BEK1

Last time I checked Van, no one forced you to click on this forum and read this thread. If you don't like it, don't read it.

The OP and his supporters have got it wrong on this one. Firstly, if you don't want a game to be a contiunuation of the series, don't call it SimCity! The reason fans were so upset with SCS was that it attempted to appropriate the brand power of SimCity with a terribly designed and overly simplistic name. It's isn't so much about a continuation as it is about standards. As others have said, the previous SC titles were actually quite cutting edge at the time of their release. SC4 left many a computer smoking when it was released took gamelplay to a new level. At this point, SC fans know what will actually make for good gameplay. We have had a few other city sims in the interim to know what works and what doesn't beforehand. EA clearly didn't listen. I disagree with the point that we can't have the game we really want. In fact, if EA had just spruced up the graphics, fixed the Windows crash, and incorporated the leaps made by NAM and CAM into an add-on for SC4, they'd probably have a bestseller. The standards are actually lower in some cases. Most SC fans will sacrifice a graphics leap for improved gameplay. The market for this type of game is not the same as the FPS market. Sadly, EA and other game makers don't get this point. The other problem I have with this is that a failure of this title will likely mean that EA and other companies simply decide that there is no real market for these types of games. That is why I think a number of us are so disappointed and so vocal about our issues with the game. You cannot just offer up an oversimplified game with a great engine and expect everyone to go for it. I think there is a rather large untapped market for more complex games. Simplified gameplay became the gospel because so many FPS games made quick money based on online gameplay and good graphics. Now everyone thinks that is what ALL games need. Many games, especially sims like SC and Caesar, languished because this formula doesn't convert well. Tropico seemed to have understood this and the game has done very well. Sometimes we know something won't be good before we actually try it. Saying we have to buy and try is how companies get over on people with substandard products.

I am quite skeptical of the game at this point. One of the reasons that there is so much hate is that many of the features being trumpeted by EA are in direct contravention of what the vast majority of SC fans wanted to see. I think Glassbox is a great leap forward but that alone cannot hold up a game when the rest of the game is going in reverse. SC4 is still going strong today because it allows for large regional play and the modds have ameliorated some of the weakest parts of the game (NAM, CAM, etc). Terraforming has been part of the game since SC2K. Each successive SC also expanded the size and scope of the city without throwing out many of the main features that people enjoyed. If they wanted to know what people liked, they could have looked at many of the SC for that exist or even just look at their own website. A better strategy would have been to focus on many of the wishlist items that we wanted to see for years. Show us how you fixed the problems of SC4 in SC2013 if you want to build excitement from the fan base. Instead, they have basically opted to inform us that many of the core featurs no longer exist. It is a strategy that comes off as tone deaf. I don't see cloud storage among any fan's list of priorities. I didn't see a clamoring for a reduction in city size. I also fail to see where there was any real demand for multiplayer, especially in the form being offered. I keep searching but can't seem to find this burning hatred for terraforming. I have yet to hear fans crying out about having too much control over neighbor connections and wanting it done for them. The fact that they have been quiet about the aray of mass transit options leads me to think that those have been seriously curtailed given the other reductions. That is almost a dealbreaker on its own for me. Given the failure of games such as Societies and lackluster titles such as Cities XL, fans are right to be critical of the latest offering. I will be waiting for the game's release and subsequent deconstruction on these forums before I spend any money of this title.

I love those stadiums. Are they on the STEX?

A little bit of politics in SC is something I always wanted. Excellent job!

I think the marketing department needs to be re-imagined. They need to figure out that teenagers aren't the only people that play games and even some of them actually like complex games. They forget that many of us were teenagers when these games came out. SCS was an insult to the SimCity franchise. The industry as a whole has allowed great games like Caesar and Theme Hospital to languish while it pursued gory shooters and explosions. Games like that don't need to be re-imagined. They need to be updated and given the advantages of the state of the art. The players will be there.

Nice work! What is that trapezoid like building?

What are your plans for the economic aspects of this? For example, in SimCity 2 you had the ability to tax different types of industry differently (an aspect they abandoned in later SC titles much to my chagrin). Additionally, ordinances like parking fines and the ability to do things like legalize gambling are all part of the economic mix in real life and in good city simulations. Also, are there any preliminary views on how the game will treat airports and seaports? This has been an area where I feel that SimCity has let me down. This and the fact that stadiums generate no traffic. I understand these are big areas and they will develop over time but any thoughts you had would be greatly appreciated.

I am extremely excited about this development. It is nice to see that some people recognize that there is a demand for high quality city simulation games. If this project really gets moving then it could really bring the genre back.

Originally posted by: Wiimeiser Because people are into shooters now. Think about it, the only new platformers introduced since 2007 are Little Big Planet and Scribblenauts, and Mario and Sonic are the only other ones that released a game in the last year. Platformers are pretty much dead, the only reason LBP succeeded is because it has an editor. In fact, most genres besides FPS are dying out. When was the last RPG Maker? The last Mario Party? There haven't been any new expansions for TS3 announced either. It's all FPS, FPS, FPS. It's all my brother plays with his friends too, I'm seriously thinking of hiding those games somewhere. But why is the FPS so popular? Doesn't FPS Creator suck? (Seriously, you can't even change water levels in X10, at least not in the editor). Is it the customization? (That would explain LBP's success and Nintendo's latest Wario Ware, plus the Dream World in Pokemon Black & White...) quote> The problem is that the demographic model for SC and most of these other games was the traditional gamer model. That is why this game and anything other than FPS languishes. It is easy for developers to serve up simple shoot to death games with little development. The people that play RPGs and sim games tend to be older and as such, more demanding. They want games that are more complex in terms of content, not graphics. That requires more work on the companies' parts. There is a ready market for different games. It requires developers to challenge the conventional wisdom on the gaming audience. I'd also disagree with you on anything other than FPS dying out. Final Fantasy has been around about as long as I have and it is still going and FFXIV is due out soon. Likewise, Flight Simulator has been chugging along almost as long as Windows has been around. When Microsoft axed the development team, the FS community put up a stink and Microsoft kept the game and sold it to Lockheed to produce a new FS. If EA were half the company MS is, they'd have done the same thing.

Maxis probably didn't because it was killed off by EA. Realistically, they could release add-on packs or updates every year or so and keep us paying but they didn't.

Agreed on truckosaurus. I wish they had included the floods from SC2K. I can see why they wanted to dump the airplane crash but more natural disasters would have been nice. I believe there was a different type of road that was supposed to be included as well. NAM used what was left of it.

Weren't the lottery and parking fines also supposed to be implemented?