SimCity Socities Video

SimCity Societies recently did a video with 1up about the upcoming game- and it bombed with the SimCity community.

The video shows developers giving a tour of various overly simplified cities and explaining how those cities work. For instance, if you plop a chocolate factory down in a communist style city where people are unhappy and overworked residents will suddenly become happy because of the presence of the chocolate factory.

Or plopping down a clown college in the middle of an industrial sector will make clowns appear in that area and make the industrial workers "dance". (Possibly to the YMCA) You can also make a haunted city by plopping graveyards down and eventually a "zombie apocalypse" (yes a developer actually said that) will occur. (Not related to the zombie invasion in San Fransisco )

The description of different societies seemed a bit over simplified and even seems to be pushing stereotypical views of different world cities.

The graphics looked rushed and the automata zipped around city streets at what seemed like an unsafe speed. At one point the designer himself seemed to be holding back laughter either at the a glitch in the game or what was being told to 1up by his a fellow developer.

SimCity is not about plopping down gum drop houses on candy cane lane or about police states which round up gangs of mimes and clowns roaming about the streets of industrial sectors.

SimCity is about building cities and urban planning. Terrafroming terrain, building transportation networks, planning out power grids and underground water pipes. Managing a city budget and watching your creation evolve and grow over time. That is SimCity. SimCity: Socities is not SimCity.

Will there be a SimCtiy 5? Maybe, maybe not. Thankfully, the SimCity community is heard by developers at Monte Cristo who are currently developing a more SimCity like game. Cities Unlimited.