A new patch is now available for SimCity Societies. The 123mb update adds two more disasters, six new events, new buildings, and also takes care of some more bugs. Click through for a full list of changes

New features:

In all modes of play: Read more »

Now available on FileShack is patch 3 for SimCity Societies, Tilted Mill Entertainment's city simulator released last November. An 68mb download, patch 3 includes performance enhancements, user interface improvements and a new disaster in the form of a UFO attack.

SimCity Societies Game Update #3 Read more »

The first city pack for SimCity Societies will arrive in May, according to publisher Electronic Arts.

Following a theme of travel and tourism, SimCity Societies Destinations will offer players another 100 new buildings to use in the urban planner. Check out a few screenshots of the additions, including a particularly un-aerodynamic plane, below.

According to a story on GameSpy, a new patch is in development for SimCity Societies which will add content and additional features to the Tilted Mill Entertainment developed city simulator.

Expanding on the strategic mode introduced in a previous patch, the upcoming update will introduce new interface elements to help control more complex cities. The UI update will also include a building filter, and improves emergency services management. Read more »

The first SimCity Societies patch has been released, offering a number of fixes and improvements for this newly released city building game. It also includes two new buildings and terrain maps. List of changes: * 2 exclusive buildings & 2 terrain maps * Improved install experience for custom content downloads * Optimized shadows * Fixed a random crash bug * Improved localized text * Improved pollution UI * Improved effectiveness of Power Purchase special action

Tilted Mill Entertainment's SimCity Societies has gone gold and will retail for the PC November 21, publisher EA announced today. The game is the first major PC installment in the SimCity series that series creator Maxis hasn't developed. The game strips away some of the more technical aspects of the SimCity series like zoning and setting up public works in favor of socially oriented constructs. And new kinds of resources called "social energies" gauge a city's industry, wealth, obedience, knowledge, devotion, and creativity, allowing gamers to use these resources to enhance their society's features. For more information, check out longtime SimCity fan and Shacknews editor Nick Breckon's surprisingly optimistic preview of the title.

This week's show is both early and a quickie, as scheduling concerns backed us into a bit of a Monday evening corner. Episode 9 starts out with Chris Remo, Chris Faylor, Nick Breckon, and Carlos Bergfeld, and by the end has been whittled down to Remo and Bergfeld. Game impressions on tap include Army of Two (PS3, X360), SimCity Societies (PC), and Medal of Honor Heroes 2 for Wii. In the news category, we touch on the Wii Zapper and its bundled game Link's Crossbow Training, new Rock Band tracks (Pixies!), Eternity's Child moving from Xbox Live Arcade to Wii, Sin & Punishment hitting Virtual Console, and Ubisoft quietly retracting its free game offers. Due to time constraints, we unfortunately didn't get to address reader questions this week, but we'll make it up to you! Keep sending them in to shackcast@shacknews.com. Play or download the podcast now, browse the episodes through iTunes, RSS, or Digg, or check out the full breakdown. 00:00: It's a song! 00:30: Wii Zapper comes with Link's Crossbow Training! What? (Story) 09:01: KISS, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pixies, more join Rock Band! (Story) 13:15: 2D platformer Eternity's Child moves from XBLA to Wii. (Story) 17:30: Sin & Punishment finally makes it to English courtesy of VC! (Story) 18:55: The ins and outs of "improved" Xbox Live Arcade ports. 22:01: Ubisoft's free games (story) aren't free anymore! 24:10: We went to EA. Carlos doesn't like SimCity Societies. Here's why. 29:12: Faylor rebuts! 31:26: Medal of Honor Heroes 2 for Wii actually looks good! (Preview) 32:40: When 32p online was announced, we actually thought we misheard. 37:05: Faylor likes EA's dumbed-down kiddy controls because he's a big baby. 37:56: lol Peter Moore 40:23: Army of Two is rad. If you don't think it's rad, you are lame. (Preview) 49:36: Outtro and outtakes!

There's a SimCity Societies preview on GameShark, taking a hands-on look at the city builder sequel.

