REDWOOD CITY, Calif. -- In an odd partnership, video game publisher Electronic Arts and energy company BP have teamed up to bring issues of electricity and pollution to a new SimCity game.
SimCity Societies will be the first video game title published by a major company with this kind of integration with Big Oil, said TG Daily. The game will allow players to choose from between coal plants and solar farms, a mix of both, and numerous other options in between.
Each energy choice will have a cost/pollution dichotomy. According to [image-nocss] the New York Times, BP logos will appear on clean energy structures such as solar and wind farms, but not on pollution-heavy systems. BP will also be the exclusive gas station brand in the game.
Pollution management has been a part of the long-running SimCity series over much of the game's 18-year run. The new title is poised to be much more realistic at addressing this issue, said the report.
According to the Times, BP approached EA last year about creating an educational game that teaches users about energy. EA vice president Steve Seabolt told the newspaper, We are not fundamentally in the educational games space. We went back to BP and said rather than doing a separate game, we could incorporate this into what we were then calling SimCity 5.
ABI Research reported earlier this year that it expects in-game advertising to become an $850 million industry by 2011. BP paid an undisclosed sum of money to EA for its presence in the upcoming game, the report said.
SimCity Societies is due out for the PC on November 15, the report added.
In other BP news, also from an unexpected quarter, green fashion designer Linda Loudermilk will bring her eco-chic Spring 2008 Windpower collection to BP's Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED)-certified eco-friendly Helios House gas station in Los Angeles.
"In this collection, I am breaking down the old ideas of construction just as the wind rearranges the world around us at will," said Loudermilk. "I believe that when there is a breakdown, something is created anew."
Styled by Johnny Wujek, the collection includes airy transparent looks, flowy pieces and fabrics including mud-dyed linen and vegan silk, in addition to organic textiles such as wood pulp, sasawashi, seaweed, and organic cotton, said the report. Lexus will be providing hybrid transportation for V.I.P. guests including the slated Pink and Prince.
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