new "real" Sim City in 2013

[RickD]

German games sites are reporting that Maxis is currently working on a new "real" Sim City Game.
They say that Will Wright is not involved and the release is planned for 2013.
The new game is supposed to feature "glassbox graphics engine", upgradeable civic building, curved roads, newspaper "SimCity Wire", Multiplayer (featuring finances and ressources), and complex gameplay.

These rumours seem to originate in an exclusive preview in a german games magazine (Gamestar).

[pfry1985513]

i hope that the new simcity could be combined new " The sims" game.

[MandelSoft]

I'll not be so sure about it. Seeing more of these "claims" of a new SimCity that faded away, I'm pretty skeptical right now...

[dedgren]

We'll see.


David

[weixc812]

Actually, SC4 is good enough with so many BATs and MODs, the work by many makers 

[gn_leugim]

They say that Will Wright is not involved

If so, you can almost say is not a "real" Sim City 

[WC_EEND]

I'm curious, I read a few rumours about it as well. I really hope EA won't make it Origin-exclusive though.

[RickD]

I'll not be so sure about it. Seeing more of these "claims" of a new SimCity that faded away, I'm pretty skeptical right now...

Me, too. I'll try to get a copy of the magazine later. Gamestar has a good reputation, though.
They say, that details will be revealed at the Game Developers Conference. Usually you don't announce cheap Facebook games there.

I'm curious, I read a few rumours about it as well. I really hope EA won't make it Origin-exclusive though.

If it is true that there will be a Multiplayer mode, then I am 100% sure that it will come with Origin. 

[Kitsune]

What I've heard is that yes.. its "new" sim city game... but only for the consoles.. and is actually a upgraded port of the original sim city. We'll see indeed.

[io_bg]

Let's hope it's similar to SC4 but with full 3D graphics and is easier to mod

[catty]

Let's hope it's similar to SC4 but with full 3D graphics and is easier to mod

If you want something similiar to SC4 and easy to mod then take a look at my signature link, as for a new SimCity lets hope and also pray it doesn't look like this;

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/simcity-deluxe/id380017992?mt=8

[mtg]

Well, I don't realy need a new sim city. I'm pleased with SC4.
I think that we can play for many years with all the mods and stuff that's on this an other sites.

And my PC already has problems with running SC4 with all my plugs. Can't imagine how it would with a full 3d game

[NCGAIO]

Every time they talk on this subject a few minor details are forgotten. No game company online or distributed will risk the immediate market today with something for a specific niche

All games are developed in today's advanced graphics engine to satisfy the yearning for realistic movement used in their scripts.

Bring a new engine to the game to do these same things in Simcity would dismiss all the work of this great community that supports it and without which the game would have been long forgotten.

So I can bet that what comes out there is even something along the lines of post catty. More a toy online to collect from the sale of these items and things we know.

Unless of course we all in this community may commit to purchase a copy of a new release with more features and bugs solved ... still would not think much of some twenty thousand ... want to see the folks at EA giving a lot of laughs ... just propose it to them.

[Tarkus]

The source of this rumor seems a bit implausible to me.  The true origins seem to be a couple of smaller European sites dealing with The Sims.  I don't know how much stock to put into that, as there's not much of a connection to EA/Maxis.  I would have expected a larger outlet to break it if it were legitimate.

That said, I made this remark in a post at ST about 2 years ago, when Cities XL's Planet Offer was being discontinued:

With regards to the specs end of things, in order to reliably pull it off a full-3D SC4-type experience and get enough market, the "low-end" of the systems market will most likely need to have quad-core or even hex-core processors, 8GB of RAM and 2GB of graphics memory. This will likely happen by 2013 or so, +/- 1 year.

Those specs are roughly based off of Paul Pedriana's own estimations from back in 2003.  My estimation of the timing of that kind of hardware becoming commonplace seems to be eerily accurate.  AMD and Intel have had hex-cores out for close to 2 years now, and they're becoming more common.  Quad-cores are being put into laptops.  4GB RAM is an incredibly common spec now, and 8GB is becoming more so, especially since 64-bit OSes that can actually address all that RAM are now commonplace.  Graphics cards are now getting bigger and faster as well. 

