Just saw simcity at gamescon 2012 press conferance, no community concerns addressed

[kwetzel345 101]

I just saw it and must say, it dose not show anything relating to the communitys concern. They just talk about how great the multiplayer is, including city speclization etc and how funny many of us predicted they would! They show gameplay, but it's nothing out of the ordinary. Thry just constentaly say they are listening to the fans, yeah right!

[berndie90 2]

Really? I completely disagree with the OP. They showed the UI for some of the community features which include a pretty slick graph system for the prices of the different resources (and there are quite a few). They also continue to say that you will be able to play single player, which is true. You are simply connected to the Sim World to allow your city to access pricing, leaderboards, etc.

If you have a problem with the always-on, fine. But that doesn't make the rest of the game bad. Give it a chance, check out some gameplay later this week from the show.

[jacksunny 741]

Must we be so negative? In my opinion, the Simcity World feature is awesome. It's a lot better than I expected, with the global markets and leaderboard.

[Linoa06 1,374]

I wasn't impressed, but it's sure not as negative and horrible as people claim it to be. I think they said single player would be available. I still don't think I'll buy the game, but seriously, just stay on SC4 if you can't take SC5. There's no need for flame wars.

  Edited August 14, 2012 by Linoa06  

[VMIUJcadet09 250]

I hope sometime in the future there will be custom content for it. I haven't really been following it too closely, but I am excited for SC5 and will likely buy it. I also would love to see custom interchanges and varied modes of transit, that might be wishful thinking but I hope they make it happen.

[Hamish 1,370]

They kind of addressed some of the "Community Concerns." They once again stated that you can play this as a single player, however you will need to be online. Personally, I think thats fine, but there are other threads to discuss this.

We agree that online only is the biggest 'community concern'? They addressed that by showing why exactly online is needed. It looks pretty cool, and will be great to see more of it working at gamescon.

This is the trailer for SimCity World.

And it looks interesting. The most interesting parts would be the UI, and when they lay down curvy roads there are a few additional options for road widths. Some one really needs to go through and have a good look at all parts of the video, they will probably find some very interesting stuff.

[aparrot7 82]

So far, the video they showed us today is great, the only thing that concerns me is this:

Otherwise, the global market seems great, and so does multiplayer.

[Selphy 69]

I imagine the store is probably DLC stuff which we knew was coming and/or an option to just buy resources with real money instead of Simoleons if your city is too poor or you just want to speed up development/whatever.

[aparrot7 82]

I'm looking through the video. This picture is strange, it shows an extreme ammount of cars, yet a small population.

This one has a different User Interface than above, although the one above seems much more final. Its on the oil well, but it's strange to see this one with the RCI display and options, while the above doesn't Its very interesting though.

Strange how there are two, maybe more UI's. It may be that you get different information through each building. But i guess we'll see tomorrow- or in the beta just how its gonna work out. Just pointing out some stuff I've seen in the video.

  Edited August 14, 2012 by aparrot7  

[snick25 384]

I think we all gave this game a chance. Those who are now frustrated with it have good reasons and valid opinions backed up with facts. I will say that the new gameplay video (SimCity World) looked rather appealing, but unless some things are changed about this game I will not be buying.

[jacksunny 741]

dzenkins: The problem is, the people that have issues with the game are saying it in a poor manner. Instead of saying, "Because of Origin's unreasonable EULA, I may not buy this game," people say things like "Origin sucks! This game sucks!"

And I'm not saying everyone is doing this, but some are.

aparrot7: Regarding the first image, perhaps that is the number of cars in the city at the time. It might be high because Sims are commuting through that city to get to another. Or maybe the Sims are just really rich and they all own 1000 cars

[snick25 384]

Of course the core base doesn't like it, consisting of mostly hardcore SC4 fans who will only accept an updated SC4 (with better graphics) and nothing else. Personally I think those are pretty narrow expectations. I have no problem with them doing something different for the new game, after all, the SC4 all of you love so much is now a decade old. I can't see why the devs wouldn't do something a bit different.

With that said, the direction they are taking the game in is disappointing, to say the least, for most of the core fanbase, myself included. One of the directions they are trying to take this game into is more mass appeal and that means making this game more "fun" and MMO-like than realistic, which means while alienating the core base, they will probably still have a good level of support from new/passive players of the genre.

