AnathemaDevice

Not everyone uses Steam. I got mine from Amazon here in the UK and it looks like they have it in Canada too - http://www.amazon.ca/Focus-3512899110656-Cities-XL-Platinum-Bilingual/dp/B00BKBFUOO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1368542835&sr=8-1&keywords=cities+xl

Names can be deceptive, I assumed you were a geeky type and AIX referred to the unix flavour.

Anathema Device is a character from one of my favourite books, Good Omens.

Yawn

And the maps are huge. And it doesn't look cartoony (apart from the people).

Cities XL

I've only been playing for a few days and haven't built a big enough city to know if the memory leak thing is really an issue but I do run Memory Booster which should cure any memory leaks in any case. The best place for mods is xlnation.net As to whether you should buy it or not, that depends on what you want from the game. If you want something like a more modern looking SC4 with huge maps and freedom to create the city you want then I would say yes, that's what I wanted and I'm very pleased with it so far. It's not expensive, I paid £15 on Amazon, so it won't hurt too much if you try it and don't like it.

The bug fix patch for XL 2012 can be found at http://xlnation.net/content/annoying-cxl-2012-bug-fix-pack If you have XL Platinum the patch is already included.

Do you think that only your point of view should be heard and anyone who disagrees with you should just shut up? What's the point of a discussion forum if everyone agrees with each other? If everyone has to sing from the same song sheet it's not a discussion, it's a religion.

You haven't seen the Boomtown project then?

+1 for XL Nation mods. I've been playing SC4 since it was released and I still enjoy it even though it does look a little dated now. I was looking forward to a new up to date Simcity but when it arrived I was very disappointed to see the direction they have taken it in. Due to all the stuff I don't like about the new Simcity I went looking for alternatives and found Cities XL. I wouldn't have bought Cities XL when it was first released even if I had known about it because it was very different then, the online only and paying monthly part would have been a definite no go for me and from what I've read about the versions I wouldn't have gone for anything before XL 2012 due to the DRM. But now it's ideal for me, no dodgy DRM, nice big cities (not villages/small towns), it all runs on my computer without the need for and online connection to servers that may or may not be there when I want to play and no spyware snooping around my computer. I would like thank EA & Maxis for disappointing me with regards to Simcity because otherwise I wouldn't have found Cities XL, which is much more like the up to date game I was hoping for. I did install a number of mods from XL Nation from the start so I can't comment on the 'bare' game but with the mods it's fantastic. I have my old enthusiasm for city building back. You don't have to buy every update for it. Why not download some free mods from XL Nation? If you don't want to buy the expansions from Focus you could donate the cost of them XL Nation site instead, there's far more content available there than you would get in the expansion packs anyway. Some of the mods improve the gameplay as well, rather than just adding new buildings.

I've only just discovered Cities XL and have been playing for the last couple of days. TNP does't like Facebook

How about this one? http://xlnation.net/content/wall-collection-1

As far as I'm aware, information about software installed on my computer and my software usage is not uploaded by websites simply by visiting them. Admittedly, I am not a computer expert. If one who is would post a link to a reputable source which states otherwise, I would be very interested to read it. I run a few websites and none of them get any information from visitors' computers. The only things registered are the public IP address (the one assigned by your ISP) and the browser user agent, which usually includes the OS and which browser it is and the UA can be can be changed to anything you like. Nothing is uploaded unless the visitor chooses to upload it. Bad stuff is possible with scripts but that's what your anti-virus, anti-malware and firewall software is for. Anything that tries to snoop around my computer against my wishes from outside is malware as far as I'm concerned.

The difference is that you don't have to give the websites you visit access to snoop around all the files on your computer, any half decent firewall keeps your private stuff private but I bet Simcity won't work if you deny it inbound access.

That's the point, no need for reasoned discussion or argument, just slap the 'Nazi' banner on something you don't like and think you've won. It's lazy, delusional and doesn't add anything of value to the debate.

Godwin's law by the 10th post must be some sort of record. FAIL. If you are so unhappy with the way that someone chooses to run their forum you don't have to use it, you could try starting your own forum where you can dictate how it's run.

It doesn't prevent piracy but it does penalize genuine paying customers who for whatever reason don't have a permanent connection or don't want to open their computer up to snooping from outside. Just because online is more fun for you doesn't mean it is for all of us, some of us play games to escape from people, the last thing I want is other people involved in my game time. That doesn't mean there shouldn't be a social element for those who do want it but there is no justification for forcing it on us, certainly not under the lie of it preventing piracy. I think that merely having an internet connection required to play in and of itself is hardly a reason to not buy a game. Firstly, there is a single player mode, and secondly, most games are going this way. Maybe it's not a reason for for you but it is for me and many others. If EA can afford to lose a large chunk of sales that's up to them, there are still plenty of games I can play that don't require always online connections. I don't care how many new games go this way, I simply won't buy any of them.

Lord Chaos in Dungeon Master.

IF EA ever disables the online requirement then, and only then, I will buy the game. Until that happens I will continue to play SC4 and other offline games. As they have claimed all along that offline is not possible with this game, I'm not holding my breath. Hmmm, let me see, oh yes, they will expect you to buy their latest offering.

Coffee

It works for me too. Mine used to crash nearly every time I zoomed, even if I used the keys rather than the mouse wheel. Since I added -CPUCount:1 to the shortcut target it hasn't crashed at all.

There weren't any consoles when I was a kid. Now I'm feeling very old and it's probably past my bed time.

I looked at that but the dodgy DRM put me off so I ordered Cities XL 2012 instead. O thanks for the reply...I'm sorry but what is DRM? How you like that XL? Did you get the Platinum? DRM is Digital Rights Management, which sounds ok in principle, I'm as anti piracy as the developers who are trying to protect their work and I never use pirated copies. The problem with some forms of DRM such as Securom & Tages is that they have a 3 or 5 times activation limit and, as even a Windows update can force reactivation, you can reach the limit very quickly, leaving you with a nice coaster but no game to play. It doesn't stop the piracy either, there are always cracked versions available to those who are happy to steal other people's hard work. The end result is that honest paying customers suffer while the pirates continue to get away with the theft anyway. I just got the 2012 because that's what Amazon had. I looked at the download at gamesplanet but a bit of research put me off them, a lot of people say they have had problems with being overcharged, corrupted files, not getting their product key and support being very slow to non-existent. I don't know how many of the claims are true but there were enough to make me decide to wait for a physical copy to be delivered from a reliable supplier.

I looked at that but the dodgy DRM put me off so I ordered Cities XL 2012 instead.