Simcity E3 2012 Recap Information

Enjoyed the E3 Festivities? Well after scouring several news and videos we decided to make a quick E3 recap of some of the information presented in interviews and videos. From this point on we’ll focus on new information as it’s released next week.

Always Online

• Simcity will require constant internet connection whether or not you play solo.
• This constant internet connection is required for “asynchronous multiplayer experience.”
• You will be allowed to play offline briefly for an unspecified amount of time.

Regions:

• You can play in open or closed regions.
• These regions contain multiple cities you can control by yourself or with other players.
• You can invite friends into your region or join a region with random players.

Simulation:

• Managed by the GlassBox Engine.
• Everything you see in Simcity is what’s actually going on in the simulation.
• Every sim and every car is going somewhere.
• You can follow a Sim driving a car from home to work.
• Traffic occurs in real time. For example, when a new road is connected to a vacant city, unemployed Sims will flock to it searching for jobs. This surge of Sims will cause a traffic jam.
• You can see your coal piles dwindle as trucks deliver them to coal power plants.

Buildings and Zoning

• Zoning for Residential, Commercial, and Industrial is back.
• There’s only one type of zoning for RCI, so density will be based on road type and traffic.
• You can upgrade ploppable buildings through snap-on pieces that you can place along the building.
• These pieces will upgrade the services available for that building.
• These snappable pieces were inspired by the Spore Editor.

Data Layers

• Data layers allow you to see the underlying components that drive your city in real time.
• The power layer will show power traveling to different buildings.
• The water layer lets you see the water table being sucked up by water towers and pumped to various buildings.
• In depth data layers are known as “Heavy Data Layers”

Disasters and Crimes

• Fires, Dinosaurs, and Crimes can appear in your city.
• Protestors can show up outside of factors because there isn’t any power.
• When there’s a bank robbery, police may fail to catch the criminal.
• An arsonist may go around burning buildings.

Multiplayer and Networking

• In multiplayer, other players’ cities can affect your city.
• Players in a region can work together to build Great Works!
• Great Works include an international airport, space shuttles, solar farms, arcologies, and more.
• For example: an industrial city could provide metallic alloys needed to build the airport, while another city could provide workers to construct the terminals.
• Criminals from other cities can travel to your city and cause havoc.
• Pollution from other cities can affect your city.

 [IGN, ars technica, gamespy, g4tv, tekgoblin]