Maxis Visit, thoughts and impressions

[Screwballl 196]

Multiplayer and always-online

So far, we have no real idea how online multiplayer, global markets and global economies will play out. I’m guessing the Beta is where we’re going to discover all that. My initial resistance was based on the fear that I would be forced to play in a region with other people and I had no choice. For me, leaderboards and group challenges hold almost no appeal whatsoever, other players might dig that. I hope the only component offers some surprising dynamic that we haven't already seen before (which failed) and that serve to engage more than annoy.

So we know now that you can still play an entire region by yourself - though you still have to be online.

So that brings us to a burning point of contention which has been debated all over the forums here and abroad. I don’t think I can add much more to the conversation, but I did bring up the topic with Maxis at dinner the one night: “Ok, so hey, let’s say I had a long day at work, and I just want to go home, relax and load up SimCity. In fact, I can’t wait to get home and work on my city. I’ve been thinking about it all day. So I get home, I load it up, and the servers are down. I can’t play… so… now what?”

The only answer I got was about the only answer I deserved for such a loaded question. Kip shrugged his shoulders and offered a “c’est la vie” face. Really, what else could he say? We are told that online play is asynchronous, so temporary outages will not disrupt your game. And yes, occasionally Origin servers may be down for maintenance, and you won’t be able to login or you may be kicked out of the game, but we can be assured that plenty of notice will always be given.

While not new, I still reject the idea of “always online” but I am accepting that it will be the way many games will go. Still at dinner, and at the risk of being obnoxious on the topic, I wanted to make the point another way: “Ok, so you look at SimCity 4 released 10 years ago, and I can still load it up today and play it. I can load it up five years from now and still play it. I don’t need to sign in, I don’t need a server, I just load it up and play. How can this always online requirement be able to assure me that I can still play my game, say, a year or 10 from now just as I can with SimCity 4?”

As an answer, Kip hunched over and waved his fingers: “Hmmm… let me look into my crystal ball…”

There was laughter, it was kinda funny. And really, what did I expect? Still, however glib Kip’s response, within it contained about as much truth and assurance as I could have hoped to extract on the matter. The honest answer of course is that no one really knows for sure, and there really are no promises. There was no answer that could have satisfied.

Not to paint Kip as completely glib and dismissive (he’s actually very patient, great to talk to and good humoured) he did address my concern as best as he was able to: Maxis values SimCity greatly, it’s one of their flagship titles, and that we have every good intention of making sure it has a long life. Something along that line. So there you go, that’s the best answer they can possibly give us, whether that affects your buying decision is up to you.

Dirktator

The fact that they were silent and possibly dismissive about this aspect is REALLY disturbing.... it is as if they are trying to keep something a big secret, like everyone will be forced to keep the game online, all the time. All game saves, anything and everything will be online.... so really why are we paying $60-80 up front for something that is really not ours, and very likely will be screwed when their servers are down (as is typical of EA)... This all leads me to believe something is very wrong here, and will come back to bite EA in the butt shortly after release (within a few months).

Can disasters be turned off?

Yes distasters can be turned off, they've said that in several interviews online and in the video

  Edited October 18, 2012 by Screwballl  

[LegendRR 0]

Thanks for the great review! I can't wait until the game is ready.

So I take the chance to write my first Post here!

Since I am a player in Germany, I have a question about "architecure styles" like in SC 4. Dit Maxis gave you information if it would be possible to change the style or look for your city? I mean I love the look of amarican cities, but a variety would be cool.

Yea, so they have a premium version of the game that includes styles for Britian by plopping Big Ben, Paris by plopping the Eiffel Tower, and Germany by plopping the Brandenburg Gate.

Thanks for the great review! I can't wait until the game is ready.

So I take the chance to write my first Post here!

Since I am a player in Germany, I have a question about "architecure styles" like in SC 4. Dit Maxis gave you information if it would be possible to change the style or look for your city? I mean I love the look of amarican cities, but a variety would be cool.

