Xenocity

That's already been done to death and back. Same goes for why people don't like Simcity 4 and Simcity 3000. Shouldn't we discuss how EA has tradition of paying off reviewers to get high scores for their games including Simcity 4 and Simcity 2013?

Honestly both have failed to match the quality that was Simcity 3000U

Umm thanks for the shout out... Since this thread wont end well, I brought popcorn for those who want to watch the show unfold. Seriously though, how was this thread not locked due to the first post?

2: Many people even on YouTube have built near perfect grid cities. Though to be fair some cities in real life are built to a grid system and others aren't 3:There is nothing wrong with the fire stations, especially when you can send them from the neighoring cities. Small station has small fire trucks Large station has large fire trucks, which use more water to put out fires Fire Marshals will prevent buildings from catching fire, thus reducing the number of possible fires, so does good education The fire bell and fire dispatch make your fire trucks respond faster 4: Again nothing wrong with police stations, you can borrow them from your neighbors. Small police stations have a small radius of deployment and have longer times between patrols Large police stations have larger radius of deployment and shorter times between patrols French police stations have the fastest time between patrols Crime prevention vans obviously prevent crimes as does good education You need plenty of jail space *Emergency vehicles do not have the right away in this game or any previous Simcity game, this allows them to get stuck in traffic. 6: Transportation issues aren't as bad as in Simcity 4 Deluxe (Maxis never fixed it), my cities in Simcity 2013 have very few traffic issues post update 6. NAM mods fixed most of the traffic issues in Simcity 4 Try playing the Simcity 4 as Maxis intended without mods 7: You don't have to use the global market for your region. Oil refining in the real world goes this way: Oil drilling platform ---> Oil holding tanks ---> Oil refineries ---> Gas distributors ---> Gas stations Mining ore goes this way: Mine ---> Holding tanks ---> smelter/coal refinery ---> end customer Cities and regions do regulate, control and own some of the mines and buildiings involved in both oil, coal, and ore. Cities XL works similar to Simcity Gambling and tourism work fine for the most part Specialization could use some tweaking 8: Industry and commercial are more dependent on each other in this game compared to the previous games. You can easily turn a profit on a city with 100k+ Though the economy still needs some tweaking I actually have a university city with a population of 200k+ that has a profit of 50k+ due to recycling and selling them on the global market My casino city has a lower profit due to the ups and downs of tourism, has population of 200k+ My industry city runs a 5k+ per hour profit with a population of 100k+ My mining town isn't that big because I don't play it very often, it widly profitable.

I read this online back in 2004 when Rush Hour was announced. Though to be fair every Maxis game to date has been "broken" in some fashion. Once update 8.0 comes, nearly all the major issues will have been fixed. Anyways I love the expansion pack, I've wanted a successor to Simcity 2000's future building sets. Plus we get launch arcos as well. This Simcity lets you make cities from every era of history including stone age and future.

I've built the business school. It does increase commercial demand by sizeable amount in the region and in the city. Between splitting my play time between this an Pokemon X, my backlog of unfinished games will increase from 2 to 5 by the end of November. Do I blame EA for this? I use the unversity to unlock things that I want in my current region. I don't think there will ever be a way to eliminate pollution in Simcity or real life. Air pollution can at least be blown away by the wind. I want to know if the fusion reactor produces more power than the solar farm... Lastly I love that sewage plant that turns the sewage back into drinking water. Ahhh only 4 more weeks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbtQdilLcNE Developer walkthrough! I'm loving these futurstic buildings...

I bought the original Simcity in 1989. It still has the pricetag...Guess how much I paid? $25 USD. I'm not sure where you get $60 from, but it wasn't anywhere close to that at Babbages. I know without any question or doubt I bought it the first week it was out. Again Simcity 1 launched in 1987 on the Commodore 64 and was gradually ported to PC/MAC and other systems as I already posted in this thread. By 1989 there were multiple versions of the game available acrossed numerous platforms including PC/MAC. The price depended on the version of the game you bought. The monochrome versions (I hated the monochrome versions) were cheaper than the full color versions. Since the PC and Mac ports were two years later, they of course launched for cheaper. But I take it you didn't buy any of the 3 expansion packs (mainly containing new maps and buildings) and/or the terrian editor add on to get all the content? Also the Nintendo developed SNES version launched for $50 in 1991 with different content and the best graphics of the original game.

