Sim City

[Gogan]

So Sim City launched today. The trailers looked pretty awesome, so I grabbed a copy. Here's how things have gone so far:

1) Launch game
2) Realize the game requires a constant internet connection to play. Sigh.
3) Select a US server to play on. Discover they're all (all 4 of them) are full. Sit in queue for 20 mins.
4) Realize that it's not an actual queue, but instead of timer in between "attempts" at logging on. The first 20 mins passes and you don't get in, so the game starts your timer over again at 20 mins.
5) Say "fuck that" and select a Euro server.
6) Start a new game by selecting a map to play on. Select a region of the map to "claim" (where you start a city).
7) Alert: "Unable to create your city at this time. Please claim a city again"
8) Repeat a dozen times in different maps and regions. All unsuccessful.
9) Say "fuck that" and play a different game.

So yeah, that's the new Sim City. Sad how they've ruined this once great game.

[Gronthor]

Why in the hell are they forcing people to log on their servers for traditionally single player games?

Why is this trend growing, i cannot stand that.

[Fusa]

I lol'd

[Nucholza]

Hmm good to know, because I was planning on grabbing this!

[Gogan]

Originally Posted by Gronthor

Why in the hell are they forcing people to log on their servers for traditionally single player games?

Why is this trend growing, i cannot stand that.

Basically, it's DRM -- their way of controlling piracy.

There is a multiplayer facet of the game, but I have to believe most people that play Sim City are doing it solo. It's really stupid of them to force it online.

I read some related article where some VP at EA refuses to green light any project unless it has a multiplayer component to it. Just one more reason to hate EA, I guess.

[Gogan]

The game was actually playable last night, so I spent some time with it.

Overall, still disappointing. You can't create large, sprawling cities like you could in previous games. Now, each map is split into "regions", which are smaller chunks of the map, with 3-5 regions per map. Each city is independent of the others and confined to one region. You can share resources and services between each city/region, though. For example, you can buy power or water from a neighboring city, and your services like fire stations and trash collection can be shared as well. It's kinda neat in theory, but each city ends up looking rather small. To give some perspective, you only need about 2 police/fire stations to cover your entire city.

I miss building massive cities.

[Gronthor]

Originally Posted by Gogan

The game was actually playable last night, so I spent some time with it.

Overall, still disappointing. You can't create large, sprawling cities like you could in previous games. Now, each map is split into "regions", which are smaller chunks of the map, with 3-5 regions per map. Each city is independent of the others and confined to one region. You can share resources and services between each city/region, though. For example, you can buy power or water from a neighboring city, and your services like fire stations and trash collection can be shared as well. It's kinda neat in theory, but each city ends up looking rather small. To give some perspective, you only need about 2 police/fire stations to cover your entire city.

I miss building massive cities.

That is so dumb, what is it with companies wrecking proven franchises IE Diablo and Sim City.

[rursusferre]

sorry you got burned Asano. I have heard nothing but horrible things about SimCity, including everything you said. Which fucking sucks, because I was pretty excited for a new version of this. Like Gronthor said, how are these companies driving this once icon game franchises into the ground? SimCity could literally have been a larger, improved graphical version of Simcity 2000 and probably would have sold 400 million copies. Not saying I don't want games to improve and evolve, but some of these companies just don't "get" what made their games great in the first place. Hopefully Valve will always be reliable.

[Onion]

I thought this was funny:

http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comme...rated_product/

[Blake]

from massively

Everyone in the games industry and community has been watching in fascination as EA has bungled SimCity's release almost every way possible over this past week. From servers losing city information to always-on DRM practices requiring internet connections to massive user review backlash to lengthy server log-in times to Amazon even pulling the title from its digital sales department, EA is facing what we've often seen in the online world: a disastrous launch.