SimCity Societies received mixed reviews, gaming websites like GameSpot and IGN[10] criticized the changes. GameSpot called this version of SimCity a "lackluster spin-off" and cited that the game was “way too easy” and the frame rate was mediocre even on higher-end machines. Third-party reviews reached as low as 3.0 saying the game had completely rid of the "city feeling".[11] However, GameZone praised the game for taking the simulation franchise in a "bright and bold direction".
Apparently, it's still real buggy and crashes a good bit.
Carbon emitting energy will cause climate change in latest city-builder.
By Kris Pigna, 10/10/2007
Natural disasters have always been a part of the SimCity series, but now the latest entry will tackle what a majority of scientific research says is a growing cause: climate change. Electronic Arts has announced they've partnered with British energy company BP to include climate change education in SimCity Societies.
The game won't force any particular type of energy to power your cities, but offer various choices with realistic costs and benefits. If you use cheap sources of energy with high levels of carbon dioxide emission, you'll save money but your carbon rating will rise. If it reaches a critical level, your city will be at a high risk of natural disasters, such as droughts and heat waves. Or, you could go green with a variety of BP-branded alternative energy sources with lower carbon emissions, but they'll be more expensive and produce less power.
"With SimCity Societies, we have the opportunity not only to demonstrate some of the causes and effects of global warming, but also to educate players how seemingly small choices can have a big global impact," said Steve Seabolt, VP of Global Brand Development for The Sims Label at EA. "BP was one of the first major energy companies to publicly acknowledge the need to reduce carbon emissions and begin taking precautionary measures. As such, they are the perfect partner to help educate people on this important social issue in SimCity Societies."
Adding to the edutainment will be snippets of real-world facts regarding climate change and energy consumption that will help inform players of the dangers, both in-game and in reality. Now you should go ahead and inform yourself on SimCity Societies by reading our recent hands-on preview.
SimCity Societies ships on November 15.
This is nothing new. I've read reviews of earlier versions of Sim City games, which mention that if you for example build nuclear power plants, you have to check them regularly. If you don't, they may blow up and cause radiation over large areas of your simulated city.
Increased global warming is indeed a real problem, but this isn't the right place to discuss that.
Besides, you can make a point that having failing nuclear plants in a game may give the gamers an irrational fear for nuclear energy, or, for fairness' sake, wind mills should kill birds in the game, or piss off the citizens because of the infrasound they cause IRL.
Let us for argument's sake say that increased global warming due to human activities does not exist IRL. It could still exist in the fictious Sim City universe.
Just like socialism didn't exist in Ancient Rome, but does in Caesar II.
Let us for argument's sake say that increased global warming due to human activities does not exist IRL. It could still exist in the fictious Sim City universe.
Fine. Even if its fake and made up I still don't want to play a game involving it.
This is nothing new. I've read reviews of earlier versions of Sim City games, which mention that if you for example build nuclear power plants, you have to check them regularly. If you don't, they may blow up and cause radiation over large areas of your simulated city.
In SimCity 3000, if a nuclear power plant was being overused, it would eventually blow up and cause the land in its radius to be unliveable until the radiation levels died down after many years.
There would be neat little radiation signs all over the contaminated land.
It was all pointless though...there was no need to build those plants...fusion plants were the cleanest and most cost effective.
I played that game a lot...it was fun, but had its fair share of bugs. Once you found a nice pattern you could use it to fill the entire map. I once built two cities: both had over 2 million citizens ("Sims") and my masterpiece was a city without roads...everything was connected by train and subway rails.
In SimCity 3000, if a nuclear power plant was being overused, it would eventually blow up and cause the land in its radius to be unliveable until the radiation levels died down after many years.
There would be neat little radiation signs all over the contaminated land.
It was all pointless though...there was no need to build those plants...fusion plants were the cleanest and most cost effective.
Did you have to advance to get fusion tech', or could you get it from the beginning of the game?
Quote:
I played that game a lot...it was fun, but had its fair share of bugs. Once you found a nice pattern you could use it to fill the entire map. I once built two cities: both had over 2 million citizens ("Sims") and my masterpiece was a city without roads...everything was connected by train and subway rails.
This is nothing new. I've read reviews of earlier versions of Sim City games, which mention that if you for example build nuclear power plants, you have to check them regularly. If you don't, they may blow up and cause radiation over large areas of your simulated city.
