Cities XL 2011 - Out in "a few weeks"

[mentarman 14]

You won't have to do anything. Assuming you are an adult in a free country, you are welcome to spend your money on this or decline and spend it on any old thing you'd like. Personally I can't wait to plunk down some cash for some new stuff.

[mr-tom 2]

Ditto. I'm happy to pay for additional content, as long as it it reasonably priced.

[YannickSHE 0]

So if the Blueprints, PO maps, and extra content we already had in PO all come into 3 different content packs, I'm happy to get everything back. Only the buses so far have been transfered from PO to SP.

Having said that, I think Monte Cristo had a couple of GEMs ready (as the Ski or Beach GEMs), so those will probably be included in CXL2011. Were the trains, subways and other extra content already ready or almost ready?

If we would get all the 3 content packs + the new stuff we haven't seen yet for another 50$, I wouldn't mind. But if we need to buy everything separatly once again... it's quite expensive for a game I thought was really boring on the PO (because of the deals, and lack of players). But now, as a SP game, it makes the whole thing much more interesting. Let's see what happens but it's quite exciting.

[gibbo-in-game 0]

You know if they had a map editor or even a flat map "That is all I wanted" I would have played this game like I do SC, and I would have paid for PO to get such map / editor.

[mr-tom 2]

Flat map is easily achieved with the terraforming tools available in the game.

Additional mods are available to:

1 Enable sandbox - essentially you won't have to worry about money whilst you flatten your map

2 Add better terraforming tools - especially those which cover a wider area.

[Herdervriend 46]

I would pay a maximum of 25 euro for extra content. I not am that crazy like those Sims players, who buy all the extra packs which cost around 20 to 30 euro for what, 1 extra clothing bag:S. Can't wait thought. Trains and so on MUST be included.

[sthudig 0]

I'm very happy I chose to wait before I bought and tried a friend's copy!

[Andres1703 0]

When its the new stuff coming??? Its true that the release its going to be in the next days (april)????

[YannickSHE 0]

I doubt we'll get CitiesXL2011 that early. I was thinking June-July. I want them to really take the time and providing real new stuff and a lot of stuff. I don't want to get CXL11 with what we already had on the Planet. We want more.

[mr-tom 2]

Truth is, nobody knows (maybe not even MC...) but I'm certainly not holding my breath...

[ValNarm 0]

It is a shame, especially if you bought the game liking the idea of joining up with other people and not necessarily reading the packaging right and getting the impression that you could play multiplayer for free but just have to pay extra for shiney extras in the game THEN to find out that they shut the servers down a month before you installed it and took away any real depth to the game. I'm hoping the lack of punctuation conveys my frustration right.

I think it was mentioned before, but it doesn't cost THAT much to host, I don't quite understand why they had to destroy it completely other than being particularly greedy.

My other gripe is when you open the packaging (I bought the game just after it came out but needed to upgrade my PC) it says go to the site for GEMS. No GEMS yet, so that's really good. I have been playing it though, and I have to say, not a bad game really, its just lacking a lot to blow anything else out the water.

~Val

/endrant

[mr-tom 2]

Originally posted by: ValNarm

I think it was mentioned before, but it doesn't cost THAT much to host, I don't quite understand why they had to destroy it completely other than being particularly greedy.

quote>

Apologies if I missed it, but I wasn't aware that Monte Cristo had ever told anybody what hosting the game cost them.

My guess is that running the online game cost more than it brought in or was likely to bring in any time soon.

If the situation were different then why would they have closed it down?

[ValNarm 0]

Maybe selling 3 theme packs, an expansion and GEMS to their player base has been calculated to bring in more than the subscriptions they previously had?

Just speculating of course. that's all anyone can do really.

The quote you used was from another post in this forum, not my brain or MC, so apologies for not making that clearer.

~Val

[hansenawesome15 9]

I'm actually considering buying this....glad I saw this before I did, otherwise I wouldn't buy 2011. I'd like to buy it, it looks so realistic, but what's the difference between CXL 2011 and Simcity Societies?

[JayStimson 211]

Lifetime membership ? A sucker born every minute. Who would fall for such a scam ? What happens if the game is a flop (like PO) or gets bought by another company (like EA) who doesn't see a future in maintenance for the game ? IMO, the perfect city building game would be like SC4 (enhanced of course) with tools equivalent to the BAT, LE, and PM. Then as updates are available (continuous improvement ? what a novel idea, ha !) current owners could purchase the update for a small fee rather have to buy the newest version.

The game producer would have income for years and years and we (as gamers) would continually look forward to each new improvement. And, if they really wanted customer loyalty, small enhancements would be available (download) for existing customers for free. Only major updates would cost money.

But of course, this makes too much sense so it'll never happen. Makes me wonder if marketing people have anything between their ears besides space.