Yea, so they have a premium version of the game that includes styles for Britian by plopping Big Ben, Paris by plopping the Eiffel Tower, and Germany by plopping the Brandenburg Gate.

I knew that there would be some ploppable premium landmarks, but the didn't mentioned complete city styles.

[ThomasSimpson 466]

Very good, unbiased article there Dirk, thank you for that. It's an interesting point you make about there being so many expansions for the Sims but only one for Simcity 4. You mentioned the lack of agriculture and it has been mentioned that non-American styles are massively lacking. Perhaps we'll be talking about expansion pack after expansion pack in the coming years, a la Sims franchise.

[Paulobergonci 673]

Thanks for the review, it was a good reading.

What I'm worried about is if cities can't touch each other, it would be small cities spread on a region.

I love my 5.5 million metropolis (and growing) in SC4 and how it looks like in the region view.

Also, the highways and railway are already built when you start a region, but i'm hoping that we can build our own in solo player mode.

[MaxisGuillaume 289]

Did you happen to see railway construction? Did I deduct correctly that railways can now connect via unrealistic intersection, as opposed to having to make large, round turns, like in SC4?

I may be wrong about this, but I did see what I believe was the rail tool being drawn and then intersected, and it was just a normal intersection. I'm prepared to be totally corrected by Guillaume on this...

We're working on making those intersections look right. The problem is that the size of an intersection is dictated by the width of the networks that form it, and as you've seen, the rail tracks aren't especially wide. The trick then is to make the intersection think that the tracks are much wider, so you can have more room for a smooth turn.

[MaxisGuillaume 289]

2. That dead space between buildings was what I was referring to, doesn't look great so far. I didn't see any generated 'cluter' or anything like that, however, maybe they will address it.

Yeah we're working on it.

MaxisGuillaume:

Thank you, enphatically, for your 5 word post. If you've read my other posts on this forum, you know I'm frustrated. As short as it was, it spoke volumes, and this simple post actually counteracts some of my frustration. It lets me know that Maxis is listening. Please continue to read, and don't be afraid to throw in some more posts. It'll change the way I, for one, see Maxis and this game.

You'd be surprised by the number of people in the office who've been reading the forums!

[Mr Whippy 7]

Nice review and good for Maxis showing you round.

My 2p.

Statistical approach was good in sc4. Real city planners only see their city as stats and percentages. Town planners in the UK can't fly around and watch the populace and see their desire lines to get stuff right.

Giving sims realism is good but to over emphasise them is missing the point of city building strategy to me. Percentages ARE what matter when planning for thousands or millions and spending the same!

That ambiguity and need to be analytical is a good thing.

Great, 3d roads and triple deck overpasses. But in 2km squares? My village is 2km by 2km and has 2250 people. What city would fit in 2km x 2km and need such fancy road junctions?

Realistic sims living more real lives, but the realism of the cities themselves seems to be second to the realism of the people.

No matter how good the sims are if the city just looks fake with caricature appearance to squish it all into a small map it's not a "sim" city. It's a city with sim people in it.

It's also an odd visual style for a simcity. Its fine in its own right but its not working for me for a simcity game.

It's too caricature and obviously the sim for the city itself has gone out the window in scaling respects. It'll never feel realistic irrespective if the artistic style/rendering.

For me the realism of the cityscape was a core draw of the game s2k onwards!

Not to wish it badly, I quite like the look of the videos.

Momentarily give it a different name so you judge it as a new product and not against what has gone before and suddenly I'm quite open to it in that context

It's just not the next step in the SC series in my view so its impossible for them to make us happy with it as simcity fans.

Unless of course LOTS changes to make the wrong things right :-)

Dave

  Edited October 18, 2012 by Mr Whippy  

[spicytimothy 7]

2. That dead space between buildings was what I was referring to, doesn't look great so far. I didn't see any generated 'cluter' or anything like that, however, maybe they will address it.

