Gamescom 2012 - SimCity interview w/ Jason Haber

[chimeran 208]

@ 5:00 gives details that your resources are predetermined

@8:10 asynchronous play ... friends or foes are not needed but will determine what you can do in your city are far as supply and demand

@8::50 other players can hurt your city through pollution/crime

source :

[aparrot7 82]

Just saw this and was about to post it, but you beat me too it . Anyways- its alot of the same information we've heard before, but still a useful interview.

[Selphy 69]

Another interview and nothing new was learned.

[Essex 322]

Maybe because there's nothing more to learn?

[Selphy 69]

Maybe because there's nothing more to learn?

Are you kidding me? There is plenty more for them to elaborate on. Right now, the knowledge we have is just the framework.

I for one would like for them to let us know more about city specializations. As of right now, they keep saying coal, casino(tourist), and oil. I would like to know what other specializations exist and some images to showcase the aesthetic change between each specialization.

We know you can add modules to stuff but all we know is adding more smoke stacks, cranes for coal plants, extra panels for solar, and a new garage for police and fire. What about things like the Mayor's house? City Hall? Schools? Hospitals? Parks? What degree does each addition affect the original building?

Showcase more of the transportation options. I want to know about railroads, elevated transportation and subway.

What are the other Great Works we can work towards? Or tell us about some of the rewards that we can get? They showed in the video some type of reward system where you get new building options or something for completing some kind of challenge. Are these one-time use rewards? Do they only show up once? Etc?

Don't get me wrong, I'm pretty excited for the game but their marketing is piss poor. From the day the game was announce to now, they've barely unveiled much. They keep telling us things we knew about months ago over and over again. We know the framework pretty through and through. At this point I think we deserve some finer details.

I'm not asking them to spoil everything but most games unveil more than they have 6 months prior to launch. RPGs would showcase the battle system, various characters, the world, skill system.

Racing games would show us various vehicles, different tracks and probably the customization if any.

Action games would show us different scenarios, villains, probably a run-through of the first area, various guns/weapons and cool action sequences.

I'm going to buy this game and I'm positive about it but even I think they need to showcase more detailed information. And like I said, they don't have to spoil it all at once or everything for that matter. Just start releasing tidbits to get people excited. Or interested for that matter.

[Urban Cartographer 601]

We all have the right to voice our concerns about SC5. By voicing our concerns will the developers take note of the flaws that are present in the game. Remember that we do not hate SC5, we just want it to be improved significantly to build upon the successes of SC4. Without criticism, there will be no improvement.

[Zombeast 69]

Remember that we do not hate SC5, we just want it to be improved significantly to build upon the successes of SC4. Without criticism, there will be no improvement.

I think it's pretty apparent no matter how much criticism we can dish out, this is not going to happen.

[Zombeast 69]

To further comment on this point, this is nothing personal to urban cartographer, but what else can be said or shown to really make every one realize the SC4 model is completely gone with this game? Somethings are just not going to be in this release, keep in mind they are starting over from scratch. While we play the release and criticism can be taken seriously, based off playing the game and not just a bunch of net nerds (myself included) making assumptions, they will be working on ways to add highways, add terraforming and give us more options in the next installment. Maxis has to PAY people to work on this stuff, and EA needs a turn around on their investment. They can't just let maxis spends years working on getting everything right for one release and hope it pays off in the end. I don't think enough people are thinking about the fact that not every option will be in this game because they just don't have the time allowed to get everything right.

  Edited August 22, 2012 by Zombeast  

[Netuno 97]

To further comment on this point, this is nothing personal to urban cartographer, but what else can be said or shown to really make every one realize the SC4 model is completely gone with this game? Somethings are just not going to be in this release, keep in mind they are starting over from scratch. While we play the release and criticism can be taken seriously, based off playing the game and not just a bunch of net nerds (myself included) making assumptions, they will be working on ways to add highways, add terraforming and give us more options in the next installment. Maxis has to PAY people to work on this stuff, and EA needs a turn around on their investment. They can't just let maxis spends years working on getting everything right for one release and hope it pays off in the end. I don't think enough people are thinking about the fact that not every option will be in this game because they just don't have the time allowed to get everything right.

