Well, technically, I believe it’s called “selective focus,” but the common term is “tilt shifting.” ANYWAY, during EA’s conference we finally got a showing of some tasty Sim City gameplay. Also shown was some Facebook version that we will never talk about ever.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=SObs9KnK0Ng&w=620]

Doesn’t this look good? It seems as though you have much greater control over where you want major building to be positioned, and being able to “draw” roads will make for some pretty dynamic city plans. It should be pretty easy to recreate real world cities now.

Beyond the standard gameplay, there is now a multiplayer mode/feature where you can connect your cities to those of your friends, and things that you do in your city can directly affect surrounding towns. I hope to one day pollute the water downstream so much that no one else gets to use it.

I can’t wait to reticulate the splines February 2013.

Update: Regarding multiplayer, here is some info from the official site:

Team up with friends or go solo to build great works in your region. Great works are huge undertakings that require Sim workers, lots of materials, and funding. You can plan a fusion reactor, build an international airport, or send a shuttle into space. Working together with other cities in your region will help ease the burden on your city and the finished projects benefit everyone! Building a solar farm will provide large quantities of clean energy to your region. Team up with your friends to build Great Works and create a super region!

Cities in the real world don’t live in isolation. Choose to be a good neighbor and send fire and police resources to other cities in need, or specialize in industries that create pollution and then watch as the Sims in your region become sick. Sick Sims can’t work, however, and that can affect the goods you import from a friend’s city. Your decisions will also have an impact on the world as a whole by driving demand and adding to worldwide pollution. How will you stack up as a mayor and a neighbor?

As mayor you control all of the major decisions in your city, but why stop there? Now you will play on a much larger scale, as your city is part of a much larger region. You can control one or multiple cities in an open region on the web, in a private region shared with your friends’ cities, or in your own personal region. Each city within a given region will affect the others around it, so your decisions have an impact not only on your own city, but on your friends’ as well.