SimCity was released in 1989, was originally called Micropolis and was designed by the infamous Will Wright. For those that don’t know Will Wright, its suffice to say he’s one of the most popular and influential game designers of our time. SimCity, TheSims, SimAnt, SimFarm and Spore are a few of his hits and TheSims has taken many records since its original release.
Wright had trouble finding a publisher for a game in which you couldn’t really “win or lose.” Turned down by Broderbund, Wright eventually pitched the idea to Jeff Braun of Maxis. Maxis agreed to publish Simcity as one of its first two games.
When near complete, Wright and Braun took the game back to Broderbund to clear the rights for the game. Broderbund executives Gary Carlston and Don Daglow saw how addicting the game could be and signed Maxis to a distribution deal. Four years after initial development, SimCity was released for the Amiga and Macintosh platforms, followed soon after by the IBM PC and Commodore 64. On January 10th 2008, the SimCity source code was released under the GPL license as… Micropolis!
The objective of the game is simple, build and design a city. Though the player could focus on building a highly efficient city with an ever growing populace, it was by no means required. In a sense, open ended, the player was free to design the city as they chose.
Included in the city building experience was the possibility of natural disasters such as flooding, tornadoes and more. Pre-designed scenarios were also included in the game such as the Boston 2010 nuclear meltdown, or mass coastal flooding of Rio de Janeiro of 2047 … even a Godzilla attack of Tokyo in 1961.
In the years to follow, the SimCity franchise would continue to expand with greater detail as SimCity 2000 (1993), SimCity 3000 (1999), SimCity 4 (2003) and a host of other “Sim” games and until the release of “The Sims” in 2000, the SimCity series was the best-selling line of games made by Maxis.
In Fall of 2008, EA will release the next child in the SimCity family, SimCity Creator for the Nintendo Wii and DS systems. And thus, history continues!
Hmm, ARPANET was supposed to survive atomic warfare, and you tell me a forest fire can cause issues? Me thinks not.
@EA adopts “no class action” clause in Terms of Service
Sony created a precedent, and none of its clients punished it via their wallets. I guess EA considered it as a green light.
On the other hand, to be completely fair, there is another precedent: the MIT open source license.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_License
@Bethesda denied Fallout MMO injunction
Jonah, let’s not be hasty with the “gobs of money from microtransactions”. From what the people at EA’s Battlefield Heroes say, increasing conversion rate is not that easy.
@Bioware considering Mass Effect MMO?
I guess once a game universe is detailed enough, MMO is the right way to go. Thing is there are plenty of technical issues and financial strategy issues that make MMOs tricky. Best of luck to them.
Tomshardware and Tomsguide are owned by the same people.
How am I famous? For what? Just curious, ’cause I definitely don’t see a limo at my front door 😛
@Onlive will be last dedicated console platform
If you ask me, OnLive got cocky. I think it is far too soon to say that no other console is in development. If the new XBox remains compatible to XNA, there is no need to update the SDKs.
@QOTW:
In terms of input devices, my strongest impression is related to switching from a mouse using the ball to an optical one, in 2003. It translated in Quake 3 to switching from the rocket launcher to the rail gun.
I still use that mouse today.
Yes, you actually called me a bastard! Thank you!
Anyway,
@Bioware considering Mass Effect MMO:
I think it’s better if they just see if The Old Republic is still successful after a year after release before they instantly rush into a new MMO.
@OnLive will be last dedicated platform:
I don’t understand what gap OnLive really fills, because anyone that spends more on internet connection is probably already a gamer who has invested in consoles and PC. Also, I don’t really see the appeal of not actually owning a game, but instead it’s just on some server that will shut down if the company stops. The only area I could see cloud-based gaming succeed in is the demo service, and I’m not willing to pay the price just for that.
@QOTW:
Just because I’ve only started gaming seriously for about 2 or 3 years as I’m still fairly young, I don’t have much experience in terms of different input devices, but I will say that from what I have tried, I’m most comfortable with the wireless keyboard and mouse configuration.
