New info!

[MINIggy03 227]

Preview(get ready to be massively disappointed):

http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3160151

Highlights:

-No more zoning.  All ploppable(15% buildings available in begining)

-six "social energies" (such as Wealth or Obedience) that influence your city's look and feel.

-no pipes to lay, no power grids, no manual emergency-response funds to disperse, no individual building-funding.

They stripped Simcity down to its bones.  There was so much said in that preview that makes me realize that SimCity 4 is going to last another 5 years.  Or until they make a real sequel to Simcity 4.

This is an OBVIOUS City Life knock off.  It's one thing to incorperate the social aspects of City life into SimCity, but not make the game revolve around it like City Life did. 

Such a shame...

Title Edited  ~zel~

[Pixelrage 34]

I'm guessing these are "early alpha screenshots" too 

Looks like all of that pessimism paid off, anyway...

[Alakazam 3]

Well yeah. Talk about "getting back to the sources"... It's more like throwing everything away. I feel really depressed now, earlier this day I had some hope due to the devellopers enthusiasm... but geez now...

Look like this one is not for me...

[the Monkeys Uncle 35]

I'm crying already.

[storms991 0]

#2 -- By SimCity creator Will Wright's own admission, previous SimCity games had become too complex for most. Tilted Mill is focusing on scaling back the complexity and micromanagement of latter entries like SimCity 4 -- no pipes to lay, no power grids, no manual emergency-response funds to disperse, no individual building-funding. The series' hardcore fans shouldn't worry that the game will no longer be recognizable or too easy. "We are not out to fix something that's broken," promises lead designer Chris Beatrice.

Edited  ~zel~

[Pixelrage 34]

IMO, Wright's comment was a cop-out to enter a younger [more lucrative] demographic market....

[scififan68 23]

I found this on http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/videogames/174491_simsguy22.html

"Saturday, May 22, 2004

'Sims' creator is Livin' Large

With a new version of his best-selling game in the box, he turns to robotics

By STEVEN L. KENT

SPECIAL TO THE POST-INTELLIGENCER

The man behind "The Sims," one of the best-selling games of all time, may be most accurately described as a cross between Stephen Hawking and Willy Wonka. Will Wright is an authentic genius with a quirky and ironic sense of humor and a large and loyal following.

As he sat down for an interview during the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles last week, he held out a small baggy filled with old lapel pins commemorating the Soviet space program. "Take one," he said.

Why?

"I'm uncollecting. I buy collections on ebay, and I disperse them out to people again. I have to be like an entropic force to collectors, otherwise all of this stuff will get sorted."

He is also uncollecting dolls, dice and fossils. Of course, the mere fact that he is uncollecting has not stopped him from acquiring things on his own. For nearly one year now, Wright has been collecting relics from the Soviet space program, including a 100-pound hatch from a space shuttle, a seat from a Soyuz, and control panels from the Mir.

A former Robot Wars champion in the Stupid Fun Club -- a Berkeley-based robotics workshop -- Wright has retired from the ring to follow a more peaceful pursuit: human-robot interactions.

"We build these robots and we take them down to Berkeley and study the interactions that people have with the robots," says Wright. "We built this newer one that has a rapid-fire pingpong cannon. It will fire about 10 per second.

"So we give people this plastic bat and we say, 'It's set up to play baseball. Do you want to play baseball? It's going to shoot a little ball and you try to hit it.' And all of a sudden it's like da-da-da-da, and it's belting them with balls."

Wright's "uncollecting" movement is ... unique and his homicidal robotic pitcher is amusing, but it is his game ideas that earned him a cover story in Newsweek. With 8 million copies sold (plus another 13 million expansion packs), "The Sims," published by Electronic Arts, is the best-selling PC CD-ROM game of all time. Along with the interview, the P-I got an early look at Wright's follow-up, "Sims 2" expected on the market in September.

