EA confirms SimCity 'Societies'
by Alexander Sliwinski 
{ Jun 5th 2007 at 6:32PM }
Joystiq spoke with EA and confirmed the rumor that the next version of SimCity is on the way. Currently dubbed SimCity Societies, EA says that's merely a "working title" at this point. We've been told "it's completely different from SimCity 4, so they're trying to come up with something different than just calling it SimCity 5."A full feature of the upcoming SimCity can be found in this month's Games for Windows Magazine, which supposedly arrives for subscribers today and hits newsstands later this week. An official announcement of the game by EA is expected next week, which will coincide with the first official release of images. We've been told that the game will also be shown at next month's E3. A new SimCity is always happy news for all the wannabe civil engineers out there. To tide you over until SimCity Societies eats your current PC's RAM for lunch, you'll be able to enjoy SimCity DS this summer.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Shiro @ Jun 5th 2007 6:36PM
I wish they'd just combine SimCity with The Sims and get it over with. Everyone wants the ability to control a city's growth AND all the whack-jobs inside it, so why not? Spore can do it, apparently.
Poisoned Al @ Jun 5th 2007 6:57PM
A diversion from Sim City 4 is a good thing as that game was FAR too complicated and not as fun as 3000 (which the DS version is based on). But then SC4 was a diversion from 3000 to make it more "real" so I'm a little sceptical of the new game, but if they can do away with all the micromanaging you needed to do in 4 yet make it more realistic then 3, then it should be interesting. AI helpers perhaps to deal with all the insane funding sliders.
LJKelley @ Jun 5th 2007 7:04PM
I love SimCity 4... yes there should be some automation for the repetitive stuff and some tweaks. I would love an even more realistic SimCity. I hate the Sims... so don't mix the two..
I'm all excited... hope the new version is GREAT!!
Gabe @ Jun 5th 2007 7:11PM
If Will Wright is working on Spore, and i'm guessing full-time, who's in charge of this SimCity? This is going to suck bad is Wright is not there to run things
Geist @ Jun 5th 2007 7:42PM
SimCity "Societies"? Sigh. Anyone ever played City Life? I see SimCity copying the gameplay from that. Considering it's EA, I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest.
Measure @ Jun 5th 2007 7:59PM
I cut my teeth playing the original SimCity for the SNES... later I played Sim City 2, and was blown away by the changes in the series.
Sim city 3 + 4? not so much. I've played both but to me, they don't seem to have added much to the series. I could be wrong, just stuck in my old ways, but that's how I see it.
I am intrigued that they are thinking about a new direction for the next game. If they also release it on the 360... I'll at least rent it.
Greg2k @ Jun 5th 2007 8:04PM
What, SimCity 4 was complicated? I really hope they make SimCity 5 about ten times harder and more complex than the previous versions, because I've never played a game of SimCity where I've been able to say "Damn, this game has TOO MUCH STUFF waiting to be tweaked".
The series has to be my all-time favourite, but no matter how good it gets over time, I just NEED more complexity (subway LINES, bus LINES, many more types of roads, not being constrained to the grid all the time...).
Can't wait for the DS version either.
Shockgamer M2B @ Jun 5th 2007 8:20PM
I guess Sim City 4 just separated the city designing men from the boys. I just hope that this new installment doesn't totally ruin the series to cater to the unwashed, virtual doll house loving masses.
(And I hope that you can drive vehicles out of the box.)
Lagoon @ Jun 5th 2007 8:25PM
If anything, The next SimCity should build-up on SC4 and be MORE complex... I would love to see a version of SC4 with online region sharing and other additions
Maybe get away with the grid system, It could have the same graphics as SC4, and Ill be happy...
Joe Bourrie @ Jun 5th 2007 10:08PM
"(And I hope that you can drive vehicles out of the box.)"
And maybe even multiple frames per second! SC4: Rush Hour was the biggest waste, because the whole expansion pack was based around a driving mode so slow it was practically unplayable.
RichPowers @ Jun 6th 2007 12:00AM
You guys are right: SimCity 3000 and 4 were not as good as 2000.
And Maxis IS NOT DESIGNING SimCity Societies. This other 1up article says the people behind Caesar IV are working on it.
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3160086
Too bad Caesar IV sucked. I have zero faith in this project.
chaoticmagus @ Jun 6th 2007 12:09AM
I have to agree with the "make it more complex" sentiment. Simcity 4 is great, but really, if you just take a walk around your living area, especially if you live in an urban environment, you might think Simcity 4 inadequate. I still play the game, and these days, I can't help telling myself it would be really cool to see things like, oh i don't know, mixed-use planning (residential and commerical combined into one). I know I've thought of other things, but I can't think of them right now.