[aereus 106]

Story of the last 5 years, really. Create great franchise with many loyal fans. Dumb down franchise to sell to Facebook crowd for more money whilst alienating the smaller original fanbase that got you there. Profit.

[The_City_Builder 299]

Hey guys, look at this.

I wonder how they can fit that on such a tiny map?...

FYI the "Region" thing just means what region that big city is in.

  Edited August 14, 2012 by The_City_Builder  

[aereus 106]

Maybe they have Arcos in the game already we don't know about?

[snick25 384]

I'm not so sure about that. There are three categories: Rank, Region, and Population. Therefore the population appears measured by region, not city.

[Urban Cartographer 601]

I imagine the store is probably DLC stuff which we knew was coming and/or an option to just buy resources with real money instead of Simoleons if your city is too poor or you just want to speed up development/whatever.

I really hope that SimCity World would not end up being pay-to-win, just like games made by a certain company that is practically at the end of the alphabetical listing.

[The_City_Builder 299]

I'm not so sure about that. There are three categories: Rank, Region, and Population. Therefore the population appears measured by region, not city.

But notice that it's ranking by "Which cities have the highest population" not "Which regions".

[snick25 384]

Well, if that is indeed how it looks in-game and not just something added to the trailer, we'll see what that means for map sizes. I do think possibility of arcologies isn't so far-fetched; I remember in the intial game trailer many people thought they saw arcologies included.

I would be a bit more interested in this game if they decided to include larger city sizes, however, and I hope that is the case. I'm sure by the end of tomorrow we'll have some more gameplay footage and hopefully a definite idea of map sizes and a whole host of other aspects of this game.

[Thetford 22]

I thought they said arcologies were a global project like airports?

[aereus 106]

I thought they said arcologies were a global project like airports?

Oh, if they already said something about Arcos, I haven't seen it.

[Indiana Joe 1,751]

I gotta admit, the SimCity World feature sounds pretty awesome. Having single player but requiring participation in the world economy actually sounds extremely realistic and probably even fun.

I am however disappointed that they've taken away many of the civil engineering projects I'd come to love in SC4 like airports and freeways. I liked having personal control over them and their construction.

Once the price drops after a couple months and definitely if they release modding tools, I think I'll look into purchasing this game.

[vortext 573]

Once the price drops after a couple months and definitely if they release modding tools, I think I'll look into purchasing this game.

Same here.

[aparrot7 82]

Sure the game has its flaws, but its not a complete failure- its got plenty to offer. Just because it doesn't suit your likings doesn't mean it wont suit anyone.

I'm gonna wait until release day, and judge on my own whether i am gonna buy it.

[The_City_Builder 299]

still not sold even one bit towards a purchase. just multiplayer showing off. tommorow is the last day of the simcity funeral.

Ok, you go to the funeral, while I sign up for the beta

Sure the game has its flaws, but its not a complete failure- its got plenty to offer. Just because it doesn't suit your likings doesn't mean it wont suit anyone.

I'm gonna wait until release day, and judge on my own whether i am gonna buy it.

Well said!

[Zombeast 69]

Dang, I am stoked for this though. I could give two farts that it's not like SC4. I can just tell i'm going to be thoroughly entertained by this release.

[Bipin 3,403]

Despite anything else it does or does not have, the determining factors of whether or not it will be a guaranteed failure or possible failure are if custom content will be able to be made from scratch (e.g. 3D models in 3dsMax or at least a dev. kit like for SC3000) and if we can save our cities after the servers close. Despite what you may think about this now, these two factors will be among the most influential, if not the most influential.

[Zombeast 69]

While I agree the server closing is an issue (EA Closed the EA MMA servers quick!), I think modding will only matter to hardcore fans who mainly cruise this site. Just posting the trailers on my facebook has intrigued a lot of friends who played the previous versions in college. One of them (a mixed martial artist) is even playing SimCity Social with me till time passes for the new release.

More so my point is, my friends who played SC4 and the previous versions didn't go mod crazy, some never used them at all. If you're like me, you like reaching the full potential of the standard game play before you start modding.

