SimCity Mac version delayed to August, Update 5 coming soon to PC

The Mac version of SimCity has been delayed to August, developer EA Maxis announced today.

Publisher Electronic Arts said in April that it planned to launch the Mac version June 11. People who have already purchased the Windows PC version will get a Mac copy for free on Origin, and vice versa.

"We have made this tough decision because we do not believe [the Mac version] is ready for prime time yet," said Kip Katsarelis, SimCity's senior producer, on the game's website. "We want to ensure the Mac is a great experience for our players and that is why we are taking more time."

To appease potential Mac players, Maxis will give all of them the SimCity Launch Park, a new area for early adopters that was released for the PC version of the game in Update 4 last month.

The next patch for SimCity on PC, Update 5, is set to be released "in a couple of weeks," said Katsarelis. The changes contained within are geared toward multiplayer and multi-city play, such as improvements to regional unlocks and commuting. Maxis has already gathered fan feedback on the SimCity forums for Update 6, which will focus on improvements to residential, commercial and industrial zoning.

You can check out the full list of patch notes for Update 5 below.

• New: Historic Price charts for Global Market resources are available from the SimCity World button on the main menu.
• New: The Region Wall chat has been completely updated with a new look and new functionality! Chat functions more efficiently and it's much easier to communicate with other players. Time stamps show on chat messages on rollover. Regional events are easier to read and can be toggled on and off.
• New: Added a filter for friends' regions in the join region section.
• New: Trading control. Added feature to give players more control over their utilities. Players can now choose whether or not to keep their power, water or sewage local. This setting can be found on the information panel accessible by clicking on the power plant, water tower, or sewage pipe or plant. Sharing with the region is on by default.
• New: Regional Missions: Added seven new regional missions: Drink It Up!, Plug In, So Stoked, The Wheels on the Bus, Ferry Dust, Station to Station, and Riding Coach.
• New: Regional Achievement: Added a new regional achievement, Field Trip!
• Gifting Improvements: Cash gifts are now delivered electronically, not by truck. This should improve the efficiency of gifting.
• Resource gifts: Resource gifts will happen more reliably. Multiple trucks can make deliveries at once if they are available in the sending city and the truck capacities have been increased.
• Great Works Improvements: Delivery trucks will mark their resources as dropped off as soon as they reach the Great Works, instead of when they arrive back in the city. This will make tracking time more reliable.
• Great Works Improvements: Update to have all resources at Great Works handled at the regional level. This will address players in different cities seeing different resources once the server has processed the region and cities.
• Great Works Improvements: Fixed an issue where an Arcology would maintain power from the region and fixed an issue where shoppers would not increase at the Arcology as it was leveled up. This will update in both existing and new Arcologies.
• Great Works Improvements: Tuned the Solar Farm.
• Regional Unlocks: The advanced coal mine unlocks regionally. Fixed issue where the Trade HQ sometimes did not unlock.
• Fire Advisor Trading clarity: Tuned the Fire advisor so they do not tell you that neighbors are sending fire trucks when your neighbor has no fire stations.
• Trading: School buses that travel from a neighbor's city will show that city's avatar.
• Regional Commuting: Fixed an issue where Sims would not be able to take transit out of cities with lots of streetcars or shuttle buses. This could cause some cases where commuting Sims could not return home and their homes would go abandoned.
• Garbage Trucks and Recycling Trucks: Fixed an issue that some cities experienced where garbage and recycling trucks do not leave their buildings or disappeared when trading service with neighbors. Existing cities who have trucks that have disappeared will have to demolish their missing trucks' garages and plop new garages.
• Text Clarification: The "Out of Money" message now says "Can't find work" when appropriate in rollover feedback and the approval rating UI. This is to clarify your Sims' actual need.