It's been a relatively slow two weeks after E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, held in Atlanta. So I've decided to proceed to the next segment of Companies in the Computer Gaming Industry. This will be the second part of hopefully several profiles of companies in the gaming business. The first was LucasArts. This week's feature will be...
Maxis, who during its earlier days produced software "toys" - computer games with no set goals or finish line. The gamer could do practically anything with it. One fine example, Maxis' first game, is the revolutionary SimCity, made in 1989. This singlehandedly began the city/world God builder games. You began the game with a small sum of money, and by building residential, commercial, and industrial land plots you attracted Sims - residents of your world.
This title alone sold three million copies and won numerous awards. From here Maxis expanded and broadened their horizons. Always using the most sophisticated technology available they crossed over to all major platforms, not only the personal computer. With almost every market in gaming covered, they expanded further in 1994. Maxis developed a kids' line of software that, just like the games made for their older counterparts, offered no real goal; they could experiment and tinker with the simulation, and just have general fun. All in all they have sold over seven million games from their Sim line of games, which includes everything from SimCity and SimCity 2000 to Full Tilt! Pinball.
So what is Maxis up to these days? Well, they just released another Sim game - SimSafari, but the big news is the upcoming SimCity 3000. Set for a holiday release this year, SC3000 is the sequel many people have been waiting for since 1994, when SimCity 2000 hit the shelves. Maxis has had some difficulties in producing this title. To give the game a brand new feel they wanted to create a 3D graphics engine. With this all, the graphics would be 3D, plus the gamer could actually walk around their town they created. Talk about cool. Unfortunately, Maxis reportedly gave up on this idea due to the fact that most computers couldn't handle the jump in technology, so gamers will have to wait much longer for features such as this. To go from 2D to 3D and back to 2D has understandably created some delays.
For more information on SimCity 3000 and other upcoming games from Maxis, visit their web site at http://www.maxis.com. Be forewarned, it's an attractive site filled with Java and Real Player clips. It looks and navigates wonderfully.
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