SimCity System Requirements, Multiplayer Detailed, More
More details have spilled regarding SimCity 2013 including multiplayer support and the initial list of system requirements.
On Wednesday during GDC 2012, three Maxis creative leads went into greater detail about the multiplayer aspect of SimCity (2013), reporting that the game will have a cloud saving feature which will work continuously in the background as the gamer plays online. A further list of specs reveal that the game will support a 16-player multiplayer scenario -- likely the "region" as described in the official announcement.
On Wednesday Maxis said that SimCity was "built from the ground up to support online" gameplay. The team also mentioned "play anywhere," meaning that gamers can play SimCity across a variety of different devices. This is interesting given the PC-focused announcement released early Wednesday morning. However there's speculation that the game will be playable on devices with a web browser, although the fully-featured version will likely reside as an installed application on the PC.
During the event Maxis also revealed that SimCity was designed to support mods. "We're huge fans of our modding community," creative director Ocean Quigley told the audience. "We've designed all this stuff to be moddable."
"We know modding is hugely important to our community," Quigley added. "We know the reason why people are still playing SimCity 4 ten years later is because the modding community has kept it alive. GlassBox is built to be moddable, but beyond that we haven't announced anything"
Maxis will be using the same package format The Sims and SimCity 4 used, he said. This should make it easier for SimCity 4 modders to make the jump to the new GlassBox engine.
Now for the system requirements. Electronic Arts has posted a single list via Origin, as follows:
Processor:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4000+ or better
Intel Core 2 Duo Processor 2.0 GHz or better
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Operating System:
Windows XP/Vista/7
RAM:
Windows XP: 1.5GB
Windows Vista and Windows 7: 2GB
PCs using a built-in graphical chipset are recommended to have 2 GB RAM
Graphics Card:
ATI X1800 or better*
nVidia 7800 or better*
Intel 4100 Integrated Graphics or better*
DVD-ROM:
8x or better
*Minimum of 256 MB of on-board RAM and Shader 3.0 or better support.
EA is already teasing a $79.99 Digital Deluxe Edition and a $59.99 Limited Edition. The latter LE edition sounds awesome, packing super hero and evil villain lairs, characters, crime waves, and associated items. The Deluxe Edition sounds quite different, containing British, French, and German city sets which include popular landmarks like the Eiffel Tower in Paris, London's famous double-decker bus and more.
Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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Onus EA + Origin? Looks like a skip. Oh well; never played Sim City, so I may not know what I'm missing.Reply -
deathengine 20 extra $ for some landmarks and odds and ends that should have been included anyway? FU EA.Reply -
icepick314 "GlassBox is built to be moddable, but beyond that we haven't announced anything"Reply
who wants to bet EA will NOT let users mod ANYTHING in SimCity to keep community "uniform" ie so EA can make money off DLC instead of modders keep our games alive year after year?
p.s. the "Deluxe" edition is Origin only...good luck if you don't want to install Origin or prefer boxed version.... -
Wisecracker I hope they improved the AI and logic.Reply
It sucked to build up a really nice city and be stuck in a loop where alien space ships kept destroying large chunks of it.
The graphics from that screenie do look nice, though. I have no interest in online multi-player and Origin. Seems quite a stretch from the core SimCity but some folks might enjoy it if done right.
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computernerdforlife ME3, Battlefield and now this game could of had my money 3 times over but Origin kills it. I wont install that EA forced-down-my-throat sh!t. Let me know if there is a non-Origin available. Until then, like jtt283 said "EA + Origin? Looks like a skip.". Diddo!Reply -
jl0329 Just wait for a cracked pirate version that doesn't require Origin. It also comes with a side benefit - it's free.Reply -
justme1977 Graphics Card:Reply
.....
nVidia 7800 or better*
Intel 4100 Integrated Graphics or better*
Verry strange, that nvidia 7000 series has the same feature set as the 6000 series, and the 6600gt is about on par with the intel HD graphics, which in turn is way faster then the intel 4100.
Where is the logic in that?