If they do combine The Sims with it though, I'll be less than enthused.
Poisoned Al @ Jun 6th 2007 4:34AM
Let me make myself clear. Sim City 4 made things more complex then they needed to be. All the funding tweaking on EVERY SINGLE GOD-DAMN PUBLIC BUILDING was the pure essence of non-fun! If they could add more features that you can put down and forget about for a little while and do something else, then that's fine by me. I like the bus line idea. Public transport in the SC games have always been a total guessing game. You put a sub stations in a highly populated resdetal area and stations in busy industrial and commercial areas and nobody uses them. It wouldn't be so annoying if it wasn't so damn expensive and you still get bitched at for having too much traffic! The only thing that seems to be used it a bus stop in the centre of some farm land!
3000 was way too easy tho. Once you got moving, it was way too easy to lay down the same pattens of land and watch skyscrapers pop up over night. 4 was just too fiddly for me, but I wouldn't turn down a challenge.
KnowitallSim @ Jun 6th 2007 5:12AM
I don't know if this will be good.
SimCity 4 was way too complex.
3000 (Unlimited edition preferably) is still the best in the series for me.
mattydread @ Jun 6th 2007 8:42AM
Sim City 4 was in no way too complicated. The worst part about it was that it didn't have enough road options, and as Greg2k was saying, bus & subway lines. Also I still have problems making beaches... but that's probably my inability to correctly use the terrain tools without creating clifs etc.
For those saying The Sims should be integrated, wasn't it in SC4? There was a whole Sims tab in the toolbars.
Brian @ Jun 6th 2007 12:49PM
I know there's a lot of criticism, distrust & cynicism going around about this game & EA, but all-and-all I feel pretty optimistic about this title. Even with all of the great additions to SC4 by modders & baters I still have to say that I'm getting a bit tired of SC4 with it's out of date graphics & clunky technical issues.
I want a game that is in 3D and gives us easy to use creation tools to make our own buildings with without having to buy extremely expensive stuff like gmax3d or having to rely on others with such tools to make buildings for us.
If this game adds a little bit of Sims control then great - I like the Sims games. I'd like a 3d game with lots of customizable abilities... even if that hurts the management/toughness of the game. I just hope the game isn't TOO easy.
As for the "City Life" stuff... I liked City Life, with it's cultures, it gives a new unique feel (I live by Detroit so I realize culture plays a role in modern U.S. cities & how they develop). I admit that I think CL went too far... culture is only one of many features in city development. I just hated City Life's repeated buildings & it's hard to use building creation tools (which required 3rd party expensive tools like SC4 does).
ahac @ Jun 6th 2007 11:07AM
Looks like we have 2 kinds of people commenting here.. those who think SC4 was to complex and those who think it wasn't complex enough (which includes me). And it's this group of people who still play SC4.
However.. I have the feeling EA will make a game for the 1st group and lose its most loyal players. But if we are lucky some other developer will make a real city building game for us. :)
Setting the funds in SC4 wasn't really a problem.. I just set them low and increase when they strike. But I agree it is unnecessary. Just setting the overall funding would be enough.
And like others said before.. I'd love more road options (tunnels anywhere, etc), bus lines... also better options to form the terrain (smaller rivers, waterfalls, ..) and much more.
And those driving missions really don't belong into a game like this.
Wilfried @ Jun 7th 2007 7:14AM
An addon for fixing bugs and finishing unfinished features in SC4 (like the Dirt Road transit network or the smaller four-lane highway), and adding all those goodies the community of players has been developing over the last years (like roundabouts, the tramway and additional interchages) would be far enough for most of the pro city builders.
David @ Jun 7th 2007 10:05AM
There was a game were you would have The Sims and SimCity together, it was called Simville I think, it was canceled many years ago.
1-3 are fine, three ran really slow, four was micromanage overkill.
Either way I won't buy it, Sim City 2000 is still the best.
DonMikimax @ Jun 9th 2007 1:34PM
All of you who say ''Sim City 4 was too hard'' have no brains at all.
The game is even easy on hard settings, and your ''insane sliders'' are wery easy to use but no, you think it is for fanatics....that is called ''THINKING''...
This new game is not SimCity 5, this is Caesar V: Sim Societies!!!
Caesar IV was crap, Caesar V: SS will be crap.