First, a few words about "The Sims." If other games are like Arnold Schwarzenegger movies, "The Sims" is like an episode of "Seinfeld." This is a game in which players run virtual characters' lives by balancing work, rest, eating, hygiene, and social and romantic needs.

Compared to its predecessor, "Sims 2" is both simplified and specialized. In short, you do not need to make your Sims wash their hands and flush the toilet in "Sims 2." Much of the mundane activity has been stripped away. Instead, you must concern yourself more with depth as the latest Sims specialize in romance, career or other pursuits in which they have great needs.

In the past, "Sims" games have been played from an eye-in-the-sky, top-down perspective. With "Sims 2," players will be in the heart of the action. No one would ever mistake the game for real-life action, but the new 3-D Sims world created for "Sims 2" has everything from poolside barbecues to swank dinner parties.

Since much of what made "The Sims" so successful was the feeling that players were watching a soap opera gone wrong, "Sims 2," with its "you-are-there" camera angles, is in imminent danger of becoming another huge hit. Wright is already turning his attention to other projects. A new version of "SimCity" is in early planning stages. "We're about to come out with a new direction for it."

When asked what direction that might be, Wright said, "We haven't figured out what it is."

"SimCity," the pioneering game in which players build a functional virtual city, first appeared on Macintosh computers 15 years ago. Since then, it has been updated as "SimCity 2000," "SimCity 3000" and "SimCity 4," becoming steadily more complex.

" 'SimCity' kind of worked itself into a corner," Wright said. "We were still appealing to this core 'SimCity' group. It had gotten a little complicated for people who had never played 'SimCity.' We want to take it back to its roots where somebody who had never heard of 'SimCity' can pick it up and enjoy playing it without thinking it was really, really hard."

[LivingInThePast 364]

Remember, we're not "guessing" it will be bad, we KNOW it's gonna suck!

[jstriker 0]

I can't believe it...all that waiting for Simcity 5, and now what we get is a Monopoly Tycoon-like game that has all the aspects of City Life but barely any left from past Simcitys...

It even seems like they made the game so that you can actually win...I though Simcity was suppose to be a game about creating dream cities...

I'm very disappointed by the looks of this new Simcity judging from all the screenshots and info we've got. I don't see how they can turn the SCS they have right now into anything better than Simcity 4. ><

[BurroDiablo 222]

Come to mention it...isn't taking zoning/piping/everything out of Sim City going to make it harder in future years? Come Sim City 6 or whatever, they may re-implement Zoning and Pipes and the 4 year olds who bought SCS are going to this-

"What the hell is going on here? Wheres my Sims? Wheres my energies? What are all these new things? Wa-ter, Po-wer, La-nd f...fff...ill... isn't Sim City supposed to be about Sims? I think i'm gonna cry...mommy, this is too hard, I hate you!"

Dammit people can learn! Were not frigging drones...

[Gman55 0]

No zoning? No pipes? Nothing the series is known for? Sorry, but this IS NOT SimCity as far as I'm concerned. For lack of a better term, it sounds as if SCS has too much "hippie crap" and not enough city engineering. I for one liked not having to worry about my Sims' obedience and crap; save that for the Sims.

And what's with this picture? A Gothic castle, an Amish buggy, Star Trek street lights (?) and a Japanese building all on the same street? Will Cinderella's pumpkin carriage be next? I know SC has never been totally realistic, but this looks silly and stupid. LIKE OMG GUYS HOW COOL WILL IT BE!1!1

http://media.1up.com/media?id=3318946&type=lg

My hatred for EA has no bounds after this.

[Dark_Jedi06 13]

O_O

I've been trying to keep my judgment reserved until the game is finished and on the shelves, however, it is becoming more and more difficult to not come out and say that this game is going to suck. The implication that SimCity needs to be "dumbed down" is absurd, people can learn how to do something, that's how the human race works!

But whatever, we'll always have the glorious SimCity 4 communities to keep us going...

