Mac game publisher Aspyr Media Inc. announced last week that it’s shipping its Macintosh conversion of SimCity 4, the enormously popular city building sim game from Maxis and EA. Now, Apple has update its own Games site with a special feature on the game.
Like its predecessors, SimCity 4 enables you to plan and build a thriving urban metropolis teeming with citizens called Sims. It’s up to you to manage the budget, dictate growth by zoning individual areas and more. But SimCity 4 imbues its players with godlike capabilities too, according to Apple’s Brad Cook: “… when you decide to zap a city because it has incurred your wrath, you can call in disasters that range from tornadoes and earthquakes to meteor showers and giant killer robots from space.”
What’s more, if you’re an avid player of The Sims — another EA/Maxis hit franchise that Aspyr has had tremendous success with in the Mac market — you can import your Sims characters into SimCity 4, too, to watch how they react to your city-building expertise.
SimCity 4 introduces linked areas for the first time. “Sims can now work in one city and live in another,” explained Maxis producer Sean Decker. “This allows players to build specialized cities such as bedroom communities, resort towns, financial centers, and industrial cities.”
Aspyr announced that SimCity 4 was in manufacturing last week. Expect to see it on store shelves presently. And check out Apple’s Web site for details, screen shots, tips and tricks and more.