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TIMESTAMPS loading The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/19991012021220/ http://gamespot.com:80/features/maxis/index.html GameSpot MechWarrior 3 Game Guide* GameSpot's SIMply Divine: The Story of Maxis Software GameSpot By Geoff Keighley action Designed by James Cheung adventure [sidenav_top] driving [s] [clear] [s] puzzle [clear] role-playing Part 1: It's a simulation Playground sports The Idea strategy Success Begets hardware Success The Inevitable news Follow-Up reviews Part 2: Raining on previews the Parade hints Into the Abyss downloads But It's 3D! 3d model gallery Part 3: The Saving events calendar Grace forums A New Focus, A New contests Mission check e-mail Third Time's Still A Charm? Part 4: A New Dollhouse GameSpot Contest And the New Dolls... Into Outer Space See Also A Positive videogames.com Prognosis gameguides.com [sidenav_bot] Behind the Games I Subscribe to our used to tell people I was going to do a game about city free newsletter planning," recollects Will Wright, the 39-year-old co-founder of [space] Walnut Creek, California-based Maxis Software. "They'd just look [your e-mail ] at me, roll their eyes, and say, somewhat dubiously, 'Oh good submit Will, you go do that.'" Search [ ] That was then. Now, all Will Wright has to say are two words - by: "Sim" and "City" - and people pay attention. No wonder, since [Title ] his 1980s creation SimCity is emblematic of intelligent, submit creative, and socially responsible game design. It and other Sim creations have sold in excess of seven million copies worldwide. User Services Who would have imagined that building roads and power lines and join zoning land for residential or commercial use would be help considered a recreational activity, much less fun? Will Wright feedback did, and SimCity's success is living proof of the concept. contact us ad index screenshot awards Maxis Software international shop amazon.com Wright is a lanky, thoughtful-looking man, the kind of guy who play on HEAT.NET wears a black watch with a built-in calculator. Yet to label him as a tech-head is a misnomer. In reality, he's an eclectic hybrid of creative might and technical know-how. Few people cite Sponsored Sites textbooks by the names of their authors, but Wright is one of HEAT those few. He has an affinity for knowledge for knowledge's sake HEAT.NET - so much so that he went to college for five years, but never got a degree. screenshot Maxis co-founder Will Wright [cgwlogo] * Wright's design approach befits his academic orientation. SimCity started as a simulation based on the urban planning FamilyPC theories of an MIT professor named Jay Forrester, and all his other games have some link to academia. By taking the abstract dictums of theoretical science and creating tangible interactive ZDNet experiences that often go far beyond the regular conventions of what we consider to define a game, Wright has merited the respect of his colleagues and the loyalty of gamers. Yet the game business isn't just about respect. It's about money, market share, and quarterly reports. And through its ten-year history, Wright's Maxis - the software publisher that SimCity built - would experience all the ups and downs those factors can impart. screenshot Edward James Olmos of Miami Vice starred in The Crystal Skull adventure game for Maxis, one of its most embarrassing games. Maxis would swell from a company of two to a publicly traded software juggernaut with more than two hundred employees at its peak. The SimCity series would be an unmitigated success, but the company would be hard-pressed to create another series that would be worthy of the Sim-brand lineage. After the artistic achievement of SimCity and a few other less-successful Sim games, Maxis would eventually be reduced to releasing full motion video games with a Miami Vice actor and a children's product about a precocious pet mouse named Marty in search of his missing cheese. These embarrassing products quenched the pristine aura surrounding Maxis and all but erased Maxis from the hard-core gamer's radar screen. But like the phoenix from the ashes, Maxis appears poised to rise once again. This month has seen the release of SimCity 3000, which is already atop the charts as the best-selling PC game in the US. Maxis may finally be back, and as such, it seems a perfect time to take a look at the history of Will Wright's company, go behind the scenes of what really happened to Maxis, and look forward to what lies ahead. Join us for the story of Maxis... Next: The Idea# [BlueBytes_t] Contest [interplay_t] What's new Use of GameSpot is subject to certain Terms & Conditions. 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