SimCity

Template:Dablink Template:Dablink SimCity is a real-time strategy/simulation computer game (or "software toy"). It is game developer Maxis' flagship product. There are four versions: the original SimCity (1989, later renamed SimCity Classic), SimCity 2000 (1993), SimCity 3000 (1999) and SimCity 4 (2003). All of the games were re-released with various add-ons including extra scenarios. In addition, SimCity Classic is available for a Palm Connected Organizer, and on the SimCity.com website as Classic Live. SimCity 2000 is also available for handheld organizers running Microsoft's Pocket PC OS, as well as the Game Boy Advance and PlayStation. SimCity and SimCity 2000 were also released for the SNES. There was also a SimCity 2000 3D hybrid called SimCity 64 which was released only in Japan for Nintendo 64's add-on flop, the 64DD.

Contents

1 Description 2 Objective 3 Later versions 4 Parodies 5 See also 6 External links

Description

SimCity was originally developed by game designer Will Wright. The inspiration for SimCity came from a feature of the game Raid on Bungeling Bay that allowed players to create their own maps. Wright soon found he enjoyed creating maps more than playing the actual game, and so began creating SimCity.

The game sparked off a new paradigm in computer gaming by creating a game that could neither be won nor lost. This did not bode well with the game publishers at the time, who did not forsee the possibility of successfully marketing and selling such a game. However, the success of SimCity speaks for itself: "Sim" games of all types were spawned—with Will Wright and Maxis developing a myriad of titles including SimEarth, SimFarm, SimTown, Streets of SimCity, SimCopter, SimAnt, SimLife, SimIsle, SimPark, The Sims and SimMars, which was never released. They also obtained licenses for some titles developed in Japan, such as SimTower and Let's Take The A-Train (just called A-Train outside of Japan). The most recent development is The Sims, and its sequel, The Sims 2.

SimCity is predominantly a single-player game (the exception being a "Network Edition" of SimCity 2000, and an obscure Unix port (http://catalog.com/hopkins/simcity/simcity-announcement.html) of the original SimCity). SimCity 4 also makes an attempt at multiplayer gaming with the ability to share regional maps and cities with other players, allowing you to collaborate, but not play in real time.

In 1990, SimCity won the Origins Award for "Best Military or Strategy Computer Game" of 1989.

Objective

The objective of SimCity, as the name of the game suggests, is to build and design a city, without specific goals to achieve (except in the scenarios, which typically require the player to achieve a certain population or bank balance in a given period of time). The player can mark land as being zoned as commercial, industrial, or residential, add buildings, change the tax rate, build a power grid, build transportation systems and many other actions, in order to enhance the city. Also, the player can face disasters: flooding, tornadoes, fires, riots, earthquakes, etc. Later disasters included lightning strikes, volcanoes, meteors and attack by extra-terrestrial craft. In the Nintendo and later versions one can also build rewards when they are given to them, like the mayor's mansion and the casino for gambling Sims.

Later versions

• SimCity 2000
• SimCity 3000
• SimCity 4

For other Sim games, see the list of Sim games.

Parodies

Sim Brick was an extremely simple parody of SimCity. Developed by Sensible Software, it was only ever distributed on a cover disk with an issue of Amiga Power. The game play, if you can even call it that, consists of an ant wandering around the screen, until you press the mouse button, at which point a brick falls down and squashes the ant.

See also

• Government simulation
• Municipal government, the basis for SimCity
• Lin City

External links

• Official SimCity website (http://simcity.ea.com/)
• SimCity Classic Live (http://simcity.ea.com/play/simcity_classic.php) (requires registration)
• MobyGame's entry on the SimCity series (http://www.mobygames.com/game_group/sheet/gameGroupId,1066/)
• SimCity.com Fansite Directory (http://simcity.ea.com/community/fansites/fansites.php): Maxis' official and comprehensive SimCity fansite directory. It includes the three most popular fansites:
  • Simtropolis (http://www.simtropolis.com), the largest and one of the most comprehensive SimCity 4 fan sites
  • SimCity Central (http://www.simcitycentral.net/), a smaller site, but fairly complete
  • SimCity 3000 Resource Center (http://www.sc3000.com/), a site oriented more at tutorials and guides than the other two. Run by a Maxis employee, Wren Weburg, who is also the webmaster of SC4EVER (http://www.sc4ever.com/), the SimCity 4 Resource Center.

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