The fusion tech was the last plant available...if you started in the first year, it was either coal or oil, both of which were horrible polluters and not cost effective at all.
I usually started my games past the 1990's, when fusion was almost available. They cost (I think) 50,000 a piece, and you would need at least 4 to run a big city, but they were worth it.
My first city hit over 2 million on my own...I saw the roadless city at a fan site, and got my idea for a rail only city from there. I didn't totally ape it, but it gave me the blueprint.
SimCity 3000 (and SimCity 3000 Unlimited) were pretty fun, but flawed with a good number of bugs that Maxis/EA were either too lazy or stooopid to fix. If you can look past that, it was a fun game. It has to be very cheap on eBay considering I played it close to ten years ago...
This is nothing new. I've read reviews of earlier versions of Sim City games, which mention that if you for example build nuclear power plants, you have to check them regularly. If you don't, they may blow up and cause radiation over large areas of your simulated city.
Ah but isn't that half the fun?
That's what I did to my non-serious characters in the Sims. I'd put mismatched personalities together and watch them fight. I also didn't give some of them skill points, then I'd make them cook...
The fusion tech was the last plant available...if you started in the first year, it was either coal or oil, both of which were horrible polluters and not cost effective at all.
I usually started my games past the 1990's, when fusion was almost available. They cost (I think) 50,000 a piece, and you would need at least 4 to run a big city, but they were worth it.
My first city hit over 2 million on my own...I saw the roadless city at a fan site, and got my idea for a rail only city from there. I didn't totally ape it, but it gave me the blueprint.
SimCity 3000 (and SimCity 3000 Unlimited) were pretty fun, but flawed with a good number of bugs that Maxis/EA were either too lazy or stooopid to fix. If you can look past that, it was a fun game. It has to be very cheap on eBay considering I played it close to ten years ago...
With the computers I have today, I probably have to buy one of the older games if I want to make it work.
This is nothing new. I've read reviews of earlier versions of Sim City games, which mention that if you for example build nuclear power plants, you have to check them regularly. If you don't, they may blow up and cause radiation over large areas of your simulated city.
Ah but isn't that half the fun?
That's what I did to my non-serious characters in the Sims. I'd put mismatched personalities together and watch them fight. I also didn't give some of them skill points, then I'd make them cook...
Hilarity ensued.
If graphics improve and the programmers don't get too prude, the next Sims will make you able to produce erotic movies.
I can't answer the first one, but for your commercial zones, try placing a lot of fountains around the zones...close access to subway stations that connect commercial to residential to industrial helps, too.
Anything that looks crappy like Power Plants should be kept far away.
Basically, every cube of any zone needs to be within 3 or so cubes of some form of transportation...if you zone a huge 12 X 12 block and the middle cubes are not within the 3 or so cube range of a street or subway station, that area will never develop.
When you start out you don't need that many commercial zones. Concentrate on residential and industrial first, once the citizens have jobs and places to live they will want to go shopping.
You need to build your city wider before you can build it taller. The size of the buildings that you see are directly related to the population of your city. So even if you have high desirability, if your city is too small, you won't see skyscrapers. For example, to get the tallest residential buildings, your city must have a population greater than 30 thousand. Likewise, to get commercial office high-rises, your city must have more than 45 thousand commercial jobs. In addition, your city must have zoned areas with very high desirability.
When you start out you don't need that many commercial zones. Concentrate on residential and industrial first, once the citizens have jobs and places to live they will want to go shopping.
one thing to also look out for is farms. they seem like an easy way to get the economy going but cause massive water pollution.
i found later on when i wanted to build up the city and make it nicer and richer to tax 20% to dirty industry and then lower the hi-tech industry tax to 6%.
Building the lighter density industrial zones will make the farms.
Agricultural is different than Industrial even though they're clumped together. The best way to start out is farms in one corner and then build a lot of farms until people move in and populate and then replace them with medium industrial and invest in water treatment plants to clean up the damage. Of course realistically your environment needs to be shit for awhile in the beginning. There really is no way around farms and the dirty industries. Just keep an eye on it and keep experimenting with different zones until they take hold. Also scatter parks through out your city. they're very cheap but add a lot to air quality (which makes rich people want to be there).
