Maxis teased a big reveal a couple of days ago and it turns out that, today, they’ve fully announcing a new expansion. The expansion is called SimCity: Cities of Tomorrow.
A teaser trailer is expected later today but so far we have some details on what to expect. Maxis are looking to the future with flying drones that act as emergency services, monorails and inter-joining mega-towers with modules that can effect the whole region.
There’s also an evil corporation called Megacorp who are manufacturing some kind of weird “resource” called “Omega” which can ruin your population with pollution but can also bring high profit and industrial advancement if you side with them. Getting the right balance will be the key to success if you take the risk.
Players who do not have the expansion will be able to join their cities with players that do. With the expansion installed, current cities will be upgraded once the the “Control Net” resource has been researched to power the futuristic buildings.
The press blurb reads as follows:
“Will the world of tomorrow be a utopia powered by clean energy or an industrial society consumed by mass commercialism?” said Patrick Buechner, General Manager, Maxis Emeryville. “With SimCity Cities of Tomorrow, players can build the future as they imagine it. Transport your Sims on MagLev, power your cities with fusion reactors or tidal wave generators, manufacture a legion of drones to serve your Sims and build massive MegaTowers that dwarf modern skyscrapers. We’re giving you plausible technologies to take your cities onto a journey 50 years into the future. What will you create?”
SimCity Cities of Tomorrow gives players an entirely new way to dream about their city of the future. New regions, new future technology, new city specializations and new transportation methods will transform the way that cities take shape and evolve. Will they create a utopian society underpinned by clean technology under the auspices of the Academy, or encourage giant corporation OmegaCo to strip-mine natural resources and pollute in the name of feeding consumerism? For the first time in the history of the franchise, cities can be built vertically with enormous multi-zone MegaTowers that extend high into the sky and dwarf the rest of the city. Education and research will help players discover new technologies that make their cities less polluted, less reliant on natural resources, managed day-to-day by service drones and fueled by green energy. As the population increases, Sims will live, work, and play closer together. When players have finished deciding whether they want their Sims to live together in harmony, or as members of an exploited workforce, they can rain chaos upon them by unleashing an all-new disaster exclusive to this expansion pack.
The Cities of Tomorrow expansion will launch on 12 November and four new maps will also be available for players including a tropical and wasteland map.
A video preview has just been posted on IGN before the launch trailer which will be coming today.
