The new SimCity...*sigh*
- Thread starter Sheep
- Start date
One can not spend his time digging through the internet trying to keep up on game details. At least not when there is MineCraft to play.
The problem is that it is an MMO. Well, not massively, but by default your city interacts with three others.
EA has now requested that their online marketing partners stop advertising SimCity so that fewer people will try to buy the game and traffic on the servers will be eased. I can barely believe how absurd this situation has become. Even as someone that has been strongly opposed to the always-online requirement of this game, I never would have imagined that the server problems would be this bad.
"Please stop buying our awesome game. Thank you" - EA 
I was living in a dreamland where they would realize how stupid they were before releasing the game.
I was living in a dreamland where they would realize how stupid they were before releasing the game.
Apparently EA has suspended all promotion and advertising until further notice.
MASSIVE damage control mode...quite possibly the worst product roll out since New Coke. There game updates have turned into a stream of apologies and non-answers.
Still hoping they'll have an offline mode.
MASSIVE damage control mode...quite possibly the worst product roll out since New Coke. There game updates have turned into a stream of apologies and non-answers.
Still hoping they'll have an offline mode.
Initially I was hoping for this so that maybe, eventually it would be a game I could buy and play. I was really looking forward to Sim City and was disappointed when I learned about the always online part.
Now though, after reading reviews, I feel like there are too many other issues. Being able to save locally and not have to play on servers would be great, but it sounds like the game might not be that great even with those changes.
That's... truly absurd. Well, if that's their attitude, I could see this game be extremely short-lived, unless they make some heavy changes, but from the sounds of it, being online is too tightly integrated. I really don't see this game lasting very long at this rate.
The reviews I've read said that (connection issues aside) it's a solid game. Yeah, the cities are a little small...but it's still fun during those fleeting periods of playability.
Now i'm really starting to get amused.. what goes around comes around.
They will of course solve the problem eventually but one can only hope the damage is lasting so when (and if) they do decide to make a new Sim City they will abandon that Online DRM crap and learn from both game design and technological mistakes to give us a Sim City we actually want and deserve.
Meanwhile i've started Sim City 4 again and am having a blast.
They will of course solve the problem eventually but one can only hope the damage is lasting so when (and if) they do decide to make a new Sim City they will abandon that Online DRM crap and learn from both game design and technological mistakes to give us a Sim City we actually want and deserve.
Meanwhile i've started Sim City 4 again and am having a blast.
Yeah, this should do wonders for sales of SC 4.
To be honest I'm quite enjoying this. It sucks for the customers (although it might teach some people to do their research first before blindly rushing out and buying the HOT NEW THING). But its always fun watching EA get taken down a notch.
Stop lettign bean-counters make your release decisions for you! If you're going to hype the hell out of your new game, then put in the infrastructure to support it. All trying to skimp on server space did was bite them on the ass.
To be honest I'm quite enjoying this. It sucks for the customers (although it might teach some people to do their research first before blindly rushing out and buying the HOT NEW THING). But its always fun watching EA get taken down a notch.
Stop lettign bean-counters make your release decisions for you! If you're going to hype the hell out of your new game, then put in the infrastructure to support it. All trying to skimp on server space did was bite them on the ass.
Now that a few days have passed, have the server troubles settled down?
And has cheetah speed been reactivated yet?
I've watched some players streaming on Twitch, and the game itself - once they actually get in - looks like a lot of fun, despite the smaller map sizes. I'm tempted to pick it up, but don't want to deal with server problems or the lack of cheetah speed so will hold off deciding until they're both fixed. Anyone know what the current state is?
And has cheetah speed been reactivated yet?
I've watched some players streaming on Twitch, and the game itself - once they actually get in - looks like a lot of fun, despite the smaller map sizes. I'm tempted to pick it up, but don't want to deal with server problems or the lack of cheetah speed so will hold off deciding until they're both fixed. Anyone know what the current state is?
I could see that happening. It's easier to blame a curse than admit that there's something wrong with their company and it's policies.
Initial reviews were glowing, more recent reviews have been mixed, as has the fan reaction. Other than the server issues and small cities, the simulation is apparently a bit wonky. The decision to simulate each citizen as an agent sounds great on paper, but the AI controlling the sims is pretty stupid. There are inexplicable traffic problems because the sims can't path-find properly. Sims will complain about the lack of nearby stores even if they live right next to a commercial district. If you have 5 concurrent fires and 10 fire trucks (as might happen after a meteor strike), all 10 fire trucks will travel to a single blaze instead of spreading out, allowing the fire to spread.
Also, things like this happen:
[yt]v=-d0b41H-Lnk[/yt]
The craziest thing is that sims don't have set homes or jobs. When they go to work in the morning, they travel to the nearest job for their skill level, and if that's full then they'll travel to the next nearest, then the next nearest. When they go home at night, they travel to the nearest free residential building instead of travelling to the home they came from. That may sound like a comical communist utopia, but I read that it caused a nuclear meltdown for one player. Nuclear plants need college-educated workers to operate safely, but when a number of high-skilled jobs opened closer to the workers than the nuke plant it caused all the worker to get new jobs, and the nuke plant was forced to hire low-skilled workers instead, leading to an accident.
Some of these issues may be patched out in time, but it seems that SimCity is yet another game that has been pushed out the door before it's ready. At least it has led to some comedy.
From what I've read, the server issues have eased a bit over the last day or so, but there are still problems. Cheetah speed is still disabled, as are many of the region features.
Ignoring the server issues (which I really shouldn't be doing given how much the game depends on them), the game's mechanics appear to be solid. However, I've read in more than one place that the AI is dumb as hell. In addition to what TheGodBen pointed out above, I've read that the traffic AI makes no sense and traffic is hopelessly snarled despite your best efforts. Sounds like they need to work on more than just getting their servers up and running.
Unlike everyone who complains about always-on online and DRM and buys the damn game anyway, I'm sticking to my guns and spending my time with Lara Croft after finding out my old ass PC can still run the Tomb Raider at 40fps in 720p on high graphic settings.
And I'll be on Steam, buying and enjoying -$20 indy games.
Always on DRM means my money stays in my wallet, i really cant see why i should pay them £40 for the possibility of playing my game, if my internet is up, and if their side of things are working.
Far too much hassle for a game to be honest, and all the while the supposed reason for this always on DRM, affects only the honest people, while the pirates happily play away at a hacked versions enjoying it without all the hassle.
I think we all know the real reasons why they are pushing this always on DRM, because it stops second hand sales, and gives them full control of the game you bought, so in a way your only renting the game, they never loss control of the game.
Far too much hassle for a game to be honest, and all the while the supposed reason for this always on DRM, affects only the honest people, while the pirates happily play away at a hacked versions enjoying it without all the hassle.
I think we all know the real reasons why they are pushing this always on DRM, because it stops second hand sales, and gives them full control of the game you bought, so in a way your only renting the game, they never loss control of the game.
Similar threads
