Topic: SimCity Creator DS and the Global Warming Age

[Kairon]

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/blogArt.cfm?artid=16718

  In SimCity 2000 I went crazy with Wind Turbines and Hydroelectric dams. My city (the great urban metropolis known as "Caizmany") was a paragon of renewable resources, clean energy, and powerplants that didn't threaten to have radioactive meltdowns.    

I guess I've always had a tiny element of environmental awareness when it came to the SimCity games (lots of green space! parks everywhere!), so I was happy to spot giant environmentally conscious wind turbines in SimCity Creator for the Wii last Friday at EA. But my attention was also piqued with an aspect of SimCity Creator DS that, while not overt, showed an awareness of the modern day concerns about global warming.    

SimCity Creator DS is about building a city through different eras of civilization, from the stone age to modern day. But the developers have dubbed the modern day time period as the "Global Warming Age." Each distinct time period has its challenges, and I wonder whether the challenge in this age was about dealing with pollution and energy sources, some sort of reflection of our times?    

Developer Mitch Ueno, presenting the DS game, also told us about a "future" time period that players would be able to play in if they'd "beaten" the "Global Warming Age" era. We were told that it would be a long and challenging process, but that determined players could overcome the challenges we face today and emerge in a sort of "Post-Global Warming" future, with brand new architecture and technology.    

It's great that EA is optimistic in envisioning a future where mankind has overcome our greenhouse issues. SimCity Creator DS is obviously meant purely for entertainment, but I also think it's wonderful that the game's "hard mode" is fixing today's problems, and that a pollution free future is the ultimate alternate ending.

[KDR_11k]

I'm not sure if letting the player reach a good end after a long and difficult struggle counts as optimism. It IS a videogame, can't have it be unbeatable.

[King of Twitch]

Do you get an Al Gore statue when you hit 500,000 people?

[RABicle]

THey should've been more open ended about it. There should be an environmentalism phase and post apocalyptic phase, which shows the horrible society we'll have if nothing is done to combat global warming.

[DAaaMan64]

Have we all tried just turning on our fans yet?

[UltimatePartyBear]

I don't understand what's different.  Sim City has always included managing pollution.

[Kairon]

I don't understand what's different.  Sim City has always included managing pollution.

You're right, but it's still worthwhile to step back and appreciate that SimCity doesn't do it an overt manner, but just slides it in there. Maybe that's just a result of the type of game it is though: simulations and interconnected systems are great for showing how things can interact and affect each other. They're much more subtle (insidious?) than obvious attempts to 0impart lessons to gamers.

[walkingdead]

THey should've been more open ended about it. There should be an environmentalism phase and post apocalyptic phase, which shows the horrible society we'll have if nothing is done to combat global warming.

or like many other people believe you could have the global warming stage... then the global cooling stage... cause man made global warming is not very factual right now.

[KDR_11k]

Yeah, yeah, that'll be the US version.

[NWR_insanolord]

Apparently we're allowed to talk about politics in the blog section.

[RABicle]

THey should've been more open ended about it. There should be an environmentalism phase and post apocalyptic phase, which shows the horrible society we'll have if nothing is done to combat global warming.

or like many other people believe you could have the global warming stage... then the global cooling stage... cause man made global warming is not very factual right now.

Thank you first time poster. I guess all those trees we're cutting down and all that carbon we're releasing into the atmosphere is making no difference.

I don't understand what's different.  Sim City has always included managing pollution.

Because back then, all pollution affected was land value and life expectancy.

[UltimatePartyBear]

I don't understand what's different.  Sim City has always included managing pollution.

Because back then, all pollution affected was land value and life expectancy.

So what they've added is basically a technology level that's locked until you get local pollution under some value, which somehow fixes a worldwide climate problem.  As if the series wasn't already too optimistic about renewable energy. 

[Caliban]

Thank you first time poster. I guess all those trees we're cutting down and all that carbon we're releasing into the atmosphere is making no difference.

I wouldn't be so worried about deforestation other than the fact that it is causing the disappearance of biodiversity that affect macro and micro ecosystems, and not to mention that the Taiga (Boreal Forest) that contains 1/3 of all the trees on Earth, so I wouldn't be too worried about Oxygen production.

What is making a significant difference in the global greenhouse effects is Methane that is brought by the insane amount of both cattle, and their farting. Methane as a greenhouse gas is far more effective than water, or Carbon Dioxide, and its levels are alarmingly rising without giving our planet enough time to absorve it.

[Jonnyboy117]

Thank you first time poster.

This is a personal attack and is ad hominem to boot.  You are warned.

Apparently we're allowed to talk about politics in the blog section.

No.  Politics and environmentalism are two separate things.  You may discuss the latter in this thread to the extent that it relates to this game or gaming in general.  This is a gaming forum, so keep the discussion game-related no matter what other issues become involved.

[RABicle]

Thank you first time poster. I guess all those trees we're cutting down and all that carbon we're releasing into the atmosphere is making no difference.

I wouldn't be so worried about deforestation other than the fact that it is causing the disappearance of biodiversity that affect macro and micro ecosystems, and not to mention that the Taiga (Boreal Forest) that contains 1/3 of all the trees on Earth, so I wouldn't be too worried about Oxygen production.

What is making a significant difference in the global greenhouse effects is Methane that is brought by the insane amount of both cattle, and their farting. Methane as a greenhouse gas is far more effective than water, or Carbon Dioxide, and its levels are alarmingly rising without giving our planet enough time to absorve it.

And guess what cleared Amazon turns into? That's right, soy farms to feed cattle.

[Caliban]

True.

[ShyGuy]

I blame Brazil for the shoddy SimCity DS port.

[IceCold]

What is making a significant difference in the global greenhouse effects is Methane that is brought by the insane amount of both cattle, and their farting. Methane as a greenhouse gas is far more effective than water, or Carbon Dioxide, and its levels are alarmingly rising without giving our planet enough time to absorve it.

So what you're saying is that we should all eat more steak?

[Skeeter8887]

Just think of the world we'd be in if our world leaders played video games.

[Caliban]

So what you're saying is that we should all eat more steak?

We can, but it is essential that there should be methods to be devised to reduce the amount of Methane brought onto our atmosphere. Oh, and if we eat more steak wouldn't that increase the number of cattle in the sense that cattle owners would come to the conclusion that if there is a demand for it than they should increase the production of such food.

[ShyGuy]

I blame EA for the attempted endangerment of the bovine species.

[KDR_11k]

If the methane becomes too much we'll just ignite it and watch the fireworks

[NWR_Lindy]

You'd think that, by now, somebody could have come up with a device to strap onto the butt of every cow out there that would eliminate the methane.

Maybe they already have:

http://www.garmentguard.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=8

[KDR_11k]

Many cows are bred in poor countries, you can't exactly sell hightech solutions to those farmers, especially solutions for problems that they see no immediate need for solving. And hell, American farmers believe it's all just a theory anyway and there's no need to cut into their profit margins to fight it.

[Caliban]

In Argentina they tested the addition of extra elements to the base food of the cattle just to see if there was any decrease. They tested with alfafa sprouts mixed in with the usual grass, and they saw 10% decrease in methane release. No technology involved, so it's all a matter of finding a local plant that has the same effects yet is free for the farmers because it is a local plant. Source (Actually I'm sure I read on this in that it was tested in Argentina, but I can't find the link at the moment)

In Argentina they also tried this. It's just a tad ridiculous though.

Even the Japanese have something.