CityOne, a new game being developed by IBM, combines the god-view SimCity experience with current urban development challenges like clean water, overcrowding and small business growth. The goal of the game is "to teach laypeople how to better cope with complex modern problems by
showing them the forest of solutions that have to be brought to bear,
ranging from technological wizardry like smart grids, to better IT, to
smart environmental policy." Nice!
The graphics, if those are in-scene graphics, looks pretty sweet. Hard to tell if the gameplay with be engaging, what the user interface is like, or how the various real world problems are introduced to the users. Gizmodo asks "Will there be any room for fun?" IBM is not exactly known as a top-tier game developer, so the concern is a valid one.
CityOne joins the ranks of other urban planning type games that include real world challenges, including EnerCities and Energyville. Scheduled for release later this year.