As with 1989's 'SimCity' and its two successors, the less predictably named 'SimCity 2000' and '
SimCity 3000,' players were given almost absolute control over the development of new or existing city plots.
In the National Engineers Week Future City competition, students--under the guidance of a teacher and engineer mentor--design a city on a computer using
SimCity 3000, build a 3-D model, write an essay, and create an oral presentation.
middle schools came up with a highly detailed model cities, rendered in donated copies of
SimCity 3000 software from Electronic Arts Inc.
SimCity 4, the fourth instalment of the popular PC game franchise, arrives 15 years after the original SimCity and is the direct follow-up to the highly successful
SimCity 3000.
Sim City 4 doesn't really look or feel that different from
SimCity 3000. Instead, it's the inevitable update, with better graphics and insanely obsessive detail.
Electronic Arts also announced that it would release a Macintosh(R) version of "SimCity 3000" this summer.
Since the release of "SimCity 3000", Maxis has been extending the value of the game by providing a series of free add-ons and on-line support through the official SimCity(TM) Web site located at http://www.simcity.com.
FANS of city-building game
SimCity 3000 can log on to a new Website.
The students, under the guidance of a teacher, tap his knowledge as they create their city on a computer using
SimCity 3000, build a 3-D model of the city, and write an essay--all in the hopes of winning the regional competition in January and an all-expense-paid trip to the National Finals in Washington, D.C., in February.
Using
SimCity 3000 (TM), donated by Maxis, a software firm in Walnut Creek, California, the students fabricate a metropolis from the ground up, balance a city budget, and deal with social issues such as pollution and unemployment, solving intricate problems of math, science, and technology along the way.