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SimCity 2.0 update hits April 22nd, offers bug fixes but no offline mode
Although SimCity has become relatively stable following its problematic launch, there are naturally still ongoing bugs that the folks at EA Maxis have been working to fix. Thankfully, that version 2.0 update that was teased just over a week ago now has an arrival date of April 22 at 4PM ET. Included in the update are 26 bug fixes, along with data map color filters, a color-correct HUD for the colorblind setting and the action of mayors traveling from their mansions to their jobs. Sadly, an offline mode is still no more than wishful thinking, but at least that OS X version should still be on track for a June 11th release. You'll find all the details about your virtual city's soon-to-arrive enhancements at the source link -- expect some server downtime, by the way, when the update itself hits.
Architect's Journal ranks top 10 gaming worlds
Before you start furiously clicking through the source link to see where on the list of Architect's Journal's "Top 10" gaming worlds Second Life falls, we're just going to tell you upfront that it's number seven. That's three full spots ahead of the (apparently) FAT-inspired Super Mario World! Outrageous, we know, we know. The list is rounded out by some rather ... interesting choices -- from Jet Set Willy's house to Halo's ring world, and everything in between, which are all discussed in highfalutin terms that we simply can't wrap our heads around. "Gemutlich?" "Miminalism" (note: not "minimalism")? We're sticking with the video games, thank you very much. [Via Kotaku]
Fanswag: SimCity Creator goes to ...
Okay, let's try this again. Our latest giveaway has concluded, meaning it's high time we selected our winner. Via random drawing, the individual selected to get our copy of SimCity Creator is: Kaoz, who likes on the big green monster Congrats to our winner and better luck next time to all of you. Keep your eyes on Wii Fanboy. We'll be starting up another giveaway soon.%Gallery-24027%
E308: SimCity Creator all boxed up in a neat little pack-age
Considering the worldwide domination of all things Sim, it's no surprise that E3 will play host to precisely eight jillion updates about The Sims, Sim City, SimAnimals, SimSim the Simmy Simulator of Simness and other classic titles. What's that right there? Why, it's the box art for the upcoming SimCity Creator, which is a pretty decent looking addition to the legendary city-building series.A press release has also recently arrived, but it doesn't reveal much more than what we already knew. Build cities, draw roads with the Wiimote, destroy them with big, scary monsters. Nothing new, but sounds like fun on a bun.%Gallery-27626%[Via press release[
EA presents Sim City, MySims Kingdom, adorable costume
EA held an event in Japan last week to reveal the new Sim City Creator as well as MySims Kingdom. GAME Watch has direct-feed screenshots of both games, which should satisfy any would-be fake city-builder, whether they want to build on the micro- or macro-scale, in the past or in the future. There are also plenty of stills from gameplay demos of both games. Of the two, we find ourselves more drawn to MySims Kingdom, which looks like an RPG town creator, and forces players to think low-tech, with puzzles like gear mechanisms that must be turned by the motion of a nearby river.However, more than either of the actual games, we were impressed with the MySim costume used at the event. How can we build one of those?
The only prescription is more SimCity
The life of a dinosaur is tough, and full of peril. The wife is nagging you to get a promotion, the kids need new scales for school, while all along you work long hours for a pittance, destroying those pesky humans. And yet they rebuild!Dinosaurs are a welcome addition to SimCity Creator, the fresh new title in the line of Sim games for the Wii. Have a browse through our brand new gallery of screens, and try not to be too hard on Mr. Dino. He's just trying to make enough money to get by. Go bust the chops of that giant robot dude, he's the evil one.By using the Wiimote to control the action, SimCity Creator should shape up to a be a decent console entry into the classic franchise. Will the gameplay hold its own under the scrutiny of long-time Sim fans? Come to your hasty conclusions after viewing the gallery.%Gallery-24027%[Via press release]
Sim City Creator features fun and then some
It's not exactly a simulation if you're facing off against giant fire-breathing dinosaurs, now is it? That's just one of the deadly, deadly disasters you'll encounter while constructing your digital empire in Sim City Creator for the Wii. Okay, it may not be a simulation of plausible events in a real city, but will it be a simulation of fun? Pffft. Everything is fun with dinosaurs. Taking a look at the above scan from the latest Famitsu, we can see a couple of normal-looking areas, as well as a crazy neon crystal metropolis. In fact, a whole range of building designs will be available in a bunch of styles, including Futuristic, Crystal, Jungle, Las Vegas, Mediterranean, Traditional Japanese and even Cake -- apparently buildings inspired by your favorite baked goods. Sounds delish.Adopting a MySims visual style, Sim City Creator's modes include Free Play, Mission, Collection (unlockable stuff -- hopefully cookies and pies to build a library), Memorial Album (happy snaps from Free Play) and City Making Contest. This mode lets you upload your created cities via Nintendo Wi-Fi and have various other would-be architects rank and review your work. Nice one!Sim City Creator is set for a September release in Japan. Keep those dinosaurs and UFOs at bay until then, and hit the Source link to check out the full scans.[Via NeoGAF]
