CityOne is the next iteration in the INN0V8 franchise of serious games from IBM. In CityOne, you’ll get a chance to run your own city… but you’ll have to successfully deal with the real-world business, environmental and logistical issues that come with that kind of power to make your city thrive.

And, as with the original INN0V8 and INN0V8 2.0, we were proud to help IBM bring it to life. In the process, we got our name in Fast Company which, frankly, was pretty damn cool to see. So below, you’ll find: a link to the Fast Company interview with Phaedra Boinodiris—the ridiculously smart woman who conceived the idea for INN0V8 and talked IBM into giving it a shot—where she gives us the shout out (thanks, Phaedra!); the trailer for CityOne; and some links to more press coverage its received.

From the Fast Company interview:

Given only three months to build a prototype, Phaedra and her team at IBM knew they needed great partners and aligned with Centerline. “There are so many bad games out there,” noted Phaedra, “you really have to find a developer with a light touch” to create an engaging experience. In fact, Phaedra notes that of the three key ingredients of entrepreneurial success—people, process and ideas—people is by far the most important. “A great idea without the right people will fail, whereas even an okay idea could succeed with great people,” she added. Phaedra’s confidence in Centerline was thoroughly justified as they turned the initial idea first into a prototype and later into a simulation game played now played at over 1,000 colleges and business schools around the world.

From the Fast Company article:

CityOne is much like Sim City, only the problems are scarily real, ranging among energy, water, banking, and retail. So, for example, one day you might get hit by a rapid increase in water usage due to population growth—while you’re still losing 40% of your water supply to leaky pipes. (This is actually reality, in decrepit megalopolises such as Mumbai and Mexico City.) To fix that problem, you’ll have to carefully install a real-time water management system. Or, to encourage growth in small-businesses, you’ll have to set up an infrastructure of mobile payments, dynamic invoicing, and micro-lending. Clear your Friday night schedule.

There were also articles about the game on Read Write Web, eWeek, and Gizmodo among others. And you can learn more about CityOne from IBM. (Or, you could ask us.)