SimCity 3000 Building Architect Tool Arrives June 16

Maxis will release the SimCity 3000 Building Architect Tool on June 16, as a download from the official SimCity web site and nowhere else. The BAT works as an easy 3-D modeling program for building and decorating your own structures, anything from a corner house or small shop to a factory or skyscraper, and swapping them in for buildings that shipped with the game.

Veterans will remember SCURK, the SimCity Urban Renewal Kit for SimCity 2000, a 2-D paint tool that was often a pain to use but still produced hundreds of fan-made buildings, from ancient Egyptian districts to science fiction skylines. Maxis says the BAT’s 3-D building-block approach is easier and more fun, and it is confident enough in the results to run a Count the BAT Building Contest starting Friday, June 11 at noon: BAT-made buildings will be scattered through a city visible on the SimCity.com CityCam, and the first person to guess how many wins an Electronic Arts game of their choice.

SCURK ate entire weekends around here. Consider this a warning as much as a news item.