I'd say this is still hearsay at this point, but unlike all the misguided folks who actually thought back in 2007 that SC:S was going to be SC5, or that Cities XL was going to be the future back in 2009, there's actually validity to the notion that EA is, at the very least, considering a next-generation city-simulator.  Things like the Herman Cain 9-9-9 promotion and the scaled-down iPad port seem to be signs of "testing the water", to see if there's still interest in the genre.

-Alex

[Kitsune]

The sad thing is hex-cores are still for the extreme users and servers (where octo cores + are appearing now)... and there is no change on the horizon for the next year +... haswell will be still be quad core when it comes out next year.

[dedgren]

...scaled-down iPad port...

LMAO!!

That port's not just scaled down, it's...it's... castrated.  It's like playing SimCity 4 as envisioned by folks who'd spent the last 20+ years playing nothing but the original game.

Oh my God, it is that awful.  I wanted my money back within about 10 seconds after it appeared on my iPad's screen.


David

[j-dub]

Unless someone can redo the road/highway system, and superior traffic system, the now obsolete Pixel Active did with Cityscape before Navteq happened to it, which I seriously doubt. I would have to see this new SC game to believe it. Cityscape, allowed you to change the textures of the roads, within the program to anything you want, and let you adjust if that road had traffic signals (with working turn arrows) or stop signs, with the ability to have direction restrictions, and not to mention, change the width of a network, alter between shoulders, and sidewalks. The speed limit could also be adjusted for certain parts of the road. Signs, buildings, plants and stuff, could be placed down like that, and you could take any model like .dae .obj .3DS and place it in the game like that. You could also drive vehicles in first person. For those lucky enough to have lived through something like that, while I would like to see that happen again, I remain skeptical of any SC ever accomplishing anything like that. Of course Cityscape, and other stuff I used, rang up  prices of 600 USD to 10 grand, because "simulation tech demos" were not considered a game.

[catty]

...Cityscape, allowed you to change the textures of the roads, within the program to anything you want, and let you adjust if that road had traffic signals (with working turn arrows) or stop signs, with the ability to have direction restrictions, and not to mention, change the width of a network, alter between shoulders, and sidewalks...

Want a total of eight lanes of traffic ... no problem


FEB120110 by SC4D_CATTY, on Flickr

its a source of great regret that I was never able to persuade them to let me release the demo program to SC4D players   

[Tarkus]

The sad thing is hex-cores are still for the extreme users and servers (where octo cores + are appearing now)... and there is no change on the horizon for the next year +... haswell will be still be quad core when it comes out next year.

I just checked a couple local (non-chain) computer hardware stores' prices out.  I can walk in and pick up an octo-core AMD FX-8120 for $222.  Of course, I also happen to be in an area that has a lot of extreme users, so there's enough volume that the price is down.

Unless someone can redo the road/highway system, and superior traffic system, the now obsolete Pixel Active did with Cityscape before Navteq happened to it, which I seriously doubt. I would have to see this new SC game to believe it.

When I saw what PixelActive was doing with CityScape, I figured it was only a matter of time before someone bought them out.  I just expected their buyer to be a game company rather than Navteq, given their existing clients.  It was a sweet program.

its a source of great regret that I was never able to persuade them to let me release the demo program to SC4D players   

It really is--but I think everyone here appreciates your efforts on that front.

Oh my God, it is that awful.  I wanted my money back within about 10 seconds after it appeared on my iPad's screen.

At least it was about a sixth of the price of the dreck Monte Cristo was putting out.  I still remember my very brief "morbid curiosity" time with the original CXL demo with extreme horror.



That right there is the proof that 2009 was not the right time for a next-generation city-simulator.

-Alex

[jdenm8]

...scaled-down iPad port...

That port's not just scaled down, it's...it's... castrated.  It's like playing SimCity 4 as envisioned by folks who'd spent the last 20+ years playing nothing but the original game.

Oh my God, it is that awful.  I wanted my money back within about 10 seconds after it appeared on my iPad's screen.


David

That doesn't even look like SC4, that looks like a SC3K port with re-rendered SC4 assets, the view angle is wrong, the ground looks typically SC3K, the construction animations are the same as in 3K, there are SC3K buildings in the tileset and notice how all the inhabited areas of the cities are perfectly flat.

At least it's clear that EA still has all the original SC4 assets locked away.