Looks like the classic favorite Sim City will be making its way to the XO laptop courtesy of Electronic Arts. Originally released in 1989, SimCity will be donated to the OLPC Foundation and aims to lend more weight to the proverb “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”, although it seems that Jacks these days seem to play (much) more often than they work. Not only does SimCity in the XO laptop help young kids familiarize themselves with their new computer, it also provides them with a creative outlet that could shape and develop their decision making skills.
According to Steve Seabolt, vice president of global brand development for the Sims label, “‘SimCity’ is entertainment that’s unintentionally educational. Players learn to use limited resources to build and customize their cities. There are choices and consequences, but in the end, it’s a creativity tool that’s only limited by the player’s imagination. The game should prove to be an incredibly effective way of making the laptop relevant, engaging and fun, particularly for first-time players. We are thrilled to be making this contribution to OLPC to help meet their goal of educating the children of the world.”
Simulated Worlds
I must say this is a pretty creative move, but SimCity on hardware like the XO laptop? Come on, EA, I know its all about the money but surely you can do better than that. SimCity 2000 would be a better start since you will have to figure out more complex stuff like laying water pipes correctly – besides that, surely the XO laptop has more than ample processing power to handle that game. In the meantime, what are some of the other gaming companies whom you could see donating their titles? How about offline versions of Bejeweled, or perhaps some sort of Sudoku title? Surely those don’t cost too much to program for and it does add even more elements of learning and interactivity into the whole mix.
Source: Tech News World