New Sim City anyone?

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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

licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Tuesday, 12 March 2013 12:55 (twelve years ago)

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

乒乓, Tuesday, 12 March 2013 12:58 (twelve years ago)

wow

licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Tuesday, 12 March 2013 13:01 (twelve years ago)

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.

emil.y, Tuesday, 12 March 2013 13:06 (twelve years ago)

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.

( ( ( ( ( ( ( (Z S), Tuesday, 12 March 2013 13:28 (twelve years ago)

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?

sleepingbag, Wednesday, 13 March 2013 05:07 (twelve years ago)

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.

pun lovin criminal (polyphonic), Wednesday, 13 March 2013 05:43 (twelve years ago)

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.

a kissed out red popemobile (Trayce), Wednesday, 13 March 2013 06:00 (twelve years ago)

You were led astray.

pun lovin criminal (polyphonic), Wednesday, 13 March 2013 07:36 (twelve years ago)

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

pun lovin criminal (polyphonic), Wednesday, 13 March 2013 07:37 (twelve years ago)

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.

thomasintrouble, Wednesday, 13 March 2013 10:24 (twelve years ago)

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

thomasintrouble, Wednesday, 13 March 2013 10:25 (twelve years ago)

~OSX-only users are riding out this storm~

Y Immanuel Kant Read (King Boy Pato), Wednesday, 13 March 2013 10:30 (twelve years ago)

When is this coming out for Mac?

licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Wednesday, 13 March 2013 11:00 (twelve years ago)

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

( ( ( ( ( ( ( (Z S), Wednesday, 13 March 2013 12:02 (twelve years ago)

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

Nhex, Wednesday, 13 March 2013 13:32 (twelve years ago)

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.

adam, Wednesday, 13 March 2013 14:02 (twelve years ago)

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

susuwatari teenage riot (a passing spacecadet), Wednesday, 13 March 2013 14:05 (twelve years ago)

That rps article is pretty much OTM.

emil.y, Wednesday, 13 March 2013 14:08 (twelve years ago)

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...

Bob-omb The Videogame Industry! (Will M.), Wednesday, 13 March 2013 14:16 (twelve years ago)

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.

susuwatari teenage riot (a passing spacecadet), Wednesday, 13 March 2013 14:25 (twelve years ago)

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?

s.clover, Wednesday, 13 March 2013 15:32 (twelve years ago)

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.

Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, 13 March 2013 15:42 (twelve years ago)

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!'

Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, 13 March 2013 15:44 (twelve years ago)

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.
btw, this is not true. nerds raged at Ubisoft for a couple years before they finally gave up on their always-online crap on the PC, now EA is trying to pull the same thing but being a little more "clever" about it

Nhex, Wednesday, 13 March 2013 15:50 (twelve years ago)

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?).

susuwatari teenage riot (a passing spacecadet), Wednesday, 13 March 2013 16:16 (twelve years ago)

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

panettone for the painfully alone (mayor jingleberries), Wednesday, 13 March 2013 17:13 (twelve years ago)

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.

Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, 13 March 2013 17:31 (twelve years ago)

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

Darth Icky (DJP), Wednesday, 13 March 2013 17:32 (twelve years ago)

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.

Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Friday, 15 March 2013 17:22 (twelve years ago)

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

The New Jack Mormons! (kingfish), Friday, 15 March 2013 17:49 (twelve years ago)

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

popeyphonic (polyphonic), Friday, 15 March 2013 20:03 (twelve years ago)

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.

panettone for the painfully alone (mayor jingleberries), Friday, 15 March 2013 20:09 (twelve years ago)

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

sofatruck, Friday, 15 March 2013 23:22 (twelve years ago)

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

слабоумие и отвага (cozen), Sunday, 17 March 2013 11:03 (twelve years ago)

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.

Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Sunday, 17 March 2013 16:53 (twelve years ago)

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

s.clover, Monday, 18 March 2013 04:05 (twelve years ago)

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

Nhex, Monday, 18 March 2013 23:14 (twelve years ago)

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

thomasintrouble, Tuesday, 19 March 2013 21:54 (twelve years ago)

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

JimD, Tuesday, 19 March 2013 22:35 (twelve years ago)

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

polyphonic, Tuesday, 19 March 2013 23:12 (twelve years ago)

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

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

Hockey Drunk (kingfish), Friday, 29 March 2013 22:57 (twelve years ago)

i like that LGR guy!

Look, Brian, about the afro wig... (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 30 March 2013 19:10 (twelve years ago)

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

Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Monday, 1 April 2013 14:35 (twelve years ago)

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

Nhex, Monday, 1 April 2013 14:40 (twelve years ago)

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

Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Monday, 1 April 2013 14:44 (twelve years ago)

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.

Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Monday, 1 April 2013 14:46 (twelve years ago)

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.

your holiness, we have an official energy drink (Z S), Monday, 1 April 2013 14:56 (twelve years ago)

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

I offer about as much diversity as a saltine cracker. (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 3 April 2013 19:34 (twelve years ago)

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.

your holiness, we have an official energy drink (Z S), Wednesday, 3 April 2013 19:34 (twelve years ago)

doc, it only burns in context

I offer about as much diversity as a saltine cracker. (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 3 April 2013 19:40 (twelve years ago)

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

Nhex, Wednesday, 3 April 2013 19:41 (twelve years ago)

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

polyphonic, Wednesday, 3 April 2013 19:49 (twelve years ago)

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.

I offer about as much diversity as a saltine cracker. (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 3 April 2013 19:59 (twelve years ago)


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