Yeah we're working on it.

You answered the ONLY gripe I have so far from all the video previews haha. Glad I pre-ordered then.

[mgarc1125 4]

Great overview!

Positive Reactions

The road tools sounds pretty awesome. I am very excited to see those at work.

Negative Reactions

I am still mostly disappointed though. City size, graphics, lack of zoning density, lack of terraforming, and online only are still deal-breakers for me and I still have doubts that the game's direction will manage to pick up new fans where they have lost old fans.

[Urban Cartographer 601]

Thank you for your honest review, Dirk.

However, I am not convinced that I will get the new SimCity, especially with forced online, lack of large-scale terraforming, 2km by 2km city sizes, regions having many unbuildable areas, and the removal of many features that made SC4 so fun to play for a decade.

[Wiimeiser 452]

It's not Maxis that's the problem. It's EA. I don't think they've released a single offline game since 2007.

[chimeran 208]

there may be cause for hope yet but it will have to be confirmed through maxis/EA

BETA EULA, Section 1.4, Paragraph 2

When you play this game offline, EA and its affiliates may collect and store non-personally identifiable data including your Internet Protocol Address as well as game play and software usage statistics. If and when you access online features and/or services (if any), this data may be transmitted to EA. EA may use this information to improve our products and services and may share anonymous data with third parties.

if you disregard the standard bolierplate it would seem there might be off-line play and hopefully this will make it into the final cut but i still wonder about the sync issue.

unrelated, they got rid of the diagdx component of the beta sign-up, most interesting

  Edited October 19, 2012 by chimeran  

[Screwballl 196]

Since ea is watching, please give us the option instead of forcing it on us:

1) online mode (as it is now)

2) offline mode (NOTHING is uploaded to EA, ALL game saves and such saved to the local computer)

3) offline mode with backup/sync option

[whatevermind 10]

Thanks Dirk for the well written review, and thank you also to MaxisGuillame for your comments and replies and insights. I think that at least shows that Maxis is at least aware that there are a number of die hard SimCity fans out there, who have been waiting for years for SimCity 5, and are more than a little disappointed with what they've been seeing about this new game. Personally, I'm still unsure. I might eventually get the game, but I've never been an early adopter, and I'm sure I'll wait until the major technical bugs have been sorted out and the first expansion packs released before buying anything.

There's a lot to be disappointed about with this game, for sure. In the 15+ years I've been playing various SimCity titles, this is the first one that I haven't been all that excited to get my hands on. The small city size and lack of terraforming are annoying, for one. Both seem like very big steps backwards. Especially since SC4Terraformer has shown that large scales terraforming is possible, and Cire360 seemed to have figured out regional play that eliminated set city sizes altogether in his own offshoot game - so I can't believe these are technical limitations that Maxis can't figure out.

The cartoony visual style and unrealistic images we've seen so far are another big miss. Some of the pictures produced in MD's/CJ's could pass for lightly photoshopped real world photos. This new game could pass for a kid's TV show at best. Similarly with the sparse and hyper-suburban cities we've seen so far - not everyone enjoys this style of city, in fact it's probably safe to say that most SC4 players prefer the opposite. This, along with the numerous oddities of the proposed transportation systems, they at least are working on.

The dead space around the edges of cities reminds me of the "neighbors" from SC2K and SC3K, frustratingly useless at best. I understand it's usefulness from a multiplayer standpoint, but there has to be a better solution. Speaking of multiplayer - OK, sometimes that might be fun. Required multiplayer - hell no! Not to mention the nightmare that multiplayer causes for customization. Functioning multiplayer is something that SimCity has never had, and it might open up a lot of possibilities (i.e. tournaments), but maintaining it as a requirement, or even simply the impact it will have on single-player regions in terms of game format (for example the dead spaces), should alone ensure SC4 will continue to thrive. The requirement to always be online is another killer for the game, for the countless reasons that have been mentioned by so many people.

