Cities XL is not an MMO game in the traditional sense of the term - but then, it's not traditional. Its ambitious aim is to exist simultaneously as an ordinary, offline, single-player city-building simulator, and online as a massively multiplayer version of the same thing, maintaining a completely player-dependent global economy and a community big and dedicated enough to make it work.
It's a complicated business strategy; developer MonteCristo expects the vast majority of Cities XL's money will be made from paid subscribers, but rather than crippling the out-of-the-box product in order to force players to take the game online, the idea is to provide a different enough experience to justify a monthly charge of 5 Euros. Offline players will be tantalised with updates and information about new content and important global events on the game's title screen, which shows the entire globe before zooming into your own city, but apart from that, no internet connection will be needed to enjoy the full scope of Cities XL's impressively comprehensive city-building and management tools.
This week’s Humble Weekly Bundle, Focus Home Interactive 2, features a variety of different games which will please RPG fans to city-simulator fans. Notably, unlike normal bundles there are four tiers (compared to the usual three) — when you buy into one tier, you can’t change the size of your order without contacting Customer Support.
In Episode 52 of the Game Under Podcast, Phil Fogg explains why he's taking 20 hours to finish Shovel Knights (he is an accidental platforming masochist), and Tom Towers declines to play anything: instead he joins Phil in an all encompassing discussion on videogame criticism!
CitiesXL Platinum gets a release trailer with buildings being build to the sound of dubstep music.
I like how they put "Build Huge Cities" in there. From what I see in Simcity. Cities are so small.
