Build a SimCity with friends, challenges keep game moving along

SimCity returns next February and fans of the series have a lot to get excited about ... like, a lot a lot. Powered by a fancy new engine called Glassbox, the game uses a tilt-shift photography (miniature faking) visual style to fulfill fantasies of producing a model-like world come to life.

The E3 demo I saw was played in real time, starting with curvy roads being laid and residential zones spawning home construction. Houses were formed, followed by Sims pulling up in moving vans and residents starting new lives. There is so much detail work, delivering a lot of visual cues. Houses with electricity light up, pollution turns the world brown and crime is represented by graffiti. These visual indicators present a lot of information intuitively.

"We were really inspired by Google maps and infographics. We have so much data and we want to present it in cool and easy to understand ways," a Maxis rep told us.

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/06/08/bu...-moving-along/