The final stop on our impressions trip takes us to wonderful SimCity, the sim game that started it all, for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Read More »

Well, shit. There goes my free time. This has somehow evaded my notice up til now - most likely because the words "iPhone" and "game" are enough to set my eyeballs a' rollin' - but it appears that EA are bringing SimCity to the iPhone. And not just any version, but a version of SimCity 3000 (or at least one that looks like it); probably the best of the bunch. It'll be the same basic deal, only with touch controls, extending to the use of two-finger dragging for things like establishing zones. EA say it should hit the App Store sometime in December, for the "yeah, I'll finally buy an iPhone game" price of $US10.

SimCity for the iPhone may ruin my life (in a good way) [VentureBeat]

Simcity DS had a lot of potential, it just messed up the execution. So it's back to the drawing board for the sequel, which instead of piling more features and micromanagement into the game - like its PC predecessors did - will be taking a cue from Civilization and feature vastly different time periods, from the middle ages to the industrial revolution and beyond. Including cavemen, should you be the type to hate on roads and agriculture. Further details are non-existent, so for now, be grateful for the above scans.
Ruliweb.com [via DS Fanboy]

At the New York Times "dot earth" blog, Andrew C. Revkin muses on the forthcoming SimCity Societies and its possible impact on attitudes about global warming. Revkin speculates that the game might be more influential than the Nobel-inducing book/film/lecture smorgasbord An Inconvenient Truth.

I have some reservations about BP's sponsorship of clean energy in the game (or more properly their un-sponsorship of dirty energy), but a sophisticated understanding of pollution ecology certainly should be easier to culture in a dynamic interactive model than in an expository text.

Will Game's Impact Surpass 'Inconvenient Truth'?

Speaking of SimCity, here's a summary of a talk by Will Wright on Designing User Interfaces for Simulation. Among other things, Wright addresses the question of exposing the simulation model, which often comes up in criticisms of the game (after the jump).

Read More »

One Laptop Per Child fans probably know that today is the first day of the Give One Get One program. Donate $US 399 to provide an XO laptop to a child in a developing country, and you'll also get one for the developing child in your house. $US 200 of the donation is even tax-deductible.

Last week EA announced that they are donating the original SimCity for use on the OLPC. Don Hopkins, who did the Unix, Linux, and now OLPC ports of SimCity, recently published his thoughts about how the new version of the game might allow kids to modify the underlying simulation model.

Read More »

You may know One Laptop Per Child (or the XO laptop) as the $US 100 computer for developing countries...that kind of snowballed into a computer that costs just shy of two Benjamins. Despite the inflated costs, It's still a good cause. And we're happy to see EA on board, donating the original SimCity to be pre-installed on all machines.

Before any of you start nagging that SimCity 2000 could probably run just as well on these computers, remember that storage is a commodity on the inexpensive laptops. And then punk EA by donating something better. Here's the full press release:

Read More »

For the first time in the history of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, the Fellowship - the Academy's highest accolade - will be bestowed upon a member of the video game industry. SimCity creator Will Wright is rightly receiving the honour at this year's British Academy Video Game Awards, taking place at London's Battersea Evolution on October 23rd.

Hilary Bevan Jones, Chairman of the Academy said "Will's immense, creative body of work and his continued contribution to the industry make him a most worthy recipient of the Fellowship and being such a pioneer, we are thrilled that he will be the first person to receive this honour".

Read More »

Here's a fun new addition to the upcoming SimCity Societies game. EA and BP have teamed up to include climate education in the game... effectively adding the looming threat of global warming to the title. Hooray!

While the game doesn't force you to power your city in any specific way, using cheaper, carbon dioxide producing sources of energy will raise the town's carbon ratings, causing disasters like droughts, heat waves, and the like. Alternatively, choosing from a variety of BP Alternative Energy low-carbon power options like hydrogen, natural gas, wind farms and solar power, players keep their cities safe from harm and feel all warm and fuzzy about themselves while learning about some of the causes and consequences of global warming, which may or may not exist depending on your viewpoint.

BP was one of the first major energy companies to publicly acknowledge the need to reduce carbon emissions and begin taking precautionary measures, as well as being the world's number one source for food cooked on rollers.

Read More »

What was missing in SimCity? Hot spots for dating and "adult goods." With Batsu Batsu na Kanojo no Tsukurikata, erotic games maker Kiss is picking up where Will Wright left off. The game features traditional dating sim elements plus a "city development system" that is reminiscent of SimCity. What's different is that you're goal isn't to make citizens happy or foster an active economy, but focusing on creating dating spots like restaurants, theme parks and "adult goods" shops to woo ladies at. The official site is scant on info, so we're not quite sure how extensive this SimCity bit is or if it's just a gimmick. Still, the idea that you're building amusement parks, restaurants and adults-only stores to court game heroines is HILARIOUS. Once more screenshots surface, we shall post them. Oh yes, we shall.
Batsu Batsu [Kiss via Heisei Democracy]