Talk:SimCity (1989 video game)

Sim City:Enhanced Edition

Anyone remember this classic? Interplay put it out for DOS around 1993. It pretty much was the Sim City DOS port, but with voiceovers and hilarious FMV sequences (of which Will Ferell wrote).Someone should create an article for it before I do. --Samr 03:44, 5 May 2005 (UTC)

It's mentioned in the version list now (DOS 1994) with the FMV cutscenes and news reports --Bil Simser (talk) 16:30, 5 March 2018 (UTC)

Sims in SimCity

<quote>The meaning of the syllable "Sim" in SimCity 3000 differs from in SimCity 2000, in that it refers to a city of "Sims" (like in The Sims; the game's simulated people) rather than being an abbreviation of the word "simulation". </quote>

This isn't entirely true. The use of the word "Sim" dates all the way back to SimCity (the original), in correct context, as a resident in your town. I know this because I specifically remember it in the accompanying user's guide (which I will gladly cite once I return home from school).

It's correct that the inhabitants have been called "sims" since the first version. Though I assumed the name "SimCity" came first, and the people in the city were called "sims" short for "simulated" too; I've never interpreted the name "SimCity" as "the city of sims". I think this is down to personal POV. Unless we can get Will Wright to speak on it, we'd best stay away from it -- Tarquin 12:09 27 May 2003 (UTC)

We and Maxis can come up with fanciful explanations all we want, but the real explanation is that "SimCity" has name recognition, and this "city of sims" line is just a bit of Maxis cross-marketing. I think the sentence should be dropped unless we get a verbatim quote, this is the kind of stuff that marketeers like to get the press to repeat without attribution. (Not to suggest that I've ever participated in anything like this, ahem. :-) ) Stan 15:17 27 May 2003 (UTC)

The forward in the introduction of the original SimCity manual refers to the inhabitants of SimCity as "Sims -- Simulated Citizens": "Your city is populated by Sims -- Simulated Citizens. Like their human counterparts, they build houses, condos, churches, stores and factories. And, also like humans, they complain about things like taxes, mayors, taxes, city planners, and taxes. If they get unhappy, they move out; you collect fewer taxes, the city deteriorates." http://code.google.com/p/micropolis/wiki/Introduction I typed that manual in from a copy of the original manual that came with the Mac version of SimCity, when I was porting it to Unix around 1992, and I worked with Will Wright on The Sims at Maxis, so I participated in the discussions about naming "The Sims", which was certainly meant to tie it in with SimCity. Xardox (talk) 16:26, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

Agreed. -- Tarquin 15:33 27 May 2003 (UTC)

It looks like the concensous of this discussion is that the referenced sentence should be dropped. However, it was still in the article, so I removed it. I agree with the OP, though. The inhabitants of SimCity were always known as "Sims" long before there was even the idea of "The Sims" as a seperate game. —Frecklefoot 15:02, 27 Oct 2003 (UTC)

Why does Sim City 4 have its own article? It is very confusing that all the others stay in this article, and 4 gets its own. Greenmountainboy 02:18, 12 Dec 2003 (UTC)

It's been hard to get consensus on when to split game articles. In general encyclopedia content starts to get pretty thin for later games in a series, but if the game were radically different and shared only the name, it might make sense, or maybe if you had a half-dozen illustrative screenshots. In its current state, our SC4 info could be equally validly merged or separated. Stan 05:23, 12 Dec 2003 (UTC)

The "Sim" in the Sim games comes from "Simulated". SimCity = Simulated City, SimTower = Simulated Tower. That's it, nothing more, nothing less.

It just so happened that in the original SimCity that the guy writing the manual thought that it would be "unique" to refer to the citizens of the city as "Sims" (since, after all, they are "Simulated People").

Of course, if I had my way, "The Sims" would actually be called "SimUnrealisticNeighbourhood". Before "The Sims" virtually all the Sim games were supposed to be realistic simulations for "edutainment", spare the "Kids" games (See List of Sim games) SimCity was intended to be semi-serious, SimTower (whilst not primarily developed by Maxis) was intended as an elevator simulation for Japanese architects, SimLife was for school biologists showing how natural selection works, ditto El Fish. I fail to see how "The Sims" is in any way educational or realistic.

Not saying that Maxis can't be creative, take a look at Streets of SimCity, but I feel they've been cheapened by EA, we won't be seeing another SimHealth, thats for sure.

