New Screenshots

[Zukunftstraume 220]

I don't know about you guys but my beta didn't look anything like the pictures posted. Then again I didn't use any filters but that shouldn't make that much of a difference. I have a very powerful system (8 gb ram, gtx 670, intel i7 3770) and the in-game graphics looked plain ugly. Even with all the graphical settings set to max the edges of buildings were choppy, the buildings didn't have any props in the lots and some of them appeared blurry when zoomed in. Maybe they took out high-res textures from the beta so that it would take up less space? Who knows. But if the beta is how the game really looks and these screen shots are just for show, that is highly disappointing because the beta graphics could have been done in 2008.

Wow, that's quite the bummer. I guess we'll see when the final product is launched.

[pineapple132 35]

Too bad that I still don't see any Turning lanes and other road junk. Eh, you can call me picky.

[London-b 90]

You can tell trains aren't much part of the lives of those who made the game, living in America.

ONE platform?! lol

[chris78hampe 4]

Look again The other platform is there but your sims must walk across the tracks to get to it.

[Cob92 360]

You can tell trains aren't much part of the lives of those who made the game, living in America.

ONE platform?! lol

That's what a USA train station looks like. Outside of the Northeast Corridor, virtually nobody in America rides the passenger trains. If the government didn't run the train company, there would be absolutely no train service at all.

[joshsam 3]

You can tell trains aren't much part of the lives of those who made the game, living in America.

ONE platform?! lol

That's what a USA train station looks like. Outside of the Northeast Corridor, virtually nobody in America rides the passenger trains. If the government didn't run the train company, there would be absolutely no train service at all.

Kinda sad. Even my small town of 40.000 has 4 platforms and trains to 3 other cities every hour. Cities with a population of 100.000 have mostly between 5 and 8 platforms overhere in Belgium. Cities above 100.000 have more than 8 and once you get to 500.000 12 platforms isn't anything abnormal.

[fatbuster 44]

You can tell trains aren't much part of the lives of those who made the game, living in America.

ONE platform?! lol

That's what a USA train station looks like. Outside of the Northeast Corridor, virtually nobody in America rides the passenger trains. If the government didn't run the train company, there would be absolutely no train service at all.

Kinda sad. Even my small town of 40.000 has 4 platforms and trains to 3 other cities every hour. Cities with a population of 100.000 have mostly between 5 and 8 platforms overhere in Belgium. Cities above 100.000 have more than 8 and once you get to 500.000 12 platforms isn't anything abnormal.

The really sad thing is even here in the North East (Massachusetts) anytime there is talk about expanding the transit system people come out in droves to argue against it. There are always arguments that the money is being wasted supporting it and should instead go toward the road system to support more cars. Not to mention that our commuter trains are pretty old and break down way more often than they should.

To stay on topic though:

[Guibanez_ 177]

From Facebook.

[fiver 306]

Why are the roads always so saturated in this game?

[LucasK336 54]

From the last image, it seems like they fixed the parks problem...

[Urban Cartographer 601]

Who do taxis must be yellow? The player will be unable to recreate New York City. Many cities have different-coloured taxis, representing a different taxi company.

[Zukunftstraume 220]

Why are the roads always so saturated in this game?

Because even for a simulating something the size of a small town, their day/night cycle probably isn't long enough to spread out all the traffic in a more realistic manner.

[Cob92 360]

Who do taxis must be yellow? The player will be unable to recreate New York City. Many cities have different-coloured taxis, representing a different taxi company.

That is the stereotypical American taxi. Maybe they could add some blue taxis (that's the next most common color I see), but my guess is that they want to make sure that taxis stand out from other traffic.

[Zukunftstraume 220]

Who do taxis must be yellow? The player will be unable to recreate New York City. Many cities have different-coloured taxis, representing a different taxi company.

That is the stereotypical American taxi. Maybe they could add some blue taxis (that's the next most common color I see), but my guess is that they want to make sure that taxis stand out from other traffic.