Nope, all users get to play together regardless of content according to IGN. There probably will be an update right before the expansion comes out to ensure compatibility.

Or complaining about the Simcity series cartoonish graphics? Kiddy/cartoony/colorful etc... when it comes to graphics is very off putting to Western gamers. Nintendo almost didn't release the original Pokemon in the West because they thought Western gamers wouldn't buy the game based on the designs of the Pokemon.

Umm EA doesn't really do this anymore. Many gaming companies buy out lesser studios they feel are a threat only to close them down. Hell this goes on in every industry. Ubisoft on the other hand has done the following: stole content and ideas from the small and indie studios in which Ubisoft was their publisher Said content and ideas were incorporated into Ubisoft's games Ubisoft then withheld funding forcing many of the developers to bankrupt (it had a huge write up last year) delaying games at the last minute to make them multiplats (literally a day before they were supposed to ship) removed in game content in order to make it DLC releases the most shovelware in the market gimps PC versions been buying out smaller studios been forcing their employees to work longer hours Does yearly releases of their non sports games releases too much DLC at higher prices than the competition DLC isn't guaranteed to work when installed, may require a future patch (this happened with ACIII) DLC may break the game (this has happened before) Activision: forceable removed the creators of Call of Duty from IW, when the CEO learned they were in talks with EA to make IW an EA developer The creators were also sued by Activision Activision did other things to them to punish them The studioes who make Guitar Hero were closed once Activision canned the series The employees were laid off and didn't get full payment for the last game they worked on Activision hide their buyout from the Investors which forced regulators to prevent Activision from buying out Vevendi's majority stake in them If Activision succeeds, Activision-Blizzard will become a private company I won't even go into detail what the Biizzard side does. Activision also gimps the Wii U and PC versions of Call of Duty each year, including withholding of DLC and features Namco: You have to buy the locked characters in their fighting games and Ridge Racer as DLC if you want the full roster If you want all the features you must buy them extra features as DLC in their fighting games They also let you buy stat boosting items and level ups in their RPGs, if you don't feel like grinding Namco rarely patches their games, unless forced to do so Namco doesn't bother to decently optimize their games, leaving you with long loading screens even on 3DS Namco also releases gimped products as well Street Fighter X Tekken at launch cost you $120 for the game and all the DLC (including extra characters). Let's not forget what Microsoft does when it comes to gaming... At least EA hasn't sunk to Activision or Ubisoft's level yet.

They mention that it will need loads of oil and ore and will require increased power and water. I suspect they will also generate more sewage and tonnes of air pollution. I think the issues are going to be around servicing the production of omega whilst keeping the population alive long enough to reap the rewards. That said I think the mega towers look awesome. I might wait until this appears in an origin sale before buying it though... Omega Corp as already posted in this thread makes all of your businesses wildly profitable and your citizens addicted to Omega. If used for extensive period of time can cause your citizens to become corrupted leading to an increase of crime at the very least. The effects of Omega can spill over into the region as well. At the very least you become profitable with it... Omega is use at your own risk. I for one will not be using Omega Corp.

