Yeah, sure, because the demographic who plays Simcity gives a shit about the "standings" of the guy in the next town over.

What's with all forced attempts at hypercompetivity lately in areas that just aren't competitive by nature? Next, I expect supermarkets to let me know who's the fastest at getting the TP from the shelf to the cart. Who actually gives a fuck?

The more Maxis open their mouth and reveal more stuff about SC, the more dreadful and horrible the new SC seems to be. This is on par on trying to explain that the new remake of Syndicate as a FPS is a good thing too.

Well, sooner or later there had to be a version of SimCity that I didn't buy. Might as well be this one.

It's like Maxis just gave me an extra $60.

Blah, blah, blah, designed for multiplayer! blah, blah, blah.

I have no problem with them doing a great experiment like this and creating a MMO SimCity. But for crissakes make a single player offline mode, too. THAT'S your bread and butter. I was playing SC4 with my 5 year old the other day, just the two of us. He told me where he wanted streets and buildings and volcanoes and stuff, and I built it for him. That's all the multiplayer I need in a SimCity game.

As for Syndicate, yes I would love a Syndicate remake. But I also thought the FPS was kind of cool. Can't we have both? That's what I'm asking of SimCity. Also, not sure that analogy fits here.

"It's for your own good!"

Nothing that she describes feels in any way necessary, or even all that interesting.

"Global and local challenges." Yes, because that's what most people crave in a SimCity game. A focused challenge with a specific objective! And these do not keep the gameplay fresh and exciting. New gameplay keeps gameplay fresh and exciting. And certainly not gameplay that has been REDUCED from previous entries in the franchise.

Leaderboards are fine for some games; but given that each player will have their own priorities or objectives then there is no consistent method of measurement for any leaderboard. That guy over there has a population that's several hundred times my own? Fine, assuming that I'm even trying to make a high population city.

And it isn't as if many of the other design decisions haven't come about BECAUSE of this feature. Would the cities be so small if not for this online component? Doubtful. I know I'm not the first to suggest this; and I doubt that I'll be the last.

Idiocy. If I can set my region to private and never interact with other people, then there's no reason I shouldn't be able to lose the internet connection requirement while doing so. None of your "designed to be connected from the ground up" means anything at that point.

Not to mention what others have already said, that someone who wants a good single player experience probably has no interest in leaderboards or mayoral standings.

I'd love for this game to tank, and for the developers (and publisher) to recognize that lots of people don't need or want multiplayer components strapped into their single player game, but even if it did tank, I'm sure they'd find another scapegoat to blame.

Yeah, and this data cannot be collected OFFLINE and be sent as soon somebody wants to actually send it ONLINE. No, this does not work, of course. Just like you need to be CONSTANTLY ONLINE when you work on you excel sheets. Rrrrright. It's pretty insulting that you actually think that your customers are really that dumb.

El Pit wrote on Dec 22, 2012, 12:19:
Yeah, and this data cannot be collected OFFLINE and be sent as soon somebody wants to actually send it ONLINE. No, this does not work, of course. Just like you need to be CONSTANTLY ONLINE when you work on you excel sheets. Rrrrright. It's pretty insulting that you actually think that your customers are really that dumb.

Looking at the comments on the blog, it would seem that some are. I doubt that it will be enough make this a hit, though.

I guarantee you they are deleting negative comments. It's an official EA blog...

And yeah, put me down for "LOVED Sim City 4, but am officially not buying this new one. At least not until it's so cheap that I wouldn't mind pissing the money away."

Prediction: even as people bitch and moan over the "always online" requirement, the game will sell well and soon after it's release the whole thing will be forgotten. "Yeah I'm pissed off over the online requirement, but not pissed off enough to not play it!"

This is the same bullshit as day one DLC: everyone hates the idea of it but publishers keep doing it because it sells really well. Games are changing. Either get over it or resign yourself to playing old games (you know, when they did things the "right way").

the game will sell well and soon after it's release the whole thing will be forgotten.

Who do you think is going to buy it? This isn't The Sims crowd who lap up shit. SimCity fans are older, hardcore fucks like me who have no trouble playing SC2K even now (though I prefer 3K because the awful music in 2K just grates on me).

This is the same bullshit as day one DLC: everyone hates the idea of it but publishers keep doing it because it sells really well.

You don't know that. DLC doesn't have to sell well at all to break even. Obviously the amount of work involved in a full-fledged product far outweighs the trivial amount required for DLC, hence its ubiquity.

I get the complaints but there has to be a phobia for the consistent and repetitive nature of DRM/Online/Piracy complaints the repeatedly happen at Blue's.

Sure EA blended two things MP w/DRM Piracy prevention cleverly, to your dismay. But luckily I seemingly never have DRM related issues, even though I'm no real fan of it, I just can't join this brigade without really having been bit to any noticeable means. I've had more problems with Wal-Mart plastic bags giving way.

MP Sim games have been grossly overlooked, hopefully this will actually be good. Transport Tycoon Deluxe anyone?

Having online features is fine. Having multiplayer is fine. But when that's ALL YOU HAVE, and the entire game's design revolves around it, the traditional offline, single-player qualities of the series suffer (if they're even left at all). That is why we don't like it.

Maxis? Who the fuck is that?
No Maxis here...

Love the GlassBox tech demo videos.
See how things happen in our game?
See them happening? They're happening! Watch as we give these things names! Do you care yet?
Watch as we show you a bunch of retarded cars driving the wrong way on our streets!
See our labeling animations? Those took hours.

Yeesh.

jacobvandy wrote on Dec 22, 2012, 13:08:
Having online features is fine. Having multiplayer is fine. But when that's ALL YOU HAVE, and the entire game's design revolves around it, the traditional offline, single-player qualities of the series suffer (if they're even left at all). That is why we don't like it.

It does sound like it can be single player only, just that you still need to be online, thus back to the DRM phobia. I get that it's not ideal, but I really believe very few really struggle being online consistently.

SimCity 4 Deluxe edition is $5 on steam right now. Worth it?

I'm not worried about MY connection. EA is the last fucking company on the PLANET to get the benefit of the doubt. I'm fairly confident Valve isn't going to fuck with me when I buy a Steamworks game, which is why Steamworks is the only online DRM scheme I subscribe to.

HorrorScope wrote on Dec 22, 2012, 13:17:
It does sound like it can be single player only, just that you still need to be online, thus back to the DRM phobia. I get that it's not ideal, but I really believe very few really struggle being online consistently.

You're missing the point. Yes, it has single-player mode (which is really just like passwording a multiplayer match so that nobody else can join), but the game as a whole has been warped into a bullshit socialization-oriented, Facebook-hybrid, bastardization of its predecessors. It's a shame that they develop this new tech, yet don't bother using it to its full potential. I really don't think it's too much to ask of them to deliver a bigger and better version of Sim City 4 after ten damn years. What they've shown of the game's scope so far makes it look like it was designed for consoles. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised at all if it's released for Xbox and PS3 later, meaning the initial PC exclusivity was sheer lip service so that the angry mob doesn't progress past internet hate speech into burning their fucking offices down.

SirKnight wrote on Dec 22, 2012, 13:18:
SimCity 4 Deluxe edition is $5 on steam right now. Worth it?

Dude, it was worth full price when it came out, and then buying again on Steam so that I don't have to dig up my CDs anymore, lol.

SirKnight wrote on Dec 22, 2012, 13:18:
SimCity 4 Deluxe edition is $5 on steam right now. Worth it?

IMO best SimCity title ever. Even better with mods.

Lucy Bradshaw can stuff her origin/always online/social gaming in her hole of choice.


Merry Christmas!