SimCity: Now With 92% Less Crashing; Maxis Walks Back from Offline Comment [Mar 11, 2013, 08:46 am ET] – Share – Viewing Comments
SimCity Update #4 is penned by EA Maxis SVP Lucy Bradshaw, who is "happy to report that the core problem with getting in and having a great SimCity experience is almost behind us," saying they have "reduced game crashes by 92% from day one." She admits she's not able to offer the "all clear" for the game she'd hoped to, but seems optimistic that they've turned the corner from the game's rocky launch. There's also a new tweet on the SimCity account quickly walking back from this tweet they posted over the weekend which said: "We have no intention of offlining SimCity any time soon but we'll look into that as part of our earning back your trust efforts." It seems there is a disagreement among the operators of their twitter account, because the new update states this isn't actually possible: "The game was designed for MP, we sim the entire region on the server so this is just not possible."
Re: SimCity: Now With 92% Less Crashing; Maxis Walks Back from Offline Comment
Mar 11, 2013, 14:50
Mar 11, 2013, 14:50
Re: SimCity: Now With 92% Less Crashing; Maxis Walks Back from Offline Comment
Mar 11, 2013, 14:50
Mar 11, 2013, 14:50
While I don't think it would be trivial for EA/Maxis to provide the server-side portion of the game to customers, it certainly *should* be possible with a bit of work.
I have no idea what they are using for a backing store on the server-side for per-user instance data (I thought it was something like Amazon S3) but if the programmers followed well established coding patterns and practices, it wouldn't be too difficult for them to swap out the backing store, assuming no reliance on platform/infrastructure-specific APIs or features (e.g. Amazon S3/EC2, etc.) Things like achievements and other social metrics might not transfer over as easily but, with a bit of work, there should be no reason that EA couldn't allow customers to setup their own private dedicated servers (minus certain features.) The game client would simply connect to the local server instance instead of using EA's servers.
Hell, it may even be as simple as providing the server files with the disclaimer that they must be hosted on Amazon's platform due to reliance on specific features (or whatever PaaS/IaaS vendor EA has gone with.)
Yes, modifying the server-files to support private hosting by customers would require an investment from EA/Maxis but after the less than stellar launch and the apparent success (sales-wise) of the game, they could at least do this as a show of good faith. They could even wait a year before releasing the modified server files, which would probably generate an additional round of increased sales while still discouraging pirating during the initial release period.
The again, EA has no need to do this because gamers clearly don't have a problem with the always on requirement or complete dependence on the availability of EA's servers. Gamers seem quite happy to take one up the rear. If gamers did care, they wouldn't have opened their wallets. Sometimes gamers are their own worst enemy.
I have no idea what they are using for a backing store on the server-side for per-user instance data (I thought it was something like Amazon S3) but if the programmers followed well established coding patterns and practices, it wouldn't be too difficult for them to swap out the backing store, assuming no reliance on platform/infrastructure-specific APIs or features (e.g. Amazon S3/EC2, etc.) Things like achievements and other social metrics might not transfer over as easily but, with a bit of work, there should be no reason that EA couldn't allow customers to setup their own private dedicated servers (minus certain features.) The game client would simply connect to the local server instance instead of using EA's servers.
Hell, it may even be as simple as providing the server files with the disclaimer that they must be hosted on Amazon's platform due to reliance on specific features (or whatever PaaS/IaaS vendor EA has gone with.)
Yes, modifying the server-files to support private hosting by customers would require an investment from EA/Maxis but after the less than stellar launch and the apparent success (sales-wise) of the game, they could at least do this as a show of good faith. They could even wait a year before releasing the modified server files, which would probably generate an additional round of increased sales while still discouraging pirating during the initial release period.
The again, EA has no need to do this because gamers clearly don't have a problem with the always on requirement or complete dependence on the availability of EA's servers. Gamers seem quite happy to take one up the rear. If gamers did care, they wouldn't have opened their wallets. Sometimes gamers are their own worst enemy.
Date
Subject
Author
1.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
2.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
6.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
3.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
4.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
57.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
5.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
8.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
12.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
19.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
20.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
21.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
77.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
78.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
13.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
16.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
17.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
7.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
11.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
14.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
100.
Mar 12, 2013Mar 12 2013
101.
Mar 12, 2013Mar 12 2013
9.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
91.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
93.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
95.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
112.
Mar 12, 2013Mar 12 2013
10.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
15.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
18.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
22.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
79.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
83.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
23.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
42.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
43.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
49.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
24.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
25.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
26.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
27.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
38.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
98.
Mar 12, 2013Mar 12 2013
106.
Mar 12, 2013Mar 12 2013
107.
Mar 12, 2013Mar 12 2013
109.
Mar 12, 2013Mar 12 2013
110.
Mar 12, 2013Mar 12 2013
114.
Mar 12, 2013Mar 12 2013
115.
Mar 12, 2013Mar 12 2013
111.
Mar 12, 2013Mar 12 2013
62.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
28.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
30.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
32.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
29.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
31.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
33.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
34.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
35.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
36.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
37.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
39.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
41.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
92.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
96.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
113.
Mar 12, 2013Mar 12 2013
40.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
44.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
45.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
46.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
47.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
48.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
50.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
52.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
51.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
53.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
54.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
55.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
76.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
56.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
58.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
Re: SimCity: Now With 92% Less Crashing; Maxis Walks Back from Offline Comment
59.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
73.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
60.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
66.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
61.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
63.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
64.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
67.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
80.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
65.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
68.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
69.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
70.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
71.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
72.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
74.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
75.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
81.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
84.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
85.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
87.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
82.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
86.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
97.
Mar 12, 2013Mar 12 2013
88.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
89.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
90.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
99.
Mar 12, 2013Mar 12 2013
94.
Mar 11, 2013Mar 11 2013
103.
Mar 12, 2013Mar 12 2013
104.
Mar 12, 2013Mar 12 2013
105.
Mar 12, 2013Mar 12 2013
108.
Mar 12, 2013Mar 12 2013
102.
Mar 12, 2013Mar 12 2013
116.
Mar 12, 2013Mar 12 2013
117.
Mar 12, 2013Mar 12 2013
118.
Mar 12, 2013Mar 12 2013
Copyright © 1996-2025 Stephen Heaslip. All rights reserved.
All trademarks are properties of their respective owners.
Privacy Policy. Manage Cookie Settings.
News CGI copyright © 1999-2025 James "furn" Furness & Blue's News. All rights reserved.
Chatbear v1.5.0/blue++: Page generated 18 March 2025, 22:37.