First playsession with Simcity + Interview with Jason Habor

[rudie75 8]

I stumbled upon a videoreport from tweakers.net wich i found interesting.

It's in Dutch but the interview with Jason Habor is in Englisch.

http://tweakers.net/video/7099/eerste-speelsessie-met-simcity.html

[thecross21 3]

Uhm, who are these people who prefer to play medium sized tiles in SC4? I so prefer the larger tiles because they give the big city feel. But, also, I would surround the big city tiles with medium sized tiles to make them more suburban feel... and then I would use the small sized tiles for thefarms and even more small town/outer fringe suburbs.

I have a feeling in the next DLC or expansion pack we will have the option of bigger tiles.

[spa 968]

Apparently the Dutch still understand what journalism is. He actually asked the tough questions!

[Herdervriend 46]

Lucky I am Dutch:) Interesting questionaire and gameplay views.

Funny to hear that he says: Single Player at some point (Playing yourself only) or Multi Player (With friends). While there is only Multi player.

[fiver 306]

Thanks a lot for the link! The gameplay footage is very interesting, especially the very beginning where we can see the play modes available. At least we see the sandbox mode lets you play without disasters, and without the crap like "global market" and such - really, when the Maxis guy mentioned all those "multiplayer benefits", it's like he's talking about anything, maybe CIV, but not Sim City ("Region - 3 cities - 1 Great Work" - did it take them 10 years to end up with that? seriously?). And he's so nervous as if scared to death because he can't help thinking SC2013 will flop. Note that he gives the multiplayer as the main cause for 'always online'! Yes he says 'because there's too much going on' too, but he also emphasizes several times 'too much going on because of the multiplayer'. That means there's actually no serious reason to be always online if you're in single-player mode. He practically gives it out.

[baertooth 330]

Thanks a lot for the link! The interview is more BS, of course, but the gameplay footage is very interesting, especially the very beginning where we can see the play modes available. At least we see the sandbox mode lets you play without disasters, and without the crap like "global market" and such - really, when the Maxis guy mentioned all those "multiplayer benefits", it's like he's talking about anything, maybe CIV, but not Sim City ("Region - 3 cities - 1 Great Work" - did it take them 10 years to end up with that? seriously?). And he's so nervous as if scared to death because he can't help thinking SC2013 will flop. Note that he gives the multiplayer as the main cause for 'always online'! Yes he says 'because there's too much going on' too, but he also emphasizes several times 'too much going on because of the multiplayer'. That means there's actually no serious reason to be always online if you're in single-player mode. He practically gives it out.

I've been trying to pay attention to what's going on and other than sharing cities they have yet to announce a single feature of Simcity2013 that absolutely requires the solo game to be online. Even the global economy can be simulated offline (it has to be moderated so the affect is the same is simulation).

[macvirt 361]

The user feedback in the followups to that interview is a bit of a confrontation with the marketing to be honest. I can't say there is a lot of enthusiasm, then again most people responding still approach SC2013 as the successor to SC4. Which it is not. It's not surprising that they stumble over what is missing and what is lacking. Maybe that interview and the other report should have made more clear that "this is not the next SC4, approach this without coming from there".

Thanks a lot for the link! The interview is more BS, of course, but the gameplay footage is very interesting, especially the very beginning where we can see the play modes available. At least we see the sandbox mode lets you play without disasters, and without the crap like "global market" and such - really, when the Maxis guy mentioned all those "multiplayer benefits", it's like he's talking about anything, maybe CIV, but not Sim City ("Region - 3 cities - 1 Great Work" - did it take them 10 years to end up with that? seriously?). And he's so nervous as if scared to death because he can't help thinking SC2013 will flop. Note that he gives the multiplayer as the main cause for 'always online'! Yes he says 'because there's too much going on' too, but he also emphasizes several times 'too much going on because of the multiplayer'. That means there's actually no serious reason to be always online if you're in single-player mode. He practically gives it out.

I've been trying to pay attention to what's going on and other than sharing cities they have yet to announce a single feature of Simcity2013 that absolutely requires the solo game to be online. Even the global economy can be simulated offline (it has to be moderated so the affect is the same is simulation).

folks, the online play requirements do not come from those directions. It is simply a next step in developing revenue streams for further titles and part of EA's strategy on DRM. The idea is for DRM to not be seen as evil, so we package it as "we do so much calculations people that we need a cluster to do all those things, special, for you, so all takes place in the shiny cloud, special price my friend".

[Ocram's Razr 963]

Thank you. That video was good and he asked the hard questions.

--Ocram

[fiver 306]

The user feedback in the followups to that interview is a bit of a confrontation with the marketing to be honest. I can't say there is a lot of enthusiasm, then again most people responding still approach SC2013 as the successor to SC4. Which it is not. It's not surprising that they stumble over what is missing and what is lacking. Maybe that interview and the other report should have made more clear that "this is not the next SC4, approach this without coming from there".

folks, the online play requirements do not come from those directions. It is simply a next step in developing revenue streams for further titles and part of EA's strategy on DRM. The idea is for DRM to not be seen as evil, so we package it as "we do so much calculations people that we need a cluster to do all those things, special, for you, so all takes place in the shiny cloud, special price my friend".

macvirt, we perfectly know their true reasons - everyone does, I suppose.

The point was to show how they unwillingly contradict themselves and get confused as they make up more and more lies in those laughable attempts to conceal what's already evident.

And we (at least I) know SC2013 is not SC4's successor. But it's still from the same Sim City series, is it not? Therefore, the previous SC's are its predecessors, even if the new game does not want to be called a successor. That's why it gets compared to its predecessors - and the comparisons totally have the right to be in this case.

[SirChick 184]

Good interview - pressured him a bit on the main issues we all voice about. But im not so convinced our PC can't handle the maths involved. I think our PC can do. They just want it online only to stop piracy me thinks. Which is obviously a problem.

[Ocram's Razr 963]

Too bad I do not understand Dutch or German. I would have loved it if it had English Subtitles.

--Ocram