlike with Diablo III, I agree that online-only for this game is nothing more than a DRM in disguise. You could easily do the features they're spouting for this new SimCity with asynchronous play.

 

[Baron Doggystyle von Woof]

Online only single player...yukkkk

yet, this a new simcity. Why are you doing this to me EA?!

 

[Lothars]

Unlike with Diablo III, I agree that online-only for this game is nothing more than a DRM in disguise. You could easily do the features they're spouting for this new SimCity with asynchronous play.

I agree it's not need and this shouldn't be online only.

 

[Brofield]

I remember the hours upon hours of fun I had with SimCity 2000, and my extreme disappointment when my mother wouldn't let me buy 3000 because I already had 2000 and it was just 'more of the same'.

This I will make sure my laptop can run.

 

[Soul_Pie]

Online only single player...yukkkk

yet, this a new simcity. Why are you doing this to me EA?!

Ugh, this trend, please make it stop. Sim City is my favourite PC series, please just leave me in peace to play this game, EA. I don't wanna share with anyone, I just want to make my own shit, my internet service provider is not always reliable (it can often conk out for hours at a time) and the uncertainty in terms of EA's horrible record with servers is really making me nervous. (I still play the old sim city games to this day, this will probably be a ten year game for me right here) I hate games locking you in and I hate jumping through hoops just to play a game I bought. It feels like we're going backwards.

The game looks absolutely amazing, though, the style is hard to define, it kind of looks like a slightly pixar inspired art style put through that tilt shift effect, those screenshots have me salivating. The day night cycle looks fantastic, seeing a city come to life at night is going to be a thing of beauty. They're building an entirely new engine along with this game so my hopes are high as to what it can achieve. Hopefully this is well optimized and runs nicely, SC4 had pretty bad performance issues across all the hardware I played it on.

I think it might be the game that pushes me to build a new rig, I've been putting it off for a while now but this is such a big release for me.

 

[Mengy]

Unlike with Diablo III, I agree that online-only for this game is nothing more than a DRM in disguise. You could easily do the features they're spouting for this new SimCity with asynchronous play.

It's not DRM in disguise, DLC is the biggest reason for online only with this game. EA wants this game to be online at all times because of the huge amounts of DLC they have planned for it, and they want it to be easy to both buy the DLC and to advertise for the DLC. Both become much easier if the game is always online.

I fear that EA plans to milk this for all it is worth. Sadly, I love Sim City enough that I just may bite. I am definitely waiting for reviews before I buy though. The game looks great, but it will need to play freaking exceptionally well for me to to put up with the online only choice.

 

[Suairyu]

It's not DRM in disguise, DLC is the biggest reason for online only with this game. EA wants this game to be online at all times because of the huge amounts of DLC they have planned for it, and they want it to be easy to both buy the DLC and to advertise for the DLC. Both become much easier if the game is always online.

I fear that EA plans to milk this for all it is worth. Sadly, I love Sim City enough that I just may bite. I am definitely waiting for reviews before I buy though. The game looks great, but it will need to play freaking exceptionally well for me to to put up with the online only choice.

But what DLC would you want for SimCity?

I mean, it's the same with The Sims 3. Tons of DLC for that game, but it isn't worth bothering with. Just buy the expansions as they add significant gameplay elements.

DLC city skins and buildings wouldn't tempt me even for £0.20 a piece

 

[Boss Doggie]

But Sims 3 at least isn't forcing always online.

 

[Celegus]

But what DLC would you want for SimCity?

I mean, it's the same with The Sims 3. Tons of DLC for that game, but it isn't worth bothering with. Just buy the expansions as they add significant gameplay elements.

DLC city skins and buildings wouldn't tempt me even for £0.20 a piece

Hopefully that's all it is. People that are interested can buy all they want, and we'll still get the full experience.

 

[Throwaway123456789]

I played this over at the EA offices in Cologne last week (was the first non EA person to play it, woop!), and while it was a somewhat rough pre-alpha build, it still blew me the fuck away. It's absolutely incredible.

The little details are what really nails this game. I built a power station only to wonder why it didn't work at first. Turns out the little guys working there hadn't gotten up yet, so I watched as they got out of their homes, jumped into their little cars and parked in the power station's parking lot. Every resident that owns a car will use the same one, it's not just some random car they jump into to create an illusion of ownership.

The fire station works kinda like it as well. Not all firemen are at work at the same time, so they come rushing in when the alarm sounds. You can upgrade the station alarm with a large bell at the top of the roof so that they hear it sooner.

In my little city of around 1500 people one single guy was walking around with a sad smiley over his head. I clicked him and found out he had just been at the new factory I made applying for the manager position. He didn't get it. Aw.

 

[Boss Doggie]

Ahh so they now follow Tropico's route of having visible people that interact with the buildings eh? Nice. Adds more strategy than the "plop the building, it activates" stuff from before.

 

[Razek]

This looks sooooo good. It has a "Make your own city out of hot wheels and LEGO bricks but everything comes to life and considers you mayor" vibe going on which I'm really diggin'.