We should be able to pick if we want a European, Asian, North American, or Other

Each with it's own subcategories:

American:

- Gilded

- Art-Deco

- Googie

- Modern

European

- Classic

- Medieval

- Renaissance

- Mediterranean

- Contemporary

Asian

- Pagoda

- Theravada

- Indian

- Islamic

Other

- Pacific

- Mayan

- Alpine

- Arctic

- Adobe

- Earthen

- Steampunk

- Cyberpunk

- Future-Tech

All of this for good measure

[MPleines 17]

Taxis! Never mind their color...that's a new feature isn't it? Anyone know if their presence is linked to a particular structure (station/hotels/casino) or will they appear at random?

Didn't see them in beta or earlier screenshots but may have missed it.

[Hoipus 292]

When I played the beta, tourists seemed to use taxis after I built a casino.

[MPleines 17]

When I played the beta, tourists seemed to use taxis after I built a casino.

OK, thanks, hadn't noticed that, I built the casino only once in the beta I think.

[Guibanez_ 177]

https://www.facebook.com/SimCity?fref=ts

[Zukunftstraume 220]

^ Seeing the "This or That" sometimes makes me angry. Angry because the game actually looks real beautiful, and I know which one I'd choose to build in a heartbeat. Angry because the game has all these colossal problems that EA chose to ignore in trying to pursue a new target audience, whom ultimately won't play the game.

[Wosterlee 15]

From Facebook.

Well, the picture looks nice, crowded and gives a nice 'city' feeling. The glassbox engine really makes the city come alive and is certainly a valuable addition to this new simcity game.

However, one of the things I don't like is that there are still some scaling issues in the game. As I look at this picture I find the people and the cars too big for the roads, and this particular building looks out of scale compared to the rest. (Notice the sunroofs at the street and the sims walking under it). I simply can't understand how this happens in a game that is completely built from scratch.

[Guibanez_ 177]

https://twitter.com/oceanquigley

[Wiimeiser 444]

The really sad thing is even here in the North East (Massachusetts) anytime there is talk about expanding the transit system people come out in droves to argue against it. There are always arguments that the money is being wasted supporting it and should instead go toward the road system to support more cars. Not to mention that our commuter trains are pretty old and break down way more often than they should.

That's kind of the same situation here in Melbourne, only it's the other way around. There've been plans for an airport rail link since 1965, yet the government turned the reserve into a freeway. And they're hellbent on preserving as much heritage as possible to the point where the East-West Link has to be a tunnel, and since 90 something of the traffic using the eastern freeway is heading into downtown rather than bypassing the tunnel will only make things worse. Add in the Doncaster Rail Link and Bowdlerisation and you have a government that's just begging to be violently overthrown.

Back on topic:

https://twitter.com/oceanquigley

I am now a firm believer that Maxis and Sideshow Bob Roberts are the only things keeping the "all freeways are elevated, all elevated roads are freeways" stereotype from extinction.

[SirChick 184]

The really sad thing is even here in the North East (Massachusetts) anytime there is talk about expanding the transit system people come out in droves to argue against it. There are always arguments that the money is being wasted supporting it and should instead go toward the road system to support more cars. Not to mention that our commuter trains are pretty old and break down way more often than they should.

That's kind of the same situation here in Melbourne, only it's the other way around. There've been plans for an airport rail link since 1965, yet the government turned the reserve into a freeway. And they're hellbent on preserving as much heritage as possible to the point where the East-West Link has to be a tunnel, and since 90 something of the traffic using the eastern freeway is heading into downtown rather than bypassing the tunnel will only make things worse. Add in the Doncaster Rail Link and Bowdlerisation and you have a government that's just begging to be violently overthrown.

Back on topic:

https://twitter.com/oceanquigley

I am now a firm believer that Maxis and Sideshow Bob Roberts are the only things keeping the "all freeways are elevated, all elevated roads are freeways" stereotype from extinction.