[ianpaschal 77]

I wasn't going to say it but I really have to now. TM is killing Simcity. They keep giving me more and more and more reasons not to buy it. They're re-doing simcity 4 and intent on giving you less than you already have. Who the hell in their right mind would buy it!??!

[BurroDiablo 222]

lol, I have to agree with Gman55, its a bit of a mixed up pile of turd... maybe thats just a promo of some of the building styles (Old European, Old Asian, Futuristic) but I dunno...

[franconipponophile 1]

I wonder if anyone has thought to ask, and I may be wrong, so please forgive me if I am, but will the game be open to mods, bats, etc? I mean, who here would play SC4:The Base Version, without mods, bats, custom content, rush hour, etc? Perhaps the game will be crappy, but if possible, can't we make it a better game? Look at all that the SC4 community has made, why can't we work on this? change the game to fit us, isnt that really what we have done to SC4? I'm just as unhappy with SCS as anyone else, but shouldnt we take it with a grain of salt? we are the players, if we dont get what we want, at the very least the ability to change this game to suit us, then we wont buy it, and no one will make any money, but someone should find out? I can't seem to.

[+Guest]

Now I'm annoyed again. I said I'd judge after seeing more and hearing more... that I have done and I'm not impressed. I'll just go off and play SC4 now. Brilliant game if there ever was one. I love CJ's. I'm now looking to create my own. So that should keep me a little bit busier during the winter brake.

[J0nnD0ugh 31]

I wanna throw up.

[SLagonia 68]

So, it's no longer an actual city simulator, it's just a point and plop art program?

[Albatross Domain 2]

EA... famous for its ability to monopolise all sports game on the planet as we know it, can't figure out that, most games are a specialty? If some of these idiots who act like everyone has a IQ of a "pot-hole", get their head of their 5th point of contact, maybe they would listen, to the million of fans that has followed the SC series.

Ok so Maxis admits that the SC series got a bit more complex over the next the past 20 years... its called progression!!! We need to have the ability to Think! What ever happened to those games that actually allowed ppl to think? If SC2K, SC3K, and SC4 weren't difficult, we would have never had the series in the first place. What's exactly what was supposed to happen.. not dumb games down.. "because a person forgot "how to think". Here in this country, Congress has griped about "...how games and TV, has become increasingly violent over the past two decades... at least with the SC-series you had to use your mind- even if it means looking at the computer all day... you can't do that with a TV...

When SC5: Toy Story edition comes out maybe we'll know 100%, if SC4RH isthe final true installment of the series.

That's just hope it is not... besides I think I can enjoy SC4 for another 5years.

[Bestcityever 0]

I thought the graphics were bad but after reading this I really thing there will be no more sequel to Sim City 4 in a true sense.

[BurroDiablo 222]

Originally posted by: franconipponophile I wonder if anyone has thought to ask, and I may be wrong, so please forgive me if I am, but will the game be open to mods, bats, etc?quote>

There will probably, yes... but they won't be made by the Talented batters from the likes of BSC and NDEX, nope... as far as I know, hardly any talented batters are makingthe switch to SCSoc so its playability is pretty much DOOMED already

[BEK1 30]

Originally posted by: franconipponophile I wonder if anyone has thought to ask, and I may be wrong, so please forgive me if I am, but will the game be open to mods, bats, etc? I mean, who here would play SC4:The Base Version, without mods, bats, custom content, rush hour, etc? Perhaps the game will be crappy, but if possible, can't we make it a better game? Look at all that the SC4 community has made, why can't we work on this? change the game to fit us, isnt that really what we have done to SC4?quote>

The difference is that SC4 had the same general content as the previous SC's in terms of the city building aspect. This game basically throws it out and focuses on the Sims with a little bit of city making there. No pipes, no power Who said that the game was too complex? Where did this idea originate? Considering the quality of mods and bats put out on places like this site, I'd say we appreciated a game that did more than just throw monsters at us to shoot.

