Poetic

It doesn't look like it's anything compared to SimCity 4, but it's a new game and I was curious if it was any good or if anyone has heard about it? http://www.gamespot.com/pc/sim/virtualcity/index.html

I like the first two screen shots with the 3d globes and the third screen shot with the towers - it looks very realistic and has good graphics. I'm not too thrilled with the fourth or last screen shot, however. I agree with spa when it comes to the lots vs. roads - the buildings are definitely blocky and look awkward compared to the free moving roads - lots of grass space left surrounding buildings on curvy roads. Also the sidewalks seem to be extra large and color coordinated depending on neighboring buildings just like in City Life - which is very bad. In the fourth screen you can see a different colored red sidewalk - reminiscent of the Fringe from CL, with the usual white/grayish sidewalks, which looks like suits from CL. It doesn't help that the red buildings on the corner of the red sidewalk looks just like a Fringe building. For me, transportation is pretty important in this upcoming game. I definitely hope CXL doesn't mimic CLs sidewalks or its culture groups. The last thing I want is large multicolored sidewalks and color coordinated ethnic buildings like in CL.

This is a good project idea Deep Thought, good luck with it! The best thing about SCS is how expansive it can be with all of the different types of societies that could be added. I recommend you go to Tilted Mills forum and pitch all of your ideas to the actual developers of the game. Doing it here will just get you criticized (as you've seen), because this forum has some polarized SC4 supporters. Here's Tilted Mills board: http://www.tiltedmill.com/forums/ The developers monitor it pretty often, they'll probably be happy to hear about some of the new ideas.

I have the same problem, I think it's due to the graphics card. Here's a few other posts that mention the issue: http://tiltedmill.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14235&highlight=trees http://tiltedmill.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14748&highlight=trees http://www.tiltedmill.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14500

There aren't really any other "modern" city-building games other than the ones you've mentioned - besides MetropolisMana and New York Tycoon. There are a lot of other historical city-building games though... Caesar series, Tropico, CivCity: Rome, Children of the Nile, etc... Here's a list of CB games: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_building_games I wish there were more games in this genre.

According to this: http://www.cdv-forum.com/cdvboard/english/showthread.php?t=56586 (American distributor of City Life) City Life: World Edition is the North American retail product, officially supported by CDV USA; it will ship in late January. It will retail for $29.99 and will offer an additional rebate for owners with a proof-of-purchase of the original. It is a stand-alone product that does not require you to own the original and it will ship without Star Force copy protection. You can currently pre-oder this product from Amazon.com and from EB Games/GameStop and it will ship on or about January 29, 2007 in the USA and Canada. City Life: Deluxe is an online distribution product only, released and supported directly by Monte Cristo. From what I understand, the content in City Life: Deluxe is identical to our title; the main difference is that you must download CLD, you will need your original game launch disk (does contain Star Force), and for any support issues (including the types of questions already posted on this forum) you will need to contact MonteCristo at support@montecristogames.com.quote> Hope that helps!

There is no u-drive-it, as others said. But you can follow your sims as they walk around the city by clicking on them and pressing a tracking button, and it'll show where they're going, if their happy, etc... not very exciting, though.

I tried making a productive city with lots of homes, some workplaces, and virtually no venues. Pretty quickly I had unemployed, homeless, very angry vandals running through the city randomly shutting down businesses, increasing crime, etc... It was amazing to watch - like rioters running everywhere. I was pretty hard to calm things down - I began building venues, but it just made people drunk and act out even more. Finally I had to start bringing in more authoritarian buildings to start trying to calm things down. I constantly had to bring out the riot police every hour. Of course, this all happened in normal mode - so I had to worry about money, which constantly went down each time a business was closed by a vandal. After a fairly long-time I was able to rebuild (lots of fires and things), increase happiness and lower the amount of angry citizens (who became vandals) by locking them up. It was definitely the most fun I've had with the game thus far

Good question. I'm 23, so I don't plan on my parents getting me lots of stuff (although I wish they still did... god kids have it made). I will maybe be getting my mother a Tivo, she tapes soap operas and lots of tv shows (ugly betty, that show with all the doctors, etc...), and goes through 100s of tapes, constantly worrying about which one is what, where she left off of, fast forwarding through commercials, etc... so I figure a Tivo would be a decent present. I haven't decided what to get my father or friends yet. I had a pet lovebird that died about 5 months ago that I miss very much and I'm thinking my parents may get me a new one (I hope so anyway!). If they don't then I'll treat myself and get one by the end of January probably (their only like 80-100 or so). I've always been a fan of lovebirds since I got my first from an uncle at 16. I usually clip their wings, which allows them to run around the house and be a real pet, not a display like most birds tend to be The biggest thing I plan on treating myself to over the next year or so (assuming it comes out) is Spore!

I really don't think this game was meant to be difficult (which, to me, isn't completely a bad thing). I like the difficulty of SC4, but I think this game is really more of a fantasy society builder than a strategy game (at least that's what I'm hearing by fans defending the game). Basically if you want a game where you can make a romantic village or a evil dictator society with no problems then try SCS, but if you want a complex game that is realistic then SC4 is better. SCS is good for imagination (with little-to-no strategy), SC4 is good for realism & strategy. Although, thanks to mods, SC4 is also good at imagination too (just look at the CJs). I'm hoping in the future I'll be able to make really fantasy-like cities that I can really let my imagination run away... I don't know if it will be with SCS, SC4, CU or SC5 (?), but SCS looks the one that is most likely to make it happen (assuming there are mods, expansion packs, etc...) Some people say SCS is for kids... I think it is definitely for the kid in us. It's an easy, casual gamer, type of game. I think it's more superficial than anything - making an eyecandy fantasy town (like something out of a book or movie) than an actual in-depth game.

Originally posted by: beebs I can see there being a whole truckload of expansions coming from this game. It was probably designed to be like that.. see: The Sims for a comparison. quote> Yup, each expansion will probably have 1 or 2 new societies - this game seems geared toward that. I've been wondering what it would be like to have a medieval society, pre-WWII german society, french society, harry potter society, scientific (or ultra-futuristic) society, holiday specific (Halloween, Christmas, etc...) societies, etc... the possibilities are pretty much endless. Lots of $$$ making possibilities!

Originally posted by: N_O_Body What kind of parents (if any) did they have? Were they members of any family?quote> According to Fox News: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,310578,00.html One of the teens (Letkemann) family was shocked by the news, but is standing by his side.

Originally posted by: GreekManwas this in Detriot metro area?quote> Yup, right by Livonia & Farmington Hills.

This kind of shocked me, although I guess it shouldn't in today's world, but two teens lure a guy into their garage and kill him (decapitate him and burn his body)- simply because they wanted the thrill of killing someone. I mean, wow, if this isn't a good reason to not trust anyone you meet, then I don't know what is. The world is becoming so scary http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071112/UPDATE/711120428/1361 This happened in Northville, a place with very little crime (and virtually no homocides). I guess the guy did owe one of the teens money, and he was listed on the sex offender registry - but the two teens say neither played a role in their killing him. They said they did it because they wanted the thrill of killing someone.