Comments on: Sim City helps Societies

By: Rock, Paper, Shotgun: Best In The World At Kate Bush » Blog Archive » The Soul of The Sims

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 22:20:34 +0000

[...] game designer. Don Hopkins, whose fascinating if slightly bewildering site we’ve linked to before,back when he was drawing back the curtain on the free version of SimCity for the One Laptop Per [...]

By: eliterrell

eliterrell — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 01:32:24 +0000

I must say, it’s gratifying to see that the creator of Sim City plays with it pretty much the way I did. That is, in the best case “ooh, what happens if I click this and speed things up” and in the worst case “how fast can I destroy this city.”

By: TychoCelchuuu

TychoCelchuuu — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 23:24:42 +0000

Now all they need is M.U.L.E, X-COM, and the first couple Monkey Island games Then the kids will learn how to build a city, make some money, defend their city from aliens, and have a sense of humor throughout it all. Until their best friend is cut down from plasma fire by a sectoid while he tries to make enough money for a new highway.

By: Alec Meer

Alec Meer — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 22:37:03 +0000

NotArobot – that’s an awesome offer of you, but bitter past experience of importing electronics from the US has me worried I’d have to cough up a fortune in shipping and import duties (UK customs charged me an $80 duty for a DS a while back, f’rinstance, and even threatened me with court action when I missed the single phone call they made to advise me they’d confiscated it until I coughed up), and I’m too poor to risk that at the moment. Many thanks, though.

Leelad – as Heartless_ above points out, it’s about providing a means of education to kids lacking schools and teachers, not about being a cheap computer to check your email on and play Peggle. Have a good read of the OLPC site before you succumb to what I’d say is unjustified annoyance.

By: Leelad

Leelad — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 22:17:51 +0000

That laptop program annoys me. Surely they are in more need of fresh water, Medical supplies and a stable education over a cheap laptop?

Unless it can play peggle? Then and only then is it more important than all the above…you could probably even add oxygen and sex to the list too.

Thinking about it once they are plugged in to the internet and have a gmail account all the “meds” they need are there cheap as chips.

By: Soren Johnson

Soren Johnson — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 21:39:53 +0000

Wow, very cool… any word if this version of SimCity will be made available for XP? I always thought the original version hit the bullseye in terms of complexity level, and seeing those screen shots leaves me jonesing to try it again.

By: John P (Katsumoto)

John P (Katsumoto) — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 21:12:01 +0000

Can’t deny the education aspects of even the plain old original SimCity – I remember having IT lessons dedicated to it back at my primary school in the early 90s! (hmmmmm, Amiga).

By: NotArobot

NotArobot — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 21:07:59 +0000

Alec, if you want, I can buy one for you and ship it over to ya for the cost of shipping. If you want to arrange something, let me know…

NAr

By: Heartless_

Heartless_ — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 21:01:02 +0000

This is just a cut’n'paste off my blog post about it, but wanted to share it here as well.
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Having done a fairly exhaustive project involving OLPC, I feel attached to any bit of news I hear about it. I never thought that I would be reporting on gaming-related news for the OLPC! I support the project 100% and want to take a moment to talk about it.

OLPC is not here to simply deliever cheap laptops. The laptops have a purpose and a guiding principal. Constructionism, a philosophy of education in which children learn by doing and making, really sets the OLPC project apart from other cheap laptop projects. There are plenty of other companies setting out to prove they can make cheaper laptops. OLPC will always have them beat because of their philosophy, instead of just trying to make the cheapest laptop possible.

Currently, the laptop does cost more than $100 to produce, but the $100 tagline still sticks with the project. It is a goal and I fully believe they can achieve it. However, staying under $300 will still be a great accomplishment. After all, in a world where gamers throw down $500 for the latest video card, I can’t help but stop and admire what OLPC has done and will continue to do.