I played this over at the EA offices in Cologne last week (was the first non EA person to play it, woop!), and while it was a somewhat rough pre-alpha build, it still blew me the fuck away. It's absolutely incredible.

The little details are what really nails this game. I built a power station only to wonder why it didn't work at first. Turns out the little guys working there hadn't gotten up yet, so I watched as they got out of their homes, jumped into their little cars and parked in the power station's parking lot. Every resident that owns a car will use the same one, it's not just some random car they jump into to create an illusion of ownership.

The fire station works kinda like it as well. Not all firemen are at work at the same time, so they come rushing in when the alarm sounds. You can upgrade the station alarm with a large bell at the top of the roof so that they hear it sooner.

In my little city of around 1500 people one single guy was walking around with a sad smiley over his head. I clicked him and found out he had just been at the new factory I made applying for the manager position. He didn't get it. Aw.

That sounds awesome. Did you get a feel for laying down roads and zones? Is it simple click and drag like 2000/3000 or more restrictive with auto roads like SC4?

 

[Throwaway123456789]

Ahh so they now follow Tropico's route of having visible people that interact with the buildings eh? Nice. Adds more strategy than the "plop the building, it activates" stuff from before.

Not only visible people, but individuals that you can click on to see what their goals are, what they think, where they're headed and what makes them happy/angry. Even in a city of 100 000 you have 100 000 different people, all doing their stuff. Excellent stuff, really.

 

[Boss Doggie]

Not only visible people, but individuals that you can click on to see what their goals are, what they think, where they're headed and what makes them happy/angry. Even in a city of 100 000 you have 100 000 different people, all doing their stuff. Excellent stuff, really.

Ah cool, so they did follow tropico's style. Very good!

 

[Throwaway123456789]

That sounds awesome. Did you get a feel for laying down roads and zones? Is it simple click and drag like 2000/3000 or more restrictive with auto roads like SC4?

Simple click and drag. You can make several different roads, ranging from dirt roads to avenues (with trees between). You can also make bendy roads this time (guide lines pop up to help getting those perfect).

The roads also transport electricity, water, sewage and garbage. I actually needed to upgrade my garbage dump so that I had room for more. Needed to buy a second garbage truck as well!

 

[FinKL]

So torn, looks great, but EA. I hope multiplayer is fun and lots of people can get in on it at once

 

[Razek]

Simple click and drag. You can make several different roads, ranging from dirt roads to avenues (with trees between). You can also make bendy roads this time (guide lines pop up to help getting those perfect).

The roads also transport electricity, water, sewage and garbage. I actually needed to upgrade my garbage dump so that I had room for more. Needed to buy a second garbage truck as well!

Oh thank goodness. Hype meter times infinity.

 

[mavs]

Is that a superhero in the last screenshot?
Looking forward to this!

Maxis Man, seems he got a new costume and ditched the early 90s purple-and-green color scheme.

 

[Darklord]

 

[steadfast]

Racer X, obviously... he stole the Mach 5

 

[lefantome]

fantastic screenshots, but i'd like to see a well developed city from the air first.

 

[Throwaway123456789]

Oh thank goodness. Hype meter times infinity.

Funny story from the play session I had: We were four guys trying the game out, with producer Jason Haber walking between us, looking both a bit nervous and super excited. Then the PR woman asked if anyone wanted to do the one-on-one interview now. Everyone said hell no and kept playing until the demo ended (meteors slam into and destroyed the city!), and then immediately started it over. I guess you can't get a better compliment than that!

I think I blasted through the demo three times before tearing myself away to do the chat.

 

[zoku88]

Racer X, obviously... he stole the Mach 5

And painted it too. What a dick!

 

[bud23]

Online only single player...yukkkk

yet, this a new simcity. Why are you doing this to me EA?!

Why?It´s EA . Who wants a solo mode in a sand box game like sim city? Really frustating.

 

[Jintor]

Ah cool, so they did follow tropico's style. Very good!

But you don't have to wait for your lazy-ass builders to finish their siesta before actually making those tenaments!

 

[Boss Doggie]

But you don't have to wait for your lazy-ass builders to finish their siesta before actually making those tenaments!

Yeah but at least they have people now! Also I have two builder buildings handy!

 

[Pandemic]

Some new screens,

This is the first stage of a windfarm, that you can upgrade.

Second screen looks pretty good.

 

[Mobius 1]

Played it last week.

It's amazing. To everybody concerned about the complexity of the simulation, don't worry about it. It's as deep as SC4.

Feb 2013 is so fucking far away.

 

[jamesinclair]

No mixed use zoning?




Also, will I need a laptop from July 2014 to run this game?

 

[Data West]

Every time I see something new for this game, it makes the wait that much longer.

I can't believe we're getting a new XCom from the Civilization team, a new SimCity from Maxis, and that cool looking Ortega game from Topico team

 

[Dork Knight]

Played it last week.

It's amazing. To everybody concerned about the complexity of the simulation, don't worry about it. It's as deep as SC4.

Feb 2013 is so fucking far away.

Did you play it at PAX?

