New Sim City anyone?

So this is touted as a major update: multiplay in a Sim universe, micro-management a la The Sims - I for one am tempted to pick this up

http://i.imgur.com/2GXWcSA.png

wow

Well, the low rating is almost entirely due to server issues. But if you're going to make something online only, then bloody well make sure you have the capacity to support your user base.

Yeah, seems like they've largely gotten past that issues now, though. The reviews from before server-gate were really positive for the most part, and from what I've seen I'm anticipaaaaaaating the mac release.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/03/11/simcity-is-inherently-broken-lets-not-let-this-go/

I mean, bottom line is, if requiring some connection to their server as an integral part of the game engine completely disallows piracy, then this is the future and no game company is going to give a shit how outraged some nerds are, even if it cuts into sales for a couple years. I'm guessing it will indeed be hard/impossible to pirate this game?

EA is one of the most fucked up companies, and to have them attached to such a venerable franchise is a hard thing to accept to begin with. And to see them add a bunch of broken internet shit to what has historically been one of the most 1p game franchises .... it's really messed up.

Theyve run the SC franchise for ages though, by owning Maxis.

Anyway my housemate works for EA and got to beta test the new game some time back. Its good. When they sort this out it'll be fine. Its a great looking game. I was also led to believe you didnt *have* to play it online but I've not looked into that. I'm never an eary adopter.

You were led astray.

I want to play the game real bad but EA is a virus

my son persuaded me to pre-order. haven't had "can't play at all" server issues since the first day, just a few minor annoyances such as taking too long to update region resources and chat text not registering/ taking 5 minutes. it's got better over the last week. game itself is pretty good and the glassbox simulation is marvellous. just wish they could have made the city size bigger- apparently it will happen in the future but at the moment it should really be called simtown.

apparently we're getting a free game next week to apologise for the server issues. a choice would be nice.

~OSX-only users are riding out this storm~

When is this coming out for Mac?

Spring 2013, whatever that means. No firm date yet.

if it wasn't obvious, i'm with polyphonic on this one. there are lots of other games to play without the forced online headache; unfortunate that EA is poisoning a flagship franchise with this junk

i haven't had problems since the first night.

the internet likes to get mad at EA. i mean obviously they are a shitty company etc etc but the game basically works. and is fun. tho starcraft has me back in its clutches now.

I like the sound of the simplified facilities infrastructure and the screenshots look gorgeous (although definitely beyond the capabilities of my laptop and probably beyond the capabilities of the desktop I never use) but always-online just seems so unnecessary for such a single-player kind of game

maybe it's just as well I'm put off, I've always loved the 90s sim-whatever games in theory but been not very good at them and got bored with them in practice - these days I don't even have the free time to get bored of them, just plod through the tutorial once and then never actually get round to building anything

That rps article is pretty much OTM.

I'm guessing it will indeed be hard/impossible to pirate this game?

People found a way to pirate WoW, so how hard could this be? They'll make it connect to a free server, or a home-run server eventually...

Missed the RPS article, which is indeed OTM. EA's public statement saying customers could request a refund and then refusing refunds (but hey, you can still request them...) was a nice kick in the teeth too.

always online games also put you at the mercy of the studio. like they can just shut it down eventually.

like in ten years what online-only games will still be playable?

I think the response, that it would be impossible to make it single-player because it is calculating in the cloud, really kind of showed how little they think of gamers. Like there is anything in this city simulation (which actually seems to be pared down in many ways from older versions) that cannot be computed with the same quad-core modern desktop that can render Sleeping Dogs at 60 fps.

Tho i guess it's a good strategy. Angry nerds upset already about DRM don't buy that line, but the casual gamer would probably just take it as truth. It sort of even helps sell the game even more. 'It's such a powerful simulator it has to go to THE CLOUD how amazing!'

if requiring some connection to their server as an integral part of the game engine completely disallows piracy, then this is the future and no game company is going to give a shit how outraged some nerds are, even if it cuts into sales for a couple years.

Seems unlikely to me that there is any calculation in the single-player parts of the game that even a pretty expensive server farm could do reliably a million times for a million clients per second that a user's desktop machine couldn't do once for that one user in the same second, even before you factor in the time for the data to be shunted around the internet, which is going to be a major bottleneck - but it's not my area of expertise (I have an area of expertise?).

