You might run into some trouble at first

So you want to try SimCity, huh? Think you can handle it? If you answered "yes" to both, then you're in luck, because EA and Maxis are hosting a beta weekend event starting next Friday. The event will run between January 25 and Monday, January 28, and allows participants to play up to one hour of the game at any point during the beta window.

Sign-ups have already begun, so I hope you remember your Origin account information and a little patience. You can begin signing up at the official site, but in addition to needing your Origin credentials, the process also needs to confirm you are, in fact, not a robot. Captcha, my oldest nemesis.

Hopefully, you'll get it all working without any issues, like being redirected to the SimCity website. If you are having problems, rest assured you're not alone, and the SimCity Twitter recommends clearing your cache -- which may or may not work. Good luck.

Some footage has already found its way onto the Internet, but we really wouldn't recommend doing that. EA has rules against such things.