 

Other items though are really promising. Glassbox, for one, sounds amazing, and I think it would be fun to play around with regardless of what you're simulating. The idea of the agents and networks, and a what you see is what's actually happening approach strike me as major improvements over the previous games. Likewise the conversion to full 3D (finally!) and the moving camera angles. These, among others, leave me with the idea that the game at least has a solid foundation. It may take them a few iterations of these concepts to get a game that plays as well as SC4, but we can always hope it comes sooner rather than later.

 

I think the idea I'm getting at this point is largely that this game will not replace, but perhaps supplement SC4. While SC4 may be our passion, we all have other games we play from time to time. Sometimes it's fun to just go online and play some cheesy flash games, and I see this as falling more into that category of game. Eventually it may evolve into a standalone masterpiece game such as SC4, but it seems pretty clear at this point that that won't be what we get in 2013.

[lew1984 231]

It's not Maxis that's the problem. It's EA. I don't think they've released a single offline game since 2007.

Your right about this I remember seeing an interview with one of EA's CEO's somewhere when reading about Mass Effect 3, and he stated along the lines that EA will not fund or develop any games from its studios unless there is an online multiplayer component. So thats probably one reason you see this in the new Simcity...

Its worth considering if Maxis didn't make Simcity multiplayer we wouldn't be talking about a new Simcity for many more years! Sorry I can't post the link as it was while ago I read this :-).

  Edited October 19, 2012 by lew1984  

[mwyeoh 7]

My biggest reservation/concern about the game (As has been mentioned) is that cities do not connect to each other. Cities connect to prebuilt highways/railways which connect to other cities. Essentially, a third party connection

Its like the leaves of a tree. Although they function with one another and if one is diseased, it can spread, the cities themselves do not actually interact with each other.

What a region will be is a patchwork of towns/villages with large expanses between them. Neither realistic nor functional (Why [as a sim] spend million of dollars building a skyscraper as a town is out of space, where the lot next door which is outside the city borders is barren and deviod of any develpment, as are several kilometers of land before the next town)

[Jetty Jockey 186]

Nice review and good for Maxis showing you round.

My 2p.

Statistical approach was good in sc4. Real city planners only see their city as stats and percentages. Town planners in the UK can't fly around and watch the populace and see their desire lines to get stuff right.

Giving sims realism is good but to over emphasise them is missing the point of city building strategy to me. Percentages ARE what matter when planning for thousands or millions and spending the same!

That ambiguity and need to be analytical is a good thing.

Great, 3d roads and triple deck overpasses. But in 2km squares? My village is 2km by 2km and has 2250 people. What city would fit in 2km x 2km and need such fancy road junctions?

Realistic sims living more real lives, but the realism of the cities themselves seems to be second to the realism of the people.

No matter how good the sims are if the city just looks fake with caricature appearance to squish it all into a small map it's not a "sim" city. It's a city with sim people in it.

It's also an odd visual style for a simcity. Its fine in its own right but its not working for me for a simcity game.

It's too caricature and obviously the sim for the city itself has gone out the window in scaling respects. It'll never feel realistic irrespective if the artistic style/rendering.

For me the realism of the cityscape was a core draw of the game s2k onwards!

Not to wish it badly, I quite like the look of the videos.

Momentarily give it a different name so you judge it as a new product and not against what has gone before and suddenly I'm quite open to it in that context

It's just not the next step in the SC series in my view so its impossible for them to make us happy with it as simcity fans.

Unless of course LOTS changes to make the wrong things right :-)

Dave

Excellent points , Dave, and I fully agree. The new Sim City seems more of an extension of The Sims series than that of a city simulator like Sim City. Personally, I like dealing with all the little details that go into running a city , as do many who frequent this site. It took years to eventually figure out how to make a thriving city, and I'm still finding new ways to tweak my cities long after purchase. .From what I've seen , the new Sim City seems , well, dumbed down. Strategy has been sacrificed for playablity by a larger number of participants. Considering the success of The Sims one can hardly blame them for moving in that direction if they think it'll give them increased sales. EA is in the business of making money after all.

