4 ms·

I don't get the Post's headline. EA published 'SimCity Societies' in 2007 and an expansion pack in 2008, they even mention it in the article. With the inevitabl

by jack12 15y ago

I don't get the Post's headline. EA published 'SimCity Societies' in 2007 and an expansion pack in 2008, they even mention it in the article. With the inevitable impact of The Sims' mass appeal, and the industry-wide interest in broadening their market by making games, well, simpler, perhaps the article writer feels that nothing has been a "real" SimCity game since Sim City 4, I guess? It's an important point, whether the series is returning to it's roots of complexity from ten years ago, or if it will be a continuation of the franchise's modern-day releases. But the article leaves a very confusing impression. I suppose they might mean to highlight this is the first SimCity game developed by Maxis themselves since 2003, but with Will Wright gone and 10 years of staff turnover, is there really much difference between a SimCity game being developed by "Maxis" instead of by any other outside developer?

thetrendycyborg 15y ago
SimCity Societies doesn't count. That's like saying "The Sims: Urbz" was a part of the Sims series. Different developers just using the brand, it played more like a really dumbed down version of Civ crossed with Spore.
- SimHacker 15y ago
  Oh, owch. You had to go mention "The Sims: Urbz", didn't you? I was hoping that was long forgotten. But yes that's a very good analogy between SimCity Societies and Urbz. An unfortunate case of brand dilution: Societies was developed by an outside company, and it didn't have much to do with the original game.
  - simplefish 15y ago
    To be fair, SimCity Societies was an excellent game. But it was very much a spiritual decendent of Ceasar III and Pharaoh. I think the branding did it more harm than good; the people who love Maxis-style city games disliked Societies, and the people who love Impressions-style city games never bothered to pick it up assuming they would dislike it.
  - deleted 15y ago
    [deleted]

by jack12 15y ago

thetrendycyborg 15y ago

SimCity Societies doesn't count. That's like saying "The Sims: Urbz" was a part of the Sims series. Different developers just using the brand, it played more like a really dumbed down version of Civ crossed with Spore.

SimHacker 15y ago
Oh, owch. You had to go mention "The Sims: Urbz", didn't you? I was hoping that was long forgotten. But yes that's a very good analogy between SimCity Societies and Urbz. An unfortunate case of brand dilution: Societies was developed by an outside company, and it didn't have much to do with the original game.
- simplefish 15y ago
  To be fair, SimCity Societies was an excellent game. But it was very much a spiritual decendent of Ceasar III and Pharaoh. I think the branding did it more harm than good; the people who love Maxis-style city games disliked Societies, and the people who love Impressions-style city games never bothered to pick it up assuming they would dislike it.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]