At GDC EA finally lifted the lid on SimCity, a reboot of one of the PC's most loved series. Alongside a pre-rendered trailer, Maxis VP Lucy Bradshaw revealed some details of what the SimCity team are aiming for: letting players co-operate in a region online, creating a tactile and lively visual style, and taking full advantage of the power of modern PCs to create a new simulation engine.
Oh. And it'll let you draw curvy roads.
During the presentation, Lucy repeatedly emphasised the effort the developers were making to give SimCity a tactile feel. Not only will plopping down buildings feel pleasant, but every change will be reflected in the visuals.
“We know that the buck stops at the simulation,” says Lucy. “We're building a simulation engine that captures the world as it is today. We want you to be able to affect that individual sim, or that particular car.”
There will be some mechanical changes - you'll be able to compare and co-operate online. “This generation of gamers is connected all the time,” says Lucy. “Your city will sit side by side with your friends. Be a polluter and you're ultimately going to affect your friends.”
There's also the potential of a resource system: Lucy mentioned that regions would have finite resources.
Lastly, there was the hint of a release date: 2013.
We'll have much more on SimCity on pcgamer.com in the coming days. It's also the star of PCGamer US's next cover , which will be arriving with subscribers shortly.
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