SimCity modded so it can be played offline indefinitely + editing of highways

DIablo III was a disappointing game.

Sim City is a broken game.

That's the difference.

This sums it up nicely!

And I have to say that even just comparing the launches directly in terms of server functionality: D3 was better. I could at least play D3 in the first few days late night/early morning. Couldn't do that with SimCity. And I despise D3...
 
I just read Parfitt's Twitter and holy fucking shit.

Plus fucking one RT @MCVonline: Opinion: SimCity teething problems only help make EA better at online http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/opin...ms-only-help-make-ea-better-at-online/0112432

I read that link, "Opinion: SimCity teething problems only help make EA better at online (by Michael French)"

Wow.

Online teething problems. From EA. In 2013. And it's spun as a "learning experience."

Despite all the connection issues for SimCity, in the long-term web connections are getting better and better for consumers. It's this migration to better broadband and data access which, forgive me pointing out the obvious, is carrying us into the digital era.

And as for problems in the short-term? Well as publishers and developers encounter them, they simply find ways around it or fix them. Mobile and tablet games developers have made the biggest leaps on this. It will come to PC and console next: always-online games that are prepared to cope with a patchy signal or limited data bandwidth.

Wow! It's like I'm living in a brave-new world! Broadband! On-line gaming! I can't wait for the infrastructure to improve to allow this. Excuse me while I watch Netflix in HD at the same moment tens of millions of others do...

One point of umbrage some SimCity players have with EA is the claim that a few of the powerful simulation game's computations are run on the server-side, so the EA mothership needs to be connected to each game running. Critics say this must be a lie, and yep, I'm sure that Maxis could turn it off with some work. After all, the original Sim City games worked fine pre-internet, right?

While the principle is fine, the reality isn't.

Data sharing and publishers wanting a regular server connection stems from a deeper demand for in-game metrics and analysing player behaviour.

EA undoubtedly wants to keep abreast of player choices and decisions. Having detailed, granular information about what players are doing will inform both creative decisions and tweaks in-game while the game is live - and is dynamite for informing commercial decisions. (There's a huge privacy issue related to this – but that's another issue, and likely one to spawn just as much outrage when a publisher gets wrong or abuses the info it has on its customers.)

The future really is 2007 isn't it?

http://www.steampowered.com/status/ep2/ep2_stats.php

What a fucking joke.
 
I read that link, "Opinion: SimCity teething problems only help make EA better at online (by Michael French)"
Data sharing and publishers wanting a regular server connection stems from a deeper demand for in-game metrics and analysing player behaviour.

mark-wahlberg-shocked-gif.gif

Yeah that's exactly why they want it online I'm sure.
 
DIablo III was a disappointing game.

Sim City is a broken game.

That's the difference.

What with stuttering issues that are in the game since beta, so for more than 1.5 year? They claimed that they will fix them in at least by launch and then in patches.

Itemization and scaling is broken for loot-based game too. There was tons of broken features on launch and after launch, like AH, desync etc.
 
How all this has affected me:

1. I used to like Gies on RebelFM. But I haven't listened to an episode in over a year (Comedy button is better). Now Aegies is a tool to me.

2. RPS has earned a reader

3. MCV UK is trash

4. I'm not going to buy Sim City. Not that I wanted to, but the hype was getting to me.
 
And as for problems in the short-term? Well as publishers and developers encounter them, they simply find ways around it or fix them. Mobile and tablet games developers have made the biggest leaps on this. It will come to PC and console next: always-online games that are prepared to cope with a patchy signal or limited data bandwidth.


I don't think this man knows what was really going on with the servers...
 
Now that it's been exposed to be a colossal lie, hopefully EA will do the right thing: patch it, and fire everyone involved in this PR nightmare.

They'd basically be firing themselves. It's not like Riccitiello would have been up there at the top saying "No no no don't launch it this way!" and Maxis and PR all said "No, screw you! We're in this 100%!"
 
Well to be fair EA has won in that they got a shitload of people's money and they ain't giving it back. Curious to see sales number on this thing honestly, hope it didn't do too well.

It will sell massively. It's still a PR disaster though. This kind of thing doesn't affect the game in question so much as it affects future games.

Diablo 3 still sold a bajillion copies, but you can bet Blizzard will be much more accommodating about D4 online policies--and it will still probably not sell as much.
 
What with stuttering issues that are in the game since beta, so for more than 1.5 year? They claimed that they will fix them in at least by launch and then in patches.