Joystiq hands-on: Spore Creature Creator and the birth of Sporky
click to get up close with "sporky" var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/Hands_on_Spore_Creature_Creator_and_the_birth_of_Sporky'; We dropped by Maxis' offices today to get our feet wet in the stand-alone "Creature Creator" component of The Sims architect Will Wright's epic cell-to-galactic-civilization sim, Spore (which hits in September). Set to launch on June 17 in two flavors (a $9.99 "full version" and free downloadable demo, also included with The SimCity Box) the creator could be incorrectly described as a "utility" – in fact, as we found while tinkering with it, the Creature Creator could very well have a life of its own. Read our full impressions after the break.%Gallery-15870%
C64 emulator for iPhone
Unfortunately we don't have much more than a splash screen on this one, but Stuart Carnie sends word that he's used the Apple SDK to port a Commodore 64 emulator on to the iPhone. He has yet to put in a Save/Resume state mechanism, a way to browse for files and disks, or a virtual keyboard/joystiq to control it with, but the hard stuff is done, so by the time the App Store comes around, we may have a working C64 emu in there ready to go.As long as it's ok with Apple. In point of fact, we have no idea how any emulators might work in the App Store -- actually, we have no idea how any apps will get in the App Store. Sure, it would be cool to play the original versions of Sim City or Maniac Mansion or Elite, but without Apple's OK to let any of those on the platform, we may not be able to do so without jailbreaking the thing anyway. We'll see -- if Carnie, once his work is done, can't get an official emulator in the App Store, maybe we'll be able to try it out and put it to use in some other, less official way.
Sim City 2 almost as cute as My Sims
The characters in Sim City 2 (which released today in Japan) may act like robots, but they sure look adorable -- check out our gallery if you don't believe us. They also seem to have hooves for feet, which we don't understand. Would it have been that hard to give them real feet? Yet, we can totally support a game that gives cavemen glasses and distinguished looking facial hair. The characters and the Sim City name aren't the only appealing things about Sim City 2, though. The game lets you start in ancient times (hence the caveman) and progress to the modern era. Certainly not a novel idea for a civilization sim, but one we enjoy nonetheless.Unfortunately, this game is virtually unplayable for folks who don't read Japanese. Sim City fans, let's hope it gets localized -- and, while we're at it, let's also hope that this game is better than the first Sim City DS.%Gallery-12347%
Promotional Consideration: City planning
Promotional Consideration is a weekly feature about the Nintendo DS advertisements you usually flip past, change the channel on, or just tune out.We applaud any video game ad that eschews the common official-art-and-screenshots approach, a template that's been in place for as long as we can remember. This week's piece abandons those conventions, marketing EA's SimCity DS port and its city-management features in a much more creative fashion. Expand you commercial zoning, lower industrial taxes, and join us past the break!
New Sim City 2 screens, promo site erected
Sim City aficionados will enjoy this update from Famitsu. They've gone ahead and set up a small promo site for the upcoming sequel to Sim City DS, Sim City 2. And, as we still lack our whipping boy for reading Japanese, we've no idea what any of the text says on the page. But, there's plenty of new screens to look at! That's always nice.If you want to check out the new screens, which seem to show off multiple assistants, then hit up our gallery below.%Gallery-12347%
Watching Sim City isn't as fun as playing it
There's something compelling about Sim City games, even though it's hard to capture exactly what that is in a trailer. You can see that evidenced in this video for Sim City 2 DS, which borders between dull and downright creepy. The trailer just fails to capture the magic of Sim City, making us think that the game has to be better than this video makes it look.Or, maybe we're just being too harsh. Maybe those slow-blinking characters that talk in robot voices don't creep you out. Either way, the gameplay seems deeper in this title than in the DS's first foray into Sim City, and we'll be keeping a close eye on the game as more information comes forth. As of now, it's only planned for a Japanese release in March.
