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latest SimCity game has been officially announced by Electronic Arts in 2012 GDC event.It's coming to PC in 2013, and going back to Maxis.The game, simply being labelled for now as SimCity (not SimCity 5), is being developed by Maxis, is due for the PC, and will be out in 2013.
EA says that the development team consists of many veterans from SimCity 2000 and SimCity 4. It will also - wait for it - feature curved roads. Yes.
The new SimCity also has a feature called "Social Flow", which is the term for how your city will affect other people's cities. For example, resources are finite, and decisions you make - and technological advances other make - will impact the development of your own metropolis.
Interestingly, mention is also made by EA in the game's first press release of downloadable content (free to Origin pre-purchasers, of course), called SimCity Heroes & Villains, which will apparently feature "a battle between Maxis Man and his longtime nemesis Evil Dr. Vu." A very elaborate new disaster to clean up after, perhaps?
Further stuff like talking to individual Sims, a complete world builder and even the ability to customise buildings shows, surprisingly, Maxis is actually making a proper SimCity here. Not a social game, not a Facebook title, they look like they're making a real, honest-to-God SimCity game. Which sounds great.
SOPA or Stop Online Piracy act is a is a proposed legislation currently being debated by U.S. Congress that would give media owners much greater powers to protect their intellectual property on the web – whether that’s music, video, text or games.and here we will discuss the impact of SOPA for gamers worldwide
SOPA will be reaching for the gamers around the world, SOPA threatens all of the e-sports activities, games streaming, voice hcat in games, in game text, including gaming forums.And even, SOPA will also threaten the existence of any gaming media.
If you live outside the United States, don’t think this won’t affect you. The internet isn’t localised, and neither is SOPA’s potential effect. If a copyright holder comes across a site that’s using their material without permission, they can file for a court order against that site.
They can also file against any companies affiliated with that site. Ad networks, payment services like PayPal, search engines that link to the site and even the webhost. Hell, if the legislation passes in its current guise, a website linking to an unofficial Youtube clip someone’s recorded of, say, Uncharted 3, could literally sink the site if enough pressure was put on advertisers, the webhost and the search engines that link to it.
Even humble forums could be profoundly affected (read: screwed). Say someone links some copyrighted material on CODHeadshotEnthusiasts. If SOPA passes, the IP holder could shut the whole forum down.
The pro gaming circuit could find itself in similarly boiling water, too. Its lifeblood is streaming live footage, which would become a criminal act if SOPA passes. And without anyone to watch, the entire concept of e-sports would be at risk of going the way of dodo racing.
Taken to its extreme, SOPA could even hold responsible anyone who plays music down their mic in a multiplayer gaming session, or even quotes text that they don’t hold the copyright for. In other words, you’d be breaking the law if you were playing music in your room that could be heard by others gamers through your headset during an online match. If SOPA passes, COD deathmatches could become damn quiet.
This isn’t some hypothetical scaremongering. Unless SOPA receives serious resistance from enough members of congress, then it could fundamentally change the way you read, and more importantly, play games online. Personally, we don’t want to envisage a world where gaming sites get kiboshed for linking to copyright material or where you can’t talk down your headset during a game of Battlefield 3.
Sadly, there’s little UK gamers can do at the moment. But if you’re reading this and you live in the US, then there sure as Hell is. You can start by contacting your congressman and expressing your grave concerns about the detrimental effect SOPA could have on your beloved pastime. You can spread the depressing, alarming word among fellow gamers who might not have heard about the legislation.
And finally, you can take to Twitter and Facebook to find out where your favourite developers and publishers stand on SOPA. If they support the legislation, then challenge them with stone cold, doomy facts to their faces. Let them know that this is a law which could fundamentally destroy the relationship between developers and their gaming communities.
SOPA has spurred a growing backlash from all corners of the internet from gaming hobbyists to major web property owners like Google, Amazon and Twitter. The latter have penned an open letter to congress outlining their concerns with SOPA, and many sites (Reddit being a notable example) are planning a blackout on 18 January in protest of SOPA.
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