Linux versions

The article states that 3000 was the first and only version released for Linux. However, there was a release for Linux of the original SimCity. ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/games/strategy/scl_lnx_3.6b.lsm

When was it released? Is it an "official" version of the game? Put the info in the article (please put download link in extern links section and not in the article proper). Thanks! — Frecklefoot | Talk 14:43, Jul 12, 2004 (UTC)

I ported the original SimCity to various Unix platforms (SunOS, Solaris, Irix, HPUX, OSF/1, Quarterdeck Desqview, NCD X terminal, etc) starting in 1992 for DUX Software, before Linux was standardized and stable enough to support commercial products. DUX did an early port to Linux (which the link refers to), and I eventually ported it to a later version of Linux, and to the OLPC (which runs Linux), and also other platforms (Mac, Windows, etc). SimCity for Unix was released as a commercial product in 1992, and won product of the year 1992 by Unix World in the January 1993 issue, and was reviewed in the April 1993 issue. http://www.art.net/~hopkins/Don/simcity/simcity-announcement.html ftp://ftp.uu.net/vendor/dux/SimCity Xardox (talk) 16:33, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

Ideograms for the Chinese, Japanese and Korean titles

I found this comment in the source for the article:

someone should add the correct ideograms for the Chinese, Japanese and Korean titles

My reply is "why?" This is not the Chinese, Japanese or Korean version of the article. Those ideograms can be added to the articles in those versions of the 'pedia. They would only be appropriate if they somehow applied to the English version of the game. — Frecklefoot | Talk 15:19, Dec 9, 2004 (UTC)

It's the same reason why the german version is written as "SimCity 3000 Deutschland" and not "SimCity 3000 Germany".

What I meant was, why do we have the titles for the foreign version of SimCity in the article at all? There's nothing really striking about them. There're just useless content. What is so notable about the German version of SimCity 3000 being called SimCity 3000 Deutschland (Deutschland being what Germans refer to Germany as). What should they called it, SimCity 3000 Oktoberfest? I think we should just get rid of the foreign titles. They don't add anything to the article. — Frecklefoot | Talk 16:10, Feb 25, 2005 (UTC)

About Sin City...

Hello everyone:

I just saw Sin City (the movie) recently and I was wondering if we should add a cross-reference to top of the SimCity and Sin City pages to help non-computer or non-movie people keep the two distinct (as has been done with steganography and stenography). What does everyone think?

--Coolcaesar 13:09, 15 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Sounds like a potentially easily made mistake. Cburnett 13:24, Apr 15, 2005 (UTC)

I first heard the end of a trailer for sin city and i thought to myself: "Sim City?! It's a great game but bound to be a boring movie!" :) --Will2k 13:45, Apr 15, 2005 (UTC)

Well, it's been a week and no one has come up with any objections, so I'll add the paragraph and see what happens. --Coolcaesar 19:39, 21 Apr 2005 (UTC)

It's done. Come to think of it, I'm surprised Maxis didn't sue Frank Miller for trademark infringement when the Sin City movie came out. But then the consumer confusion standard is very high and difficult to meet in the Ninth Circuit. --Coolcaesar 19:46, 21 Apr 2005 (UTC)

"Sin City" as a nickname for Las Vegas has been around much longer than SimCity has been. That is possibly the source of the name, whether or not Vegas is actually involved in the story, so I don't think it's so much a surprise. - furrykef (Talk at me) 19:52, 21 Apr 2005 (UTC)

It has been since removed from Sin City (movie) (claimed to be asinine and meritless), please join the discussion there. Cburnett 22:41, Apr 21, 2005 (UTC)

No the Sin City talk page is right, there is no reason for the Sin City link, the words are close, but they are too unrelated to be confusing. Probably should be removed form this page MechBrowman 16:02, May 3, 2005 (UTC)

Typo redirect

Just equalizing this for the disambuigation article for Sin City. (Some spell the game Sim City.)

Please leave. It's not a uncommmon mistake.

Yes, yes it is. At least, it would be uncommon for people not to realize their mistake and be unable to correct it on their own. We had already argued over this and considered it unnecessary; we don't need to argue over it again. - furrykef (Talk at me) 17:11, 2 August 2005 (UTC)

Missing Versions

The 'official' (Maxis/EA) chronology is badly off. The first version of SimCity was for the C64, followed by a slightly different version for the Amiga. (The C64 version featured roads and zones only.) A little while later came the PC/DOS version - which added some additional buildings (stadiums and police IIRC). A little while after that, the DOS version was given a fancy wrapper and became Sim City for Windows - now known as Sim City classic. (There's also an add-on for The Sims that allows you to play Sim City inside The Sims, but it's 3rd party, not Maxis/EA.) Elde 08:52, 27 August 2005 (UTC)

SimSim

I haven't played SQIV in a while, but I thought that "SimSim" was simply a "simulated simulator", not even a design tool. 68.9.205.10 10:35, 6 December 2005 (UTC)

Criticism of Simcity

I don't quite get the point of this section of the article. How the hell does simcity encourage statism or even 'evil' things like socialism? I am quite sure that the 'statist' nature of simcity has nothing to do with promoting an ideology, I think it's more to do with having a fun game to play. I mean if the free market did everything in the game, what would the mayor do? Build lots of mansions from all that lobbying money? However, you look at it, in order to have a fun city building game, the government has to have a lot of power. Please remove this stupid right-wing section from this article. Btw, I think simcity is pretty balanced in terms of ideological bias, while there an element of statism is certainly present, we also have things like complete occupational mobility and very little regulation. MvD 19:19, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

