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The Curvy Road to Gamescom

Aug 07, 2012
Michael Donahoe, Community Manager

You hear that? That’s the sweet sound of spline reticulation at work. We’re going overtime gearing up to present the new SimCity next week in Cologne, Germany for the massively popular Gamescom event, aka, the biggest consumer and media gaming show in the world. How big? Over 270,000 attending fans big! Enthusiasts from all across Europe will be storming the conference halls for a chance to see some of the biggest games in the industry, including SimCity! Like we did before E3, we’re here to give you a rundown of what’s ahead for Gamescom. Next week, we’ll be sharing with you exciting news about the game. Now, if only you could play it...

Only you can. Wait, you can? You can! Yes, the Maxis team is proud to announce that those who are lucky enough to attend Gamescom will have the opportunity to get hands-on time with SimCity right on the show floor. Imagine, you, as honorary mayor for the day? Pretty impressive feat if you ask us. Here’s the word straight from Producer Jason Haber:

"Hi everyone! We’re working hard here at the Maxis Emeryville studio getting the game ready for Gamescom. Things are really coming together nicely. This will be the first time we’ll ever have a playable version of SimCity available outside of the studio and we’re super excited to let people try it out. I’ll be at Gamescom showing off some of our new features and also talking with you during our live chat on August 15th. If you’re at Gamescom, be sure to stop by and say, 'Hello!'"

As Jason mentioned, we’ll also be partnering with Origin to put on a live producer chat on Wednesday, August 15th at 2pm CET/5am PT (don’t worry, American friends – there’ll be a replay!). Not only can you ask us your questions, but you’ll also get an opportunity to see a special, never-before-seen screenshot along with a chance to check out the British, French, and German city sets as well as the headquarters for both MaxisMan and Evil Dr. Vu. You don’t want to miss it, so find out more information about the chat here.

Oh, and we’re also announcing other secret stuff that I really, really want to tell you about right now, but the Maxis legal ninjas are currently looming over me. And according to my job security advisor, if I don’t keep my mouth shut, I will certainly regret it.

But don’t worry! I’ll be keeping you updated with all the latest news, excitement, and wacky Gamescom adventures on Twitter, Facebook, and right here on SimCity.com.

Let us know what you’re excited to see next week in the comments! And until then, see you in Cologne next week, Mayors!

Comments

Those lucky people :( Why Why

Permalink Submitted by herob4u on Aug 07, 2012

Those lucky people :( Why Why why am I stuck at the worst and most remote location from cool events like those ;( !!!

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ARGH!! I feel the same! DX

Permalink Submitted by indexea on Aug 07, 2012

ARGH!! I feel the same! DX

I'm surprised that they already have a hands-on demo this early..

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So the people who pre-ordered

Permalink Submitted by Zerorbit on Aug 07, 2012

So the people who pre-ordered are behind the people who show up for a gaming conference?? WTF?

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What else would you propose?

Permalink Submitted by Procnessil on Aug 08, 2012

What else would you propose? Before you answer, take into consideration that (obviously) they don't want to make game physically available to anyone before release. To avoid people reverse-engineering, analyzing communication protocols and data mining.

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Thieves/hackers will do that

Permalink Submitted by Zerorbit on Aug 09, 2012

Thieves/hackers will do that anyway. That is why there is a legal system, in order to punish those who cheat/steal. There is nothing to lose from letting the the enthusiasts from previewing the game. It will definitely drive up pre-orders also.

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Yes, you are right. All IT

Permalink Submitted by Procnessil on Aug 10, 2012

Yes, you are right. All IT companies should simply publish their code and assets, and then just sue anyone who is illegally making use of those in, say, Malaysia. Because if some hackers wanted then they would reverse-engineer it anyway.

How about you leave your car open with keys inside, because, if a thief really wants to, he will break in anyway. And if (when) he does you can simply punish him with the legal system. So no problem, right?

And seriously - it's an industry standard that game companies offer short sneak-peeks at game shows like this, before they are ready to release public demo. This way they can show people what they want to show, without anyone meddling in their code and data mining stuff before release. There are reasons why companies keep some details secret and want to control flow of information.
I assumed it was obvious enough for you to understand.

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Releasing a beta/preview of a

Permalink Submitted by Zerorbit on Aug 10, 2012

Releasing a beta/preview of a game is NOT equal to "simply publish their code and assets". The game can be locked down (google DRM), so again not equal to "leave your car open with keys inside". You need to work on your analogies.

I assumed it would be obvious for you to understand.

