Month: December 2023

An Interview with Cities: Skylines 2 developer’s CEO, Mariina Hallikainen

A hugely successful early game can become a developer’s own worst enemy.

Colossal Order CEO Mariina Hallikainen

Enlarge / Colossal Order CEO Mariina Hallikainen, from the company's "Winter Recap" video. (credit: Colossal Order/Paradox Interactive/YouTube)

It's not often you see the CEO of a developer suggest their game is "cursed" in an official, professionally produced video, let alone a video released to celebrate that game. But Colossal Order, and its CEO, are not a typical developer. And Cities: Skylines 2 has not had anything close to a typical release.

In a "Winter Recap" video up today for Cities: Skylines 2 (C:S2), CEO Mariina Hallikainen says that her company's goal was to prevent the main issue they had with the original Cities: Skylines: continuing work on a game that was "not a technical masterpiece" for 10 years or more. The goal with C:S2 was to use the very latest technology and build everything new.

"We are trying to make a city-building game that will last for a decade," Hallikainen says in the video. "People didn't understand; we aren't using anything from Cities: Skylines. We're actually building everything new." Henri Haimakainen, game designer, says Colossal Order is "like fighting against ourselves, in a way. We are our own worst competition," in trying to deliver not only the original game, but more.

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Alan Ritchson: Reacher möchte Batman werden

Gerade läuft die zweite Staffel von Reacher, da wird Star Alan Ritchson schon für eine Superheldenrolle ins Gespräch gebracht. (Batman, Film)

Gerade läuft die zweite Staffel von Reacher, da wird Star Alan Ritchson schon für eine Superheldenrolle ins Gespräch gebracht. (Batman, Film)

Stopp der Umweltprämie: Eine schöne Bescherung

Über Sinn und Unsinn der Umweltprämie für Elektroautos lässt sich streiten. Doch wie wirkt sich der abrupte Stopp auf den Hochlauf der E-Mobilität aus? Eine Analyse von Friedhelm Greis (Elektroauto, Auto)

Über Sinn und Unsinn der Umweltprämie für Elektroautos lässt sich streiten. Doch wie wirkt sich der abrupte Stopp auf den Hochlauf der E-Mobilität aus? Eine Analyse von Friedhelm Greis (Elektroauto, Auto)

Daily Telescope: Tracking the Sun’s path every day across the sky

The image is a vivid demonstration of the changing of the seasons.

The path of the Sun over Germany.

Enlarge / The path of the Sun over Germany. (credit: Frank Niessen/IAU OAE)

Welcome to the Daily Telescope. There is a little too much darkness in this world and not enough light, a little too much pseudoscience and not enough science. We'll let other publications offer you a daily horoscope. At Ars Technica, we're going to take a different route, finding inspiration from very real images of a universe that is filled with stars and wonder.

Good morning. It's December 18, and today's photo is an homage to the forthcoming winter solstice—which will visit the Northern Hemisphere on Thursday evening.

This image was a second-place finisher in a recent competition by the International Astronomical Union's Office of Education. This year's contest welcomed astrophotography enthusiasts at all skill levels, including images taken with smartphones.

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