Why do they show CGI graphics that are far superior to the actual game? I hate it.

Thanks for that summary. Looks interesting, might be picking this one up and getting a new PC.

The thing that worries me is that 'accessible' thing they are talking about. I just hope it doesn't mean dumbing down the complex mechanism in SimCity like Societies does. Hopefully, Maxis has a better idea of doing that. Besides, Maxis doesn't have Will Wright anymore....

As for whether they're going to release the console one, I am not so sure they will do that. Because, most of simulation games like this end up failed in console. But who knows.... I think there is a better chance they will come to the handheld like 3DS/DS or Vita/PSP instead.

I get what you mean, but I've always had the impression that the menu system in SimCty 4 could be better and that change alone could make it much more accessible.

I can't see it on Xbox360/PS3 either, but I can't see it on Vita either, not enough space for all the menus and the map. With 3DS you can use the lower screen just for the menus so it could work.

I think WiiU could also be a good place for it, with the city on the TV and the menus and construction grid on the controller, and using the stylus to draw. It could really work.

So a few days ago, Maxis did a big Q&A on reddit with players.

You can read their replies here: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/qmi0w/iama_maxis_development_team_on_simcity_amaa/

But if you don't want to sort through that to get context for their answers, here's a few highlights:

- "We can support a much richer set of transport options this time around"

-"I think the reaction to SimCity Societies made it pretty clear that something was missing"

-"The integrity of our simulation is first and foremost"

-"We’re making SimCity, not some dopey casual game."  (best answer ever right there)

-"single player is definitely still a big focus. And if you want to play all the cities in a region yourself, that's absolutely possible."

-"we're very much aware of and appreciative of our mod community"

-"Look, if we do our job properly, the game will have the integrity that long-time fans require, and still be approachable by newbies."

-"Our goal for this SimCity is to deliver on a robust city simulation game but also make it easy to play and understand. That doesn’t mean it’s going to be “dumbed down”."

-"The underlying simulator definitely supports [mixed use zoning]"

-"Yes, you can build a walkable city!"

-"we don't want to limit ourselves to only those who have the latest-and-greatest graphics card."

-"zoning isn’t on the “grid” anymore. Now that we’ve got curvy roads, zoning is all road-relative."

However there's cause for concern in some areas: cities are currenty 2km squared, the size of a medium Sim City 4 city.  Hopefully this will change, or will at least be moddable.  But overall, things are looking up.

Thanks for the info!

Personally I prefer the medium sized cities in Sim City 4, I find them more manageable.

And about this:

 Do they mean compared to SimCity 4 or to Rush Hour? Because I don't know what else can they do, bicycles? Helicopters?

Here's the (mostly) full question and answer:

Q:Are there going to be bike lanes/bike paths/walking paths as transportation choices? Or are we going to just have roads, bigger roads, and really big roads?

A:We can support a much richer set of transport options this time around, in terms of what agents (cars/people/bikes) can travel along what kinds of routes. (Hilariously so sometimes -- due to forgetting a line in a data file we had cars driving in the air along power lines at one point.) What will be in there for ship, I honestly don't know at this point.


I only posted highlights because there's so much info in that reddit thread. Check it out, they really elaborate a lot on what they're going for, and the Maxis answers are easy enough to spot (name's highlighted), though sometimes you have to dig to find the right questions and get the proper context.

Sounds interesting, not sure how the non-grid zoning will work.

My main gripes with SC4 are the viewing options... for example it should be possible to turn off all public buildings so you can work on your infrastructure (police/schools etc) and it would be useful on the "zones" map if your buildings had a colour like they do in SC3000 (they are orange I believe... wheras in SC4 you can't tell the difference between your buildings and non built-up area)
Finally the underground views are screwed up... building a subway in an already built up area is a nightmare.

Other than those issues SC4 is great apart from the one thing that seems to hold true for all Sim Cities: Highways just don't work, for some reason the little buggers just don't like using them. SC 4 wasn't quite as bad as SC3000 in that if built sensibly the people living near an on-ramp will use the highway to get to work... but most will still ignore them in favour of normal roads even when the traffic map shows roads and avenues are jam packed.

Maxis has released a new video that shows new bits of the game's engine and gameplay

Overall, I like what they are doing.

There's one thing that has left me worried: if we can put resources like coal in the ground, does it mean that we will have to build a mine to extract that coal to run the power plant?

Cool vid... and hopefully things like that (power plant needing coal resources) will be options to turn on and off. When the option is on though I wouldn't mind having to build a mine. From the video though I suspect the coal plant won't need a mine, at most you might have to place it above a coal field so it can be it's own mine.