From FastCompany:

IBM Launches Its Version of SimCity BY Ariel SchwartzMon Oct 4, 2010

Virtual city planning is fun; just ask anyone who has spent hours entranced by Will Wright’s classic game, SimCity. That’s why it isn’t just professional urban planners who will be excited to see CityOne, IBM’s new city simulation game. It’s intended to help officials, agencies, and developers solve real-world problems ripped from the headlines–such as climate change, electrical grid management, banking and retail supply chain crises. In total, there are more than 100 scenarios in the game.

Unlike SimCity and its sequels, which allowed players to start from scratch, CityOne lets you navigate a fully-formed city. It makes sense–in the real world, city planners don’t usually get to build new landscapes from the ground up. They have to deal with already-messy realities.

A sample scenario, courtesy of IBM:

Water Crisis Management: A city is struggling as water usage increases twice as fast as the population, supplies are becoming strained and possibly polluted, and the municipality is losing almost half of its water through leaky pipes. On top of all that, energy costs continue to rise. To complete the mission, players must come up with a way to deliver the highest water quality at the lowest cost in real-time.The free game is proving to be popular. Over 8,000 people have pre-registered since it was announced in May, and hundreds of players across the globe have started playing since CityOne launched on Monday.

Can we harness our love of games to make real change? Decide for yourself–CityOne is available here.

CityOne

Ariel Schwartz can be reached on Twitter or by email.

Civilization V takes this definitive strategy game series in new directions with the introduction of hexagon tiles allowing for deeper strategy, more realistic gameplay and stunning organic landscapes for players to explore as they expand their empire. The brand new engine orchestrates a spectacular visual experience that brings players closer to the Civ experience than ever, featuring fully animated leaders interacting with players from a screen-filling diplomatic scene and speaking in their native language for the first time. Wars between empires feel massive as armies dominate the landscape, and combat is more exciting and intense than ever before. The addition of ranged bombardment allows players to fire weapons from behind the front lines, challenging players to develop clever new strategies to guarantee victory on the battlefield. In addition to the new gameplay features debuting in Civilization V, an extensive suite of community, modding and multiplayer elements will also make an appearance.

Definitely sounds worthy of looking forward to! The official site is in the air as well at http://www.civilization5.com/ 

Release is scheduled for this fall.

In addition to Civ5 another game was announced as well:

In addition to Civilization V, Firaxis Games is also currently developing Sid Meier’s Civilization® Network™, a Civ game for Facebook. With Sid Meier leading design, Civilization Network will offer yet another option for world domination to both the casual gamer and the biggest fan of the series. It’s another way to access the famously addictive world of Civilization.

There’s plenty of drivel to go around, so strap yourself in and (try to) enjoy the ride! This will likely be the final episode of the podcast unless there are any major developments or announcements concerning the city building genre. Rex and I discuss this in more detail during the show. This week we talk about the current status and future of the podcast, reception and development of Cities XL, the future of the city simulation game, holiday plans, personal happenings and movies.

Click here to listen to episode 30 (50.0 MB, 54:38, mp3).

If anyone has questions or comments, please feel free to post them here or send us an email to podcast@simphoni.net. This episode was produced, recorded and edited by me. It features Trixin as host and Rexer as co-host. We wish you all the very best over this holiday season and in the coming new year! Thank you all very much for tuning in and supporting the podcast over the past two years!

This is the last regular episode for awhile, thus giving Rex and Dave an excuse to trash the show by insulting entire nations and doing poor impersonations of Arnold Schwarzenegger. This week we talk about feedback regarding the previous episode of the show, North American release of Cities XL, Spore updates, previews of The Sims 3 World Adventures, economics and movies.

Click here to listen to episode 29 (42.1 MB, 45:58, mp3).

New to the SIMphoni Podcast? Click here to listen to the promo and some clips from previous episodes of the podcast (4.1 MB, 4:26, mp3).

If anyone has questions or comments, please feel free to post them here or send us an email to podcast@simphoni.net. This episode was produced, recorded and edited by me. It features Trixin as host, Rexer as co-host and Dave the Hokie as our guest. Enjoy and stay tuned for future shows with Philippe DaSilva, airing in September!

This week we do not talk about feedback regarding the previous episode of the show, SIMphoni development, Cities XL limited edition content, The Sims 3 World Adventures and Spore coming to the Nintendo Wii and DS. Listen closely as Dave makes a series of sounds never heard by mankind.

Click here to listen to episode 28 (36.4 MB, 39:46, mp3).

New to the SIMphoni Podcast? Click here to listen to the promo and some clips from previous episodes of the podcast (4.1 MB, 4:26, mp3).

If anyone has questions or comments, please feel free to post them here or send us an email to podcast@simphoni.net. This episode was produced, recorded and edited by me. It features Trixin as host, Rexer as co-host and Dave the Hokie as our guest. Enjoy and stay tuned for episode 29, airing August 30th!

The end of the world is near! Dave lasts the full show without a crass joke, Rex’s computer melts and Trixin’s microphone goes kaput. Plus, there’s some pre-show and post-show audio goodness. This week we talk about feedback regarding the previous episode of the show, apologies for Dave’s jokes, Cities XL beta key giveaways, possible reasons for the delayed release of Cities XL and road trips.

