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NY Times compares SimCity Societies, Inconvenient Truth


We never saw An Inconvenient Truth (it came out a little too close to X-Men: The Last Stand for us to have any interest in it), but apparently, the planet's getting warmer. We've been told this by numerous celebrities and Nobel Peace Prize-brandishing ex-vice presidents, but we were surprised when we heard that Electronic Arts and Tilted Mill Entertainment were jumping on the Save the Icecaps bandwagon with their latest title, SimCity Societies. But can the game's eco-friendly undertones affect the environmental thinking of a generation of gamers?

That's the question posed by eco-journalist Andrew Revkin in a recent article on The New York Times website. If a SimCity Societies player sees the long term effect of fossil fuel usage on his or her virtual metropolis, can they "internalize and act on that kind of information in their real, not simulated, world?" We know that the game affected us. It was a rough transition, but we've stopped powering our servers by burning tires and cans of hairspray. Yeah, you're welcome, Earth.

However, considering the game's lackluster reviews, Crysis-esque system requirements, and unfortunate holiday competition, we wonder if it can still change people's minds if nobody plays it.