Cities XL - Closed Beta

In July 2008 we looked at Cities Xl when Monte Cristo Games raised $7M from Arts Alliance, 360 degrees Capital Partners and Innoven Partenaires. Monte Cristo was founded in Paris in 1995 and has focused on simulation games such as Trader 97, Wall Street Trader, Economic War. We decided to go back and see what was up after almost a year and the financial meltdown..

The trailer

Game Description

CITIES XL™ is the next-generation in city-building games, allowing gamers to develop cities on realistic 3D maps using an incredible collection of unique structures. Would-be Mayors are challenged to create the right combinations of social services, leisure activities, special events and job opportunities within their cities in order to feed, employ and entertain their citizens.Realism will be pushed to the limit with cities that are bigger, more realistic and more sophisticated than ever before.

The game’s optional online features and services will let gamers create interconnected cities on virtual and persistent planets. By combining a fantastic single-player game with the social and multiplayer aspects of an MMO, CITIES XL™ will shape the future of the genre by offering more variety, bigger cities and multiple gameplay layers.

Key features of CITIES XL™ include:

• Hundreds of buildings and monuments based on American and European-influenced architectural styles
  
• Extra large and incredibly detailed 3D maps feature a variety of terrains: mountains, hills, canyons, beaches and islands, all set in different climates from tropical to desert, Mediterranean to temperate. Topography and terrain affect resource availability and city design
  
• Sophisticated transport system: players can define the number and uses of traffic lanes; while using bridges and tunnels to expand the size of their cities
  
• Realistic representation of the population. Citizens have a profile consisting of age, education and wealth. These profiles will affect what types of services and entertainment the player must make available to the city's inhabitants.
  
• Self-sufficient global economy, balanced by price fluctuations and citizen demands throughout the game world
• On going content production allowing player to regularly upgrade their game.
  
• GEMs (Gameplay Extension Modules) allow players to switch their mayor position for CEO seats, from car dealerships to ski resorts, players will find a wide variety of businesses available to them.
• Fantastic high-end graphics engine provides near photo-realistic quality visuals
• Developed by the team that created the popular City Life serie

Planet offer allow users to :

• Create interconnected cities on persistents planet, populate a world
  
• Trade with each others in a global economy and specialize their cities
  
• Visit each other creation, customize their avatar, chat, create their blog and social network
• Participate in events and competitions

http://www.citiesxl.com/

Great lil video of how they build buildings with Max

Below is a great clip from the Cities XL Forum from Internet Director Monte Cristo (considering that a Second Life region/island is 254 meters x 254 meters):

Guys, 10*10km (or 100km²) will be the maximum size for one city map. There is just no way with nowadays graphic hardware to get a higher landscape mainly for memory issues.

If we notice in the future that graphic cards may support wider maps, we'll be the first to provide you with bigger ones.

Not being rude but you can say whatever you want, there are some physical limitations we can not bypass... unfortunatelly..