The city simulator will be playable sooner rather than later.
At the Electronic Arts press conference in Los Angeles this afternoon, Lucy Bradshaw debuted some in-game footage of Maxis’ reboot of their storied strategy simulation franchise, SimCity. The new Glassbox engine looks fun and exciting, and I can’t wait to throw huge lizards and tornadoes at my new city. I’m glad I don’t have to wait long, as Lucy Bradshaw, head of Maxis, revealed the release target for SimCity is February 2013.
In addition to being able to design your own city, SimCity will set your settlement in a multiplayer world. Other players cities will connect to yours, and can even affect imports and exports. Read Steve Butts’ preview for more information on what the new SimCity will bring to the table.
Bradshaw also mentioned SimCity Social, Maxis’ attempt to create a social game for the Facebook crowd. The brief trailer looks promising, and provided a chuckle with the slogan “More city, less ville” and a brief cow’s moo. I don’t know if EA will be able to tackle Zynga’s hold on the market, but dang it if they’re not trying.
SimCity Social will launch “in the next few weeks”. Start queuing up the requests for help now …
