SimCity 4 announced

Electronic Arts has announced SimCity 4, the next game in its popular SimCity city-building strategy series. The game is being developed at Maxis, the studio headed by Will Wright, which created the previous SimCity games and the incredibly popular virtual-life game, The Sims. Like the previous SimCity games, SimCity 4 will let players build and manage their own city, but it will also include a number of new features.

"SimCity 4 is the ultimate SimCity experience," said Lucy Bradshaw, general manager of Maxis. "We have really lifted up the hood and made amazing improvements to the underlying simulation to give the player the most responsive, personal, and satisfying SimCity yet."

SimCity 4 will give players the power to adjust the terrain beneath their city to create mountains, valleys, forests, and rivers. Once built, cities can be connected by transportation networks to share and compete for resources. Another new feature will let SimCity 4 players follow a Sim--a virtual city-dweller--around their city to experience their creation firsthand. The Sim character can be personalized, and it can provide clues on how to improve the city.

The game will also include bigger disasters, as well as the option to send the mayor, police, or fire department to specific areas. The game's new simulation engine will give players immediate feedback about their cities' status and also provide more options for players to deal with different situations.

SimCity 4 will be demonstrated at the 2002 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles next month. For more information, read our 2863198in-depth preview of the game.