cities-xl-2011 posts

On the one hand, it's a little sad that Robot Entertainment won't be finishing Age of Empires Online. On the other hand we can't think of a better developer to take over the reigns than Gas Powered Games.

• Steam has new automatic updates for Cities XL 2011, Magicka, Crasher, and Monday Night Combat.
• Want to see the latest remix of the Dead Island trailer? Sure you do.
• Devolver Digital tells us that, "Next week is going to be a big week." Well duh.
• Game Informer has a new video feature of one of the true classic PC games, Battlefield 1942.

Cities XL 2011 is the same game as Cities XL.

That's really all there is to this game. There are a few differences (very few), but in most cases, Cities XL 2011 is identical to Cities XL. It uses the same art assets, same tutorial, and same gameplay mechanics. The primary change only really affects people who played the last game, and while it's certainly a good change, it's not something most people will understand, appreciate, or care about. In essence, with Cities XL 2011, we are revisiting a game after a year and seeing just how our opinion has changed since the fresh look. While it's got some of the dings smoothed out, it's still a rusty, half-built junker that only the most dedicated of enthusiasts will love.

After Sunday's repeats of one-day PC game sale on Steam, Monday brings an all new batch of price cuts of games that will last on the PC game download service until 1 pm Eastern time on Tuesday. Today's batch of games until the price cutting blade include:

Serious Sam HD Gold Edition - $3.99
HAWX 2 - $33.49
Cities XL 2011 --$19.99
Neverwinter Nights 2 Platinum - $9.99
Street Fighter IV - $14.99
Victoria series - Save 50 percent off all games in series
Lost Planet 2 -$19.99 or $15.99 if you own Lost Planet
Killing Floor Complete Pack - $6.99
EVE Online - $4.99
Machinarium - $2.99
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic - $2.49
Mirror's Edge - $4.99

We didn't like Cities XL. Neither did the general populace, it seems, as the MMO side of the game saw the blunt end of the shut down stick. Now comes a new game, or rather, a reworking of the MMO concept to fit the single-player space. This trailer has what you would expect from a city builder: bragging about the monuments mayors can build, emphasis on taking care of the populace, and touting the one unique feature. It's nothing particularly exciting (the announcer almost put us to sleep), but it is slightly informative, if city building is your thing.

Download HD Cities XL 2001 Trailer
Check out all Cities XL 2001 downloads

Earlier this year publisher Focus Home Interactive announced that it had bought the Cities XL game franchise from the now defunct developer Monte Cristo Games. The next game in the city building simulation series, Cities XL 2011, is due to be released via download on October 14.

However if you already own a copy of the original Cities XL game you will be able to get the new Cities XL 2011 for a whopping 50 percent discount off its normal price of $39.99 from the game's official web site. You have to get your pre-order in before October 14 to get the discount and you have to have your Cities XL CD key. Both the original and limited edition versions of Cities XL are eligible for the discount.

Earlier this year we reported that Cities XL developer Monte Cristo Games had shut down operations, leaving development of their city simulation game in limbo. Today Focus Home Interactive has announced that it has purchased the Cities XL franchise and will release the previously announced Cities XL 2011 this October. The announcement comes with the first screenshots for the game.

The new version of the game won't have the MMO aspects of the original (which shut down even before Monte Cristo Games closed) but Focus Home Interactive states the new version will have 700 new buildings to choose from along with 45 buildable maps. Focus also plans to have a special offer for the game but details have yet to be revealed.

The development team behind the city simulation-MMO title Cities XL has announced that it will close its doors this week. In a message board post on the Simtropolis fan site, a representative from France-based Monte Cristo Games announced the shut down of the developer. However the message stated that Cities XL will continue to be sold by another unnamed publisher and that the online login required to play the game will still be in place.

Established in 1995 Monte Cristo Games developed and released quite a few PC titles in its existence. In October 2009 it released Cities XL, an ambitious mix of an urban city simulation and an MMO game. However the game failed to reach a large enough audience. In January 2010 the MMO portion of the game was closed. The developer also announced plans for an updated single player game, Cities Xl 2011, but with Monte Cristo's shut down it looks like those plans are on indefinite hold.

It's a new year and the first month of January 2010 was a busy one for PC gaming news. Part of the reason was the annual Consumer Electronics Show where there were a few interesting announcements that concerned PC gaming. However there were also plenty of other news items in the past 31 days that will affect us in the coming year.

In fact our normal top 10 list was so full of things we could report that we managed to stick in a couple of extra items as honorable mentions. If this list is any indication 2010 will be a very busy year for news in our industry.

Click on the image above to continue reading The Top 10 PC Game News Stories For January 2010

Monte Cristo Games' launch of their city simulator Cities XL last fall had both a single player aspect as well as a MMO feature that allowed for potientially thousands of players to build their cities on a virtual planet. However it appears that there was little interest in an city sim MMO. The game's web site has now announced that due to a lack of subscriptions, the MMO aspect of Cities XL will be shut down on March 8. No new subscribers will be taken after February 1.

A anew FAQ page gives more details on the MMO shut down and how it will affect players of the game. It also reveals that Monte Cristo plans to launch an all new single player online game called Cities XL 2011. Until that game is released the original Cities XL won't be getting any new content updates.

[Via Voodoo Extreme]