[jigsaw 227]

off topic, but in a nutshell;

to Maxis: we want a blank canvas and a palette of paints, not a connect the dots game. Mass Customization vs. Mass Production

SC4 reigned supreme because of lots of the little things that were there; bitmaps for region shapes/sizes, greyscale rendering for our own maps, BAT, Lot editor.

create tools for us to paint our own pictures... and you will succeed and win. not just glassbox for data, we want exactly the same for world creation, style creation, and to make the game personal.

[grugor 60]

off topic, but in a nutshell;

to Maxis: we want a blank canvas and a palette of paints, not a connect the dots game. Mass Customization vs. Mass Production

SC4 reigned supreme because of lots of the little things that were there; bitmaps for region shapes/sizes, greyscale rendering for our own maps, BAT, Lot editor.

create tools for us to paint our own pictures... and you will succeed and win. not just glassbox for data, we want exactly the same for world creation, style creation, and to make the game personal.

Good point or to put it another way that amercans might understand ... FREEDOOOOOMMMMMMM

[s_olah 87]

I read the review and most of the comments, I'm quite aware of everything, yet I have still not found the answer to my question. Which is: If you already layed out zones beside a normal 1x1 lane road in the middle of your city (when starting) and then built around it, and found yourself that you want to upgrade your „downtown”, will you have to destory the zones (and buildings) already grown just to upgrade the road to an avenue... Most importantly, from an avenue (which I'm thinking already has many nice buildings, not just houses) to an avenue with tram tracks?

  Edited October 19, 2012 by s_olah  

[Waterclaw 80]

Having no farming is a bit of a disappointment, I would of loved to make a small town with a small downtown with a lot of farms nearby. Oh well, not that big of a miss for me, though a dlc adding it would be nice.

The roads sound very cool though, I can't wait to see a video out showing it out! The video showing the beginnings of building a city made me like the roads, but this sealed the deal.

Edit: Silly thing posted before I finished, I now know what buttons not to press when trying to make indents.

The fact that the buildings are made in Maya is a good sign, once custom content becomes able to be put in the game, whe have an idea on what to use :3

All together, this made me happier about the game! Thanks!

  Edited October 19, 2012 by Waterclaw  

[MaxisGuillaume 289]

I read the review and most of the comments, I'm quite aware of everything, yet I have still not found the answer to my question. Which is: If you already layed out zones beside a normal 1x1 lane road in the middle of your city (when starting) and then built around it, and found yourself that you want to upgrade your „downtown”, will you have to destory the zones (and buildings) already grown just to upgrade the road to an avenue... Most importantly, from an avenue (which I'm thinking already has many nice buildings, not just houses) to an avenue with tram tracks?

You can upgrade from one path to another if they are of the same width.

Street -> Road

Avenue -> Avenue with light rail

(we might add more road types than those so you'll have more control, but I can't promise anything in that regard)

  Edited October 19, 2012 by MaxisGuillaume  

[Screwballl 196]

So basically we are getting Simcity Societies 2 that allows us to build a little bit of the city aspect, but has most of its concentration on the social and economic aspect, not the next great SimCity... good to know. Time to start looking elsewhere for a modern city builder since EA/Maxis obviously didn't listen to the core fans that made SimCity franchise so great. this is essentially why I have boycotted EA for years now and refused to pay them a dime except for SC4. Even then it took modders and the public to create a decent city builder that EA just wouldn't. of course to be fair, without EA creating the initial game, there wouldn't be a game to mod... so maybe in a few years once SC 2013 is abandoned due to massive failure, the mods can turn it into the game we really wanted... only time will tell.