Walking up to the guys from Societies developer Tilted Mill, I felt a little guilty. After all, I reported on the nightmare that was SimCity Societies' announcement--a story that stirred a bowl of shit to the point of puree, with die-hard City fans calling for blood in a matter of minutes. With that image in mind, I still managed to walk away from my Societies demonstration in an optimistic mood. As it turns out, the game is not so much evolutionarily stunted as it is more accessible; the city management isn't less detailed than in previous SimCity games--just less traditional. City building is still the name of the game here, literally and figuratively. City logistics return, and dozens of power plants and other such mechanics are still required. A news ticker scrolls across the bottom of the screen updating you on urban developments, and disasters will be back causing frustratingly random--or intentionally hilarious--destruction, although none are in the game at this point. Make no mistake, however--Societies makes a few significant changes to the established SimCity formula. Gone is the zoning and building evolution therein. A menu of hundreds of individual buildings takes its place. Each structure sits on a fairly large plot of land, which gives the game a slightly more intimate feel, though not in a simplistic SimTown way. The cityscape was large enough for a couple hundred buildings, and after zooming out to view the full countryside, it seemed more like a normal SimCity title than I had expected. Buildings have attributes which both affect other buildings and directly impact the Sim citizens. For instance, the "Think Tank" building boosts the "societal energy" of corporate buildings within a certain radius, increasing their productivity. A strip mall can be upgraded to sell cell phones, which make Sims happy for six days. A pawn shop has a 5% chance to create a criminal, whereas an indie label or a cinemaplex might attract or create celebrities. Creating buildings came off as straightforward enough to not intimidate newcomers to the series, while maximizing their attributes seemed to provide enough depth for efficiency experts to play with. Though the game is clearly designed around culture and society, the Sim citizens themselves aren't focused on those games as much as one might expect. Rather than being used as a random distraction or minigame within a city management frame, they are instead intended to be fun, visual indicators of how your city is progressing. As you are zoomed in on a particular street corner, you may notice a thief grabbing a woman's purse--and, depending on your police coverage, he may or may not be stopped. You can follow individual Sims, in my case the randomly-named movie star Poncho Escobar, who stopped by at a cafe after a night at a premiere, increasing its energy state with his mere presence. Aesthetically speaking, Societies isn't quite breathtaking in its pre-alpha state, but it gets the job done with competent texture work and a few striking touches. Plenty of 3D cars zip by, and the Sims themselves are detailed enough to make a zoomed-in scene worth watching. The passage of time is accentuated with the use of real-time shadows, the sun stretching the dark across the landscape the more gameplay is accelerated. These shadows are currently a little overactive, appearing flickery and distracting, as time is always moving at a decent clip in a SimCity title. When cities change from one energy state to another, be it to an industrial town or to an artistic metropolis, the appearance of all structures shifts noticeably. As the demonstration city moved from a balanced city to an industrial blue-collar hub, the sky shifted from a blue hue to a brown haze, and city streets exhibited cracks and general decay. If a city turns into an authoritarian state, security cameras might watch over potential protesters, and propaganda posters might be plastered onto buildings and billboards. A representative from Tilted Mill told me that the game will be incredibly modable. Those proficient in C# and XML will have easy access to every asset in the game, and basic tools will be provided to the community for building creation. An official website is planned for the exchange of buildings, much like the way unofficial content is supported by publisher Electronic Arts' The Sims site. I was ready to hate SimCity Societies like everyone else, but based on a quick look, it's time to cut Tilted Mill some slack. The game may never live up to the high expectations of SimCity fans who crave a more realistic experience, myself included, but that doesn't mean it won't be a good game with unique contributions. From what I've seen, there is a lot of potential in SimCity Societies for a successful spin-off of the traditional SimCity foundation.

Also at 1UP is this SimCity Societies Q&A. EA's Rod Humble talks about contracting out development of the game to Tilted Mill, the lack of involvement by Will Wright and the concerns of SimCity fans among other things.

