SimCity goes casual?

[jack_cheese 0]

Let's face it - we still have no idea whether SimCity 5 will ever get made.  Clearly SimCity Societies is not that game, it's got nothing to do with SimCity.  It's like saying that Ms. Pacman is the sequel to Space Invaders.  It makes no sense, and it's prompted this long-time lurker to post in the forum for the first time.

Look at this snippet from E3 2007, this is from the Electronic Arts press conference:

[2:12] The lights go down. A presentation starts to play, showing a montage of upcoming games, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, playground, mobiles, a Wii trivia game, and Boogie.

[2:13] An exec takes to the stage and encourages the audience to visit the company's booth in the Barker Hangar to see the games there. She introduces Kathy Vrabeck, head of the company's casual game division.

[2:14] Vrabeck talks about the company's lofty goals, to get to the 2 billion consumers that are not gamers but the company thinks are out there "ready to game."

[2:15] She's been thinking about what's next for the gaming industry. She says the issue with casual entertainment is that its different business models, game sensibilities, and the like are different from those in core gaming.

[2:16] The company wants to "truly bring gaming to the masses," going after kids, middle-aged women, girls--anyone who doesn't self-identify as a traditional gamer.

[2:17] Casual is very much a multiplatform genre, she says. Consoles like the Wii and the DS handhelds are good because they are family friendly. EA will become the "clear leader" in casual gaming, Vrabeck vows.

[2:18] The first group at EA to get casual was Pogo.com, which has more than 6.5 million subscribers, half of whom are women over 30, and it will be coming to Asia soon.

[2:19] A short montage showing off Pogo.com.quote>

Casual gaming has a specific term here, it refers to quick pick-up-and-play-for-a minute games, like those Flash games you get on free online gaming sites.  Minigolf, TextTwist, Bejeweled, etc., the type of game that's perfect for handhelds.  And they're ubiquitous; they even feature regularly in web ads (Punch The Monkey, anyone?)

Could this be an indication of where we're headed? "EA will become the 'clear leader' in casual gaming, Vrabeck vows."  EA can clearly see that the Wii has opened up a big new market of casual gamers and they want a piece of it.  Look at this sentence: "The company wants to 'truly bring gaming to the masses,' going after kids, middle-aged women, girls--anyone who doesn't self-identify as a traditional gamer."

I don't think she's talking about the people who are already here on Simtropolis - I think most of us would consider ourselves traditional gamers.  I also wouldn't be surprised if Societies didn't show up on the Wii before long - after all, The Sims is already there (also in a newer, more cartoonish iteration).

 EA are still going to have their sports games, and their hardcore action games, because those are consistent money-makers.  Sports games especially - you can basically sell the same thing with a few small changes to the same fanbase year in and year out.  But EA is also seeing a big new market in casual gaming, and the people who don't self-identify as traditional gamers must easily outnumber people who do.

My point is that SimCity Societies is not SimCity 5, it's a sort of bastardized parallel-universe version of the game designed to do two things: 1) prompt brand recognition in people who vaguely remember the popularity of the game back in the day but haven't played it for years, and 2) simultaneously appeal to the "casual gamer."  At the end of the day, people who've grown up on the Sims rather than SimCity don't want to build roads or lay pipes, they want to see clowns herded into detention centers, and at this point I suspect there are rather more of them than there are of us.  Maybe we are the clowns being herded into the detention center, a-haha.

So obviously this is all complete speculation, but based on the message board posts, screenshots, previews, interviews, and dubiously-staged videos of charmingly over-enthusiastic bloggers, I think it's reasonable to assume that we are no longer their target audience.  Sure, they're trying to sort of whip up interest in the city-simming community, but it's not much of an effort compared to the way, say, Microsoft has treated the flight-simming community. "Oh, yeah, sorry folks, we kinda took out all the stuff which pretty much defined the game, but we think you'll still be able to enjoy that genuine SimCity experience. Look, it says SimCity right here on the box.  Now if you'll excuse me, I was just in the middle of telling this young lady about how much fun it is to disenfranchise the mimes."

I'm not speculating on the future of the brand.  Will they ever make SimCity 5?  Is SimCity Societies just a spin-off?  Is this ultimately the new direction for the series?  No clue.

Although if this works out for EA, I expect they'll be farming out the SimCity brand for use on other franchises that might need a pick-me-up.

SimCity Pirates!

Build the city of your dreams on the Spanish Main, hunt for buried treasure, and fly the Skull & Crossbones atop your mighty mainmast, er, I mean, commerical business district.

