SimCity fans came out in droves to express their outrage about this on the game blog.Īnother development is a much more intricate simulation of individual citizens, or “sims” as the game refers to them. But at a recent Q&A session, game developers made the shocking revelation that, for the first time since the original SimCity, users won’t be able to place subways. Users have the option of implementing buses, lane-sharing streetcars, light rail, and commuter rail/heavy cargo lines. Regarding mass transit, the new SimCity has some pleasant as well as unpleasant surprises.

Now, you can nice, gently arching streets, as well as zones that fit the curved street grid (there’s a whole explanation of how this works on the SimCity blog, sure to be entertaining for the programming-inclined). Previous SimCities were grid-based, meaning that you could easily create straight or even diagonal streets but curving them would be a headache. While the game has received plenty of buzz within the gaming public, how exactly does it relate to real world urbanism?įar and away the biggest change in this latest version of SimCity is the ability to add fully curved streets.

Recently, a new version of the game was released: SimCity 5, or just SimCity for short. I myself have a soft spot for the game, kindled by many afternoons spent in front of an IBM 486 playing SimCity 2000 after a hard day of studying in the 3rd grade. Ask anyone involved in urbanism or city planning, and they will probably have at least some familiarity with the SimCity series.

Simcity 5