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Will Wright Talks New Sim City, 'Uncollecting'

Posted by simoniker on from the uncollecting-is-the-new-black dept.

Thanks to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer for its interview with Sim City and The Sims creator Will Wright, ostensibly about forthcoming title The Sims 2 - however, Wright also notes that "a new version of 'SimCity' is in early planning stages", lamenting that "'SimCity' kind of worked itself into a corner... We were still appealing to this core 'SimCity' group. It had gotten a little complicated for people who had never played 'SimCity.'" He also espouses his new hobby, 'uncollecting', as he explains, after handing out "lapel pins commemorating the Soviet space program" to the interviewer: "I buy collections on eBay, and I disperse them out to people again. I have to be like an entropic force to collectors, otherwise all of this stuff will get sorted." Update: 05/24 20:10 GMT by S : Commenters note there's a transcript of the same interview with added detail, over at GameSpy.

9 of 41 comments (clear)

  1. Simcity 3000 is already too difficult for me by cloudless.net · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I think there should be difficulty modes in Simcity, so beginners can start with "easy mode" with less stuff to care about. By the way, will the next Simcity be truly 3D?

    1. Re:Simcity 3000 is already too difficult for me by jafuser · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Sim City 3000 was originally planned to be 3D, and they even got pretty far into the concept. I've still got some screenshots of it on my drive somewhere.

      It was abandoned because the hardware requirements were not up to par to handle the simulation and 3d rendering at the time.

      I'm hoping they bring back the idea, now that we seem to have adequate hardware for the job. I remember getting so excited about it, only to be given the biggest letdown that 3000 was basically a pretty-ified and dumbed down 2000.

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    2. Re:Simcity 3000 is already too difficult for me by cloudless.net · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Yeah wouldn't it be nice if I can zoom into the streets and decorate the exterior of my own house? Or perhaps even integrate it with The Sims.

    3. Re:Simcity 3000 is already too difficult for me by Reedo · · Score: 2, Interesting

      You might be interested to know about Children of the Nile. It's a city building game due later this year that's being made by many of the creators of the Caesar/Pharaoh/Zeus series that's completely 3D (you can zoom down into the streets and follow people around) and based in ancient Egypt.

    4. Re:Simcity 3000 is already too difficult for me by DrEldarion · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Yes, but SC3k isn't anywhere near as beautiful, and as we all know that's what counts (or at least that's what people seem to think...)

      Of course, it's not the graphics that are making the requirements so high - it's all the simulation that's going on. I seem to remember reading that traffic routes are a MAJOR CPU hog. A huge city can bring even the most top-of-the-line desktops to their knees.

  2. 1: Off topic by Oncogene · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I find his 'uncollecting' activity to be far more fascinating than any information concerning another Sim City or any developments thereof.

    Brings to mind ObeyGiant's take on phenomenology. This scould certainly prove to be a fun project along the lines of GeoHunting.

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    1. Re:1: Off topic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Is that so?

      It sounds like a stupid idea to me. "Uncollecting" is going to make it much more likely that item will never be seen again. Individual items are going to be much more likely to be lost, misplaced, or thrown away.

      Collections are meant to consolodate items so it will be easier to maintain and preserve them as a group.

  3. 3D? Nah... by igrp · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I am not so sure 3D would really work that great for a "Sim City"-style game. All ressource issues aside, isn't the point of "Sim City" to be actually running a city by keeping an eye on the big picture? I always found the decision making process to be most challenging and, frankly, most fun -- just like in the real world, as you're city grows you find yourself unable to please everyone and have to prioritize.

    And I am just not sure the more "The Sims"-like approach will work all that well in a "Sim City" game (remember, "Sim Tower" which was about managing just one single building complex but in reality was little more than an elevator management simulation?).

    Or, maybe I am just old-fashioned and like my 2D games way too much... ;)

  4. They can't spell by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting
    I haven't seen it yet. I hope to get over there. My other friend, Yute Saito is working with Nintendo now. I don't know if you have met him. He did SimTower for us. He did Seaman.

    It's Yoot Saito!