Electronic Arts today announced that the SimCity beta will run from January 25 – January 28. Those who previously signed up are already in consideration for access to the beta, limited slots are still available for late applicants. Eager fans who want to get an advance look at SimCity have a limited time to sign up at the game’s official website before the application process ends at 2am, GMT on January 21.
Lucy Bradshaw, Senior Vice President and General Manager of EA’s Maxis Label said:
“It is always an exciting moment to share a game that is still in development with its biggest fans prior to launch. This beta will help the team improve the live service aspects of SimCity to ensure a smooth and user-friendly experience at launch. I want to thank everyone for signing up – we are excited to share one of our most beloved franchises with our fans.”
Running from 5pm GMT on January 25 until 8am GMT on January 28, the SimCity beta offers fans the chance to play a one hour slice of the game** and to deliver feedback that will help shape the final product. As a live service, SimCity will continue to provide updates that evolve the experience, delivering a dynamic platform that grows and expands over time. For more details about the beta head over to the game’s official website.
Developed by Maxis in Emeryville, SimCity promises to deliver unprecedented depth of simulation with the new GlassBox Engine, where everything is simulated, up to 100,000 individual Sims in a city, to every Kilowatt of power pulsing through a region of cities. The model-like world and detail of the simulation make this the most responsive and personal SimCity ever.
Electronic Arts also claims that this is the most expansive city management game yet where multi-city gameplay across regions delivers a larger playing field. Play a single city or up to 16 cities at once each with different specializations, it’s your choice. What kind of Mayor will you be?
Multiplayer is also a first for the series, which adds a new dimension to the game, as decisions impact both the city and the region, creating new ways to play by collaborating or competing to earn achievements and to top leaderboards. Whether you play by yourself, with your friends or the rest of the world, SimCity introduces an infinite world of possibilities.
We should note that the game has an online requirement, meaning that you’ll have to be online in order to play even its single player mode. There was a lot of debate about this feature, and the sad thing is that pirates will most probably enjoy it in offline mode. Imagine that, relying on a crack in order to run your legitimate copy of a game in offline mode. Some PC developers just don’t get it.
SimCity will be available March 8 and is available for pre-order right now. You can view below the game’s tutorial from the closed beta, that was obviously leaked from YouTube’s member ‘GhostDVideos’.
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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