Video Games

It's been interesting to have another crack at Simicyt 4 recently. I'm amazed that the game is 6 years old, having been released in 2003. I've essentially had one set of cities going for year, and every time I have a look at it, it feels different.

Simcity is one of those games with no end point, which essentially continues until you're sick of playing. I've stopped playing for long periods of time and always been able to come back and rethink things and do something different.

One thing that's struck me though recently is how little the game reflects some of the latest urban thinking in terms of an ability to create walkable / sustinable / livable spaces. This is not that surprising, but I do think it's interesting how difficult it is to really have super dense spaces. (This may just be my experience however).

The other thing is that i recently went through my video games box. This is the box that has all the boxes of software that I've purchasd over the years. Man are there a lot! It's been interesting to see how my interests have changed, and also how many games I have that I will likely never play again. I also realized how the sports titles that are released every year encourage you to buy more than you normally would. Small changes is rosters in the NHL do not deserve an entire update, you only get a good update every 3 year,s problem is it's never clear which years will be good, and which ones not.

I've been surprised to a certain extent how the video game market has seemed to move beyond the PC. I guess with all the HD TVs and increased capabilities of the gaming systems it's not that surprising, but a lot of the hottest games don't seem to be released for PC anymore. It's a shame, as I don't really want to buy a PS3 or a Wii particularly.