sim city 5 First SimCity 5 screens and details surface

[BetaAddict]

IAmA Maxis development team on SimCity. AMAA! on reddit... Hopefully we get some answers in the next few hours.

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[.Neo]

Listing to the interview with the guys of Maxis it looks like SimCity 5 will be a more advanced SimCity 4. No mega cities, just small specialized cities working together within a region? :/

[Razorwing]

Might have to get this. :D

[Dotdot]

Oooh this could be a buy. Loved Sim City.

[tHaCuBe]

sounds like this game has potential, hopefully they don't run this franchise further into the ground

[neufuse Veteran]

Listing to the interview with the guys of Maxis it looks like SimCity 5 will be a more advanced SimCity 4. No mega cities, just small specialized cities working together within a region? :/

You mean the way a real city works?...

[+Majesticmerc MVC]

You mean the way a real city works?...

Yeah, but being able to build a megacity would be an awesome option! I don't think you could call the Sim City games a simulation when you could destroy it with the likes of alien and dinosaur attacks :).

It'd be wicked if you could build lots of small cities at first, and as they start filling their map area, be able to merge them into megacities.

[.Neo]

You mean the way a real city works?...

Last time I checked Amsterdam, the city where I live, fulfills more roles than just specializing into one. It also packs more residents rather than just being limited to three or four hundred thousand (which was the case in SimCity 4).

There are cities that truly specialize into one thing, like being a university town or a town made to house industrial workers, but those are mostly smaller towns. I'm talking about being able to build a true metropolis that has multiple facets to it like in SimCity 3000 and 2000.

[.Neo]

It'd be wicked if you could build lots of small cities at first, and as they start filling their map area, be able to merge them into megacities.

That's how SimCity 4 works. The thing is you just can't play them at the same time. You'll constantly end up leaving one (freezing it in time) and go to another. Switching back and forth, back and forth. Annoying as hell.

[Stefano Elia]

Bit more information now on it, but it IS confirmed. http://www.simcity.com/en_US

[neufuse Veteran]

Last time I checked Amsterdam, the city where I live, fulfills more roles than just specializing into one. It also packs more residents rather than just being limited to three or four hundred thousand (which was the case in SimCity 4).

There are cities that truly specialize into one thing, like being a university town or a town made to house industrial workers, but those are mostly smaller towns. I'm talking about being able to build a true metropolis that has multiple facets to it like in SimCity 3000 and 2000.

In the largest regions I could get in SC4, I had pretty large towns, that where self sufficient... I always played the largest blocks of land with one massive city... The whole negibor towns was just to simulate how the real world does work, where you trade with other cities, not everyone works in the same town they live, etc.. I think SC4 was trying to simulate a megaopolis instead of a metropolis

[redfish]

The cities were modern, but they weren't exclusively of one era in SC4. Like real cities the buildings were a mix of varying eras. I think it is a given that SC5 would follow the same trend of representing the architecture of real cities (therefore including more 21st Century buildings as you said) but that is why I was confused by the comment - it was never really era specific, just "current". And SC4 wasn't released 20 years ago, although it may feel like it!

Having looked at the original information in more detail though, it appears the 20 years comment has been taken out of context by PC Gamer. The info on NeoGaf only mentions that SC5 is set to arrive 20 years after SC1 - no mention of it being the game setting at all.

What I would like is if you had the option of starting your city in the 18th century or earlier, so to play it through from a not too far ago historical period to the present. Then you could have a historic center to your city, based on different design goals, before you go on to build the more modern areas and modern infrastructure.

It would also be nice if buildings actually took time to construct, and money would be spent as they were being constructed, so cancelling a project wouldn't cost you the initial money. (Same thing with The Sims, it would be more interesting if it took you time to construct a house, if you had to go out and buy clothes, wash laundry.. I like realism :) )

[.Neo]

I recently started playing SimCity 3000. I managed to create a city on the Hong Kong map starting in 2000. At its peak the city had a population of 1.4 million. Then suddenly in the year 2356 the RCI demands went down sparking an exodus. Within a couple of years the population plummeted from 1.4 million all the way down to 360.000 with no apparent reason. Taxes were all 0, funds to public services 100%, no warnings in the news ticker and all data indicated my Sims were extremely happy. It was basically an Utopia. Since all of the city's services and transport (metros everywhere) were designed to accommodate a population 1.4 million, finances went in the red big time.

