EA and BP collaborate on climate education in SimCity Societies

New game features alternatives energy sources

15 October 2007 17:20 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

Electronic Arts and BP have collaborated to include climate change education within SimCity Societies, the next iteration in the city-building franchise that has sold more than 18 million games to date.

The collaboration hopes to highlight the impact of electricity generation on the emissions of carbon dioxide that are linked to climate change.

The low-carbon electricity choices and monitoring of SimCity's carbon emissions claim to provide an entertaining, fully-integrated and accurate look at some of the causes and some of the major solutions available to combat rising levels of carbon and to help address the threat of global warming.

The game does not force players to power their cities any specific way, but allows them to make choices, each of which come with advantages and disadvantages.

Similar to real-life, the least expensive and most readily-available buildings in SimCity Societies are also the biggest producers of carbon dioxide.

Should players choose to build cities dependent on these types of sources for power to conserve their in-game money, their carbon ratings will rise and, at reaching critical levels, the game will issue alerts about the threat of the various natural disasters like droughts, heat waves and others that may strike their cities.

Alternatively, players can strive to create a greener environment and avoid hazards caused by excessive carbon emissions by choosing from a variety of BP Alternative Energy low-carbon power options.

Very noble. SimCity Societies will be available at retailers across North America and Europe November 15.

Full tags

Gaming, PC games, EA, BP, Eco