E3: SimCity 4 Preview Goodness

Anonymous Coward writes "Wowie! The folks at Electronic Arts look to be working hard on the next installment of SimCity! Although there's no official, dedicated release date, they plan on demoing it at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Gamers.com has an article, as does GameSpot, and both seem to have a number of screenshots. Interesting: there now seems to be a nighttime mode, and perhaps there's some weather effects? The note from MaxisJoseph claims there will be a personal angle to every high-level action taken; will there be a chance for dynamic screenshots of our cities during, say, lightning storms, blizzards or sandstorms? And will they ask Koch or Guiliani for endorsements?" I know I'm not the only one who wants to play the Sims in the SimTower in the SimCity on SimEarth with the pesky SimAnts in the balcony garden.

Comments

thank god

[AnimeFreak]

Not to troll or anything, but SimCity 3000 was a bit of a disappointment and a waste of my money as it was really just a graphics-enhanced version of SimCity 2000. From what I can see from the prelininary screenshots, SimCity 4 will not be like it's older brothers and will breathe fresh air into a game that has always rocked.

One feature I really want is the ability to work with other Sim players. Net support in the game would rock because you could work with other players on water, garbage, and electricity deals and also work on transportation plans together. Hell, even have sports teams competing against eachother. :)

Another is to have what SimCity 2000 with Streets of SimCity and have the ability to drive through town. Have it simulate actual traffic at certain sections and make it so you can determine, for real, what areas have problems.

Better gameplay, please

[Jeffrey Baker]

Weather effects are cute, and I love details in games, but Simcity's gameplay is quite primitive, and I hope they really improve it. The game is unfortunately wedged in a very twentieth-century-american mode. You cannot build a city without building roads everywhere. Even if your reliable and convenient subway spans the city, nobody will move in until you build roads. This isn't exactly allowing you much flexibility. Now it seems that the designers have changed the game engine to automatically build roads, bridge and tunnels. In Simcity, cars are a given.

I'd like to play a Simcity game where I could build a car-free city. I want a button for bicycle paths. I want to mix residential, commercial, and industrial without zoning. I think the fire department should operate without trucks. I want a city with 95% green open space, and a community-supported agricultural belt. Where's the button for farm? In Simcity, it is assumed that farms are "over there", far from the glorious car temple you are constructing.

In short, I want the Simcity people to exercise some imagination.

Re:Better gameplay, please

[Pfhor]

Damn straight.

I mean, to have more alternatives would be great. It would a nice change of pace to see the games of the future not reinforcing ideas of the past.

How about they throw in the medical conditions and possible side affects associated with corporate farm based foods, etc.

SimCommune instead of SimCity Maybe?

Re:Better gameplay, please

[rabidcow]

Farms in sc3k: create a large low-density *industrial* zone in a low pollution area. I believe there's actually a tutorial about it on maxis' web site. It's very hard to keep it from turning into factories tho, and once the pollution comes in from them it's all lost.

I was amused that low-density residential plots with high land value would turn into walled, mostly grass, estates.

Re:Better gameplay, please

[d^2b]

Well, I think the original poster, and anyone who has lived in a city with a decent public transport system (i.e. outside of the USA, and for the most part outside of Canada), could argue that requiring roads and parking lots for people to move in is _not_ realistic. Look at the old city in any major European city. Basically twisty roman cart tracks are not too swell for SUVs, but strangely enough people pay through the nose to live there.

But hey, its only a game. The standard slashdot reply should be for people to get off their butts and write a better one. :-)

Airplane Disaster

[daidojiuji]

I wonder if they'll include the Airplane Crash disaster from previous versions. Just think of all of the people who would demand to see the game banned from stores!

Re:Maxis was cool.

[Loligo]

>Yeah.. the Sims is the best selling PC game of all time because it totally sucks

Another person already mentioned Myst. How about other top-sellers like Deer Hunter?

Windows (of various flavors) is the best selling operating system of all time. Does this mean it doesn't suck?

Should we mention the music examples of NSync and Britney Spears? They sell an assload of records. Do they suck?

I'll even push a few folks' buttons: The Phantom Menace made a TON of money. It's #20 on the top 100 grossing American films list, adjusted for inflation. (Full list here: http://www.filmsite.org/boxoffice.html ). Was it a great movie?

Being popular doesn't mean it doesn't suck.

-l

simcity 4 shold be fun

[abolith]

BUT is there a point to it? all the sim cities havebeen build watch, repeat. BORING. I should hope that there would be a point to the new one.

Re:SimSim

[Lothsahn]

No, actually, you run into the problem of micro-macro management.

It's something that the creators of MOO3 (is that still coming out?) have been wrestling with.

A mayor can't realistically change individual lives (except for maybe his personal one). Instead, he has to implement policies that get carried out. He doesn't direct traffic, or catch criminals.

It's quite the same in a game. If you are going at normal speed, then too much happens while you are manipulating their house. If you cause the speed to slowdown to manipulate individual lives, what is to say they won't just move out next month... and what effect does one individual's life really have on a city anyways (unless they implement policies).

It's the fallacy that total control=better game. It actually just creates a micromanagement nightmare.

I really hope Master of Orion 3 comes out. It fixes many problems, mostly involved with (micro/macro)management. You, the emperor only get so many command points a turn, regardless of the size of your empire. Therefore, you can take a fixed number of actions, so a smaller empire is run more efficiently than a larger empire. Not only does this fix the per turn time difference in multiplayer turn based strategy games that make them boring in multiplayer, but it also more realistically models real life.

If you are going to make a macromanagement game, then macromanage. Let me do lots of cool stuff, like bike paths, and water, and subways, and roads, and airports, and stuff... but please don't add micromanagement. Don't fool yourself. Whether or not I break up with my girlfriend or not isn't going to change my city. Why should it matter in Simcity?

vectored road and such...

[ComaVN]

When are they finally going to stop using the grid-like roads that only allow you to create an american looking city? Why not use vectored roads, with realistic curves, so you could recreate Paris, or Amsterdam, or some mountain town, or whatever.
That would be a game I'd buy immediatly.