They deserve the flack over the servers. If you are still surprised that Maxis is producing bug ridden games this day in age then there is something wrong with you... If Maxis released Simcity 2013 as an independent company, it wouldn't have gotten hate, but merely a few diappointing comments. There are many companies in this world that treats their workers and consumers far worse than EA, but get a free pass because they aren't EA. These gaming companies are far worse than EA: Capcom: on disc DLC anyone? upteen expansions of Street Fighter IV (each costing between $15-$30)? Nearly every new game of theirs gets an ultimate version in a year with added content. Capcom doesn't patch all of their games.Activision: witholds DLC and features from PC and Wii/Wii U versionsWB: constantly dishes out DLC for most of their games while delaying the Euro versions. Also releases ultimate versions of their fighting games within a year. Also bad PC ports from what I hearSega: Well most of their games go the way of Capcom and/or need day one patches which may break other parts of the gamesUbisoft: There's a reason why they are called Ubis--t instead of UbisoftSquare-Enix: tons of DLC, can't get games out on time, FFXV was promised by 2008, now coming in 2014Nintendo: still using kiddy graphics, refusing to grow up, not enough DLC for gamers, refusing to add online multiplayer to their game, focuses too much on kids and "casuals". Gamers hate them the mostNintendo also made gamers download a huge day 1 OS patch for the Wii U during the launch peroid to use the system.EA: well they did reskin this year's FIFA, ummm..... they did release Madden 25... they did refuse to release ME trilogy on Wii U but released ME3:U a week later at the same price.EA also gave people a free games in response to the Simcity launch debacle (the competition has never compensated users for their failures)EA now allows returns/exchanges of games within a week now (all retailers don't allow this, Valve refuses to implement this in Steam)EA is one of 4 companies allowing you to buy the PS4 or Xbox One digital version of games for $10 , if you have bought the PS3 or Xbox 360 versions this fall and holiday. (could be more companies by year's end) Other than that EA really was one of the better gaming companies for 2013, though they did take cash from Apple which they are currently being hated for. Isn't Apple still the most hated company due to their yearly hardware models which "screws" over consumers (yes this is the center of most of the Apple hate)? The point is EA hate is severly dated, especially with their competition doing the same or worse practices. I'm not defending EA, but pointing out how EA's business practices aren't the worst in the industry anymore (I'm looking at you Capcom).

We bought Ultima 7 when it first came out in 1992. There was a bug where if you went to the Horace the Lich's house in Skara Brae the game would crash. We called Origin and they sent us a patch. Via floppy disk. Snail mail. Those were the days. The fact that companies can now release crap and patch it up after letting us playtest it is a sad but unavoidable fact today. I don't see a way around it. Actually this is nothing new. Games back on NES and Master System had the bugs and glitches fixed in the later prints of the games. Most publishers and developers have been releasing bug ridden games since the 1980s mainly due to investor and management pressures. They have to meet the deadline and release whatever they have. I mean if management wasn't so beholden to investors and Wall Street, then games would get delayed more often. The two worst non shovelware games released in the past 8 years are Aliens: Colonial Marines (released in February 2013) and Too Human (Released in 2008 I think on Xbox 360). Both were extremely buggy beyond belief to the point of unplayabilty. Since A:CM was a shooter, it was the #1 selling game in February in the U.S. and easily broke 600k in sales in the U.S. Sega and Gearbox made their money back. Too Human went down in flames and still burns in infamy. Dyack the president of Silicon Knights had a meltdown on NeoGaf over defending his game (apparently everyone was biased against him). Silicon Knights has since gone under. ... Funny enough I did own the Mac version of Sims 3 at launch and played it for a whole day, rarely encountered small issues while never experiencing a major issue. Though I ended up giving the game way becauses I couldn't get into the game. Simcity 2013 met my expectations with issues, being no buggier than any other Maxis games I've owned. ... Though when you buy a Maxis made game, you should expect it to be bug ridden and patched later (I've owned nearly every game they have made). Sim Tower was the least buggiest of them all to date. At least it isn't as bad as Skyrim where the game had massive bugs at release that rendered the game playable for only short bursts. Skyrim didn't become stable until the 3rd major patch. Sadly the PS3 version was unplayable at launch due to a game breaking set of bugs, which Bethesda took their sweet time to fix the issues. Strangely enough this tradition for Bethesda's games, yet people still go crazy over their next major game. ... I'm done ranting about most games (and software for that matter) being buggy.

That's what people told me about Simcity 2000 (I was really was told that by a few people) over the futuristic buildings and arcos back in the day. I keep being told this with every new Simcity game to date by people (I know a lot of gamers). I also hear Game Freak has ruined Pokemon with the new games coming out this Saturday (yes some fans are already claiming it). Though an online aspects have probably kept piracy at bay for Maxis. The minute Maxis allows the game to be played offline, people will find a way to pirate it to hell and back.