That section doesn't say SimCity is evil (really simplifying it here, I know), it says that some people think it is. You may not agree with a viewpoint, but that doesn't automatically mean it doesn't deserve to be in Wikipedia. However, I do agree with you that the section as is, shouldn't be in Wikipedia. It mentions "some people" think SC is evil. Who? I'm sure "some people" think SimCity is a dumb game too, but that's hardly noteworthy. It's basically using weasel words. Of course once you click the little superscript-bookmark-1-thingy you get a long, and once you click on that, you find out it's Timothy D. Terrell (who?), so it's not "some people" at all. Actually (without reading the article) it seems it's only "1 people", so maybe the section can simply be deleted altogether after all. Retodon8 23:45, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

"You may not agree with a viewpoint, but that doesn't automatically mean it doesn't deserve to be in Wikipedia." Actually, NO viewpoint belongs in wikipedia, as the articles contained in wikipedia are not meant to contain opinions or points of view .--Alex 22:08, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

The NPOV policy is that the article must have a neutral point of view. However, Wikipedia articles are allowed to discuss points of view. The article cannot say "SimCity is evil", but if a large enough group of people do think SimCity is evil (for whatever reason), it would be perfectly proper to note it in the article. I don't think there is such a group, though. - furrykef (Talk at me) 14:57, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

Is there a thematic connection between SimCity and the theories of Le Corbusier? (154.5.166.187 19:33, 24 February 2007 (UTC))

One thing that has been mentioned is the influence, especially in early versions, of the 1960s urban planners' strict separation of useage into residential, commercial, industrial (and may never they meet). This thinking continues to a large extent in the game. Sim-commuters prefer wide, straight highways just as some urban planners do. (Fancy that.) The designers of this game have always built in an environmentalist bias as well as a bias that inexpensive homes will necessarily make the Sims unhappy. Most recently I've played with SimCity Societies where values are explicit. Farms are viewed as spiritual rather than productive. Romanticism, anyone? While it is true that a free market would give the mayor less to do, it is also true that in the real world, people tend to build things and work for their bread even if they do not have a mayor. It would seem possible to build a little more constructive anarchy in between the mayor's policy decisions. Of course, in SimCity, the mayor is next to God. Some versions even have differentiated the "God mode" from the "Mayor mode." God builds the mountains while the mayor builds all the buildings and infrastructure. (The player gets to be both.) It would be conceivable to have a game in which the mayor can deal with independent contractors who could build the city. (Or is that less fun?) It is legitimate to point out that somebody has complained about the biases of this game. If a larger or more articulate group of critics cannot be found, it cannot be because biases do not exist in the game, but more likely that those most capable of making the critique have found better things to do than write critiques of SimCity. Milesnfowler (talk) 22:34, 28 September 2010 (UTC)

Discussion by anon editor regarding SimCity in The Sims series

Should there be an article or section here be about the actual city of SimCity which is prominent in The Sims and The Sims 2? Just a stupid thought, I know.

Sim City Liberal Bias

Whenever military bases are built in the game, crime goes up in the immediate area. In reality, this is patently false. --Haizum μολὼν λαβέ 05:59, 3 February 2007 (UTC)

Tell that to Japanese people around US military bases. 128.227.137.206 00:31, 4 February 2007 (UTC)

Got a source for the lack of effect on crime? I'm sure it's been studied. Stan 02:22, 4 February 2007 (UTC)

Agreed. We need a notable source that verifies this claim. ╫ ２５ ^{◀RingADing▶} 15:06, 4 February 2007 (UTC) ╫

Stop whining about facts that are self-evident. Play the game and see for yourself. --Haizum μολὼν λαβέ 11:43, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

That military bases in SimCity generate crime is not in dispute. It's "In reality, this is patently false" that requires verification. --Leperflesh 21:43, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

• If there's a source arguing that the military bases/crime rate thing is controversial then it should be included --Zagrebo 10:42, 8 March 2007 (UTC)

Well, where I was stationed in Korea, there sure were a lot of bars and brothels right outside the base. TotalTommyTerror 17:09, 8 March 2007 (UTC)

Interesting point, but incomplete info: I presume the bars were legal, but was there a LOT of crime associated with them? Even if the brothels were illegal, was there a LOT of disorder associated with them? By a LOT, I mean compared to most places where there are bars and/or brothels. Was there a police station anywhere nearby? Did the base have any control over law enforcement near the base, that is, did military police patrol the area near the base, watching and watching out for servicemen? Milesnfowler (talk) 22:47, 28 September 2010 (UTC)

SimCity for the X11

Is the X11 version of SimCity (by DUX Software) a true port of the original game, or is it a similar game that bears the name 'SimCity'? Judging from the screenshot I’m leaning towards the latter. Since by ‘SimCity’ we generally think of the Maxis version of SimCity, I think the article should clarify the issue. --Anss123 17:51, 4 February 2007 (UTC)