 

[dLMN8R]

Did you play it at PAX?

I did for a little bit. They just had it on two PCs in the NVIDIA booth. Got to play through the early game tutorial, which was nice, but obviously didn't go into huge detail. The way zoning and building works seems really nice from what I could tell, and I love how they visualize the "agents" running the simulation behind the scenes.

 

[Dork Knight]

I did for a little bit. They just had it on two PCs in the NVIDIA booth. Got to play through the early game tutorial, which was nice, but obviously didn't go into huge detail. The way zoning and building works seems really nice from what I could tell, and I love how they visualize the "agents" running the simulation behind the scenes.

Very nice! I may have demoed the game for you.

 

[Jayayess1190]

SimCity hands-on: sick citizens, sewage pipes and meteor strikes

 

[Mengy]

SimCity hands-on: sick citizens, sewage pipes and meteor strikes

For some reason, no matter how much new info I read about this game, I'm still skeptical about it. In some ways it looks and sounds awesome, in other ways it makes me wish they had just modernized SimCity 4. I hope there is a way to turn off meteors landing in our cities, and the whole sim experience thing. I don't really care about individual sims in my city, the whole point of the game is a macro experience, not a micro one. And the online facebook google style multiplayer experience, I just hope they aren't going to force everyone into it. I hope it's not so embedded into the game that it's obtrusive. Because at times it sounds like it is.

I want to buy SimCity 5, but I'm going to be waiting for a few reviews first.

 

[Pandemic]

New blog, called The Circulatory System of SimCity
http://www.simcity.com/en_US/blog/article/Circulatory-System-of-SimCity

 

[iNvid02]

looks pretty incredible, still hoping i can get into the beta

 

[jambo]

I'm still waiting to hear back about beta access as well =[

 

[Pandemic]

A new blog was posted a few days ago,
SIMCITY’S HEAVY TRAFFIC

Hello SimCity Insiders! I’m Guillaume Pierre, Lead Gameplay Scripter on SimCity. My team & I build the game’s simulation using the GlassBox Engine. If you have not done so yet, I recommend you read Tuesday’s blog post about public transit options. Today, I’m going to talk about emergent traffic.
Previous SimCity games took a map approach to traffic, where each cell would define its maximum traversable speed, along with its traffic capacity and what types of vehicles (pedestrians, cars, etc.) can go on it. In the new SimCity, however, we have actual vehicles that follow the roads, wait at lights and get stuck in traffic. They are path-bound agents that have to make decisions about where they should go, both on a strategic and tactical level.

On the strategic level, each agent is given a list of destinations it should go to, sorted by priority. For example, when Sims decide to go to work, the list goes: 1. Go to work, 2. Go back home, and 3. Leave the city.

Avenues like this help alleviate heavy traffic.

As the Sims leave their homes (either by foot if the destination is close enough, or by car if it’s farther out) they will try to go to the closest destination at the top of the list. At each intersection, the Sims will try to take the best path to the destination, based on distance and on how many workers are needed in shops and factories. If for some reason the top destination becomes unavailable, then the Sims will try to go back home.

Some agents may switch back to the top priority when it becomes available again, while others will only go down the list. For example, the first option is used by police cars that may be patrolling the streets and then all of a sudden need to drive to the scene of a crime, while the second option is suitable for large crowds that need to be more consistent with their destination.

On the tactical level, cars will try to go into the correct lane before reaching an intersection, so if workers need to make a left turn to reach a coal mine, you’ll see a bunch of vehicles queuing up on the left side of an avenue, while the middle and right lanes may only have light traffic. As a city planner, you really need to think about how your Sims can most efficiently get to their destination.

Another thing to consider when building your city is how long cars will have to wait at intersections. Cars on an avenue will wait a shorter time at a red light than the cars on a four-lane road that’s crossing it. Emergency vehicles on the other hand will force the lights to turn green in order to get to their destination faster, potentially causing more traffic for Sims going back home after their work day.

There’s a lot more to say about traffic, but that will be it for today. Come back again soon for more exclusive information in SimCity Insider!

http://www.simcity.com/en_US/insider/blog/article/SimCity’s-Heavy-Traffic

 

[Why would you do that?]

Ah... In old games (at least Sim City 4), if you have two streets right next to each other, only one will be filled waaaay over capacity with all the traffic while the other is bone dry.

Glad to hear that won't happen anymore.

 

[Jayayess1190]

'SimCity' reboot set to launch on March 5th in the US, March 8th in Europe

It's been months since EA first announced a reboot for the SimCity franchise, but we finally know when the game will launch: the official SimCity Twitter account says the game will be available on March 5th in the US and March 8th in Europe. We already knew the game was scheduled to come early next year, though it seems the game has slipped a bit from the February launch window that we heard about back in August. The game will be noteworthy for running in the new Glassbox engine, which developer Maxis built in-house to provide more realistic simulations thanks to micro-level AI for every object in the game. While there's no pricing information yet, the game will be available through EA's Origin service and though the traditional DVD format for both Mac and PC. If you can't wait until March, PC players can register for the SimCity beta right here.