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Do you know the difference

Permalink Submitted by Procnessil on Aug 11, 2012

Do you know the difference between sneak-peek and alpha / beta? Sneak-peak is meant to show some features / mechanics, alpha / beta is for testing. They are not going to test the game on gamescom, but to show part of it working. The game is not at alpha / beta stage, at least not public. And there might never be one

DRM has nothing to do with here - it protects the game so that people can't play it. It doesn't protect from reverse-engineering and data-mining. Maxis doesn't want people to dig in the guts of the game, because they don't want people to see other features in their infant stages through reverse-engineering or make some wild assumptions about data-mined assets. Even more, together with game client they would have to make servers available. At this stage of development they might have not properly secured their servers yet, which would make them vulnerable to hackers.

Sneak-peek. It's a demo under developers' eye.

Analogy was fine - it was meant to show that relying on legal system is stupid if the legal system is not able to enforce some laws / punish "cheaters". Just like you can do almost nothing after your car was stolen, IT companies can do nothing once their code/assets is physically available to hackers/cheaters. Google "reverse engineering" and "data mining" and ponder on how possibly could DRM help here.

Christ, why am I even talking? That's how sneak-peeks work for years, and there are reasons for it.

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They don't reply here. But I

Permalink Submitted by 2phileas1 on Mar 28, 2013

They don't reply here. But I can help you a bit. win games

You can still play a whole region by yourself. Traffic is now actually simulated as per vehicle, not based on statistics anymore. There is RCI zoning in the game.

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The Jackets Mall is easy

Permalink Submitted by inter4522 on Jan 27, 2013

The Jackets Mall is easy especially when you're looking for boys Jackets. I found something that my son likes and doesn't have a problem wearing to school every day. The other Jackets didn't have as much style as this one,
bomber pants for women sale
women and mens trousers
ladies flight and shearling

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Each new post here sounds

Permalink Submitted by Procnessil on Aug 07, 2012

Each new post here sounds more and more like a propaganda.
leave excitement to the players, and have some modesty. Less exclamation marks, more facts please.
If your game is really going to be good then all this marketing shouting won't be required. You won't have to tell us to be excited. Unless it's not that good...

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I hope you're "big secret" is

Permalink Submitted by pianoman420 on Aug 07, 2012

I hope you're "big secret" is that you made at some changes to the game that you're fan base is looking for.

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I second that

Permalink Submitted by Tuscan04 on Aug 08, 2012

I second that

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Thirded

Permalink Submitted by AlchemyFire on Aug 08, 2012

Thirded

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Awesome! I am so looking

Permalink Submitted by Palmac06 on Aug 07, 2012

Awesome! I am so looking forward to that day :) Can't wait to see what will be presented. Wish I was there to play the game all day long :(

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I think you need to lay up on

Permalink Submitted by sciencemile on Aug 07, 2012

I think you need to lay up on pushing the curvy roads; it's a sweet update, but it's not THAT big of a deal. I'm more interested in seeing more about the Glassbox Engine, you can say significantly more about that than you can about curvy roads, and it's starting to show :/

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Yeah, this is very cool.

Permalink Submitted by LethalTalon on Aug 07, 2012

Yeah, this is very cool. However, I agree with a lot of comments made above, and in previous posts. Careful about your marketing strategy. You're making a lot of people very nervous about what's going to happen to this game. We don't want another SimCity Societies. We're all counting on you, Maxis!

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I'm excited to see a city

Permalink Submitted by BLSmith2112 on Aug 07, 2012

I'm excited to see a city comparable to a medium sized Sim City 4 city as was promised by a Maxis developer. All I've seen were small pockets of civilization seperated by vast deserts of grass. I'm excited to build a city of 500,000 people like my Medium tiled/sized city in Sim City 4.

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I want to know about the

Permalink Submitted by MadlockUK on Aug 07, 2012

I want to know about the available transport systems, that was always my favourite aspect.

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"Now, if only you could play

Permalink Submitted by ImeXo on Aug 07, 2012

"Now, if only you could play it..."

We can, give us a downloadable Demo so we can try it.

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if someone goes to this

Permalink Submitted by AccroDuWeb on Aug 07, 2012

if someone goes to this "Gamescom" please send your feedback...

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you have some questions to

Permalink Submitted by speurders84 on Aug 07, 2012

you have some questions to maxis i can ask for you?

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Our London event has now been

Permalink Submitted by Krista_Hendry on Aug 07, 2012

Our London event has now been and gone, and what a busy day it was! Personal Statement | Uk custom essay help | writing service UK | order essays | thesis helps |Read More

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Just arranged a car for

Permalink Submitted by speurders84 on Aug 07, 2012

Just arranged a car for Gamescom 2012! Maxis im a real hardcore sim city fan that come just for you to this event. Its a 600km drive, please make me happy with that playable demo :D

For all those fans who cant make it (AccroDuWeb / herob4u) i will upload all my recordings on youtube and post my feedback online. If you have good questions for maxis that i can ask please mail them to speurders 84 at hotmail dot com.

