Sim New York Goes Back in Time: Part One

Here's the first part of our time travelin' series.

We'll travel back in time to the mid-90's when SimCity 2000 was the latest and greatest game and Times Square was becoming more family freindly. First stop: six years ago.

Times Square, 2003

We start our journey on 42nd and Broadway in 2003. The city was getting over 9/11 and word was beginning buzz around City Hall about New York tossing it's hat into the bid for the 2012 Olympics.

Trump was busy constructing Trump Place on the Upper West Side, the finishing touches were going on the AOL Time Warner Center and Mayor Bloomberg made it official a smoking ban would be in place for restaurants and bars.

Upper East Side, 1998



Next stop the Guggenheim Museum, 1998. In this year on the Upper East Side alone, You've Got Mail, , The Perfect Murder, Town and Country, the Out of Towner's, the Thomas Crowne Affair, Finding Forester and Eyes Wide Shut were filmed in and around this area, not to mention Law & Order and Sex and the City (causing some residents to be star struck and some to have headaches).

Down in Midtown America's first green skyscraper was half way finished and getting rave reviews from architects and residents alike; the Conde Nast Building.

Plus, average rent was "only" $1,600 per month back then.

SoHo, 1996


Ah, New York in the mid 90's.

The police cars were blue, the subway cars were still red (mostly), gas guzzling big Crown Vic's and Caprice's ruled the roads and gigantic billboards advertising Tommy Hilfiger, Joe Boxer and of course DKNY were plastered on the sides of buildings throughout the city(the famous DKNY billboard was replaced last year by Abrocrombie & Fitch)

Times Square was also noticeably different than it is now.

Next time we'll head back into the 1980's and 1970's.

Happy Halloween!

Have a very (Sim) Halloween!

YouCity 3D New York Map

Here's a video of YouCity's incredible 3d map of Manhattan- all made of true 3D buildings. Looks very much like SC3000.



More next time

Cityscape in Crysis

Here's Skape 3D Map of Leicester England to give you an idea of what to expect:


Cities XL comes close to this but the level of detail shown in this video is much greater. Makes you wonder about the next gen city builder. Also, makes you wonder how AI would be integrated into the simulator. GTA IV (despite being controversial) does a good job of integrating AI with the environment as show below.

Sony Tower Finally Available!

Sony Tower has made it's way into SimCity and is finally available in the downloads section. Get it while it's hot!

From Wikipedia, Sony Tower, formerly the as the AT&T Building, is a 647 feet (197 m) tall, 37-story skyscraper located at 550 Madison Avenue between 55th and 56th Street in Manhattan. It was designed by architect Philip Johnson and his partner John Burgee, and was constructed in 1984.

It became immediately controversial for its ornamental top (sometimes mocked as "Chipendale" (after the open pediments characteristic of the famous English designer's bookcases and other cabinetry), but enjoyed for its spectacular arched entranceway, measuring about seven stories in height. With these ornamental additions, the building challenged modernism's demand for stark functionalism and purely efficient design. Because of this it is considered by many critics to be a prime example of postmodern architecture.

Remembering 9/11: Looking Back and Looking Forward

Today marks the 8th anniversary of 9/11. We'll have a Sim tribute by looking back...


And looking forward...

More next time.

One Liberty Plaza

Here's an update on one of my BAT's for the project, One Liberty Plaza. The roof needs textures and and building needs nightlighting but other than that it's close to being completed.

Be on the look out for this when it's finished.