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!
PlayStation 2 fans may recall a little title called Okami, it’s an action adventure game developed by Clover Studios and published by Capcom. The original Okami title received fairly high reviews by many popular game sites, although there were a few flaws, the receiption seemed well received.
@The Last of Us features Naughty Dog’s “longest ever” campaign
… me likes. I quite like long SPs, so, bring it 🙂
The entire premise of the game sounds really nice, so this turns out to be one of the games I’m looking for.
@Sony confirms 4K movie service for PS4
… eh? I guess they’re trying to create a market for their TVs? Just doesn’t make sense. Somebody else should create content and be able to distribute it in order to drive up demand. If you do both then you’re risking too much.
As for eye resolution, it’s about 60 arc seconds. Think of a 3DS held at 10 – 12 inch away from the eyes.
@Ubisoft confirms Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag
… but Assassin’s Creed III is still quite recent. This is slowly becoming a Call of Duty thing. Not much of a fan.
@What was your favorite moment in the TD Gaming Podcast over the years?
I honestly can’t tell. Just too many to pick from.
Cop-out. Pick your favorites and just go with them.
@The Last of Us features Naughty Dog’s “longest ever” campaign: Again, as a PS3 fanboy and a huge Uncharted fan I can’t be more excited about The Last of Us. Already pre-ordered it.
I don’t believe it’s going to be a bad game so the more the better. However, I hope it’s more difficult than Uncharted 3 and is more tactical or strategic rather than an interactive movie. Sure, it’s not going to be open world but add some more decisions to it!
BTW, the fact that the infected are not zombies has been long known and is not a spoiler in any way unless you’re employing Paul’s blackout strategy while waiting for game releases 😉
@Sony confirms 4K movie service for PS4
Don’t care, don’t want. I’m usually satisfied with DVD-quality movies, I very rarely use the Blu-ray drive in my PS3. The movies should be more about other qualities than presentation. I hated Avatar which was nothing else than Pocahontas in space and all the fancy 3D CGI effects couldn’t save the movie for me. This is Sony being Sony and messing things up for no purpose whatsoever.
@BioShock Infinite‘s ending may cause controversy:
Insert disclaimer: The views expressed here are solely those of the author of this comment in his private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of the podcast’s staff 😉
This is great news! As an ardent atheist I’m always looking forward to breaking boundaries as far as talking about religion and showing it in media goes. In my opinion a game where Jesus and the Christian God are presented is nothing different than Kratos and Zeus in God of War. If you want to quit your job because of a controversial portrayal of a fictional character it’s your choice.
@What was your favorite moment in the TD Gaming Podcast over the years?
I only started listening some 30 episodes ago but I always enjoy Paul’s one-liner ‘don’t give a f*cks’ 😉 No hate mail for you, Paul, sorry…
@Naughty Dog
I agree. Every time they say they created amazing AI it always falls short. I still remember AI in FEAR using empty see-through shelves as cover. I just wish they would make a good Crash Bandicoot game. I miss them so…
@Sony better-than-life videos
I thought Sony learned their lesson with 3D: do not support technology unless it’s widely accepted by the consumer. If you care about resolution so much then you are fickle. You can have a 4k Star Wars Episode 1 but it will still be shit. It’s all about the content.
@Bioshook
I agree with Paul. Sounds a lot like a publicity stunt. Reminds me of Hitman. Never cared about controversy. Incest in Metal Gear Solid 2. Ghetto in GTA San Andreas. As long as they implement it appropriately and not just to shock some weak minded fools so that they make some racket i.e. free publicity.
@Assasins Greed
Milk is going sour. Maybe the franchise is really turning into the bull. Last one I played was AC2. I like the franchise but I prefer to leave it for later. To much of the same game can ruin franchise.
@QOTW
I enjoy each and every episode. And I plan on enjoying it for a long time to come…