Click here to listen to episode 27 (40.3 MB, 43:59, mp3).

New to the SIMphoni Podcast? Click here to listen to the promo and some clips from previous episodes of the podcast (4.1 MB, 4:26, mp3).

If anyone has questions or comments, please feel free to post them here or send us an email to podcast@simphoni.net. This episode was produced, recorded and edited by me. It features Trixin as host, Rexer as co-host and Dave the Hokie as our guest. Enjoy and stay tuned for episode 28, airing August 16th!

Guests galore switch in and out during the episode as Dave joins us halfway through and Rex drops out during the last segment. This week we talk about feedback regarding the previous episode of the show, Cities XL beta key giveaways, community happenings and… ants. Antonio from Portugal joins us to discuss The SIMphoni Grey Line Awards.

Click here to listen to episode 26 (28.0 MB, 30:35, mp3).

New to the SIMphoni Podcast? Click here to listen to the promo and some clips from previous episodes of the podcast (4.1 MB, 4:26, mp3).

If anyone has questions or comments, please feel free to post them here or send us an email to podcast@simphoni.net. This episode was produced, recorded and edited by me. It features Trixin as host, Rexer as co-host, Dave the Hokie and Ant as our guests. Enjoy and stay tuned for episode 27, airing July 19th!

Simphoni has 12 keys to give out, so there were 12 winners to be named. Gil, toroca and I individually rated all entries for all items that we asked for in the opening post. This gave us three separate rankings, which we subsequently merged into one.

The lucky winners are:

1: Vlad @ 36 points
2: Shoob @ 32 points
3: Laurelin @ 28 points
4: nileq @ 26 points
4: Lain @ 26 points
6: blue tile @ 19 points
7: toolonglyf @ 17 points
8: uko @ 13 points
9: ChrisK @ 9 points
10: etix @ 8 points
11: Atrux @ 7 points
11: lediur @ 7 points

All winners will be contacted by me with their key and how to enroll the beta ASAP.

Congratulations to all winners, and thanks to all that participated!

This week we talk about feedback regarding the previous episode of the show, progress with the podcast answering machine, SIMphoni merchandising, SIMphoni forum changes, an in depth review of The Sims 3 and wacky weather.

Click here to listen to episode 25 (46.8 MB, 51:08, mp3).

New to the SIMphoni Podcast? Click here to listen to the promo and some clips from previous episodes of the podcast (4.1 MB, 4:26, mp3).

If anyone has questions or comments, please feel free to post them here or send us an email to podcast@simphoni.net. This episode was produced, recorded and edited by me. It features Trixin as host and Rexer as co-host. Enjoy and stay tuned for episode 26, airing July 7th!

We have a great show lined up for you this week as Philippe Da Silva joins us to address issues regarding the solo and online modes of Cities XL. This week we talk about feedback regarding the previous episode of the show, a podcast phone line, critical consensus of The Sims 3, personal happenings and of course a TON of information regarding Cities XL.

Click here to listen to episode 24 (61.1 MB, 1:06:40, mp3).

New to the SIMphoni Podcast? Click here to listen to the promo and some clips from previous episodes of the podcast (4.1 MB, 4:26, mp3).

If anyone has questions or comments, please feel free to post them here or send us an email to podcast@simphoni.net. This episode was produced, recorded and edited by me. It features Trixin as host, Rexer as co-host and Philippe Da Silva as our guest. Enjoy and stay tuned for The Sims 3 Special, airing soon!

Dave is unable to join us for the show, so it’s up to Rex to interrupt the show with as many obscure pop culture references as possible. This week we talk about feedback regarding the previous episode of the show, SIMphoni summer awards, release of The Sims 3, solo versus online play for Cities XL, fire and random movie quotes, courtesy of Rex.

Click here to listen to episode 23 (41.3 MB, 45:05, mp3).

New to the SIMphoni Podcast? Click here to listen to the promo and some clips from previous episodes of the podcast (4.1 MB, 4:26, mp3).

If anyone has questions or comments, please feel free to post them here or send us an email to podcast@simphoni.net. This episode was produced, recorded and edited by me. It features Trixin as host and Rexer as co-host. Enjoy and stay tuned for episode 24, airing June 14th!

I would like to apologize to everybody for everything that’s ever happened in the history of ever. Dave’s microphone STILL doesn’t work and Rex does his job by insulting each and every human being on this planet. There’s also some pre-show goodness and a little surprise after the outro, so be sure to listen to the end. This week we talk about feedback regarding the previous episode of the show, apologies galore, Cities XL development, early impressions of The Sims 3 and various personal happenings.

Click here to listen to episode 22 (39.3 MB, 42:57, mp3).

New to the SIMphoni Podcast? Click here to listen to the promo and some clips from previous episodes of the podcast (4.1 MB, 4:26, mp3).

If anyone has questions or comments, please feel free to post them here or send us an email to podcast@simphoni.net. This episode was produced, recorded and edited by me. It features Trixin as host, Rexer and Dave the Hokie as co-hosts. Enjoy and stay tuned for episode 23, airing May 31st!