But with Cities XL, Monte Cristo is going in a completely different direction, taking aim for the urban simulation crown that SimCity has long held.

Cities XL is a next-generation city building game that allows players to develop cities on realistic 3D maps using an incredible collection of unique structures and monuments.

Sure, there have been plenty of city-building games that let you place very last piece of a city in place, but there have been very few urban simulations that task you with the handling the bigger picture.

By going online you can build cities on a globe populated by cities that other players build.

August 26, 2008 There’s been a noticeable gap in the urban simulation genre the past five years, or basically since EA and Maxis last made a SimCity game.

You have a lot of room to play with.

Nintendo’s unique culture-building and sharing sim comes to the Nintendo Wii system.

Monte Cristo’s upcoming urban simulator looks to push the genre in new and exciting ways.

But it’ll also be tied online in that there are statistics tracking and such so you can compare yourself to other players.

This is a game that will let you create the bold cityscapes that you may have made in SimCity, but it also will let you partake in a global network of cities.