MrCinatit

I have had myself on "ignore" for a decade.

Grand work, korver

That is some lovely work, dedgren.

Well, dang it. May he rest in peace. He will live forever in our memories.

That is some amazing work, gatakos

Great job, dedgren. Nice to see you back. I commend you on being able to get back into it. I tried a couple of months ago, and like a lot of what this game had to offer, but just could not get my heart into it. Perhaps in time I can come back and give it a harder look. Your journal gives me a lot of hope for the future of this game.

Just reading the names of the creators of these regions is bringing back a lot of memories. OK...maybe not all good memories, but memories. Great work, Benedict!

In order for the game to have long term success, in order for the game to continue to sell strongly through the years (as opposed to months), modifications are a necessity. After some time, a game loses its appeal and its shininess. Original players play it less, thus "advertising" it less via city journals, youtube videos and what have you. However, if a fresh version of the game appears, with abilities to modify it to each user's desires, original players are more apt to "advertise" that game via all modes of social media. Make it happen, Maxis! Make it happen.

Cut out fried food, cut out milk products, cut out junk food, cut out read meats, cut out all soft drinks and energy drinks. Introduce nuts, fresh fruit and veggies, chicken and fish, water and tea, and more whole foods into your diet. After you have lost some of the weight, jog. A little bit at a time will be very good, but as time goes on and your body becomes more and more used to it, you will run even more. And as you run more, your want for a better diet increases. The better your diet it, the more you will be able to run. It is a great upward spiral.

It took quite a few patches and add ons before SimCity 4 became the game we became to know and love. And even then, there were some fixes which simply needed to be done within the community instead (the NAM, for instance). That is not to say it will be the same with the current installment. Time will tell if this edition will become as modification-friendly as the previous installment.

My surprise is that the game is still around. I think I gave it a week before letting it go - to me, it was a replica of City Life. This even kind of makes me wonder if EA's dreams were to fuse the two together, in a sense, to create a SimCity game with massive social aspects such as this, allowing players greater and greater awards for interacting with other players. Too bad for them the social gaming genre is on a downfall.

As our heroes stuck their heads out of the hatch of the boat, a mighty wave slammed into the side of the vessel, splashing water onto the deck. It also bought down the hatch. Hard. On their heads. He fell down the steps with a slight curse. She doubled over in pain – still on the steps – letting out a loud string of curse words. He looked at her and blinked. “WHAT!” she yelled at him. He said nothing and climbed back up the stairs, reopened the hatch, and stepped onto the deck. It was wet. It was windy. She walked up beside him. “We hit a wave just right, we'll sink like the Titanic,” he said. She glared at him. “You can't remember your own name, but you can remember the name of an old cruise ship?” “I could say the same for you.” She rolled her eyes. “Who's steering?” she asked, motioned towards the cabin. He saw no one. “Uh...guess I had better give it a shot. “You fancy yourself a seaman?” They heard a giggle behind them. They turned and saw the top of a chubby, balding head wearing glasses peaking at them. When he saw them, he let out a “EEK!” and disappeared, the hatch closing with a bang. With a huff, he ran after the man, slipping on the deck, falling on his face, and sliding into the side of the hatch. He picked himself up, opened the hatch, dove through the hatch and fell down the stairs. When he picked himself up, he heard a door slam down the hall. He ran to the door, grabbing the handle and trying to pry it open, cursing under his breath. “Who is that?” she asked. He looked at her. “I have no idea.” “Then why are you so intent on opening that door and bothering him.” He paused. “I have no idea.” He gave the door one more yank, then followed her back to the deck. The sky was now cloudless. “We...uh...seem to be heading towards something,” she said. Indeed, they were. They were heading towards a shore. On the shore was a marina. Near the marina was a large building. Behind the building was a bunch of land and trees. “What a wonderful place to build stuff!” he said. She looked at him, looking deep into his eyes. “You're an idiot,” she said. “I hope we aren't married.”

Very good review, Dirk. I cannot say I am excited about the release of the game at all, but I might give it a shot, for old time's sake, though it would break my "the gaming computer NEVER gets connected to the internet" rule.

Very good review, Zel. Maybe the guy in the bathroom was Will!

The lack of terraforming is a huge personal disappointment - but, hey, it is EA's decision. Terraforming was one of those unknown surprises of the game. Once a player mastered it, this pre-game game could overshadow the city building concept of the game itself. The ability to build mountain ranges covered with trees, rolling realistically through the terrain until dwindling into a bay was an awesome feeling, when done right. And once the modifications hit, the game was a pure addiction. Deserts, great redwood forests, mountaintop lakes with collections of dead trees, waterfalls, huge volcanoes, small creeks surrounded by flowery meadows - billions of opportunities to create a distinct landscape that breathed life into itself and into the city which inhabited it, giving both their own personality. Castles on the side of cliffs, small villages on the side of a mountaintop, island prisons, great bays with marinas and loading docks - cities which, when blended into the landscape at the hands of experts, were so realistic, many wanted to live in them, with those cities telling their own stories. All now tragically unavailable. So it goes.