I would of made that bridge more spiral personally.

[Essex 322]

The really sad thing is even here in the North East (Massachusetts) anytime there is talk about expanding the transit system people come out in droves to argue against it. There are always arguments that the money is being wasted supporting it and should instead go toward the road system to support more cars. Not to mention that our commuter trains are pretty old and break down way more often than they should.

That's kind of the same situation here in Melbourne, only it's the other way around. There've been plans for an airport rail link since 1965, yet the government turned the reserve into a freeway. And they're hellbent on preserving as much heritage as possible to the point where the East-West Link has to be a tunnel, and since 90 something of the traffic using the eastern freeway is heading into downtown rather than bypassing the tunnel will only make things worse. Add in the Doncaster Rail Link and Bowdlerisation and you have a government that's just begging to be violently overthrown.

I am now a firm believer that Maxis and Sideshow Bob Roberts are the only things keeping the "all freeways are elevated, all elevated roads are freeways" stereotype from extinction.

I love your rant about the freeway that was meant (or needed) to be a railway. I've lived in Melbourne for about a year and a half doing a job that forced me to use my car about 3 hours a day all over the metropolis (I love Melbourne, it's truly beautiful) but now living in Brisbane and not needing the car nearly as much as I needed it in Melbourne and I can tell you it's MUCH worse here in Queensland. I'll leave it at that.

Nice shots, but they seem a bit trivial like most shots with this game.

[burghermaster 8]

Something I don't undestand (and like at all) : why did Maxis feel compelled to make their basic roads 2x2 laned ??

I wish they have kept the 1x1-laned road template....

[Ma8thew 77]

Something I don't undestand (and like at all) : why did Maxis feel compelled to make their basic roads 2x2 laned ??

I wish they have kept the 1x1-laned road template....

There are several different densities of road. The smallest ones have 2 lanes.

[burghermaster 8]

There are several different densities of road. The smallest ones have 2 lanes.

I have seen countryside tiny roads and suburbian streets. But is there (sort of) interstate-class 1x1 road template ? ^^ (the common road we used to see in SC4)

[Ma8thew 77]

There are several different densities of road. The smallest ones have 2 lanes.

I have seen countryside tiny roads and suburbian streets. But is there (sort of) interstate-class 1x1 road template ? ^^ (the common road we used to see in SC4)

I don't know what that means. There are dirt roads, two lane roads and four lane roads.

[burghermaster 8]

I don't know what that means. There are dirt roads, two lane roads and four lane roads.

You can refer to this picture : https://i.imgur.com/gBBuIRdh.jpg

When you look at the choice of roads, you have :

- dirt roads (1x1)

- suburban streets (1x1) [note: suburban means that sidewalks are separated from the pavement by grass]

- suburban roads (2x2) [idem : sidewalks are separated from the pavement by grass]

- main roads (2x2)

- avenues (2x[grass]x2)

- big avenues (3x3)

- big avenues (3x[tram]x3)

The point is that there is no (1x1) main roads !!!

In SimCIty 4, (1x1) main roads used to be this pattern :

http://photos1.blogg... SimCity4.6.png

Do you understand what I mean ?

(I hope I am wrong about this layout..)

[timoman 50]

To the guy who said the beta graphics looked like dook-- true they weren't as nice as any of the screenshots, but look: they also locked off 80% of the building options, and all of the buildings were named very generic placeholders, like 'Store Shop' or 'Factory'. I'm pretty sure the beta was just a really watered-down version of the real game and doesn't represent what the final release will look like.

Anyway, filters are good and all, but I'm really going to miss SCS's system of lighting changes and dynamics props dependent on your city's style.

I hope you do give us the option of cyberblue atmospheric lighting, television-snow skies, and neon lights on everything =)

Perhaps when building a large corporate city? Or electronics-producing city? Or through an ordinance on cybernetics?