Simsville is to be the next game from the
award-winning bloke who designed
SimCity, and
The Sims, and also founded
Maxis (Only for it to be taken over by
Electronic Arts, but I
digress). Little is known about Simville as it stands; it is said to be a "
fusion between
SimCity and
The Sims", where I assume you take less complete control over a wider collection of
folklets.
Previews speak of a radical departure by Maxis from the normal isometric perspective that was found in Simcity 2000, 3000 and The Sims, not to mention the recently-canned SimMars, SimTown and a whole collection of other Mini-sim games. The game will see you managing cars (although apparently taxis are around) as well as businesses and places of work for your Sims.
My reaction is that I'm not sure what to think. Maxis have a reputation for producing great games, but Electronic Arts have a rep for squeezing game franchises dry until they squeak. Which way they'll jump with this one remains to be seen. The release date is might be sometime in the summer of this year (2001), and I'll keep "updating this node" as I know more.
Bye bye. SimsVille was cancelled on 20th September 2001, possibly because it was overbudget and over deadline, but partly because I suspect they wanted the developers to churn out Yet More The Sims Expansion Packs