The X11 version is a true port, based on the original legally licensed Maxis source code for the Mac version of SimCity. Micropolis (open source SimCity) is based on that code, which was released under GPL3 by EA recently. I've cleaned up and reworked the code to make a C++/Python version of Micropolis, but the old X11 code is still available as well. http://code.google.com/p/micropolis/ Xardox (talk) 16:44, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

Card Game

Why is there no mention of the SimCity Card Game? --Mjrmtg 04:22, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

Because there isn't many who know about it? ╫ ２５ ^{◀RingADing▶} 07:58, 4 March 2007 (UTC) ╫

This is an encyclopedia, maybe others would like to know about it :) --Mjrmtg 14:25, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

That's the point. I'm curious too, but there aren't many people who know about this card game to help add anything about it. Guess I was misinterpreted. :( ╫ ２５ ^{◀RingADing▶} 11:53, 6 March 2007 (UTC) ╫

OLPC Port

Don Hopkins announced today that he is working on porting the game to the OLPC. --Basique 23:36, 8 March 2007 (UTC)

Tokyo scenario

In the Amiga Version it is in 1957, in the SNES Version 1961. I think it is placed later because in 1961 Bowser is attacking the City and not the Standard Monster. 217.81.214.143 10:00, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

Series page?

Should we start a page covering the entire series of SimCity games? The deletion of the SimCity 5 page would also need a better page than SimCity 4, its predecessor. — JuWiki (Talk <> Resources) 19:24, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

Just created one. — JuWiki (Talk <> Resources) 20:23, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

SimCity Societies

This category was created as a result of the revert by Anss123. SimCity Societies has been announced as the next game in the SimCity series, therefore it's only logical that it would be mentioned after SimCity 4 and before the mentioning of the Sims series in this article. It hasn't received any "special mention" as said during Anss123 revert message - it was included in chronological order after the mentioning of SimCity 4. Poetic^X_contribs 14:34, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

I might have been a bit hasty, but SimCity Societies is 1. A working title, 2. Unreleased, and 3. Not directly related to SimCity Classic (which this page is about). More importantly it broke the flow of the paragraph, which is what I meant by “special attention.”

Try to read the paragraph. (snip) “…SimCity series was the best-selling line of computer games made by Maxis. In June 5th, 2007 Electronic Arts (EA) announced the creation of a new SimCity title labeled SimCity Societies. [1]”

It is an interesting bit of trivia, but should still be properly worked into the article - or not at all.

--Anss123 14:54, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

On further inspection I understand your point - primarily because this is a SimCity (Classic) article and not the series article. I overlooked that very important detail.

Although I do still feel that it is somewhat appropriate to bring some kind of mention into this article nonetheless, and I feel that the paragraph itself was giving a run-down of the history of the series, so I felt it was appropriate to make mention. I disagree about taking the flow out of the article since the information that was added seemed, to me, to be an appropriate ending of the paragraph, since it marked on-going continuation of the series and the paragraph itself was following the series from beginning to end.

Um, reread the paragraph. It had gone from beginning to end, yes, but had jumped over to sales at the end. In any case, Frecklefoot has added the information to the article.--Anss123 18:32, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

I also feel that the fact that it's a working title and unreleased aren't really relevant points as the mentioning of it being announced, with reference, make up for those concerns- and it, therefore, isn't speculation/crystal ball gazing.

Anyway, it's up to you and anyone reading this to decide what to do. Either way is fine with me. Poetic^X_contribs 15:13, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

Sorry, guys, but I missed this whole discussion and already added info on the game in the article. Do what you think best with it. — Frecklefoot | Talk 12:52, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

We know, the discussion was about adding it to the lead.--Anss123 13:59, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Version list

I made a few changes to the version list. First, I reduced the description of the DOS CD-ROM version from "added multimedia content in the form digitized photos, sounds and live-action video" to "featured 256-color graphics and added live-action video". The sounds (including some digitized speech) were already present in the previous SimCity Classic release, and I've never seen any digitized photos in this game. But the 256-color graphics made a big change.

For the Windows version, I corrected the release year from 1991 to 1992. This is a common mistake, because both the box and the disk labels have 1991 copyright notices. But in-game it clearly states 1992, and some of the files on the disk have 1992 timestamps too.—Graf Bobby 18:57, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

Dr. Wright

Why don't you make a article about Dr. Wright? He was a character to the Nintendo Sim City, you find info about him on the trophy on Super Smash Bros. Melee. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.234.118.159 (talk • contribs)

I have no special knowledge of this character, but the only mention we have of him is here. Sounds pretty minor to me. — Frecklefσσt | Talk 12:02, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

SimCity (NES)

It seems that back in 1991, Famitsu reported on a NES version of SimCity that was to be released in America. See this link. I'm not really sure where its appropriate in this article, though. ~ Hibana 01:05, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

New Link [1] 2A01:5C0:18:BCA1:65C8:1DD5:B6D5:6A9C (talk) 23:11, 3 September 2015 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Simcityspectrum.gif

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Space Quest IV quote

In Space Quest IV, in the Software Excess Store, a game called Sim Sim is available. It is described as a "simulated simulator specially designed for creating a simulated simulators" and that "you can create a simulated environment in which you can create any simulated environment you want".

