This may be a little late, but in some cases, late is better than never! Thanks to a tip from Dani McDowell, we’ve stumbled upon a SimCity Societies preview from E3 two weeks ago. WorldSims’ ManagerJosh managed to get a pass into E3, and was allowed to take a direct look at the game. Although he did post a written article, the real treasure of this preview is the screenshots. Although they’re photographs of a TV screen, they’re pretty high resolution and fairly clear.

The pictures show some very interesting things, not the least of which is a news ticker. The SimCity news ticker first appeared in SimCity 3000, but was modified for inclusion in SimCity 4. However, many people liked the SC3000 ticker better, and that appears to be what will be included in SimCity Societies. This could be an indication that Tilted Mill is trying to bring the game closer to the traditional SimCity feel, and it’s definitely a step in the right direction. The graphics also appear to have improved drastically since the fifth SimCity was announced way back on June 12. All in all, there are some very good improvements that we haven’t seen in other E3 previews.

More items of significance appeared in the article that WorldSims owner ManagerJosh wrote about his preview. For example, he confirms that mass transit (such as buses and subways), which previously had not been mentioned in any previews, is definitely included in the game. Even though he started off skeptical, ManagerJosh’s general impressions were very good!