The Twelve (well, thirteen, actually) Sales of GameFly
Video game rental service GameFly has a pretty big year-end sale going on through January 4th for over 30 of its used DS games. Though the carts are all pre-played, each one will come with a new manual and case, so you need not worry about receiving an incomplete set. As usual, we've picked the notable titles out of the bunch and listed them for you, except this time, we've done it in Christmas carol form! On the twelfth day of Christmas, DS Fanboy sent to me: Twelve Diddy Kong racers Racing ($17.99), Eleven Spectrobes for collecting ($15.99), Ten Hoshigamis a-SRPG-ing ($14.99), Nine Planet Puzzles Leaguing ($19.99), Eight Custom Robos a-fighting ($12.99), Seven Sim Cities a-building ($16.99), Six Bombermen a-touching ($22.99), Five of Sonic Rush's golden rinnngggggs ($17.99), Four Mana Children ($14.99), Three Elite Beat Agents ($22.99), Two Mega Man Star Forces ($17.99 each), And a Naruto: Ninja Council 3 ($17.99)! [Via CAG]
Spore's power struggle: freedom vs. beauty
What is a magic crayon? If you're envisioning Harold and his purple outlet of creativity, you wouldn't be far off from the intended metaphor. Chaim Gingold, design lead for Spore's editors and cell game, described the magic crayon as a toy that is simple to use and yet gives the user enough power to create something they'll appreciate. Gingold kicked off his presentation, one of the last after a marathon of lectures and roundtables at this year's Game Developers Conference, by defining a magic crayon through example. Photoshop is not a good magic crayon, for example, because it is very hard for most people to use. Neither is Super Mario Bros., since you are not changing anything in the world. Kid Pix fits the schema for a magic crayon, as does the Mii creator, which is an "absolutely beautiful, wonderful magic crayon," he said.
DS releases for the week of February 19th
A lot of gaming goodness is about to be unleashed this week -- if we had to name this week for releases, we'd go with something clever, like Simbacube: Legend of the Unemployed-OMG Sim City DS in Japan!How's that for a name? Bit of a mouthful, but it's accurate. While we're struggling to decide where to spend cash this week, we'll surely have new Sim City DS info to tide us over, and that always makes for a good time. DS releases in the US F-24 Stealth Fighter Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja Meteos: Disney Magic Micro Machines V4 Trioncube
DS Daily: How about EA?
It's no secret we're ten sorts of excited about the coming of Sim City DS, but despite the unabashed fun of city building, we know a whole lot of folks who aren't terribly excited about EA pledging to increase development for Nintendo. It's a tradeoff, it seems -- we want games like Spore and Sim City, but everyone loves to hate EA. Does it balance? Is it worth slogging through a bevy of less beloved EA games to get the gems that crop up? How do you feel about EA and Nintendo setting up as best good friends?
Sim City hits the road
These should be in every city -- mobile game advertisements. Especially when it's Sim City DS we're talking about here. This van is scheduled to hit five Japanese cities over the next few weeks: Fukuoka, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo and Tokyo. If you happen to be there, or know someone who is, check out the schedule and snag some pics!
A new look at Sim City
With this new barrage of Sim City DS images comes a nifty piece of information -- players will be able to trade certain city elements over WiFi. That does add an interesting spin to portable city building, and we can't wait to hear more about it. In the meantime, however, screens! Check 'em out after the jump, and maybe compare and contrast to some of the others we've posted.
2007: the year of the DS (again)
2006 was a banner year for gamers, particularly DS gamers. We've got it all: a rainbow of system colors, an incredible library of games, and powerful studios clamoring for a piece of the action. Our favorite handheld consistently rocked out, thundering over the competition -- all the competition -- for the entire year. The DS avalanche of awesome can't possibly continue at this rate ... and yet, when we look at the forthcoming year and the incredible parade of titles set for the year, it seems that the DS will, in fact, continue to dominate global gaming. And we're totally okay with that. Just so you know. If you're still scrambling to finish some of the titles from the latter half of 2006, play harder -- no matter who you are or what you like, you're sure to find at least ten games this year that are must-haves, and that's just among the games we know about right now. What's worse (or is that way, way better?) is that most of them are slated for the next few months. So run through Portrait of Ruin and put aside the hard rockin' Elite Beat Agents (your fingers will thank you for the break), and check after the jump for a few of the games that will drain your free time in 2007.