My wish is one: The ability to freely terraform, as we could in SimCity 4. Nothing felt better than taking a completely flat region and turning it into a realistic hills, valleys and rivers region after weeks of hard work. Sometimes, it was a shame to plop a city in there. If this has already been discussed, please forgive me...I've only been popping in and out.

My name is Herbert. Or, at least, that is what this piece of paper says. A ferret gave it to me. No. Really. That really happened. I was sitting on a rock. I had just gotten off a boat filled with people who wanted to paint my ears red. No, they never said they wanted to paint my ears red...but I could see the insanity in their eyes. So, I did what any normal person would do. I ran away from them, into the woods. But, you see, here is the problem: I am not really an outdoors type person. Truth be told, I don't like the outdoors. A lot. But, I had two choices: Be with the red-ear painters, or try to survive in nature. I chose nature. Yeah. Not really the best choice in my life. But, all of the red-ear people stay in a really tall building. I don't like tall buildings. I don't remember much about myself, but I remember that I don't like tall buildings. Could be that fact that it is too easy to trip in them, fall through the window and hit the ground. That hurts, I bet. I don't plan on finding out. So, I stayed in the woods for a while. I didn't think I would like it at first, but after a few days, I totally found out I was right. I didn't like it. The animals smell funny and the trees – my main source of nutrition – taste funny. I ate a rock once. It didn't taste good. It didn't swallow good. It felt worse a few hours later. A lot worse. I spent most of the time sitting on other rocks. There really isn't much to do here. So, I sat on rocks. And ate bits of trees. And tried to hold my nose every time an animal walked by. One day, a ferret came walking by. I saw him with a piece of paper. I took the paper from him, and there was a name on it. “Herbert.” And my picture was beside it. At least, I think it was my picture. I've never seen me. The only mirror I had was a lake. The lake made my face wavy. The picture, it was not wavy. But, I thought it was still me. And, so I became Herbert. I found a house to live by. It is far away from any other house, but it is my house. Hopefully, no one will come here to paint my ears red.

Janis sat in front of her house, looking at it. Or, at least, she had been told it was her house. She woke up one day in her hotel room and decided to take a walk. Next thing she knew, she was taking a walk down a street that lead from the hotel – a street that had not been there the evening before. And she and the other people had found a town that had not been there the evening before. For some reason, this did not surprise her. Things tend not to surprise people who found out their planet had been deleted the day before. It also did not surprise her to find out that there was a house with her name on the mailbox. “Janis.” It was a rather nice house. Much too large for one person. But, everyone had gotten their own houses. A few weeks passed. A few more houses appeared. The former-Earthlings built a few more from materials that had not been there the evening before. More people came. Some people decided to leave their house and move into other people's houses – and those other people did not seem to mind one bit. Janis still lived in her own house. She liked having her own house. Yes, she had gotten many offers from others to live in their houses, but she had refused. The thought of sharing her house with someone else annoyed her. Especially the people who had made the offers. As she was thinking that, one of the people who annoyed her pulled up in front of her house in a rather large car. It was the very man who she had woken up with on the boat. His name was George. George got out of his car, boots shining and smirk on his face. Without taking his eyes from hers, he slowly walked towards her. Then he tripped on the curb. The kid delivering papers ran over him. Acting as if that were supposed to happen, George got up, smirk still on his face. “Evenin', ma'am,” he said. She noticed he had suddenly began talking with a Texas drawl he did not have before. “What do you want?” Janis asked coldly. He leaned on the fence, which, unable to support his weight, went crashing to the ground. He remain laying there, head propped on his hand. “I was wondering if you reconsidered my offer...” “Have you seen any pigs flying yet?” “Uh, well. No.” “Then my answer remains the same.” George got up, walking to the curb. A bus sped by, splashing mud on his shiny shoes. Janis muffled a laugh. “You might regret that, ma'am,” he said. “Ya see, I've decided this town needs a leader.” He turned to her. “Doug has not returned. But, he will some day. And when he does, I aim to see it that this town is being run the exact way he wants it.” “How do you know how Doug wants the town run?” “The ways of Doug are mysterious, only understood by a few of us.” “And I suppose you are one of those few.” George nodded slyly. “I have a feeling that, at one time, wherever we came from before, I was a great leader of people. I was a uniter, a man who could free, yet put fear into our enemies. I will lead the people here – here, we will build another great nation, one able to overcome all other evil nations and anything we fear.” “'All other evil nations'?” Janis repeated. “We're the only ones, aren't we?” George smirked. “We will be.” He stepped off the curb and fell flat on his face. Just then, a slightly chubby man wearing glasses, a t-shirt and boxer shorts ran down the street, covering his ears and screaming something about him not wanting his ears red. What a strange place, Janis thought to herself.

Excellent job, Mama.

Though for the most part symbolic, it is about time. BTW, it is ironically the eighth anniversary of the infamous "Mission Accomplished" speech.

Go Reds!

An OK game, but a serious browser hog.

One of the great creators who have uploaded here. Took a look through his STEX uploads, and he had at least four that were consistent staples to my cities. May he rest in peace.

Congratulations, everyone.