All Maxis games are plagued with issues starting with the very first release of the original Simcity on Commodore 64 in 1987. Simcity on SNES is the most stable version because Nintendo stepped in and helped optimize it. To be fair testers rarely play simuation games long enough to find many of the bugs. If it makes you feel any better Maxis games are still less bug ridden than Bethesda's (Elder Scrolls, Skyrim, Fall Out 3) A fun fact from history, Simcity almost didn't find a publisher because no publisher though the game would sell enough to warrant the investment in 1987. It took the game 3 years before it sold well. (The article is white font against a white background, so you have to highlight it to read it, or read the spoiler box below) If they do give us an offline mode, does this mean people will be able to pirate and hack the game to bits? I know a few people who are waiting to pirate this game like they have done with all the previous Simcitys.

Well it wouldn't be the first game where users were allowed to sell their mods for a profit. Many games already allow this.

I totally forgot about Simcity 2000 had arcology! Thanks for bringing it up again. I still have to make the point about the "floating roads" in the new expansion. I am well aware of skybridge, it is, even with the current technology, is well possible to connect two different buildings without having any columns. But the skybridges don't jump couple of blocks at once. It is usually used to connect when two or more buildings are operated or built by the same company. Quite simply, it's building's own mini-infrastructure, like elevators, working horizontally. And those skybridges usually do not interfere or benefit the city-wide population. It's up to the owner to build one, it's only used by the tenants of the building, not the entire population of the city. At least at the current point, skybridge is a skybridge, not a city infrastructure. They don't function as a terminal. Singapore's example makes more sense. The city designs and takes full control of infrastructures. It doesn't necessarily have to follow Manhattan-like block styles; there are more than one ways available in civil engineering. We can always build 2 or 3 stories street roads and avenues. What I'm really asking is, is there any city that utilizes a road between the skyscrapers that connects beyond a single block? There are many Arcology designs that suggested building a skybridge-like roads that will function just like any other roads in the city. Japan has couple of examples, buildings that contain a huge hole within to let the traffic go through. Many of them are built on top of railroads, utilizing the lands around the railroad that would have end-up being wasted. Anyhow, many infrastructures, unless for aerial transports, are not built high-up. And even if it is off the ground level, it usually doesn't go right through the building itself. My point about Simcity 2000 was the futuristic buildings aren't realistic looking. The expansion pack is set 50-70 years in the future, thus anything is possible. Chicago has a elevated rails which connect skyscrappers. I do believe the upper tier of roads in Singapore also interconnect with many skyscrappers. I used Singapore as an example, because they have literally ran out of room to expand outward forcing them to build up. There are other major cities in SE Asia facing the same issue. Mexico has many cities where the main roads run under the cities in the old mine shafts and the residential streets are at surface levels The exits take you up to the surface streets from the main roads. Boston and most of the EU have buried the major freeways and highways beneath the cities to improve traffic flow. Though it does force you to exit upward to reach the city roads. Double decker bridges and roads also exist even here in the U.S. With today's engineers anything is possible even more so in 50 years. Maybe in 50 years the future will hit one of Maxis' versions, maybe it will be wackier, or maybe it will be disappointingly bland. 50 years ago it was predicted by government agencies that we would have overpopulation of the world (which isn't happening any more due to falling global birth rate), food and land shortages (not happening either), robots in every house, people easily living beyond 100 years, regular travels to the moon, deep space manned exploration and flying cars. The point being, there is no reason to be bothered by a game/expansion pack set 50 years on how it looks because we don't know what the future will be in 50 years.

