SimCity 2013 (or SimCity 5)

[TechSY730]

 

...That's all I have to say...

[madcow]

 


 

[LaughingThesaurus]

I mean the game looks good, but it just doesn't work, EA likely plans to whore it out for DLC like it already has been, and it has always-on DRM, which I now protest to the point of actually boycotting games that do it. It's a shame really.

[keith.lamothe]

Yea, the internet-connection-required-to-play-single-player thing... it's bad enough in principle, but when you add on to that the in-practice consequence that even companies like Blizzard (with Diablo 3's launch) and EA (with Sim City's) can't provide the infrastructure for a remotely-smooth launch experience (i.e. "Iz can play game I baught?")... it's just no-deal.

[LaughingThesaurus]

The thing that really gets me is that this time, EA doesn't even have the servers to consistently save your data right. I've seen nothing but widespread complaints on the game not only not being playable, but when you do get in, you inevitably lose connection and the city you spent hours building is just gone. Forever. Yes, because you aren't allowed to manually save, and the servers can't handle you saving.

[doctorfrog]

They'll iron it out. And there will be grumbling. And people will still line up to give them money.

Personally, I find myself quite able to abstain from buying a game with that kind of DRM, but I have this weird need to feel like I own games before I can also feel like I own the experience of playing them.

[KingIsaacLinksr]

One giant mess this game launch has been. And the gameplay, while it looks fun, is not even enough to really entice me when I could just play SimCity 2000. Or 4. I still haven't played 3 or 4 and I probably should. At least some random EA server won't suddenly delete my city because it was completely incompetent.

My main hope behind this disaster is that it will ward off any other company from doing the same thing. And that people will quit preordering games but that's asking too much I think...

[LaughingThesaurus]

And that, doctorfrog, is the tragedy of this whole situation. Once it's all fixed up, people will buy it, it'll sell millions, and publishers will keep doing this. The worse it gets, the less likely I am to touch the triple-A market legitimately again. Can we have THQ back please?

[KingIsaacLinksr]

And that, doctorfrog, is the tragedy of this whole situation. Once it's all fixed up, people will buy it, it'll sell millions, and publishers will keep doing this. The worse it gets, the less likely I am to touch the triple-A market legitimately again. Can we have THQ back please?

Ehhh.....THQ was still doing a lot of stuff I didn't like. So much DLC junk thrown at their games and some poor optimizations on some of their games (Darksiders 2). I'd just much rather have more Valves, Square Enix and....and....I swear there is another one I like.

[Histidine]

Even Ubisoft has bakced away from this kind of stuff.

I really don't know why companies like EA keeps insisting on super intrusive DRM when nobody has even bothered to demonstrate that it actually benefits anyone in any way.

[chemical_art]

Even Ubisoft has bakced away from this kind of stuff.

I really don't know why companies like EA keeps insisting on super intrusive DRM when nobody has even bothered to demonstrate that it actually benefits anyone in any way.

I would imagine in market share world, the piracy is the reason game sales are slumping, and always on DRM allows the most seemless transactions post purchase (a la Diablo III). The thought of ruining brand name, lost sales, increased player frustration, all considered secondary for trying to get that initial purchase at any cost, in addition to the stockholder's dream of continous money without needing to increasing market share.

[zespri]

Come on guys. It's just impractical to set up x100 bandwidth and hardware, if it's only required for 1-2 first weeks. What's the big deal? The rush will subside and the game becomes playable again. Don't want to buy and be not able to play? Well you are not in kindergarten, you know what happened with Diablo 3. Just wait a couple of weeks and you'll be good. And the always-on thing? Annoying as hell, yes, but I don't think you can't say that "no one proved that it's effective". It IS bloody effective no one was able to play Diablo without paying for it, and if Simcity is engineered right it will be the case too. And this is where money is. Grumps of minority are really immaterial. The game WILL sell and it will sell well. There is simply no logical reason to NOT have always-on DRM.

Now the Ubisoft argument. Well, their always-on DRM was cracked. This is I think why they tool a step back. But it was cracked only because the implementation was clumsy - it was a patch-on. The games still were happening on the client and server was only used artificially to check some kind of sequence codes. If the games were happening on the server, like Diablo 3, there would be no way in hell it could be cracked. So I'd consider Ubisoft retreat as just a regroup.

The future of AAA game is in always on, that's just economics, so it's better to get used to it. Indie is very strong now, so it's not like we are going to end up without games at all if we choose not support AAA. But this kind of resistance is really futile, the only people harmed by it are ourselves.

[madcow]

The issue Zespri, is that the hoop is needed at all on what should be a single player experience.

[Histidine]

no one was able to play Diablo without paying for it

Which is not the same thing as increasing revenue (let alone profit).

[Mick]

Come on guys. It's just impractical to set up x100 bandwidth and hardware, if it's only required for 1-2 first weeks. What's the big deal? The rush will subside and the game becomes playable again.

If Sim City was an MMO I would agree with this, but it's essentially a single player game.

I'm sure Sim City will sell well, but I'm sure it would have sold just as well without the online-only component, maybe even better, who knows. All I know is I haven't paid any money for it.

All I've heard about it is that cities are way smaller and features I loved in the old ones have essentially been removed. Online only or not, I'm not really the audience for this game. Maybe someday someone will come up with a good spiritual successor to the game that actually takes advantage of modern day hardware.