[Puke]

the only reason i dont buy things online, is because i like the instant gratification of being able to have it 'now'. of course, the three game selling places I went to near downtown SF didnt HAVE sim city.

they (Comp USA, EB, and Circuit City) DID have at least one strategy first (different, in each case) game on their shelves, so I felt a little better about SE5's chances.

Anyway... yesterday I found myself up in the north bay where the insufferable yuppies live in tract-mansions (like tract housing, but bigger) and display their poor driving ability in oversized vehicles (tangentially, this is also the rough area where Aaron Hall makes his abode...) and so I thought id try a game store at a mall up there.

reason being, that there were probably more middle-aged fathers in that region, and they would be more likely to sit in their home office and play a pastoral game like SC4. and thus if it got better sales up there, managers would be more likely to keep it on the shelves. and guess what? found it at the first place I stopped!

So its fun, but theres no random terrain generation. No Reticulating Splines. Have to use what they give you, or terraform by hand. Oh well, i can live with that.

So I started a little city. and then I started another city next to it. and in the city next to it, i stuck a big poluting power plant, and an expensive water pump, and a whole lot of industry.

Then I made some road, power, and water connections back to my first city. and then loaded up the first city, and started building residential zones. And my residential paradise GREW! with no fire threat from the industry, no pollution from the power plant, no crime, just pristine houses and condos on some nice costal hills.

and then I discovered something that made my little evil-emperor heart swoon! I could raise taxes on the poor and lower them on the rich! Ah, force those degenerates somewhere else! now nothing but nice buildings, and rich residents. ahh... just like the place where I bought the game from...

funny how art immitates life, eh?