Now those were the days, when the game came in a nice big box, complete with a nice big manual, some nice big disks and a nice big woman (OK, I lied about the woman). Still, if the game was only one meg in size, I suppose they had to put something else in to justify the hefty price tag...
According to the receipt which is still in the box (I always put the receipt in the box in those days - how sad is that?), I purchased SimEarth from Software Circus, Oxford Street, London (always had to go to London to get PC games back then) for £40.95, on the 6th May 1991. By my reckoning that equates to about £70 in today's spondulics. And what did I get for my money? Well, as the picture above shows, two 3 and a half inch disks, four 5 and a quarter inch disks, a 220-page manual (ring-bound) and a 20-page 'System Information, Manual Addendum and Quick-Start Guide'. Money well spent, I'd say...
SimEarth was, of course, one of Gaming God Will Wright's early efforts. Not content with simulating a mere city, Wright went the whole hog and simulated an entire planet. Inspired by James Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis, the game let you "take charge of an entire planet from its birth until its death" and "guide life from its inception as single-celled microbes to a civilization that can reach for the stars". Basically, it was an extremely simplified simulation, in which you could 'control' the planet's geosphere, atmosphere, biosphere and civilization.
Now, it's a long time since I played it, and since my current PC doesn't have a 3 and a half inch drive (not to mention a 5 and a quarter inch drive), I haven't been able to check out how the game plays (OK, I know it is available as abandonware, but to be honest, I can't be arsed), so here are my vague memories: crap graphics (see above), a bit anal, not much of a game but still somehow cool.
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