"Creating a simulated simulators" is ungrammatical. Apparently it should be "creating a simulated simulator" or "creating simulated simulators"; which was the original quote? - furrykef (Talk at me) 11:19, 27 January 2008 (UTC)

Controversy

IIRC, in the first SC increasing taxation and public spending worked to boost the economy. This caused some protests from fiscal conservatives. Drutt (talk) 11:08, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

If the so-called fiscal conservatives would stop having ridiculous "teabagging" parties and questioning Obama's citizenship, just because they're upset that we have a black president, they would be taken more seriously. http://www.donhopkins.com/drupal/node/9 "Everyone notices the obvious built-in political bias, whatever that is. But everyone sees it from a different perspective, so nobody agrees what its real political agenda actually is. I don't think it's all that important, since SimCity's political agenda pales in comparison to the political agenda in the eye of the beholder. Some muckety-muck architecture magazine was interviewing Will Wright about SimCity, and they asked him a question something like "which ontological urban paridigm most influenced your design of the simulator, the Exo-Hamiltonian Pattern Language Movement, or the Intra-Urban Deconstructionist Sub-Culture Hypothesis?" He replied, "I just kind of optimized for game play." " Xardox (talk) 16:48, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

I played the first SimCity and I remember that increasing taxation depressed the economy in that game--95.93.13.6 (talk) 23:44, 25 June 2010 (UTC)

That is partly because Will Wright is not completely devorced from reality. It is well established that there are diminishing returns when governments increase taxes beyond the ability of citizens to pay them. It is also because it enhances "optimization of game play" if the player has to find a balance between taxing enough to support infrastructure and not taxing too much so that his tax base goes away. Milesnfowler (talk) 23:00, 28 September 2010 (UTC)

Computer System Requirement

Please add a section Computer System Requirement. That is very important.

I had started playing SimCity since MacIntosh version and then Windows 95, XP. But after I bought SimCity Societies, and registered it, it never run on my XP PC... just because of the graphic card problem.

It would be nice if potention players or buyers of any SimCity game can read the Wiki about SimCity and see all the graphic cards that can be used to play it. Thanks.—Preceding unsigned comment added by 220.246.154.165 (talk • contribs)

SimCity Societies is not the same game as SimCity. For SimCity DOS you need an Enhanced_Graphics_Adapter, for SimCity Windows/Mac I think you can use any graphic card that works with Mac/Windows. For SimCity Societies you need a DirectX 9 card.--Anss123 (talk) 06:34, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

220.246.154.165, you might be interested in SimCity Wiki. It goes into more depth about all the SimCity games. — Frεcklεfσσt | Talk 10:27, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

typo?

In the Nintendo DX version of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening,...

what is a nintendo dx?—Preceding unsigned comment added by Einstein95 (talk • contribs)

A typo for Nintenod DS (just a guess, so I didn't change). — Frεcklεfσσt | Talk 02:30, 10 January 2010 (UTC)

Not Nintendo DX. A "DX version of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening" which is for a Nintendo system. I don't currently see this text in the article, but the text as quoted is not entirely inaccurate. 2001:470:A:1FF:0:0:0:2 (talk) 21:30, 21 December 2012 (UTC)

Politics

These controversies over the supposed liberal biases of the game (re. taxation and spending, military and crime) should probably be mentioned in the article. Does anyone know of contemporary newspaper articles on this? Those would be very interesting. 2fort5r (talk) 05:52, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

Color Mac version

The table only lists a black & white Mac version, but the color one was gorgeous; it was one of the first color Mac games; and I think it came out before the black & white version; but I have no reference. Anyone? Comet Tuttle (talk) 20:14, 15 March 2011 (UTC)

Best thing I could find when looking it up was here, but that webpage isn't a good reference. All I can see from that is that it apparently played in both black in white and color seperately on the performa. Any better references? Maxis45 (talk) 19:31, 16 June 2011 (UTC)

Stanislaw Lem

Why is there no mention of Stanislaw Lem whom Will Wright credits as inspiration for the game? I believe that when the game was first released, Wright mentioned the author frequently in interviews promoting the game. (Since the game was released well before the internet became available to the masses, I doubt if most of these interviews are available online.) The best source I've found is PC Gamer. See also The Cyberiad or Mortal Engines. 75.37.22.109 (talk) 16:25, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Sim City 2013 Announced

A new version for 2013 has been announced. see SimCity website

There is much writing to be done on this.

