Xenocity

thanks, though I wish it wasn't true. I wish Nintendo or another company would have bought Maxis in 1997 instead of forcing them to accept EA's buyout as last resort.

I suggest using The Unarchiver for unzipping most packages. It should be free to download on the app store

Forums don't represent the health of a game (thankfully). I could see Maxis release another expansion pack and a few more updates. With that said, investors are now calliing the shots over at EA and are refocusing the company on high selling/high profit games in order to return the company back to maximum profitability. This is sadly the norm now at most publishers and developers, if a game doesn't sell 5M+ and meet certain profit goals, they get the boot for good. Since city builders and simulators rarely sell more than a million or two outside of The Sims and Animal Crossing, most companies won't make them. City builders and simulators are two of the more expensive genres in gaming when it comes to development costs and they have very low profit margins due to niche status of both. In this day in age, the games that do well are shooters, sports, and those with violence and/or have cinematic focus in the West.

Actually neither of this is true. The statistical engine used in the first 4 Simcities hit its limit with 2000. Simcity 3000 had issues with the engine and Simcity 4 was left almost unable due to the nature of the stastiical engine and sheer city size. Without NAM, CAM and other significant add-ons the modding community created, Simcity 4 Deluxe would have been left mostly unplayable. The Glassbox Engine has issues as do most new engines, but they get patched in time. Many of the issues have been patched in Glassbox. Simcity 3000 was originally going to use the first 3D simulation engine but due to issues with creating the engine and the power it consumed forced Maxis to redevelop the game on the statistical engine. Simcity 4 was then slated to use the 3D simulation engine, but due to on going issues was redeveloped for the statistical engine as well. The switch to the Glassbox engine has been in the works for over a decade. The 3D Simcity 3000 is pictured below: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZ0nqzauVHw

I'd rather they fix and improve the Glass Box engine. I want Simcity to truely be a SIM instead of statistical model.

They aren't useless. You get one per tower at max. This is what it does: Greatly reduces the amount of sewage your tower produces Greatly reduces the amount of trash your tower produces Greatly reduces the amount of water your tower uses Treats a significant amount of sewage If the amount of treated sewage > than the amount of water your tower needs, it puts water back into your city's supply Signficantly increases recyclables for you recycling center It really does make the difference.

I wouldn't call Simcity 4's graphics crappy. The game was decent looking for it's day (2003) Maxis/EA did do their market research to determine why Simcity 4 failed to sell. There is reason why Simcity 2013 has sold 3M+ being the second best selling mainline game.

True. But the Crytek's engine is built for shooters in mind. Crytek's engine have less moving stuff on screen and less variables to account for. Their engine is only used for shooters and requires high end PCs to use. Glass box on the other hand is simulation based. This means it is built to simulate tons of variables and stuff on the screen. This also means you won't high end graphics as Crytek. With that said very few people in general will have a PC powerful enough to run the new Crytek engine. Point I'm making, is you cannot compare engines based on graphics without knowing what they are built for.

Nintendo is dying off. Their 3DS and Wii are not products that people want to buy. The Wii does not appeal to serious gamers, and the DS has been practically replaced by smartphones which can play lots of mobile games. So it's not surprising to me that Nintendo is not listed. Actually, Nintendo isn't listed because it is considered kiddy and casual by the gamers and the industry since the NES. So no Nintendo system has been include in this yearly survey since it began in 2000. Mac was just added last year. 3DS actually has sold almost 50M worldwide and by the end of its lifespan is should match or outsell GBA. DS/PSP generation was an anomaly and the handheld market is correcting itself this gen. Though to be fair: DS launched at $150, DS Lite launched 2 years later at $129 GBA launched at $100, 8 months later GBA SP launched at $80, was $60 in its second year. GBC launched at $80 and was quickly under $50 DS sold 75M+ when it dropped below $100 (Total sales are ~155M) GBA sold 40M+ when it dropped below 80M (Total sales are ~80M) Handheld sweet pricing point is sub $100. Though 3DS base model is $170, and the XL is $200. The 3DS also has a negative stigma in the West for causing health issues and headaches due to the 3D effect (it has been widely reported in the mainstream media). Also handhelds have always been seen in the West being kids toys, hence why most Western developers won't take them seriously. If Nintendo can get 2DS below $100 and possibly rename it to 3DS lite or something they could see a nice rise in sales. 3DS also is selling large amounts of software and in most months generates more revenue per gaming than iOS and Android (though mobile numbers also include non gaming apps). As for Wii U, it is closing in on Xbox One sales wise for the past few months. The NPD (North America sales) leaks for April 2014 goes as follows, if you missed it last week : PS4 : ~129,000 Xbox One:~115,000 (No more Titanfall bundles left to boost sales) 3DS: ~100,000 Wii U ~80,000 360: 71,000 PS3: ~50,000 Vita: ~5,000 March 2014: PS4: ~400,000 Xbox One ~311,000 (mainly the Titanfall Bundles, the regular package didn't sell well) 3DS: ~159,000 Wii U: ~70,000 Vita: ~10,000 In Japan, 3DS sells between ~20,000 and 50,000 depending on the week. PS4 on the other hand sells between ~6,000 and 20,000 depending on the week. Wii U sells between ~6,000 and 20,000 depending on the week. Vita sells between ~5,000 and ~20,000 depending on the week (sometimes breaking 30,000). Xbox one isn't on sale yet in Japan (not that it makes any difference) In EU the PS4 and 3DS are the only two systems selling well. Xbox one and Wii U are neck and neck in EU with low sales. The point here is since January in the U.S.: Xbox One sales have dropped like a brick to its natural point (could still drop further). Wii U sales have been gradually rising and closing in on Xbox One (Should outsell Xbox One in June due to Mario Kart 3DS is still selling similar to GBA, despite not being at mass market price PS4 is leading the pack, though PS4 sales are slowly falling to its natural point Current total worldwide hardware sales: PS4 ~7M (demand still is higher than supply) Wii U ~6M shipped to retailers, almost 5M sold to consumers Xbox One ~5M shipped to retailers, ~4M sold to consumers 3DS has sold ~50M worldwide Vita is struggling to hit 10M worldwide Yes Wii U is still almost a million ahead of Xbox One in sales. So yeah Nintendo isn't as dying as the media likes you to believe.

