SIMCITY BUILDINGS AND THEIR REAL LIFE COUNTERPARTS

[SUPREMO]

http://www.webdevelopersjournal.com/gifs/simcity2.gif

I an avid gamer of Simcity. I've been playing it from the first one to the 4th. But I wanna talk about the skyscrapers in Simcity 3000. Alot of the skyscrapers (American set) in Simcity 3000 resembles real-life skyscrapers in New York and Chicago. One example is the Quigley Insurance Tower which resembles the Woolworth Building in New York.

By the way Rush Hour is out! That's one of the expansion packs coming out for Simcity 4.

[TLOZ Link5]

That mansarded residential tower (The Fritz?) on the bottom right looks a lot like the W Hotel near Union Square.

[LF22]

I've always enjoyed the sim city series. What were your best cities? How many people did they have?

[TLOZ Link5]

I've made several attempts to recreate New York on the Original City Terrain. Only the second try really made something that resembled it.

[DominicanoNYC]

I've tried and I've have a very bad time trying.

[SUPREMO]

Right now, I'm playing Simcity 4 and I'm working on both New York and San Francisco regions. The 4th one of more regional play rather than an individual cities. Now Rush Hour is out I'm planning of constructing elevated subways at my New York cities.

There's alot of cheat codes in Simcity. Just check out the Simcity websites!

[matt3303]

Yeah, Maxis (the company that puts out SimCity) gets most of thier ideas from real-life cities. From Sim City 4: Rush Hour

-"Hurt Enterpirse Headquarters"
a blatent rip off the Commerzbank in Frankfurt
-"Hogan, Wallace and White Insurance"
a slightly different version of the Messiturm
-"Lind Entertainment"
obviously the Woolworth Building w/o some details. It's a much better quality Woolworth than Quigly Insurance. (Almost is a landmark)
-"The Long Building"
very similar to the Plaza Hotel

...and the list goes on and on. I'll try and get some shots.

[TLOZ Link5]

Sounds good. Does anyone know if SimCity 4 is available for Mac?

[NoyokA]

Dammit.

Supremo. I had forgotten all of my bad-habits and played SC3000 late until the night. I must have played for 10 hours!!!!!!!!

There are many blatant copy-offs.

The Wilkinson Tower- PSFS in Philadelphia

Silver Tower- 2 New York Plaza

Justin Brown Plaza- 1 New York Plaza

Quigley Insurance - An original scheme for Woolworth

I think its called the Marzini Building??? - Colgate-Palmolive in Chicago
Anyways I forget the name. But in SimCity the tall brown building with a spire:
http://www.ci.chi.il.us/Landmarks/images/landmarks/p/palmolive1a.jpg
(You can see it in the picture SUPREMO posted)

Hurt Plaza - Looks exactly like a midrise in Detroit.
http://www.detroitskyscrapers.net/150Jeff0.jpg

Kate Foundation - 225 West Wacker in Chicago
http://www.noplp.com/archive/image/highres/1000004.jpg

Kong Tower - Original Chrysler proposal. This is a blatant copy-off and Ill look for a picture.

And Corporate Plaza - 500 Fifth Avenue
http://www.rhrosen.com/images/image_location.jpg

[NoyokA]

And Gray Matter Place- Koin Center in Portland:

http://www.koin.com/koin/images/kointowerpic.jpg

Is that not blatant?

[NoyokA]

And finally the library is a blatant copy-off of a building in Midtown Atlanta.

[TLOZ Link5]

Really?

I thought it looked like a Byzantine-style church I've seen here in New York.

[Merry]

Developers Unveil 'SimCity' Style Tool for Urban Planning

The new "Betaville" allows anyone to add buildings, bridges and art to a digital replica of New York.

By Jill Colvin

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http://s3.amazonaws.com/sfb111/story_xlimage_2010_10_R9790_New_design_tool_unveil ed_at_MAS_summit.JPG

http://s3.amazonaws.com/sfb111/image_xlimage_2010_10_41750_New_design_tool_unveil ed_at_MAS_summit.jpg

http://s3.amazonaws.com/sfb111/image_xlimage_2010_10_41756_New_design_tool_unveil ed_at_MAS_summit.jpg

MIDTOWN — Think of it as SimCity on steroids.

Developers unveiled a new urban planning tool Thursday they hope will dramatically transform the way that planners develop New York.

"Betaville," which is available for download now, looks a lot like Google Earth, with true-to-life 3-D models of Manhattan's buildings and streets. But instead of a static landscape, users can alter the map, moving buildings and adding new ones, as well as roads, bridges, parks and public art.

Other users can then weigh in, adding comments and proposing changes, or upload variations of their own.

"This was supposed to be science fiction. It's not," said Carl Skelton, the project's head and director of the Brooklyn Experimental Media Center at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University.

Skelton equated the program with a massive multi-player video game, designed not for virtual warfare or fantasy battles, but for urban planning and development. He hopes it will become a hub where architects, designers, urban planners and community members can come together to converse.

"It's not only a tool for urban design, but urban engagement," Norman Jacknis, the director of Cisco IBSG Public Sector, said at the Municipal Art Society's Summit for New York City, where the project was unveiled.

The site is free, open to anyone, and compatible with most common 3-D design software systems, including Google’s free SketchUp.

So far, the development team has come up with several plans of its own.

Levis Reyes, 26, a volunteer for the group, spent about two months designing an add-on to Battery Park that he calls "Liberty Piers." The homage to the Statue of Liberty extends Manhattan using landfill to create a massive new five-pointed park and a mixed residential-commercial development.

Ashwin Ranesh, 22, one of the 3-D artists who has helped to build the city base, said the team, which began working last August, still has a long way to go.
Lower Manhattan is almost done, but other neighborhoods and boroughs need more work.

Still, he said, he's excited to see what the public will build.

"Nothing else gives you the power to create aspects of cities," he said. "This is a whole new world."

Others were more hesitant.

Artist Will Martin, who attended the summit, said he likes the idea of collaborative design, but worries about who will decide who will get credit for plans.

David J. Lieberman, an associate architecture professor at the University of Toronto, said that, while the graphics are not as sophisticated as professional programs out there, the concept has "extraordinary potential."

"What Betaville provides that no one else provides is a forum for conversation,” he said. "Is there a forum for the 21st Century? This may be it."

http://www.dnainfo.com/20101022//developers-unveil-simcity-style-tool-for-urban-planning#ixzz138f1l6yp