  Edited August 14, 2012 by Zombeast  

[edman2012 33]

Unless I missed it on this post, don't forget they unnounced that the game will be coming to Mac, which was a concern for several people before.

[chimeran 208]

Of course the core base doesn't like it, consisting of mostly hardcore SC4 fans who will only accept an updated SC4 (with better graphics) and nothing else. Personally I think those are pretty narrow expectations. I have no problem with them doing something different for the new game, after all, the SC4 all of you love so much is now a decade old. I can't see why the devs wouldn't do something a bit different.

With that said, the direction they are taking the game in is disappointing, to say the least, for most of the core fanbase, myself included. One of the directions they are trying to take this game into is more mass appeal and that means making this game more "fun" and MMO-like than realistic, which means while alienating the core base, they will probably still have a good level of support from new/passive players of the genre.

I gotta admit, the SimCity World feature sounds pretty awesome. Having single player but requiring participation in the world economy actually sounds extremely realistic and probably even fun.

I am however disappointed that they've taken away many of the civil engineering projects I'd come to love in SC4 like airports and freeways. I liked having personal control over them and their construction.

Once the price drops after a couple months and definitely if they release modding tools, I think I'll look into purchasing this game.

i hate to get sucked into this debate and maybe you'll think i'm paranoid and off my rocker but this is the way i see SC5

snick25 is correct that maxis is alienating the core fanbase to chase after a few more dollars to keep the beancounters, the CEO, the board of directors and the shareholders happy. but those who are the staunchest supporters of SC5 fail to realize a glaring flaw in their logic. you are not buying the game in any sense of the word. you are buying the software and files necessary to access their game servers and in essence you are leasing server time. i don't know the ages of those posting here but i will date myself and tell you that i learned how to program computers in BASIC on a commodore 64 in the 6th grade and i have watched the evolution of technology, computers and gaming over the years.

i witnessed the birth of multiplayer games back in the late 90's and early 2000's with the unreal tournament series, quake, diablo, etc. some of you may not be old enough to remember the originals but i do and when multiplayer games were coming of age it was a much different political and business climate. i remember getting UT2K3 and the developer not only released demo's but the server software necessary for fans to host their own games. you don't see that anymore b/c of the almighty dollar for newer games and you can only play older multi-player games from the fans hosting them on their own servers and not the company that created them.

but back to SC5, do you honestly think that maxis is going to give the general public much less the core fanbase access to any of the programs that will alter game-play ? of course not. if you think for one minute that the bigwigs haven't noticed fansites like simtropolis, sc4devotion, citybuilders and simpeg which are the main ones then you are mistaken. take simtropolis, how many buildings that are custom are on the STEX ? i don't know but there is a lot and just think all those buildings are FREE. maxis knows this and wants to control that aspect which is more than likely the reasoning behind the "cloud". they can charge whatever they like for custom buildings and since the game is on THEIR servers and not on your rig you can kiss custom content goodbye.

and for those not keeping track we live in a copyright mad world where anything including ideas can be trademarked and since the original limit was 7-14 years but now has escalated to 50 years even lifetimes the odds that we the core fanbase will get access to the modeling and other software will probably not happen in most of our lifetimes.

oh sure they will have really nice buildings and they will let people get new ones that they control but if you want really nice ones, take a guess what you have to do ? pony up the money for it since the CEO has already stated he wants to pursue the freemium business model. and remember, maxis controls the game, the networks, the buildings, etc. and since we live in a PC world where god forbid should someone get offended certain buildings will be eliminated. take chick-fil-a and the brouhaha surrounding it. personally i don't care one way or the other but if the public gets enraged they will demand certain buildings to be pulled from the game servers to lodge their protest against your wishes which leads me to the second quote.

indy says that maxis wants to join the world economy and this i can tell you right now that is going to blow up in their faces. i don't know where everyone lives but certain countries who shall remain nameless like to censor everything including the net. if you think tiananmen square will be available for SC5 you are in for a very rude awakening. and that's the just the tip of the iceberg. any country that has a problem will either ban server access or file lawsuits.

and i haven't even touched hackers and viruses which maxis has to keep out to allow the "world" to play their game.