Believing that nothing will change, this is the real pessimism. All criticism is valid if it really intends to improve things.

If Maxis really didn’t care about the opinions of SimCity fans, it would not launch a beta version to be tested and evaluated. Simply it would release a final version of the game and ready, so there could be no change.

It may be that Maxis doesn’t care about our opinions, but if we don't do our criticism, the possibility of something changing in game development is zero.

Hope is what drives us here, accept and let it all happen doesn’t make things happen in this world.

[chimeran 208]

@ 5:00 gives details that your resources are predetermined

@8:10 asynchronous play ... friends or foes are not needed but will determine what you can do in your city are far as supply and demand

@8::50 other players can hurt your city through pollution/crime

the biggest things that concern me is that your resources are predetermined which means if you get stuck w/worthless land then you will have to turn to the global market to keep your city thriving. the asynchronous play also worries me is if the glassbox engine is what maxis and EA claim it to be then there will be extra costs incurred if you need materials/resources if others in your region are not on-line to give you what you need and lastly the effects of another city can affect yours. what happens if you get stuck w/an industrial city next to yours that produces heavy pollution ? you will need to invest in parks or other anti-pollution methods to curb the pollution encroaching upon your city and so far i haven't read anything about cheats which means you have to divert funds to combat the effects of a neighboring city. and if they have a crime ridden hellhole then you will need to create a police state to combat those effects as well. there is alleged solo play but that is not what they are hyping. i could care less about curvy roads and leaderboards. SC2K13 is no burger king. *for the international members you will have to google it to understand the reference*

only the old timer's will know what this is

  Edited August 22, 2012 by chimeran  

[Xenocity 343]

What if it succeeds and ends up being highly reviewed surpassing Simcity 4 in reviews?

Gaming rankings (Metacritic doesn't have reviews for all the simcities) scores of all the Simcity games:

1. Simcity 4 Deluxe - 83%
   
   
2. Simcity 4 ------ 85.09%
   
   
3. Simcity 3k ---- 84.48%
   
   
4. Simcity 3kU--- 78.31%
   
   
5. Simcity 2kNE-- 79.00%
   
   
6. Simcity 2k ----- 72.00%
   
   
7. Simcity SNES - 79.90%
   

Obviously Simcity 2013 just has to score 85.1% to bet deemed superior to by the gaming press/PC gaming publications.

All versions are the PC version, except for the Super Nintendo version of the original which Nintendo co-developed with Maxis adding much more exclusive content to their version.

Simcity 2k NE is the network edition which was the first online version of Simcity.

I'm just curious how the original Simcity 4 has outscored the deluxe version?

  Edited August 23, 2012 by CaptCity  
Removed previously edited quote.

[Essex 322]

What if it succeeds and ends up being highly reviewed surpassing Simcity 4 in reviews?

Gaming rankings (Metacritic doesn't have reviews for all the simcities) scores of all the Simcity games:

1. Simcity 4 Deluxe - 83%
   
   
2. Simcity 4 ------ 85.09%
   
   
3. Simcity 3k ---- 84.48%
   
   
4. Simcity 3kU--- 78.31%
   
   
5. Simcity 2kNE-- 79.00%
   
   
6. Simcity 2k ----- 72.00%
   
   
7. Simcity SNES - 79.90%
   

Obviously Simcity 2013 just has to score 85.1% to bet deemed superior to by the gaming press/PC gaming publications.

All versions are the PC version, except for the Super Nintendo version of the original which Nintendo co-developed with Maxis adding much more exclusive content to their version.

Simcity 2k NE is the network edition which was the first online version of Simcity.