I have to assume game companies have done cost benefit analysis of beefing up servers at launch vs not giving a fuck and riding out the hate wave for a month or so then everyone forgets? This happens to almost every game with a massive online component at launch.. except maybe like call of duty but they dont have dedicated servers (on consoles) afaik

Yeah i mean people are going to gripe regardless probably. Best to just let that stuff slide, and then after the first week of complaints, come in and do what you should have done in the first place. Only now you can push the narrative "Game company providing customer service by responding to complaints". Certainly it's probably easier and far more efficient to fix server issues and stuff once the game is out and being used in the real world.

well yeah; for one thing, you have actual data pointing you towards specific problems you can address

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVPEJ7QFXTI&list=LLQ0yN_aOFfVZgHUeaUb2o_Q

“We understand that when cars always take the shortest route between point A and point B there will be unavoidable (and illogical) traffic jams, so we are retuning these values to make the traffic flow more realistically. Guillaume Pierre (our lead scripter) talked a bit about the improvements that we are making to the traffic system in the game here. To dig a little deeper our roads will have a weighting system based on 25%, 50% and 75% capacity. As a road hits those marks it will become less and less appealing for other cars, increasing the likelihood of them taking an alternate path if one exists.”

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/03/15/simcity-hack/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+RockPaperShotgun+%28Rock%2C+Paper%2C+Shotgun%29

Man, this stuff just keeps blowing up in their face. Not only is the offline thing a load of BS, but apparently the game's simulation is incredibly crippled. That stuff he's talking about above, how is that not already programmed in? How much money was spent on this 'advanced AI'? It's one thing to use evil DRM but completely lying about the depth of programming in your game, that is cold. This problem seems like it would be easy as hell to program.

All indications I have is to hold off buying this for a bit.

Also, the game looks awesome but the size limits forcing you to do multiplayer and even that is shittily implemented right now all makes me not want to play this.

I just want my mega city builder with a bit of charm and humor and maybe arcologies

I bought Anno 2070, which is 60+% off right now.

the game was advertising that you could follow your sims around all day long but apparently the pathing for the sims makes them walk into whatever closest house is available for them to just walk into after work and chill for the night.. doesnt sound very advanced.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9VClRhU404

will this (eventually) run on an early 2011 MBP (2.3GHz i5, 16GB ram)?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GV_94TQUvBA

LGR easily one of the best PC game reviewers, and he has reviewed countless Sim games in the past, so I trust his judgement on this. Yeah, $60 for this, no thanks.

looks like an amazing game that three or four bad decisions made no fun at all :-(

if you bought the game already, EA is giving out a free game as compensation for the bad service. you get to choose from the following:

Battlefield 3 (Standard Edition)
Bejeweled 3
Dead Space 3 (Standard Edition)
Mass Effect 3 (Standard Edition)
Medal of Honor Warfighter (Standard Edition)
Need For Speed Most Wanted (Standard Edition)
Plants vs. Zombies
SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition

lol

just had my email from EA. which freebie should I go for ( already have lol SC4 )

I'd take Need For Speed from that list, battlefield would be a safe choice too though if you like that kind of thing.

It depends on whether you have a controller setup or not imo

http://www.amazon.com/Electronic-Arts-41018ted-Edition2-SimCity/dp/B007VTVRFA

HA knocked down to $40 downloadable from Amazon. Have fun!

i like that LGR guy!

Yeah he's probably my #1 videogame video critic, even if that is setting the bar extremely low.

... yeah, kinda. i do miss the Videogaiden guys.

Haven't heard of them. I'll look into it!

Anyways i have no desire to play the new Sim City, but i never checked out 4 or 3000 and i may go try those out.

i still have a burning desire in my loins to play the new sim city, because 3000 and 4 were less fun than simcity2000, imo. the "features" they added were just incredibly annoying. in particular, grid and water management was just an incredible pain in the ass, the opposite of fun. i'm still pumped for the new game because it seems like they finally figured out a way to include that kind of stuff in the game but without making it feel like you're doing your taxes.

http://www.joystiq.com/2013/04/03/simcity-dlc-is-a-nissan-leaf-ad/
these fucking guys

the burning desire in my loins is getting more and more mild. but this isn't a positive thing, in the context of my earlier statement.

doc, it only burns in context

you know i'll easily rip into EA over this game, but eh free DLC *shrug*

i bought this game for $40, but I think I'll wait awhile before i play it.

it's the DLC context (again) that bugs me, it would be like if there were power up drinks in your rpg or COKE ZERO which heals you to 100% and makes you irresistible to in game women. gamefied ads are pernicious imo.