I could probably watch someone play the new SimCity without ever picking up a mouse to build my own world. It looks so pretty, that I’m sure it could be the world’s most relaxing e-sport: “And M41m just created a residential neighbourhood; what will he think of next? I hope that neighbourhood has street lights, because night is falling on M41m street”. Night you say, future commentator of my SimCity e-sports fantasy?
Yup: to go with the ridiculous simulation powers of the engine, that manages to convey accurate information of the make-up of the world through the city’s animation (the mass of commuters travellng to work really does show the scale of the workforce), night will fall on the city. Are you ready for proof? See that ‘Day’ screenshot at the top of the page? Hold that in your mind. Got it? Now move your eyes down.
Night!
There’s a lot more interesting discussion on the aesthetic choices of SimCity over on the official blog. Bonus: it’s written by Ocean Quigley, possibly the greatest name in the history of SimCity Official blog writers.