I lost 1,1 million Sims for no reason whatsoever WTF?!

In the largest regions I could get in SC4, I had pretty large towns, that where self sufficient... I always played the largest blocks of land with one massive city... The whole negibor towns was just to simulate how the real world does work, where you trade with other cities, not everyone works in the same town they live, etc.. I think SC4 was trying to simulate a megaopolis instead of a metropolis

What has that to do with you claiming every real-world city is small and specialized? Beyond that I don't call cities with a population of 400.000 a metropolis.

[briangw]

The Devs made this sound like it's MP only. I hope not.

[.Neo]

Bit more information now on it, but it IS confirmed. http://www.simcity.com/en_US

Everything looks a bit Fisher Price Toys-ish doesn't it? Not much realism compared to the style of SimCity 3000 and 4.

The Devs made this sound like it's MP only. I hope not.

No there will be a single player mode. :)

[Sir Topham Hatt]

One to watch this.

I just hope modding it will be easy. My Sim City looks very generic until I plastered British shops and houses all over it :)

I also hope the spec's won't be too huge as I have a powerful computer but I'd rather it be a little rubbish graphically to have no lag or anything than have super duper graphics, then not be able to move where I want when I want.

[deactivated170812]

Even more ridiculous in Europe - 79.99? which is about $105.

[Singh400]

...yeah, no thanks.

[neufuse Veteran]

I recently started playing SimCity 3000. I managed to create a city on the Hong Kong map starting in 2000. At its peak the city had a population of 1.4 million. Then suddenly in the year 2356 the RCI demands went down sparking an exodus. Within a couple of years the population plummeted from 1.4 million all the way down to 360.000 with no apparent reason. Taxes were all 0, funds to public services 100%, no warnings in the news ticker and all data indicated my Sims were extremely happy. It was basically an Utopia. Since all of the city's services and transport (metros everywhere) were designed to accommodate a population 1.4 million, finances went in the red big time.

I lost 1,1 million Sims for no reason whatsoever WTF?!

What has that to do with you claiming every real-world city is small and specialized? Beyond that I don't call cities with a population of 400.000 a metropolis.

I never said cities are small and specialized, I said in the real world cities depend on trade with other cities and people don't necessarily live in the city they work in, which is similar to how SC4 worked. And you could make pretty large cities in SC4 I had some very large ones with no other cities in the region and they worked fine... population shouldn't be a goal, a good city should be a goal

[.Neo]

I never said cities are small and specialized, I said in the real world cities depend on trade with other cities and people don't necessarily live in the city they work in, which is similar to how SC4 worked. And you could make pretty large cities in SC4 I had some very large ones with no other cities in the region and they worked fine... population shouldn't be a goal, a good city should be a goal

You didn't specify that in any way and population most definitely is a goal.

Even more ridiculous in Europe - 79.99? which is about $105.

Those prices are insane. ?80 for a game? :/

[Dapen]

Looks like EA are trying to drive up PC game prices with Origin only released. Shame - I won't be able to afford to buy these games soon. Why do they think people pirate?! I don't want to, but sometimes its far too tempting.

[Dotdot]

?65 lol, **** off!

[Nick H. Supervisor]

I want to get the deluxe version, but the fact that I need origin and they want to charge me ?65 for it is ridiculous.

[Jub]

Limited edition is ?40 on Amazon so I guess the standard edition will be about ?30. Origin have insane prices on everything, ever since launch.

[neufuse Veteran]

Beyond that I don't call cities with a population of 400.000 a metropolis.

a metropolis is technically impossible with one massive city, they are a center for a region or country for trade and finance and the definition of one is any town or city that has over 50,000 people within a certain amount of space... so to say 400k people isn't one is crazy if they are a center of finance and trade for a region... but then we get back to regions one of the key things in simcity 4