Many cities in the world's most populated cities from NYC, London, Paris, Singapore, Tokyo etc... have skycrappers, especially the tallers ones containing both residential and commercial zones in one building. Many very tall buildings also use sky scrappers to allow people to cross between buildings at certain floors, especially hospitals with tall towers. Some cities have miles of them to streamling car traffic by having all the pedestrian traffic above the roads. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyway Singapore one the world's most populated cities (nearly 6M people on half the land of NYC [NYC has 8M people]) has a rail system which is at least 5 stories above street level that doesn't follow city streets. They also have roads (not freeways) which run a few stories above the existing street level city roads. My uncle spent two week there a few months ago and was telling me about the city's infrastructure. Many heavily populated cities that have run out of land have three tiers of roads/rails: Underground roads and subways surface level/street level roads and rails skyways/upper levels which are a few stories above street level http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoTblcQuMB4 The above video is the Sega Saturn version of Simcity 2000 with the futuristic buildings. None of them look realistic back in the 90s or today. Despite that, this version of the game was the best version of Simcity 2000

I didn't know that. I actually never read game reviews when I was younger so I guess I just didn't realize what a turd I was playing with Haha. Actualy it has more to do with control and missing content from the PC version (Granted the PC version had 3 or was it 4 expansion packs). Though the SNES version has better graphics, frame rate, special buidlings including Casinos, Mario and his special statue you can earn, etc... Simcity 64 on the other hand was developed completely by Nintendo and tried to be different. Though it was the first full 3D Simcity It never sold enough to get a Western release.

Both Nintendo made Simcity and Simcity 64 are considered black sheeps by the fanbase because they are viewed as unfaithful to the franchise. Both have constantly reviewed as bad as Simcity 2013 for the most part (Simcity 64 is rated worse) The DLC adds very little to the game, so you aren't missing anything of value. The only piece you should buy is the digital upgrade if you have the standard game. DLC regularly goes on sale as does the EA cash cards, so there is no reason to pay full price. Paid DLC is the future, thanks to Americans eating it up. For some reason Americans demand and love DLC for thier games.

If you're buying an Xbox One, then obviously games with online modes and DLC are very important to you (who buys an Xbox to play offline?) You can get the standard version for $40 or less due to sales and/or EA cash card sales (they can be used on Origin as well) If you want all the international content then Deluxe is the best way to go. Or you can wait until November 12 or later to buy the leaked Simcity Plus (contains the expansion pack). I mean it wouldn't be a real Simcity game if we didn't get our expansion packs (both Simcity 1 and Simcity 2000 had 3 expansion packs). If you really need another copy of Simcity 4, the Steam sale takes place in late November/Early December and the game will be priced under $5. Since you've waited this long, you'd might as well wait for the next Origin sale (they happen ever month or two).

I'd also like them fix universities and let them receive students from other cities.

You should be fine.

Investors are the ones who are forcing the restructuring of EA as whole. Investors want more profit per each game that EA produces and kill of games that fail to be a smash success (which is general the 5 million mark now). Investors also want more paid DLC in games as well. In the short term nothing will happen. In the long term EA will be forced to follow the the other public 3rd party game makers who already forced to nickle and dime the consumers to the hilt to meet investors demands. Pubicly trade companies are required to MAXIMIZE the PROFITS and RETURNS to the shareholders/investors as dictated by law. If a publicly trade company acts against the wishes of the investors, the investors can sue or have the government press charges The current state of the videogame and PC industries, most title due to development costs, marketing, and distribution must sell 4-5 million just to breakeven now days. One of the most recent examples is the recent Tomb Raider (2013). The game sold a little over 4 million and hasn't sold enough to turn a profit yet. Frank Gibeau will probably be fired within the next few weeks after his most recent outburst on Monday claiming Apple is paying EA truck loads of money to make their mobile games iOS timed exclusives and/or full exclusives, while gimping the Android ports. Lucy Bradshaw on the other hand isn't really a full demotion per say, as she was unable to handle all three major Maxis brands. The three major brands at Maxis are: Simcity - Lucy Bradshaw The Sims - Someone Spores - Someone else Bradshaw was never incharge of running Maxis, she was incharge of managing the brands and their marketing. The director of Maxis is one of the developers. Simcity 2013 is the first PC Simcity game since Simcity 3000 to make a profit. The iOS version of Simcity is also going strong as well (and isn't half bad as I own it). TL:DR Version: Investors are now running the show at EA and plan to do what it takes to increase profits at all costs, which is bad for gamers.