Genesis advantages: 7.67MHz (SNES was 3.58MHz) CPU Co-processor could be used for games Ran aracade ports better than SNES Generally had better graphics Big and better library Had a more games Had more hardcore games Had full EA support Had blood in Mortal Kombat Had headphone jack No eject button The cons: Control had less buttons CPU lacked Mode 7 No dedicated sound chip Smaller color pallete for games No SFX chip set SNES Pro: Had dedicated sound chip Had bigger color pallete Had better controller Had mode 7 Had SFX chipset Had Square, Enix and Capcom The cons: Hardware was overall weaker than Genesis The games were normally focused on kids and casuals Lack of hardcore games Had strict censorship Bad sales of most 3rd party games (only Capcom, Square and Enix saw good sales) Had a fall out with EA leading to a lack of support from them Had too many brightly colored games Had too many K-A games Had the blacksheep of Simcity 1 No CD add-on In the end Genesis/Mega Drive became the hardcore and core gaming system, while Nintendo heavily focused on kids and casuals. Genesis/Mega Drive ending up selling ~9 million less than SNES due to the lack of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest which shifted Japan into Nintendo's arms. Though Sega did manage to beat Nintendo in the NA and EU. Strangely enough Genesis/Mega Drive was the only profitable console Sega ever had. In the end I had both back in the day, so I got the best of both worlds.

Maybe it is that important to core gaming

I hate to be the bearer of truth, but most games quit receiving updates/patches around the 2 year mark as sales start to level.

Potential Tourists: 1300 (This is the number of people at your casino(s) at the time you checked) 5700 (Total # visting)/4700 (Maxium # allowed)Tourists: either you are having over crowding or having high turn over. 1374 (Total # visting)/1190 (Maxium # allowed) low income Tourists 2118 (Total # visting)/1360 (Maxium # allowed) medium income Tourists 2245 (Total # visting)/2245 (Maxium # allowed) high income Tourists Low wealth sims aren't sensitive to the overcrowding. Medium wealth are sensitive to overcrowding when it hits a certain point.. High wealth do not like overcrowding at all. Overcrowding - expand your casino(s) = high profit(s) from those casino(s) High turnover - Fix your city (normally crime and/or lack of tourist stuff) = small profit(s) and/or small loss(es) High turnover also means visiting sims aren't staying very long, which is bad for commercial.

To add to this, you need to raise the residential land value to get higher incomes to move in to force industry to upgrade.

Why do you have to choose? You can play both... It's not an either/or choice. You should probably wait for Simcity 2013 Plus Edition to go on sale before taking the plunge (it regularly goes on sale these days). Though be forewarned, Simcity 2013 has a bigger focus on region interactions. If you like place powerlines and water pipes, then the game isn't for you.

