Planners and Computer Nerds Rejoice at the Return of SimCity

After a decade of absence, Maxis, a subsidiary of Electronic Arts, has announced plans to release an updated version of SimCity, the pioneering urban planning computer game, in 2013.

1 minute read

March 15, 2012, 8:00 AM PDT

By Jonathan Nettler @nettsj


A hugely successful and influential game since its debut in 1989, SimCity has been left behind as other titles such as SimEarth, SimFarm, SimTunes, SimRefinery and a host of other variants have been developed.

Now, according to Tyler Falk, the iconic game is getting a reboot with a focus on regionalism. "[D]espite sticking with the same name, regions and the interconnectedness within what academics would call mega-cities will feature prominently in the new version."

Falk spoke with Ocean Quigley, Maxis's creative director for the new SimCity, on the reasons why the time is right for a relaunch of the original franchise. Quigley reasons that, "Cities are the most interesting and sophisticated things we're building right now. From a big picture perspective cities are an interesting subject. From a more practical perspective, when we did SimCity 4 there were things we wanted to do but computers weren't sophisticated enough. Now computers have the ability to do what we wanted them to do."

Tuesday, March 13, 2012 in The Atlantic Cities

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I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

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