We waited 10 years for this?

[mastorofpuppetz 199]

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/03/simcity-impressions-we-waited-ten-years-for-this/

 

Article explains it all really.

[SirChick 184]

If Maxis refuse to just remove the city limit let us build till we lag we will then know our own computer limits and build how WE see fit not how Maxis prefers... everyone would be happy.

 

If Maxis don't realise city tile size is the biggest issue they must have their head in the sand by now.. i hope its a priority... even if it comes at a cost of losing some simulation... we just simply need larger tiles.

 

Our computers do the city simulations not their servers ( you can tell if you monitor the data sent/received on your PC ) so their story that their servers could not handle the simulation data is false too. They just wanted to sell to as many people as possible.

[shorty2 94]

Anyone who bought into the server side calculations thing was a fool. I mean honestly, the time it takes to send data to/from, keep it sync'd, AND have enough server power to accomodate thousands of users playing at once. Yeh right! Minor calculations could be done, but it was just an excuse to justify always online DRM really.

[SirChick 184]

Anyone who bought into the server side calculations thing was a fool. I mean honestly, the time it takes to send data to/from, keep it sync'd, AND have enough server power to accomodate thousands of users playing at once. Yeh right! Minor calculations could be done, but it was just an excuse to justify always online DRM really.

 

 

Easier way to prove they were lying, turn modem off. The game still plays as it should for a good 20 minutes, traffic flowing finding the correct paths, water/power/sewage all doing as it should.... granted region play won't work but thats only sending a couple numbers every 20 minutes or so.

[shorty2 94]

Something I don't think anyone has really highlighted properly but has been incredibly obvious watching the live streams.. the fact you only have 1 highway access point which creates a really bad bottleneck of traffic. I mean seriously? The fact you can't actually place highways is one thing but only having 1 access point so you get a bottleneck is just ridiculous; it reminds me of SO many games where I thought to myself "did they actually test this game before declaring it finished"? They must have known it would be a problem :/

[Nunoty 23]

Its a complete joke...

[Helevitia 38]

Anyone who bought into the server side calculations thing was a fool. I mean honestly, the time it takes to send data to/from, keep it sync'd, AND have enough server power to accomodate thousands of users playing at once. Yeh right! Minor calculations could be done, but it was just an excuse to justify always online DRM really.

 

 

Easier way to prove they were lying, turn modem off. The game still plays as it should for a good 20 minutes, traffic flowing finding the correct paths, water/power/sewage all doing as it should.... granted region play won't work but thats only sending a couple numbers every 20 minutes or so.

I'm sure people will come up with 3rd party hacks that will respond to DRM queries and server queries which will allow you to continue playing offline indefinitely.

[SirChick 184]

 

Anyone who bought into the server side calculations thing was a fool. I mean honestly, the time it takes to send data to/from, keep it sync'd, AND have enough server power to accomodate thousands of users playing at once. Yeh right! Minor calculations could be done, but it was just an excuse to justify always online DRM really.

 

 

Easier way to prove they were lying, turn modem off. The game still plays as it should for a good 20 minutes, traffic flowing finding the correct paths, water/power/sewage all doing as it should.... granted region play won't work but thats only sending a couple numbers every 20 minutes or so.

I'm sure people will come up with 3rd party hacks that will respond to DRM queries and server queries which will allow you to continue playing offline indefinitely.

 

You refer to server emulation... its probably possible, that would allow LAN with computer hosted regions where by one of the computers acts like the server. Which would be useful.

[huskerman007 26]

I am really dissapointed that you have to be on the internet in order to play this game. Has anyone found out what happens if you lose connection in the middle of the game?

[Titanicbuff 1,262]

Seems Maxis needs to get in gear

[Cottoncandy Cyanide 145]

I am really dissapointed that you have to be on the internet in order to play this game. Has anyone found out what happens if you lose connection in the middle of the game?

Since I have no copy of SC2013, I predict you lose all your data and have to begin from scratch. Basically. Which sucks really. :l

[mastorofpuppetz 199]

I am really dissapointed that you have to be on the internet in order to play this game. Has anyone found out what happens if you lose connection in the middle of the game?

 You get kicked out, I cannot play right now server is overloaded, ridiculous, and the game itself is a major disappointment.

[Spatzimaus 77]

Has anyone found out what happens if you lose connection in the middle of the game?

 

The game continues to play for up to 20 minutes, but no local save is made.  Once a connection to the servers is re-established, the online save will again be updated with what happened in the interim.

 

The online component really serves two purposes (other than DRM, of course), neither of which would work well with the sort of offline server emulation you requested:

1> Multiplayer.  Obviously, some people won't care about this one, but it's the way games are going in all genres, so no one should have been surprised.

2> Global resource market.  Instead of requiring developers to constantly tweak prices of things, the players' own actions will set the prices through free-market economics.  I suppose this could have been done with a less "active" online component (say, check prices once per hour), possibly with a buy/sell penalty if you've been offline longer than that, but given the system already needed to be online for #1, it's not surprising.