And yes, I do think that you’re the best gaming podcast to my knowledge.
Actually, Nintendo have said numerous times that they DO view Apple as a threat, a bigger threat than Microsoft even. They’ve also said that they view anything “consuming peoples interest, time and energy” as their competition.
@QOTW
For most genre’s, I prefer the precision of a mouse and keyboard. As far as console controllers go, however, I find the Xbox 360 controller the most comfortable, it’s shaped perfectly for my hands. I’ve always found the Playstation controllers to be a bit awkward and uncomfortable for my hands though.
By the way Jonah,
I remember you talking about Age of Empires Online quite a bit before it was released, so I’m curious to know what you think of it now that it’s out.
I’ve been playing it a bit, and while it has some problems that need to be addressed, it’s still a fun, fresh take on an RTS and takes me back to the days of playing AOE2 (a game that still holds up amazingly well today).
have you tried dead island coz its cool but kinda buggy and btw do you guys have a minecraft account coz i really neeed one coz im broke
Ps im 13 years old not 16
And i think paul is cool and friendly but he gotta stop asking for hatemail coz its kinda annoying
no offense
@qotw the mouse is the most convinient thing i appreciate today
Add me on Facebook ,i think i already added paul my fb name is oliver lance de leon
Alright Paul, so you say I have low standards for saying that Microsoft is doing everything right with the Xbox. Please inform me what they are doing wrong. I would love to hear you feedback so feel free to leave your comments at my blog entitled, “I don’t give a shit, whatever you say is wrong.” Honestly I think the console as a whole is very well handled, and after many sleepless nights of tossing and turning, thinking about how Paul disagrees with me, I still fail to see how they have done something wrong.
Seriously though, I’d like to hear what they have done wrong.
If you want more hate mail, I shall give more, but give me time. I will try to think of something good. What you read above is not hate mail, so don’t get too excited Paul.
QOTW – I loved the N64 controller. Don’t know why, all my friends hate it, but it felt so comfortable.
Hi guys,have you missed me? 😛
Been a little while since I last posted a comment,so I guess Ill drop in and say hey to my friends;)
@What level I know in my head..man GREAT question..I guess Super Mario bros 1 world 1 level 1 qualifies..could play that one blindfolded..Duke Nukem 3’sD first level as well..those tw0 pops off the top off my head..
QOTW -My favourite controller has to be a dead tie between the several itterations of the PS dualshock controller,but I really love my Xbox 360 controller(s) now..the fact that I can use them both at my xbox and my PC is a big plus,I actually forget sometimes that im playing PC,cause its hooked up to my LCDTV via HDMI(no you dont need VGA jonah:P)
Paul you keep begging for hate mail,so ill give it a whack
“Paul you stupid flat top/or mullet wearing midget,we all know your mom still picks out your clothes for you and I am starting to suspect that all your hate mail craving is a weird fetish you acquired for erm….sexu..uhm private reasons:P,stop being such a big crybaby and man up and embrace the love of your followers..even if you ultimately have to discuss this with your therapist” How was that huh..happy now?
(Now I never even seen a picture of Paul or even dislike the guy,but whatever floats your boat brother;) ) you wanted hate mail right,you didnt say it had to be sincere..:P
Regards to all of you,until next time..your friend..*snaps fingers* Max Dominic:)
onlive works at 720p in uk easily , i live in a really rural area using a BT(british telecom) unlimited. phone line and i get 12mb 1.2mb/sec download speed. unlimited bandwith is standard here limitations are only implemented if you use free broadband services from the likes of SKY. in the city avg internet speed is 20mb 2mb/sec also fibreoptic connections are available for companies. onlive requires 500kbps to stream 720p. the uk can potentially stream 1080p. but onlive looks horrible. the games look either marginally better than console or worse.
Surprisingly well-written and inforimavte for a free online article.