So if you missed the opportunity to give theÂ*beta of the upcoming release of SimCityÂ*a spin, you are getting another shot at the chance for the one hour gameplay. As before, you will need an EA acco... SimCity - Beta #2 Begins On Feb 11th

Just ordered. Might YT a video after this weekend.

So excited for this. SimCity (2013) is the game I feel 4 should have been but we just weren't quite there technologically yet and/or things are being realized in this iteration that were overlooked before. The graphics are beautiful. The city is living, full of people that go about their own individual lives. The roads are curved. All is well.

no code emailed yet...getting agitated....

Hell yeah... http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/3342/theemail.jpg

And I am also in the BETA! 😀

Got my email as well, hurrah!

http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/6179/spark20130216175056.png So far, liking the game, but feels very easy to get the $ and building is fairly straighforward

Goddamn ZOMBIES! They EAT all your sims and make your 'perfect' city into a wasteland, grr!

Never played a SIM game. Am I missing out? The whole genre does nothing for me, I want to get away from reality not re create it!

Never played a SIM game. Am I missing out? The whole genre does nothing for me, I want to get away from reality not re create it!

My thoughts were exactly the same before I started playing my first Sim City game. It's not for everyone, that's for sure. But I caught on late with the previous version. It took some getting use to but after a while it grew on me. Really excited for this version to come out.

Well was in the first beta a few weeks ago, they have added a couple of additions for this one. Performance seems better, now you can play on the other city tiles in the region, achievements, still annoyed it's only an hour play time 🙁 The city tiles are still far too small, it's way too easy to make money and your citizens seem to keep calm no matter what. They really need to add demolition costs back to the game, i mean that one addition will make you think much more about road and building placement early on. With the tiny city size the spaces between look stupid when you zoom to region view. They should have a farmers market option to add to your city and then farms should fill in the gaps between city tiles, i mean they've completely removed agriculture...wtf? I liked to build my cities and regions, in previous Simcity titles, with a central business district (skyscrapers, large apartments) in the middle surrounded by suburbia, and then agricultural land surrounding that. Guess I'll have to wait for an expansion 🙁 Don't get me wrong I'm still enjoying and will be buying it on release, but i feel (as with most modern games) they've made it look nice and flashy but have dumbed down core mechanics. You should not be able to have filled the city tile within the hour, have loads of cash coming in and have everyone content. City building should be an extreme balancing act where every penny counts and the citizens are constantly restless.

City building should be an extreme balancing act where every penny counts and the citizens are constantly restless.

And how do you suppose EA would make their money back and turn a sizable profit? Face it, in today's environment, where AAA titles are released by the bucket load, EA is not going to risk developing a game that will only appeal to serious gamers and hardcore strategists. This market is a niche and it's not large enough for them to bother. So, they dumb it down, make it quick and simple, so that it appeals to the ADHD instant gratification generation. Having said that, I agree wholeheartedly with you. I wish more people did, maybe then we'd get a worthwhile sequel.

Having played quite a bit last night and today I have to say, I do like it - however. I don't like it enough for the cost of the complete game (I consider the limited edition version incomplete), it just costs far to much for a PC game. I'll get it when I can get the complete game for about £25/30.

Well was in the first beta a few weeks ago, they have added a couple of additions for this one. Performance seems better, now you can play on the other city tiles in the region, achievements, still annoyed it's only an hour play time 🙁 The city tiles are still far too small, it's way too easy to make money and your citizens seem to keep calm no matter what. They really need to add demolition costs back to the game, i mean that one addition will make you think much more about road and building placement early on. With the tiny city size the spaces between look stupid when you zoom to region view. They should have a farmers market option to add to your city and then farms should fill in the gaps between city tiles, i mean they've completely removed agriculture...wtf? I liked to build my cities and regions, in previous Simcity titles, with a central business district (skyscrapers, large apartments) in the middle surrounded by suburbia, and then agricultural land surrounding that. Guess I'll have to wait for an expansion 🙁 Don't get me wrong I'm still enjoying and will be buying it on release, but i feel (as with most modern games) they've made it look nice and flashy but have dumbed down core mechanics. You should not be able to have filled the city tile within the hour, have loads of cash coming in and have everyone content. City building should be an extreme balancing act where every penny counts and the citizens are constantly restless.

I acknowledge your points but I do not agree with them. The core mechanics with limitations on space are an extreme balancing act, and I srsly doubt your sims were content. They would not have been able to get better jobs due to lack of education, which would limit their income and ability to buy happiness. In addition to this, the industries would not have had access to educated workforces, and the commercial sectors would not have had affluent sims to sell stuff to or broker in high-end goods from the industrial sector. Your casinos would have been the low-end variety with 2nd rate rooms and stand up comics, which would limit the level of happiness your sims would have gotten and lowered the quantity of tourists, which affects your commercial sector making them leave. Then you got the whole building thing completely missing from this, where you manage an entire region (or share it with your friends) and its resources (like coal and oil) to create something unique to the region, benefiting your region and drawing tourists away from other regions nearby. You think they've dumbed down the core mechanics - I think they've extended them to such a degree that only a skilled strategic gamer can and will succeed. I understand what you want: a near infinite horizon for you to paint a city onto. Dontchathink we've had that already?

I acknowledge your points but I do not agree with them. The core mechanics with limitations on space are an extreme balancing act, and I srsly doubt your sims were content. They would not have been able to get better jobs due to lack of education, which would limit their income and ability to buy happiness. In addition to this, the industries would not have had access to educated workforces, and the commercial sectors would not have had affluent sims to sell stuff to or broker in high-end goods from the industrial sector. Your casinos would have been the low-end variety with 2nd rate rooms and stand up comics, which would limit the level of happiness your sims would have gotten and lowered the quantity of tourists, which affects your commercial sector making them leave. Then you got the whole building thing completely missing from this, where you manage an entire region (or share it with your friends) and its resources (like coal and oil) to create something unique to the region, benefiting your region and drawing tourists away from other regions nearby. You think they've dumbed down the core mechanics - I think they've extended them to such a degree that only a skilled strategic gamer can and will succeed. I understand what you want: a near infinite horizon for you to paint a city onto. Dontchathink we've had that already?

All i was suggesting was for demolition costs to be reintroduced because you make WAY too much money, it's like cheat mode without them. Agriculture to fill in the gaps in the region view, this would stop people complaining about the tile size and improve the aesthetics while in region view, i mean the limitations to space is understandable, although still too small for a city (really don't expect infinite horizons, that's just silly). I totally understand that i will evolve my city, with improvements and specializations, i said you shouldn't have filled the tile have a healthy income and content citizens (for what they had, and yes they were content!) within the HOUR. I'm comparing it to other Simcity titles, i played the whole hour on cheetah speed and just went nuts, if you did that on previous Sim titles you'd be broke, your citizens would be rioting and your city would be a complete fail! I guess it's just balance issues I'm complaining about rather that core mechanics, as i love the Glassbox engine with true simulation of agents. As i said I'm buying the game i just want it to be a little more realistic in terms of finance and early city planning (demolition costs would go a long way to sort out all my issues).