RodC

No??

Has anyone figured out if this functionality exists?

Is there a folder in which we can place MP3 files to have them played in game, as in SC4 and The Sims? I understand we cannot mod the game because of DRM integrity checks, but something like a music folder should not be part of DRM checks as people's choice of music should not create any kind of unfair advantage or instability. And before anyone says "just use Winamp in the background", the Alt-Tab functionality with this game is sketchy and I would also hope to fully integrate my music into the game - i.e., the disaster music still comes on when there's a disaster, before returning to my custom music after the disaster subsides. The music which I intend to add is mainly the soundtrack from SC3K and SC4. There were some real musical gems in those games. It would be nice to mix it all together with the soundtrack from the new SimCity. However, the new SimCity music alone is starting to get old. Most of the tracks are very similar and it seems like about 5 variations of the same track currently. Also, Ocean Quigley recently teased a bunch of SimCity videos on YouTube in which SimCity 2013 gameplay was shown with SC3K and SC4 music. I almost expected the old music was going to be in the game after watching these videos. I was pretty disappointed when it wasn't. http://www.youtube.com/user/oceanquigley That sinking feeling when you realize EA is probably planning to release a retro music pack as DLC for $10...

Here's a starting point... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Tilton Chris Tilton (born 9 June 1979 in New Orleans, United States) is an American soundtrack composer and has helped compose several television, film and video game scores. He collaborates with Michael Giacchino and J.J. Abrams on several of his projects. His projects include the video games Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction, Black, Fracture and the television series Fringe. He also is collaborating with Giacchino and Andrea Datzman for J.J Abrams' new series Undercovers. Also, a lot of his work can be found on YouTube just by searching for his name.

The price threw me off at first too. I put in my pre-order for $79.99. This is by far the most I have ever paid for a game... ever! Sorry to say, though, that EA won't be passing on any cost savings to us. Just wait until all the $15 DLC packs start getting released in 2013 and 2014.

Even strategy guides are getting harder to find these days. In fact, books in general are slowly becoming obsolete. It's all about the bottom line.

I think the term city here is a misnomer. I think a playable city will have to be made up of several of these units. You can't possibly, for example, put down a realistic airport in a square 2 Km. on a side. Some modern runways are much longer than that. It is time for us to look beyond the old SC4 model and see a new horizon. An airport, for example, might have to occupy several tiles. Failing that, no airports. Airports in Sim City games have never been to scale. I think you are forgetting what the original airports looked like in SC4. Sure, something like this is nice, but the stock airports would easily fit on even the smallest map tile...

I think you're living in the past, LivingInThePast. The last strategy game I bought recently had a manual of about 12 pages, and most of those just explained how to install the game. As much as we all enjoyed them, thick manuals are a thing of the past. EA is pushing Origin these days so that they don't even have to waste money on a printed manual at all, and the electronic manual will cover nothing more than installation and getting started.

Hope it does because it looks plain BEAUTIFUL. Agreed.

Just wanted to address the comments of "I had the cash laying around" or "I'm not handing over my money until I see a quality product"... You do realize, right, that pre-ordering does not require payment up front? I pre-ordered the Digital Deluxe edition as soon as the option to purchase was available. How much did it cost me? $0. A pre-order is simply a commitment to buy. If the game starts to look crappy as more information becomes available then I will cancel my pre-order. However, I am currently totally psyched about the game and I can't wait to get my hands on it. The way I see it, we need to get as many people to pre-order as possible. A high number of pre-orders at this early stage will just show EA how much of a success SimCity is going to be. However, lackluster early pre-order sales could cause EA to cut back on development funding.