Begin; enjoy

JTGILLICK (talk) 20:46, 13 March 2012 (UTC)

Requested move 1

The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: not moved. Also no consensus on whether the series is the primary topic, but no prejudice against starting a new RM to discuss that issue. (non-admin closure) Jenks24 (talk) 08:12, 3 April 2012 (UTC)

---

SimCity → SimCity (SimCity Classic) – It would be better to change the page name right now, as it is already confusing with the new SimCity. Putting Classic after SimCity would solve the problem. And, while we're at it, we should remove the redirect pages named SimCity that link there, and put a link in the article for the new SimCity. 206.167.101.2 (talk) 16:53, 26 March 2012 (UTC)

• Oppose. No indication of change in primary usage, and I don't think the proposed name fits the naming conventions anyway. -- JHunterJ (talk) 20:43, 26 March 2012 (UTC)
• Oppose; it's way too premature to assume the new game will become primary. Most likely a move will be necessary at some point, but not yet. Powers ^T 00:29, 27 March 2012 (UTC)
• Oppose I don't see any evidence for this move and even if we did make a move, I think it would make more sense to move the series article to SimCity and have this one at SimCity (1989 video game). The term classic seems to be unnecessary.--174.93.169.157 (talk) 01:49, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

  We're at an appropriate number of articles in the series where the 174.'s idea would be appropriate. --Izno (talk) 02:47, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

  It isn't the number of articles that tips the scales; it's the usage. If everyone is still looking for the original "Star Nuke-Doom Portal", then it doesn't matter if "Star Nuke-Doom Portal 40,001" just came out. -- JHunterJ (talk) 11:13, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

  Not necessarily [for video games]. I was going to cite WP:NCVG#Disambiguation 5.1 on the point, but it specifies "only" with the first game (which is a guideline based on consensus at WT:VG if nowhere else). I'll raise a question over there regarding the point to see why it's phrased that way; in this case, we would have a series article with a conflict with 2 of the video games in the series.

  That said, when I hear SimCity myself, I think of the series and not of the specific game. Of course, I'm one case, which is why the guideline noted above was probably created: to dispel naming conflicts as a problem. --Izno (talk) 22:16, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

  Those talk about which disambiguation phrase to use after it is determined that a disambiguation phrase is needed. WP:PRIMARYTOPIC still applies before that -- video game topics that are primary for their title don't need to have a disambiguation phrase selected. -- JHunterJ (talk) 23:21, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

  Which is why I commented on the primary topic, I suppose (in my second paragraph). Whether it's the classic SimCity, the series, or the new SimCity is up for dispute. The original move requester thinks it's the new article. I would certainly disagree with that as the primary topic due primarily to recentism and such. You seem to think it's the old game. I would also disagree with that as the primary topic; as "iconic" as the original SimCity was (see the oppose by 70.), there have been many more, many as iconic as the first.... --Izno (talk) 23:45, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

  I think we've reached clarity then -- you're right about my view of the primary topic (the "old" or original game, the one that got all the big mainstream press coverage). I don't know of any in the series that were known as simply "SimCity", and I believe people don't say "SimCity" when they mean "the SimCity series", but I'm also one case. Cheers! -- JHunterJ (talk) 01:35, 28 March 2012 (UTC)

  Nod. It's a move request for another day, anyway. This one seems not unlikely to fail. --Izno (talk) 02:44, 28 March 2012 (UTC)

• Oppose WP:RECENTISM, WP:CRYSTAL. The original SimCity is iconic and historic and genre-defining/creating. 70.24.244.198 (talk) 03:30, 27 March 2012 (UTC)
• Oppose for reasons stated above, and let's face it--the new proposed name is clunky and unattractive. --BDD (talk) 18:46, 27 March 2012 (UTC)
• Agree In the article for the original SimCity, it is stated, near the start, that said game was later renamed SimCity Classic.— Preceding unsigned comment added by 206.167.101.2 (talk • contribs) 11:55, 29 March 2012‎ (UTC)

  If you would like to change the proposal, we can strike the one above and start a new section or subsection. But we can't change the proposal in the text above -- that screws up the flow of the responses below it. -- JHunterJ (talk) 16:59, 29 March 2012 (UTC)

• Oppose - If this article is going to be moved it should go to either "SimCity (1989 video game)" or "SimCity Classic" - the current proposed title is far from ideal. Furthermore, if the 1989 game is no longer going to be the primary topic, then the series article should replace it; it is far too premature to make the 2013 game the primary topic. CT Cooper · talk 13:59, 30 March 2012 (UTC)
• Oppose. When people hear the name SimCity unqualified, they most often think of the original game. JIP | Talk 15:18, 30 March 2012 (UTC)
• Oppose. For all the reasons stated above. --Coolcaesar (talk) 23:37, 1 April 2012 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

SimCity on Facebook

Someone may want to mention that SimCity started as a game application on Facebook this past week (June 25?, 2012). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.92.14.172 (talk) 14:34, 29 June 2012 (UTC)

I own the Miicropolis Online page on Facebook (I think Don owns the domain) and we were running a JavaScript version using Laszlo and Turbogears but it's been long dead now. Bil Simser (talk) 16:44, 5 March 2018 (UTC)