 As far as I'm concerned when you take away city zoning etc, you take away the essence of what made SimCity great. These were things that were part of SimCity since the first entry. Not everyone wants simplistic games. Quite frankly, most of those don't last. What made SimCity an iconic game was the fact that players could keep coming back and make something completely new. This is poor attempt to appeal to the lowest common denominator.

[+Guest]

Oh come on folks you knew very darn well that SC was headed in this direction and your acting like you hadn't a clue.

    The Sims franchise has made EA a ton of $$$ and I guess they just want to continue the $$$ coming in and they are no different then any large company on this planet.

     Buy it or don't they will make there $$$.Remember we have this awesome community of very talented folks who continue revamping SC4 and it ain't costing you a dime unless you can donate to 1 of the SC sites.

   Let us just be happy we have SC4.Thanx

[lost0890 0]

BlackBeard,

I am happy for SC4, and I expected some complexity to be lost, but not things that have been around for decades...no zones! no power grid! no water pipes! I can see dropping individual funding and simplifying building selection, but this is way to far. The "Sim City" has been stripped from the game. They pulled out the bones instead of taking the game down to its basicv structure.

I think I will continue playing SC4 for years more, but it is always sad to see something that could be so great become so...saddening. Personally I think it is a big mistake and will just loose them money. Thank god that Spore will distract me from my woes for a few years.

[JSNK000 1]

This is such a blatant rip off of City Life..Monte Cristo should look into this.

And so it continues...the dumbing down of America. Kids,now,forget college...it's just too hard. Kids,forget that PC,it's too complex...play with this calculator instead.

If you can turn on a PC and open a browser then you are smart enough to run a f--k--g water PIPE!

This is nothing but insulting on every level.

Yeah,news flash Mr. Wright...there are hard games out there. It's called a CHALLENGE! There are already games for 12 year olds. There are games for Grannies and Grandpas. There are games for Moms and Dads. And there are games for semi-intelligent people in their 20's,30's and 40's who like to be creative and to be challenged and to have an outlet that requires you to think and plan. Not just slap some generic towers down and say there "my business people are happy."

[ssfsx17 0]

If there's not even going to be zoning or electricity then this game will basically be worse than SimCity 1. Which is not a good thing! It looks like this game is going to be based on walkers / Sims, and if I wanted to play a game like that, I'd just pop in Emperor: ROTMK instead, because at least that game is shinier than the screens we've seen so far.

[donarumo 0]

So let me get this straight. SimCity was getting to complex? What the heck is Spore then? Seriously, Spore looks to be one of the most complex games in history yet it also appears to be presented in such a manner that someone can pick it up and begin playing it.

Another thing. If they wanted to make a SimCity game less complex why not go back to the original SimCity or the SimCity 2000 level and make the mechanics of that game with awesome graphics and open modability?

This game appears to be a modern version of Caesar which is fine and deserves a place on a gamer's shelf. Then call it Mayor or something. Don't try to pretend it's the next SimCity game.

[JSNK000 1]

"Focus on Obedience, for example, and your buildings will start automatically adding security cameras to monitor your citizens' movements, Orwellian-style."

Niiiiiiiiiiiiice. Gosh darn something be too hard but lets condition the masses to accept Big Brother! Call me an Art Bell conspiracy geek if you like but this does not sit well with me.

They are saying the people are too dumb to figure out zones and water pipes but to have security cameras and spying is just fine?

Absurd.

[Explodingsims 3]

Somehow they've done it, they made a citybuilding game worse than City Life, at least City Life had power plants and Landfills. The're taking a serious Citybuilding game and turning it into a Child's game

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Well, it certainly is a different direction.  All buildings, etc are ploppable.  I don't think that's what we want or expect.

I suspect that Tilted Mill were given a general direction, and turned loose without any guidance.  Too bad, because I think this is not going to attract this community.