 

In the long term, I don't see any problem with the online requirement.  In the short term, sure, things are a bit flaky, but that's par for the course for any MMO's launch.  (And yes, this is an MMO.)

[huskerman007 26]

I have been sitting on the loading screen for the last hour on a 30 meg connection. I wonder if ordering the box version would have made a difference or not. It's kind of ridiculous to not be prepared for online play when your forcing it. Mabye they should give up origin and move everything to steam. 

[mastorofpuppetz 199]

Has anyone found out what happens if you lose connection in the middle of the game?

 

The game continues to play for up to 20 minutes, but no local save is made.  Once a connection to the servers is re-established, the online save will again be updated with what happened in the interim.

 

The online component really serves two purposes (other than DRM, of course), neither of which would work well with the sort of offline server emulation you requested:

1> Multiplayer.  Obviously, some people won't care about this one, but it's the way games are going in all genres, so no one should have been surprised.

2> Global resource market.  Instead of requiring developers to constantly tweak prices of things, the players' own actions will set the prices through free-market economics.  I suppose this could have been done with a less "active" online component (say, check prices once per hour), possibly with a buy/sell penalty if you've been offline longer than that, but given the system already needed to be online for #1, it's not surprising.

 

In the long term, I don't see any problem with the online requirement.  In the short term, sure, things are a bit flaky, but that's par for the course for any MMO's launch.  (And yes, this is an MMO.)

This is NOT an mmo, mmos have persistent worlds with constant content being added, and you cannot play by yourself, with this game you can, and its is not a game you have to play with others if you wish, not so with an mmo. Stop making excuses this is forced online DRm nothing else.

[yayaya1 22]

10 years for no gameplay. Today, it's all about the graphics for the little kiddies

[huskerman007 26]

The other thing I don't like about this is when EA decides to shut down the servers you can no longer play the game. They could do this to force you to buy a newer Simcity they will release in the future even if you like the older version better.

[nataniels3 61]

That is the point.  They make money off this one, while setting up for the next one. Perhaps then they will listen to the payers and find out what they want.

[nataniels3 61]

The whole region highways thing doesn't make sense when you think about it. This SimCity is said to be more realistic, but who would build highways that are connected to asolutely nothing? They could have at least added an option to expand highways around that white border thing to surround the town. Then on ramps could be added to insure no bottle necks would take place.

[huskerman007 26]

The final thing that annoys me is very little customization is allowed. Which basically renders the Simtropolis File Exchange useless for the new game. Great now they can make a ton of money off of DLC! Customization was the one thing that made me like pc over game consoles. 

[SirChick 184]

The final thing that annoys me is very little customization is allowed. Which basically renders the Simtropolis File Exchange useless for the new game. Great now they can make a ton of money off of DLC! Customization was the one thing that made me like pc over game consoles. 

 

There was no mods for SC4 either when it came out - over time people worked out ways to do it.... and people are trying to find out if its possible in the new game too ... it needs time.

[Lakenstaken 34]

Im seriously pissed off at the EA-mafia. How long can they keep on like this? When will the customers say enough is enough?

[SirChick 184]

Im seriously pissed off at the EA-mafia. How long can they keep on like this? When will the customers say enough is enough?

 

When a rival company makes an equivalent successful city builder.

[Lakenstaken 34]

Im seriously pissed off at the EA-mafia. How long can they keep on like this? When will the customers say enough is enough?

 

When a rival company makes an equivalent successful city builder.

Indeed, this is the consequences of being both EA and having a monopoly.

[simmerboy 19]

Why are we worried about when they will turn off the servers? As long as people keep playing Simcity EA will not turn off the servers.

[Tulo19 0]

Anyone elses game crash to desktop after only few mins of starting your city?

[Hoipus 292]

Why are we worried about when they will turn off the servers? As long as people keep playing Simcity EA will not turn off the servers.

Their policy is to disable online services for games when the amount of people playing is "fewer than 1% of all peak online players across all EA titles" (http://www.ea.com/1/service-updates) . As the amount of peak online players increases as EA implements more games with heavier online components, the number of people expected to make up 1% increases. 1% of all people playing EA games online is pretty big in the first place, too.

[Charizard 284]

Why are we worried about when they will turn off the servers? As long as people keep playing Simcity EA will not turn off the servers.

Their policy is to disable online services for games when the amount of people playing is "fewer than 1% of all peak online players across all EA titles" (http://www.ea.com/1/service-updates) . As the amount of peak online players increases as EA implements more games with heavier online components, the number of people expected to make up 1% increases. 1% of all people playing EA games online is pretty big in the first place, too.

 

Regardless of whether the player count will get that low, the game WILL be shut down once they release SimCity 2015: Now with more DRM!

[Superbacon 380]

Looks like the initial reaction to the public release was about as much as I thought it would be. 

 

Bad.

[simMayor84 111]

is anyone really suprised by this? we all saw it when the news about always online and the first screenshots of those tiny city borders came out. im so glad i did not spend my hard earned money on this travesty. well, time for me to enjoy the new nam on sc4!!!