Requested move 2

The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: Not moved. Jafeluv (talk) 09:58, 27 September 2012 (UTC)

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SimCity → SimCity Classic – The official name of the game is, as of now, SimCity Classic, not SimCity. See the name at the current official site, http://www.simcity.com/en_US/product/simcity-classic. 206.167.106.5 (talk) 11:19, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

• Oppose Some of the previous discussion applies here too. This primarily seems to be a matter of marketing. Even on the page you link to, the actual description only refers to the game as "SimCity." Compare to Coca-Cola Classic, which redirects to Coca-Cola, the original product. --BDD (talk) 18:05, 19 September 2012 (UTC)
• Oppose. Even if the official name had changed (which seems a bit like attempting to rewrite history), we don't go by what the official name is; we go by what the common name is. Powers ^T 22:08, 19 September 2012 (UTC)
• Oppose. I agree with BDD and Powers. — Frεcklεfσσt | Talk 22:27, 19 September 2012 (UTC)
• Oppose not all the versions care called "SimCity Classic", indeed only a few of the versions were relased as that, doing that to the others is retconning. Also WP:OFFICIALNAME ; wikipedia does not name articles according to the official name -- 76.65.131.248 (talk) 22:44, 19 September 2012 (UTC)
• Oppose for now. It's still the WP:PRIMARYTOPIC compared to SimCity (2013 video game), and seems likely to remain so "with respect to long-term significance". --McGeddon (talk) 23:15, 19 September 2012 (UTC)
• Oppose - I don't see how the official name have changed. SimCity have been known simply like that. TheDarkLordSeth (talk) 12:38, 20 September 2012 (UTC)
• Pile on. The title of the game is SimCity as it was during release. I have a feeling this nomination is more to do with moving 2013 SimCity here than anything else. —  HELLKNOWZ  ▎TALK 13:23, 24 September 2012 (UTC)
• Oppose. And concur with User:Hellknowz. --Coolcaesar (talk) 16:18, 24 September 2012 (UTC)

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Requested move 3: What is the primary topic?

The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: move as requested. the wub "?!" 14:48, 3 November 2012 (UTC)

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SimCity → SimCity (1989 video game) – In the previous RM's, we've decided that SimCity "1" is the primary topic compared to SimCity (2013 video game). The purpose of this RM is to figure out if this the primary topic compared to SimCity (series), and if between the SimCity series, SimCity "1" (1989), and SimCity "5" (2013), there is a primary topic. Emmette Hernandez Coleman (talk) 22:01, 24 October 2012 (UTC)

• Support moving SimCity → SimCity (1989 video game) and SimCity (series) → SimCity per WP:NCVG#Disambiguation 5.1. "If a video game series has a naming conflict solely with the first game in the series, the series page should reside at the primary name if the series possesses a minimum of 3 video game articles as well as at least one other unrelated video game or related media item." We do have >3 games and additional media. To make it clear: this has no relevance to 5th game, which stays where it is. —  HELLKNOWZ  ▎TALK 22:30, 24 October 2012 (UTC)
• Support the same moves as HellKnowz. I brought this up in one or another of the above move requests. It enhances navigation for the readers as well, which was part of the reasoning for the guideline as it stands. --Izno (talk) 23:21, 24 October 2012 (UTC)
• Support - General readers would rather be interested in the basic premise and evolution of the series than the VERY first game. --George Ho (talk) 20:17, 1 November 2012 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

Images

The two images in the article are not actually of Sim City, but of the Micropolis derivative. I suggest one be moved to the section dealing with Micropolis, and the other removed. Pinkbeast (talk) 17:15, 11 December 2013 (UTC)

Recent revert

I disagree with the revert: http://en.wiki.x.io/w/index.php?title=SimCity_%281989_video_game%29&action=historysubmit&diff=589012440&oldid=588420498

Neither the later UNIX port nor Micropolis are the 1989 video game which is the principal subject of the article; in particular, Micropolis may "also be known as" OLPC SimCity, but there are a great many derivative games known as "SimCity something-or-other" - not all of which are nearly two decades later than SimCity. The UNIX port is closer, but it is not what the overwhelming majority of people would recognise as "SimCity" (whereas even, say, the 8-bit BBC Micro port is recognisably the same game as the 1989 release). It seems to me that the existing screenshots are in the article merely because no screenshot of the original release is available and that, in particular, the Micropolis screenshots (now not labelled as such) are grossly misleading. Pinkbeast (talk) 18:40, 3 January 2014 (UTC)

There have been many releases of SimCity scene the original Amiga and Macintosh releases (along with IBM PC and Commodore 64 releases, it you count the ones released later in 1989 as original). This article's scope is not limited to those original releases. The "SimCity something-or-other" are irrelevant, because SimCity 2000, SimCity 3000, etc. are different video games in the same series, not releases of SimCity 1. Emmette Hernandez Coleman (talk) 03:07, 4 January 2014 (UTC)

The "(1989 video game)" in the title is only there to distinguish this article from others of the same title. A year was needed to distinguish this from SimCity (2013 video game), so we went with 1989, the year of the original releases. That wasn't meant to limit the scope to the original releases, the reasons for adding "(1989 video game)" to the title had nothing to do with that. Emmette Hernandez Coleman (talk) 03:20, 4 January 2014 (UTC)

I do think that at the very least the Micropolis screenshots should be labelled as such. A reader unfamiliar with the actual capabilities of videogames in the late 80s could be forgiven for thinking Sim City looked like that.