[pyanodon 218]

Love to see that roads have more freedom... I hope we can have the same freedom with rail lines. Humm...anyone knows if we can have canals? You know...that water ways. Imagine what you can do with that powerfull road tool+rail and canals?

Also, my fears are confirmed too, specially the city size. Well, i hope Maxis/EA know what they´re doing.

- -

[Screwballl 196]

Nope, its already been said that viewable water is like SC4, just at a "sea level" point.

[Simoleman 34]

Good afternoon, all.

I add my thanks to Dirktator for the report. Because at least one Maxisser reads these things, I thought I'd throw in my 2-or-3 cents.

First of all, Sim City 4 was tremendous. I got hours of enjoyment out of it. And now I'm ready for the next generation.

Here are my impressions about what I've read...

1. I LOVE the fact that I don't have to dispatch fire trucks any more. I'm the Mayor, not the friggin fire chief, any more than I'm the police chief.

2. I LOVE the fact that I don't have to lay water pipes anymore. Boooorrrrrrring.

3. I like the fact now we have to deal with sewage. Real.

4. I LOVE the fact (if it is a fact) that one city can give money to another within the region. Sometimes a city is flush with cash; sometimes another is struggling. I like being able to give (or lend) money from one city to the other. Or pretend the capital of the region is taxing money away from the other cities, and then paying for the inter-city roads and rail.

5. I like the fact that suburban houses will no longer show 17 to 23 people living in one house.

6. Perhaps following on from #5, I LOVE that traffic will be much more realistic -- that Sims will find the smartest route, not necessarily use the shortest.

Okay, on to what concerns me.

1. I want the best of both worlds. I read that cities no longer border each other. Why can't we have it that WE can decide whether a city will border another or not? Sim4 had the opposite problem. You could not connect two cities w/out creating a third one in the middle just to have the road/rail between them... unless, of course, you plopped down a "cheat" every time more money was needed to run that road-only "city" that had no income to fund it.

2. Add my voice to those who would rather not have to play online. This game is an escape from "real" people for me. I have enough different scenarios and pretend friction between various of my cities inside my head w/out inviting anyone else to play.. In short, I like sharing the experiences online, but I don't want to share my region. And I would rather have the convenience of not having to play online because, well, server-s**** happens. It's beyond me why we don't have the option to do it either way.

[DeepDunker 9]

Great write up, shame about the game!

@screwballl EA have already said that all saving is done to their servers not locally, and you have to be online to play.

I really can see this being Sim Societies 2... I will definitly not be getting it as I don't always have internet access so it wouldn't even work!

I have to say that EA's attitude of "What do you do if yoou can't get on line" "c’est la vie" is very disturbing and unproffesional.

So let's look at the evidence:

Must be online to Load/save (and so play - DUH).

No density zoning.

Buildings may spam.

Restricted City sizes.

No modding for the forseeable future (if at all).

Caroony graphics.

Dead zones around buildings.

Dumbed down micro-management.

Limited population (Max 200,000 agents, 1 agent can be coal, electricity, water, SimPerson, vehicle, and more, so do the maths!)

It actually comes over as Sim City Societies with a dash of Cities XL Planet.

It think most hard-core Sim City fans will either not get this (like me) or get it but give up on it pretty quickly.

I have a horrible feeling that this game will kill the Sim City franchise for good (or at least for 15 - 20 years) unless EA folds and a better company grows up and gets the rights.

Oh and despite all their hype this is not a Maxis game, it just a couple of old Maxis people rehired by EA, and the Maxis logo splashed about.

[Plancus 17]

Thank you for the impressions, much appreciated. It's nice to see a personal analysis of both good and bad aspects, from someone who had a first hand experience, albeit limited.