[Garek Maxwell 1]

Originally posted by: mr-tom

Originally posted by: ValNarm

I think it was mentioned before, but it doesn't cost THAT much to host, I don't quite understand why they had to destroy it completely other than being particularly greedy.

quote>

My guess is that running the online game cost more than it brought in or was likely to bring in any time soon.quote>

This is correct. From memory based on old threads discussion slow loading, saving, lagg issues, and costs of servers, someone figured out that what was happening is that MC made it so that saved games save all city data to the servers. This is really really costly and takes up a lot of space.

To give an example, there is Everquest, a popular MMO. In the early days, almost all game data was stored on servers and you basically purchased an interface that communicated with them. Loading was very slow and it wasn't exactly ideal for server cost since bandwidth usage was extreme. (Everyone has to load the same things over and over again from their servers after all.)

Later, after a particular expansion, they changed it so the load was primarily placed on the user's computer. This cut costs on server usage and probably made the game more competitive in pricing compared to newer games. Ever since then, most MMOs use this model because it's the cheapest way to do it.

MC went the other direction, and this was probably partly done to enable the avatars to walk around the cities of other people and to cut down on cheating. Had they managed to use a different method and, say, store the bare minimum data in the equivalent to a text file (similar to Spore), then they could have made it work more easily. However, I don't know how this would have impacted gameplay and multiplayer aspects...

[bluespottedhorse 49]

If they've worked out all the bugs and short comings I'll definitely buy it. I'm bored with SC4 anyways.

[mr-tom 2]

I suspect that when (IF) it is released, some will be fixed, some not - it'll be a toss up as to whether to buy it. But to be honest, it'll be (in my humble opinion) the best product currently available, so I probably will.

[pete1061 0]

Originally posted by: hansenawesome15

I'm actually considering buying this....glad I saw this before I did, otherwise I wouldn't buy 2011. I'd like to buy it, it looks so realistic, but what's the difference between CXL 2011 and Simcity Societies?quote>

Compaied to Simcity Societies, CXL or CXL2011 is actually good.

If it's a choice between CXL (as it is now) and SCS, get CXL.

SCS should never have been released, it was a joke.

[DazzaDazza 29]

yes SCS was a crap game, for the most part, CXL is enjoyable, I find it a much better game when you don't have to worry about money, but that's just me

[mentarman 14]

Originally posted by: hansenawesome15

I'm actually considering buying this....glad I saw this before I did, otherwise I wouldn't buy 2011. I'd like to buy it, it looks so realistic, but what's the difference between CXL 2011 and Simcity Societies?quote>

People had high expectations for CXL and it fell quite a bit short for most people.

People had low expectations for SCS and it fell quite a bit short for most people.

[jeremy12 0]

Originally posted by: mentarman

Originally posted by: hansenawesome15

I'm actually considering buying this....glad I saw this before I did, otherwise I wouldn't buy 2011. I'd like to buy it, it looks so realistic, but what's the difference between CXL 2011 and Simcity Societies?quote>

People had high expectations for CXL and it fell quite a bit short for most people.

People had low expectations for SCS and it fell quite a bit short for most people.

quote>

love it, spot on to

[Titorotod 0]

Originally posted by: mentarman

Originally posted by: hansenawesome15

I'm actually considering buying this....glad I saw this before I did, otherwise I wouldn't buy 2011. I'd like to buy it, it looks so realistic, but what's the difference between CXL 2011 and Simcity Societies?quote>

People had high expectations for CXL and it fell quite a bit short for most people.

People had low expectations for SCS and it fell quite a bit short for most people.

quote>

Lol! So true...! Everyone had high expectations for CXL even me... It disappointed me tough.

[mentarman 14]

Well, I actually like it and probably have rep as a bit of a booster on here. But there is certainly room for improvement, and it did fall short of my expectations for sure. But I think what I said above is generally true overall...

[Orangetheorange 0]

So wait, WHICH one do I buy(if I have a choice)?

[mr-tom 2]

Well right now, you don't have a choice as you can't yet buy CXL2011.

It's released in October.

[simonlp 0]

Have you guys been to the Cities XL website recently? Cities XL 2011 is no longer being developed by Monte Cristo and is instead being developed by Focus Home interactive!!! goto the website now if you haven't already and read the announcement. http://www.citiesxl.com/

[mntoes 270]

Old news my friend. Check-out many of the other threads on this subject.

[wyllman 0]

It may be a silly question, but

Does anyone know if the purchase of cities xl 2011 by focus includes the Oldest Cities XL?

[jeremy12 0]

Originally posted by: wyllman

It may be a silly question, but

Does anyone know if the purchase of cities xl 2011 by focus includes the Oldest Cities XL?quote>

no one knows at this time, at lunch i doubt you will get 1 with the other. unless they do a steam sale i see publishers do stuff like that all the time on there to push their new games