Earlier this year, at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, EA first announced that a new SimCity game was in the works. Details regarding availability were kept under wraps at the time, but now the company has come forward at E3 revealing the release target for SimCity is February 2013. The title will be developed by Maxis using their new GlassBox game engine, a new physics engine, and will be fully 3D.
The game will simply be called SimCity, not SimCity 5, as it's a total reboot of the franchise and goes back to its roots as a true city-building simulator. There are several new gameplay elements, such as finite resources and upgradeable buildings, and Maxis promises to simulate everything you see, from the individual cars on the road to citizens facing everyday challenges such as losing a job or finding a new one.
A new multiplayer mode will allow players to "change the world together." Each player gets their own city and can forge partnerships with one another to share resources or boost imports and exports.
In addition to the full-fledged, PC-exclusive game, EA and Maxis will also be releasing SimCity Social in the next few weeks for the Facebook crowd. The game was developed in collaboration with Playfish and looks to be a direct competitor to Zynga's Cityville. Facebook users are told to expect "no set linear paths to follow." Cities evolve as a direct result of player-driven choice and players will have to deal with things like fires, crime and pollution, as well as building friendly relationships or intense rivalries with other cities.