Steven @ Jul 11th 2007 11:31AM
The budget tool in SimCity 4 in my opinion was useful. For example a hospital in one area may have 4 patients, while another would have 400, reducing individual budgets gives a smaller outcome, and therefore a bigger profit, one of the main goals of the game. I have also played SimCity 2000, and SimCity 3000 is better, and SimCity 4 is better than that, basicly it gives you more tools, more power, now over a region, and gave you the option of what up to 5 sims thought of your area. And anyway, what is wrong with merging the Sims with SimCity, they are both great (and successful) games. The new SimCity 5 maybe better, we don't know yet! All I hope is that it is 3D, have even more tools, and a greater challenge, and a more advanced version of the MySims mode.
Sweatyshoulder @ Jun 12th 2007 8:24PM
To be quite honest with all of you:
Do you really think our opinions are going to be heard? Especially if we bitch and moan like a bunch of us are doing currently. I'm not talking about this place to comment, I'm talking everywhere. On every forum I see whining and complaining. There's nothing we can do about it; plain and simple.
But, in all reality, this looks like a City Life 2. It appears to me like the developers couldn't handle making it look like a realistic city builder. To me, it seems like they had a problem with the difficulty of making it. That's not a knock to them. It is good to have different types of games on the market, especially city builders. what I don't by any means agree on is why the rumors, which were circulating since October, called it Simcity 5. To make sure we know its not the next simcity "because its far different", they titled it Simcity Societies. I say, take out the "Simcity" all together. This doesn't really deserve to be called Simcity if its "far related from it."
Where's Maxis? Obviously with this explosion of The Sims, they forgot they could make complicated, yet fun and entertaining games. Simcity 4 was not too complicated. It was a real game, a true game that made you think - unlike the ones today where you shoot someone, run away, and go onto the next level. Simcity 4 let you explore different ways of going about building a city. It had an adequate supply of buildings and a definite variety of pedestrains. Sim City 4 Rush Hour will not be topped, plain and simple.
For those who think Simcity 4 was too hard, I do have pity, I do. You actually had to use your head. It wasn't a game where you'd sit down and watch the city pop up, it was a game of intelligence and entertainment.
I've stated two other places that this game reminds me of an acid trip crossed over with the mind of a pedophile. Its so corny, childish, and it looks stupid! The new developers of this obviously have heard our constant pleas for a more realistic game and instead of trying to work with us, they've simply said "Sorry". Well, for me, saying sorry doesn't always cut it. They either make a Simcity game or they make one under a completely different title. That brings me back to the top there where I asked if you all thought we'd be listened to. The answer is no, these developers don't care; In my opinion, they're trying to make money off of the trademarked name of Simcity. Look at other games or software, they have public BETAs and on their forums they ask for your input so much more than these people are doing. For example, Moviestorm.co.uk has a completely open forum and public BETA test and they work with the people who use it to make the software the way it should be. I don't see anyone asking us what we think of the new Simcity Societies and what we could do to improve it.
This whole game looks like its going to flop. Its just too childish. Many of us want something that we can think with and enjoy at the same time.
When I heard the rumors of a new Simcity back in October I was excited. Now, I am utterly dissapointed.
julia @ Jun 13th 2007 2:24PM
I can't wait; I'm really excited to see what is different and what is even more awesome. The screenshots look like you could make a ton of different city types - not just one big New York type of city. Tilted Mill has made some good games in the past. I will be buying this Sim City for sure, whatever they end up calling it!
Tassyraye @ Jun 14th 2007 6:49AM
I have played all the Sim City & Sims games. I own them all & all the expansion pks. I hated the stupid driving missions in 4 & eventually stopped playing. I would love it if Sim City would drop the driving missons or at least place less weight on them as one of the means of raising funds for your city. I like playing the Sims (although waiting for Sims 2 to catch up w/ the same types of expansion pks & options is hard....I want to take them on vacation) nd hoped for more interaction w/ my Sims when playing Sim City but it was basically useless the way it is set up now. Ahhhh the dreams I had for Simsville.......
Pattyboy @ Jun 16th 2007 10:18AM
I understand where you're all coming from. I've played SC4 since it's release, and after a while it does get easy and almost boring. At the same time, for me at least, I want to build my cities, not waste time adjusting mere dollars in funding.
What I see here is a clash of many opinions. Some want SC to head in a simpler, 'funner' direction. Some want it to integrate with The Sims to create one complete game. Some want it to get more technical and real. Since not everyone can have their way, wouldn't the best idea be to mold the game into something that allows easy gameplay to those who don't want a great challenge, but allow those looking for realistic qualities in a city builder to get very complex. And as for mixing with The Sims; I play the Sims (2) and do enjoy it, but the Sims is based on a Suburb, and SC is a CITY simulator.
skizzler @ Jun 20th 2007 1:02AM
I made a custom region in sc4, of all small cites and now im making industrial cites commercial and residental, but it is getting boring. Can't Wait for release. Anyone know how much it will cost