Ok. Are you serious? You own CoT and do not encounter issues in commuting between RCI? If that's actually true, i will have to write a nice letter to EA/Maxis. I didn't there weren't any issues. I said I don't have any major issues outside of students and freight. It's quite common for companies to fix issues and engines in the expasion pack instead of releasing them as a standalone patch. no it's not... It is for PC games. Though consoles and handhelds thankfully haven't caught up yet. Here are a list of games that have exclusive patches to expansion packs: Simcity 1 Simcity 2000 Simicty 3000 (The patches weren't released for Simcity 3000 original, you had to buy Simcity 3000U) Simcity 4 (The 3rd major patch was included exlcusively with Rush Hour due to its size) Spores Practically every other game made by Maxis Elder Scroll series (Skryim included) Street Fighter X Tekken Dragon Quest X Final Fantasy XI Final Fantasy XIV Call of Duty (many patches are bundled with the map packs) Monster Hunter series (well it's on consoles/handelds for mainline titles, Capcom just fixes everything in the ultimate versions) Street Fighter series (Most major updates/patches are bunlded with the expansion packs) Phantasy Star Universe Phantasy Star Online Ep 1&2 (not patched, you had to buy 1&2+ edition at full price) Injustice (Ultimate version is fixed, but is full price) This is just off the top of my head, though for PC games this list is quite big. These publishers typically bundle patches with expansion packs are Activision, EA, WB, Ubisoft, Bethesda, Sega, Capcom, and Square-Enix. These 8 publishers/developers are the biggest in world.

I highly doubt that's true. Skyrim, Diablo III, GTAV, etc... all had massives issues at launch including servers crashing. These games all had to have huge patches within the first few months to make them stable and fully playable. Diablo III had the same issues that SC2013 had as is suffering a similar fate. Major play backlash. Skyrim did not. GTAV seemed to suffer mostly from full servers, but they were servers that stayed up. I have no idea what you're including in "etc" but I don't think there is any other game out there that has had a launch like SC2013. The Hindenburg was more successful. I wasn't just talking server issues in my post. Actually every Bethesda game every released has had severe issues at launch that were gradually patched over time or only included in expansion packs. Skyrim was nearly unplayable for many customers at launch due to many issues that made it through testing/QA. Skyrim today is essentially bug free on PC. Skyrim on 360 and PS3 were both horrible ports at launch that crashed every few minutes forcing Bethesda to issue a public statement. blaming Microsoft and Sony for the bugginess. It took a few months before Bethesda started issuing patches. Battlefield 4 has severe issues at launch as well on PC, Xbox 360, Xbox One PS4 and PS3. It wasn't unusual to have online matches not work properly or crash your game. It was quite common to have big frame rate drops and save issues during single player mode. DICE and EA both publicily responded and many issues have been patched, though some issues still persist. Assassins Creed 2 suffered a similar fate at launch forcing Ubisoft to issue emergency patches. Let's not forget Final Fantasy XIV the worst offender yet. Square-Enix delayed all their other games in development, in order to move all their programmers and developers to fix the game. It took 1 year to do all the work and now the game is playable. We can generate a nice list of games from the past decade that were broken at launch (and not reported by the gaming media).

Ok. Are you serious? You own CoT and do not encounter issues in commuting between RCI? If that's actually true, i will have to write a nice letter to EA/Maxis. I didn't there weren't any issues. I said I don't have any major issues outside of students and freight. It's quite common for companies to fix issues and engines in the expasion pack instead of releasing them as a standalone patch.

Citybuilders/simulators or any real simulator (even those that aren't games) take a good amount of resources and time to build. They also cost more than other software to make and are proned to bugginess due to all the variables at be. Even Rockwell Automation's Arena simulation software, which is highly used in many engineering and mechanical businesses still lacks multicore support even with the latest release that came out in 2012. The 2012 version is stilly highly unstable and crashes and locks up at least once an hour. To make it worse there is no automatic saving. Most Simulation games don't sell enough to breakeven, including Simcity 4. The only two Simcity games to break 3 million in sales are Simcity 3000 and Simcity 2013 (neither have hit 6 million sales yet). Gamers and the mainstream consumer really don't enjoy or care to play Simcity (they never really have). Your answer to your sales question is below.

If not then your game may have glitched. Try quitting and reloading the city.

Intersections tend to slow traffic down causing back ups (this happens in real life as well). The less intersections you have, the better your traffic flows.

Commuting isn't that bad. Sims commuting is odd but not fully broken like in other Simcity games Granted if you are coming off of NAM then you would be sorely disappointed I really don't have an issue with mass transit in my cities (maybe CoT did something to it). Has industry ever worked right in any Simcity game? (Seriously I don't remember it ever working right in any game). Essentially I don't have any major issues outside of commuting university students and the occasional freight issues. Though the base game could use some more balancing in a future patch.

Only if they abandoned it, provided there isn't content issue. If they haven't touched their city in a long while, then I think you can report them.

None, I watch TV while playing. I just keep the volume on low, to hear if anything major happens in my city.

And you won't regret it. Most things work better on offline mode.