SimCity Chessmaster 5000

Build anything you want as long as it's a castle.  SimCity fans will delight in the simple grid system.

SimCity Deer Hunter 3 Gold

Sure you can build that high tech industrial park - but first you're going to have to get rid of those pesky deer!

[Robstersfive 0]

classic loved the joke boxes. becoming a womens world now mate just face it and don't care that sounds sexist just a pure fact! and days tradional gaming is over, blame it on the sims that been so popular with girls it was only a matter of time before simcity would take the hit.

however saying that i know a few girls who liked classic simcity format to but they don't hate this new one as much as most of you lot do

[jack_cheese 0]

Women aren't to blame -  it's the man, man.  EA has got focus groups aplenty telling them where to put their development dollars, and I don't think traditional SimCity fans have been invited to the party.

[Robstersfive 0]

yeah sorry just that EA do want games to appeal to women now to but why can't they make new titles instead of ruining old titles

[LivingInThePast 364]

"Clear leader"? There goes EA conquering the New Land and slaughtering the natives.

And btw, who considered SC hard-core? It was always somewhat casual.

[Ntq€310 1]

i would say, casual to hard-core fans, hard-core to casual fans, there basicly making it casual to casual fans, and casual to hard-core fans, we have to admit the game was somewhat hard at first, also i like "SimCity Pirates" the best

[cammo2003 20]

To this day I do feel that the biggest blunder EA made with SC4 was failing to include the difficulty levels... I suspect it would have been a substantially bigger hit had they been included.

[2nerdy4u 1]

Originally posted by: jack_cheese

[2:16] The company wants to "truly bring gaming to the masses," going after kids, middle-aged women, girls--anyone who doesn't self-identify as a traditional gamer.quote>

 

so that would explain the candy cane light poles and the gingerbread houses... little kids want to eat them... middle-aged women want to eat them without feeling guilty... and the girls are living in a fantasy world that very much resembles SCS anyways...

[SimRabbit 48]

Originally posted by: 2nerdy4u

Originally posted by: jack_cheese

[2:16] The company wants to "truly bring gaming to the masses," going after kids, middle-aged women, girls--anyone who doesn't self-identify as a traditional gamer.quote>

 

so that would explain the candy cane light poles and the gingerbread houses... little kids want to eat them... middle-aged women want to eat them without feeling guilty... and the girls are living in a fantasy world that very much resembles SCS anyways...

quote>

 

Oh you have a such a dirty mind......

[Metroking 0]

What a surprise, EA is trying to cash in on then 'casual gamers' market, rather than improve quality of gaming for their fans. It's a shame such a good title is owned by such a cash ungry company. Still, I'll always have simcity 4, no need to buy societies.

[the Monkeys Uncle 35]

jack_cheese: halarious box art!  Very nice.

I suspect you're right about the casual gaming aspect, although if I were a casual gamer, I still can't see why I would want to play SCS...

[purpledaddy 6]

I just read the interview.  Casual games to me are games short and closed ended.   I think they have their purpose b/c they serve as breaks.  Candidly I like Solitaire or Uno or Mah Jonng who knows for about five minutes at a time when I need to change gears at the Real Life Bureau of Bureaucracies.  They're not for the kids, they're for the adults!  

But I personally am also a gamer and I often spend evening hours with a game that takes a lot of strategy, planning, setting things, and then seeing what the results are.   I still hope the next version of Sim City retains that.  The thing that makes me nervous is the implication that if Sim City does become a "casual game" then this time the game is played to an ending win/lose, acheive/don't acheive preset objectives.

Oh and again, in the first post, for those that think EA Games are trying to appeal to Sims players don't really know Sims players.

[2nerdy4u 1]

Originally posted by: SimRabbit

Originally posted by: 2nerdy4u

Originally posted by: jack_cheese

[2:16] The company wants to "truly bring gaming to the masses," going after kids, middle-aged women, girls--anyone who doesn't self-identify as a traditional gamer.quote>

 

so that would explain the candy cane light poles and the gingerbread houses... little kids want to eat them... middle-aged women want to eat them without feeling guilty... and the girls are living in a fantasy world that very much resembles SCS anyways...

quote>

 

Oh you have a such a dirty mind...... quote>

i dont see wat u mean

i only said that because im American and there are ridiculous amounts of weight loss ads (America has too many obese people)... the ones that i always see are the ones with women who go on this special diet (SlimFast or Nutrisystem) and eat "chocolate" and lose weight... thats wat i was trying to imply

i dont see wat u mean...