New details have been released on SimCity Societies, the controversial continuation of the SimCity franchise. With the series' reigns having been handed from long-time developer Maxis to fellow city builders Tilted Mill Entertainment (Caesar IV, Immortal Cities: Children of the Nile), Societies will feature a greater emphasis on social management than past SimCity titles, while still remaining an urban planner at heart. To alleviate the fears of fans, who were more than apprehensive following announcement of the game's new direction, Electronic Arts has stated that the PC game will contain over 350 building types. However, in light of its plebeian focus, Societies will introduce a wholly new feature to the series. Each building can each be combined or connected to form new structures, which will produce or consume a resource dubbed "social energy." The social energy of a city will be determined by the manner in which players match particular building traits, such as industry, wealth, obedience, knowledge, devotion, or creativity. Using these social energies, players will be able to theme their urban landscapes, with given examples ranging from artistic and haunted cities, to green or spiritual cities. The social energy of a given city can be used to turn it into an Orwellian police state, or a joyous paradise filled with gingerbread houses and ferris wheels. Architecture will be drawn from a variety of periods, including fantastical and futuristic designs. Some buildings will include click-on actions, enabling players to interact with their metropolises. Rod Humble, head of the Sims Division studio, described his experience with the game: "Sometimes I build an aggressive police state where stragglers are dragged off to re-conditioning centers and emerge ready for work. Other times, I build a green community in the tropics, where the citizens grow their own food and have a small environmental footprint." Electronic Arts also set a rough time frame for release, announcing that SimCity Societies is slated to hit stores in November of this year.

1UP has followed up their revealing of SimCity Societies with a preview of the game, which is in development at Tilted Mill Entertainment. There are some more screenshots here.

For the first time, a major SimCity game will be developed by a company other than the series' creator Maxis. A Games for Windows cover story confirms that Electronic Arts has handed development duties on the upcoming SimCity Societies to Tilted Mill Entertainment. Established in 2002 by veterans of Impression Games--the developer of the Lord of the Realm and Caesar series--Tilted Mill has most recently worked on the continuation of another city management game with Caesar IV. In a report on the new SimCity, 1UP provided a single screenshot of the PC game, showing a low-altitude perspective of a city block. Based on Tilted's experience, as well as the "social" title, the game is expected to focus more on individual citizenry, rather than attempting the large-scale urban simulation of previous titles. Response to the change by fans was decidedly reactionary. In a thread on the company's message board titled "You killed Sim City!" Tilted Mill president Chris Beatrice clarified the game's approach, while urging fans not to prematurely judge his team's efforts. "I do not want to mislead anyone: This SC is not a realistic urban simulation, which I understand, to many, represents the heart of what SC is," Beatrice admitted. "No one is blind to that. And if you're just completely turned off, even angered by the mere notion of any game called 'SimCity' that is not a detailed, realistic urban simulator, I absolutely understand that viewpoint, and absolutely respect it. "We are absolutely thrilled to be a part of this venerable series, are extremely proud of what we have put together, and make no apologies about what we have managed to create. And while our past experiences (including contributions from many of you) certainly inform all our ongoing efforts, this SC is its own unique creation."

Shacknews has today learned from an EA representative that SimCity Societies is the working title for the fifth main game in the popular Maxis city management series. Details on the game are being held until the publishing of a story in the next issue of Games for Windows: The Official Magazine. SimCity Societies will mark the return of the SimCity franchise following the 2003 release of SimCity 4: Rush Hour. It also appears to signal some type of change in gameplay or setting, based on its deviation from standard numerical titles. Recent entries in the series have experimented with showing a more personal level of urban life. SimCity 4 supported the importing of characters from Maxis' The Sims into the urban planner, allowing players to track their movements and habits. GameStop currently lists the PC title as releasing on November 13, 2007, although that date is unconfirmed and is likely the result of speculation. As always, the new Sim City will be developed by Maxis, a wholly-owned subsidiary of EA. SimCity DS, developed by EA Japan and based on SimCity 3000, is set for release this month.