I'm just curious how the original Simcity 4 has outscored the deluxe version?

Who cares what journo's and "critics" think and say? What people say that play it means a lot more to me. Pretty much all games I like and still play are in the medium range to mid high range on metacritics as most journo's can't invest the time to actually play a complex game for long. Also, Journo's are very reliant on the games industry anyway, and oh, who's the biggest? EA. And EA is known to bribe journo's with fancy trips and toys to sooth them.

For an example Black Ops got rated 9's all over the place, but the campaign lasted 5 hours.... Simcity 4 has lasted 10 years for me now but it's metacritic is lower... see the irony?

Sorry, I'll wait untill people play it before me and tell me how it is to play, then I still won't buy it because of Origin but that is basically how I do it these days.

It's foolish to trust any corporate marketing or games journo's.

  Edited August 23, 2012 by CaptCity  
Removed previously edited quote.

[Xenocity 343]

What if it succeeds and ends up being highly reviewed surpassing Simcity 4 in reviews?

Gaming rankings (Metacritic doesn't have reviews for all the simcities) scores of all the Simcity games:

1. Simcity 4 Deluxe - 83%
   
   
2. Simcity 4 ------ 85.09%
   
   
3. Simcity 3k ---- 84.48%
   
   
4. Simcity 3kU--- 78.31%
   
   
5. Simcity 2kNE-- 79.00%
   
   
6. Simcity 2k ----- 72.00%
   
   
7. Simcity SNES - 79.90%
   

Obviously Simcity 2013 just has to score 85.1% to bet deemed superior to by the gaming press/PC gaming publications.

All versions are the PC version, except for the Super Nintendo version of the original which Nintendo co-developed with Maxis adding much more exclusive content to their version.

Simcity 2k NE is the network edition which was the first online version of Simcity.

I'm just curious how the original Simcity 4 has outscored the deluxe version?

Who cares what journo's and "critics" think and say? What people say that play it means a lot more to me. Pretty much all games I like and still play are in the medium range to mid high range on metacritics as most journo's can't invest the time to actually play a complex game for long. Also, Journo's are very reliant on the games industry anyway, and oh, who's the biggest? EA. And EA is known to bribe journo's with fancy trips and toys to sooth them.

For an example Black Ops got rated 9's all over the place, but the campaign lasted 5 hours.... Simcity 4 has lasted 10 years for me now but it's metacritic is lower... see the irony?

Sorry, I'll wait untill people play it before me and tell me how it is to play, then I still won't buy it because of Origin but that is basically how I do it these days.

It's foolish to trust any corporate marketing or games journo's.

You know all gaming companies entice good reviews with stuff except for Nintendo (which is strange), not just EA.

Every Call of Duty main selling point is the competitive online gameplay, which is beloved by millions.

Simcity 4 was buggy in the beginning until the patches came along (why do people forget this?)

Also did you miss the most recent Steam update a few weeks back where Valve changed the terms of agreement to bring it into line with Origin and the rest?

It tightened the DRM and restrictions, you had to accept the new agreement to play your games and continue using Steam.

If you clicked declined, Vavle had the power to terminate your account and disabled all your games (which they did).

Valve and Steam are no better than EA and Origin.

[Daytripper 41]

Valve and Steam are no better than EA and Origin.

Nothing in the amended Steam Subscriber Agreement or Privacy Policy Agreement gives Valve the right which EA has reserved in the Origin EULA to collect

technical and related information that identifies your computer

(including the Internet Protocol Address) and operating system, as well as

information about your Application usage (including but not limited to successful

installation and/or removal), software, software usage and peripheral hardware

Only EA reserves the right to scan our entire PCs - not just for info regarding our usage of EA product but ALL our files, programs and hardware info - whether or not it is related to the product in question.

In any case, the actions of any other company will not make what EA does right or wrong. It is for each consumer to decide whether or not he or she will install spyware on their computer.