And, honestly, I don't think Micropolis is Sim City, whatever the name; I appreciate it has code in common, but I wouldn't put a screenshot at the head of Doom_(video_game) showing GZDoom, for all that it's derived from the same codebase. Pinkbeast (talk) 14:20, 7 January 2014 (UTC)

You do have a good point. My understanding is that strictly speaking, there is a detestation between OLPC SimCity and Micropolis. Our article touches on it, but this and this go into more detail. My understanding is that Micropolis, is a slightly modified/updated version of OLPC SimCity (that can't be officially called "SimCity" for trademark reasons), which is itself a modified version of the Unix TCL/Tk/X11 SimCity.

More impotently, I did a Google image search; I could be mistaken but the appearance of the OLPC/Micropolis UI, and the Unix TCL/Tk/X11 UI, seams quite different then that of other versions of SimCity. We did have a Mac screen-shot, which seamed to have the "classical" UI. I had this speedy deleted as "Non-free images [...] identified as being replaceable by a free image", the free images being the Micropolis/SGI Indigo ones we have in the article. Sense the appearance some releases (seamanly) differs allot from others, the image might not have been eligible for speedy deletion in the first place. If you wanted to challenge the speedy deletion, and add the image to the article, I wouldn't object. Others might tough; our policy on non-free images is rather strict, especially when free images are available.

How about this: for now we replace one or both of those images with these images of OLPC SimCity (identical except for saying "SimCity" insted of "Micropolis"), and label them as such, and possibly a note about the UI appearance being different then other versions. Emmette Hernandez Coleman (talk) 01:47, 14 January 2014 (UTC)

The UI is indeed radically different in appearance (and screen resolution). I agree with your proposal in the last paragraph for the time being, and will challenge the speedy deletion myself. Pinkbeast (talk) 14:07, 14 January 2014 (UTC)

File:SimCity Mac.png has been restored. I propose we replace the "bare city" image at the start of the article with that one (with a caption that makes it clear that the Mac version is atypical in being monochrome), edit the caption under the second image to say "in Micropolis", and perhaps replace the image at SimCity as well. Pinkbeast (talk) 17:25, 21 January 2014 (UTC)

Release Date

Just read an article (https://medium.com/re-form/simcity-that-i-used-to-know-d5d8c49e3e1d) where Will Wright states the initial release date was February 1989 for the Mac and Amiga versions, with the IBM version releasing October 1989. I tried looking around for the exact February date but didn't find anything immediately. The "First release" date should be updated, yea? What should it be sans an exact date? Just 'February, 1989'? — Preceding unsigned comment added by TheMaster42 (talk • contribs) 16:59, 19 October 2014 (UTC)

I agree. Here is an NYTimes article dated June 15, 1989 saying the game is already widely available. I found the trademark application stating the name's first use in commerce as 1989-02-01. --Apoc2400 (talk) 11:01, 20 October 2014 (UTC)

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Archive link seems to be a 404 and can't find a working version. Pinkbeast (talk) 16:47, 6 March 2018 (UTC)

Credits?

Just wondering if there should be a credits section listing the names of developers, graphic artists, etc. for the game? The sidebox does list the publisher and designer but there were programmers, sound engineers, etc. Should they be credited? Looked around on a few other game pages. Maybe the names of the programmers, etc. should just be added to the sidebox like they are on the Age of Empires page? Bil Simser (talk) 16:57, 5 March 2018 (UTC)

Source

• https://web.archive.org/web/20060215211702/http://crucialclassics_08.1up.com/

Why is listed in "Video games about Nazi Germany"?

OK while I was writing this comment I searched and I found the somewhat controversial "1944 Hamburg Scenario" in which you have to rebuild the city after the Allies bombing. Anyway the tag "Video games about Nazi Germany", in my opinion, is not something that should be applied lightly. The reason should be added to the article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.41.56.148 (talk) 12:36, 6 January 2023 (UTC)

Mac date

I wonder why Macworld lists Simcity in their "New Products" section in August 1989, when the game supposedly came out in February 1989 for Mac/Amiga? I went through all of the 1989 issues and they list it only in August. See: [2] --Mika1h (talk) 14:53, 26 April 2023 (UTC)

Reviews

• Jeux & Stratégie nouvelle formule #3

207.229.139.154 (talk) 18:37, 29 April 2023 (UTC)

References