Now about my personal opinion. About the problems many have with the current state of the game, I see it simply this way:

The always-online requirement was made, as some people said before, because EA sees it as a business opportunity. It should also work as a counter-piracy move and a way to get people hooked into the game when playing with others. People depending on the online servers also leads them to buy more DLC, as eventual extra content would be advertised as a sort of splash-screen, and give your city/region an advantage, whatever it may be. And we're not speaking about purely cosmetic changes. For people who care about leaderboards and stuff, it will be important to get an "edge".

Content bought by others could be visualized in the region and neighbor cities (new overpasses, fancy service buildings, etc.), but not built in your own city unless you buy it. Of course that will be an incentive for people to buy stuff frequently ("What? That town across the river has a new shiny power plant?? Why can't I have one too?"), especially if these are slowly released in small packs costing a few dollars each. The sum of all these DLC would of course be more than a proper classical expansion pack, and that is good business in EA's eyes. I'm not saying I hate EA or want them to capsize in the sea of oblivion. It just makes sense as a business strategy for them.

That leads us to the following idea: the online component is tied with the lack of development for modding tools. I don't see it as a minor problem. This is very important. Unless there is a totally offline component, there will be no modding. Yes, that's right. No modding support, even though Maxis says it's planned and they care about the community.

It's not that they're evil, it's just that it's impossible to fit extensive modding with their current business system. If there's modding support, it will have to go through an official Maxis/EA exchange, pre-approved by staff, and making purely visual enhancements or minor changes. Without it, the game balance/economy will be upset as soon as anyone finds a way to "game" the system to get more money, climb up the leaderboards or some other nonsense... and that's not something anyone there wants.

Now why am I saying all this?

Again, modding is VERY important. If unrestricted or at least extensive modding is allowed, I'm sure someone would find a way to solve the following complaints people have:

- Cartoony buildings and environment: New models and new textures modded in, whole sets of buildings gradually replacing the old ones, textures being improved upon.

- Small tile sets: Although Maxis itself could well eventually release a sort of "big maps" DLC or some such for people with computers able to run it, modders could implement this before them.

- Cities separated from one another, spread around the region: A wise modder could edit a region to eliminate this, given enough modding tools and editable game files.

- Lack of X, Y or Z (transport systems, subways, etc.): Modders could theoretically mess around and implement at least a makeshift version of these.

You could freely customize your game the way you want with mods. But because the game is focused on an always-online play mode, this kind of modding is impossible. Modding also interferes with DLC sales, it's obvious! Why would people buy the new "Police Station DLC" if they can get 20 different types for free say, here in Simtropolis.

I'm not totally against the online-only mode. I understand why they want it to be that way from a money-making perspective (they're not running a charity for needy SimCity fans), but that unfortunately locks out a LOT of wonderful possibilities the game could have.

I just hope that down the road this eventually changes, and when they finally start providing modding support, an offline component will also be provided. Until then, I'll sadly have to wait out and see what happens. "Sadly", because I'd be willing to spend a lot of money for something I could have full control for my personal customization purposes... but that's not the case Sorry Maxis... hope you reconsider it.

  Edited October 19, 2012 by Plancus  

[MaxisGuillaume 289]

Oh and despite all their hype this is not a Maxis game, it just a couple of old Maxis people rehired by EA, and the Maxis logo splashed about.

Huh? Kip and I have been at Maxis continuously for about 10 years, Ocean & Christian for about 15.

[cirugo 1,889]

Oh and despite all their hype this is not a Maxis game, it just a couple of old Maxis people rehired by EA, and the Maxis logo splashed about.

Huh? Kip and I have been at Maxis continuously for about 10 years, Ocean & Christian for about 15.

So, you want to tell us why, after we've been told that the compelling gameplay that forced you to take the game online-only is optional (you can play your own regions and not have to interact with others), you can't provide an offline mode? Particularly since this seems to be the stumbling block in the way of other issues that people aren't happy about? Since you're here answering questions about little things like intersection angles maybe you can give us some insight onto the elephant in the room?