Greetings.

FerryV

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:D Thnx!

Permalink Submitted by herob4u on Aug 09, 2012

:D Thnx!

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making an fully functional

Permalink Submitted by cirugo on Aug 07, 2012

making an fully functional offline sandbox version? then don't waste my time...

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chris, you're the one who's

Permalink Submitted by indexea on Aug 07, 2012

chris, you're the one who's wasting your time.

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i'll be the judge of that

Permalink Submitted by cirugo on Aug 07, 2012

i'll be the judge of that

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After waiting 10 years for a

Permalink Submitted by Zana65 on Aug 07, 2012

After waiting 10 years for a new Sim City, you give us a multiplayer/online ONLY game!
Who's brilliant idea was that?

You didn't listen to wants of your fans, big mistake.

I personally don't care about the demo, you have taken out so many features what should be in a proper Sim City game, that's all what's left is the glass box and multiplayer.

Not my kind of Sim City.

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I think it is fair to say

Permalink Submitted by Tuscan04 on Aug 08, 2012

I think it is fair to say that the majority of Sim City fans have been quite disappointed with Maxis so far. I guess Gamescoms is D-Day. Will Maxis surprise us all and revive a real Sim City sequel? Or will this be the final nail in the coffin? We will just have to wait and see....

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"never-before-seen screenshot

Permalink Submitted by DRYANOSBORNE on Aug 09, 2012

"never-before-seen screenshot "

facepalm

"along with a chance to check out the British, French, and German city sets"

"Pre-order" drive and buy or super expensive, should have been included with the game extra content, in so many extra words.

Anyone vaguely interested and fortunate enough to attend GamesCom, like E3 which wasn't playable, will have the option to see much better, cheaper or at least games that offer much better value for the money, such as Ubisoft's Anno 2070 Deep Ocean DLC.

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MaxisMan should be Will

Permalink Submitted by Crom84 on Aug 09, 2012

MaxisMan should be Will Wright in a cape.

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YES! YES! YES! HELL YES!!!!!!

Permalink Submitted by Simcitygeek101 on Aug 15, 2012

YES! YES! YES! HELL YES!!!!!!!!! Their so needs to be a mod for that!

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quigley might think us as a

Permalink Submitted by DavidLo16054 on Aug 10, 2012

quigley might think us as a bunch of hypocrites by hating on the game while wanting to play it. I'd like to note that the features that have been 'highlighted' and the features that have been 'taken out' are not making us fans very happy. However, you keep on marketing the game like "ooh" "aaahh" "pretty". Just what is so good about the game after you contradict "your city, your way" credo of SimCity? That's what we players want to know.

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If this game see's the light

Permalink Submitted by Sargent_SIM on Aug 10, 2012

If this game see's the light of day & it's online only then I will make a point to defecate on ever copy i see no matter where it is!! Online Only is the biggest load of crap ever just so that EA can count its minions & dollars. They soured me on tigger woods, madden, & ncaa all of which I bought every year until 2 years ago bc EA can't get enough of my money and won't hook it up with a decent discount for being a consistent loyal paying customer year in & year out. They will be their own demise. It's sad that after waiting 10 years, checking ever month for news about SC5, & then I see this think there is hope. For 10 F'ing years I have been amped for a SC5 so I read every single word on this website & watched every video only to have my dreams crushed by EA yet again. Good luck EA battlefield is horrible, no one buys madden or ncca except rappers, but now you have an opportunity to make a huge profit and most important get some kudos by your customers for revamping a legend in SC5. Make it cloud based online only and see how much money you will loose by developing this game for no one bc your customers are sick of all the money hungry corporate bosses who demanded online only!!!

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Mr. ocean you must know how

Permalink Submitted by Sargent_SIM on Aug 10, 2012

Mr. ocean you must know how it feels to be marginalized by EA's bosses bc thats how we feel with this online only bs after waiting 10 years for a new SC. You know what the best case scenario is, make it happen or the SC community will revolt just like sims do...

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Only PC ?? not for MAC ???

Permalink Submitted by alexchuach on Aug 15, 2012

Only PC ?? not for MAC ??? simcity ..

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its for mac too no worrys

Permalink Submitted by Corkdawg82 on Aug 18, 2012

its for mac too no worrys

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I would be happy to know what

Permalink Submitted by tpaetkau on Aug 16, 2012

I would be happy to know what the cpu requirements are for this game prior to pre-ordering. I have a netbook with a sep. graphic card but not dvd, so it would be nice to have something I purchased be instantly compatible with the new computer i own.

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I normally do not write

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The truth about new SimCity

Permalink Submitted by Netuno_SP on Sep 06, 2012

The truth about new SimCity (2013)
SimCity (2013): The Deception Continues ...

http://sc2013thedeception.blogspot.com

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