Itemization and scaling is broken for loot-based game too. There was tons of broken features on launch and after launch, like AH, desync etc.

Like a broken record, man.... you sound much better when you talk about things you love, not actively and vehemently despise. :(
 
Like a broken record, man.... you sound much better when you talk about things you love, not actively and vehemently despise. :(

Its not like thats not true.
Again, i dont think Diablo 3 is bad game, its great game when look at it as an action rpg, its just awful loot-based game and wont change this opinion :), but launch was horrible and management after launch was too. Fixing performance issues should be crucial and was not. I dont know even why, when Starcraft 2 actually got performance fixes and is running great.
 
Well to be fair EA has won in that they got a shitload of people's money and they ain't giving it back. Curious to see sales number on this thing honestly, hope it didn't do too well.
What I think is that EA will have a hard time to sell their next Sim City game to the fans. I can imagine that even the casual gamers were displeased by the launch.
 
What I think is that EA will have a hard time to sell their next Sim City game to the fans. I can imagine that even the casual gamers were displeased by the launch.
"We've learned from our previous launch problems, and it was our number one priority with this game so you can be assured that blah blah blah"
 
Wow, the way that the entire media and industry are responding to this in lock step is just scary. It is just so unbelievably anti consumer and out of touch.

I really feel like most of the industry is right on the verge of complete failure, the big publishers keep screwing the consumer and then they and the media act like they did the right thing while celebrating these failures.

This is no way to run a sustainable business.
 
I attributed it to the wrong guy, but still someone from MCV Online:

SimCity teething problems only help make EA better at online

Artistically, all of this does spell out a pretty sorry story: the demise of a pure single player experience that can be enjoyed alone and without any technical interruptions. The opposite of that – an always-watched digital game, where your every move is logged and tracked, sounds worrying.

But didn't all gamers give up the argument to an unconnected, uninterrupted experience the minute the first Xbox achievement was unlocked? At that moment, playing a game, even one with a story and just one character to control in the early days of Xbox 360 – which seems like so long ago now - went from being a closeted, quiet thing, to something broadcast and shared with others.


He defends always-online because it is a way to track player metrics and behaviors, even though it's patently obvious you can do that without making an internet connection a REQUIREMENT.

What the hell am i reading? Is this done by a 5 year old? Damn never thought this kinda 'journalism' hitting new hights.
 
So the new defenses from various types are: "People don't like it just because it's different from the older games" and "Cities have to work together in a region, which needs online connectivity."

The first is lazy, the second laughable.
 
So the new defenses from various types are: "People don't like it just because it's different from the older games" and "Cities have to work together in a region, which needs online connectivity."

The first is lazy, the second laughable.

The second isn't even true anyhow. There's no reason a lone player can't maintain an entire region by themselves, and the benefits of having other players only make the game slightly easier.
 
How in the world could John Walker be one of the most hated guys in the industry? He's one of the very few people out there who calls companies out on their bullshit.

If he is 'hated' in the industry, well that is just sad and speaks volumes of what game companies expect out of game journos.
 
Wow, the way that the entire media and industry are responding to this in lock step is just scary. It is just so unbelievably anti consumer and out of touch.

I really feel like most of the industry is right on the verge of complete failure, the big publishers keep screwing the consumer and then they and the media act like they did the right thing while celebrating these failures.

This is no way to run a sustainable business.
It's a terrible shame too because it's an industry with a hell of a range of talents in it. Inevitably these people are taken under when the ship eventually sinks.

It's weird also to see someone like Bradshaw sounding like a corporate drone. How people like that can defend this mess is beyond me; I don't remember Maxis being particularly anti-consumer back in the days of the original The Sims and Simcity 3000. I'll lay off her though because clearly it's EA pulling the strings.

Nobody asked for this game, just like nobody asked for the dumbed down, linear minigame collection that was the final version of Spore. Nice to see they charge full game price for addons to The Sims 3 too. EA has pretty much hijacked Maxis and destroyed any respect I had for them. I stuck by them for well over a decade too.
 
Gies, French, and Parfitt make me ashamed to be a journalism major.

Its ok. I don't think any of them were journalism majors. They just spend their free time embarassing the profession. Parfit was a theatre major (lol so fitting) and Gies was an art major. So basically for both of them it was either write about video games or sell lattes at Starbucks.
 
Bingo. No need for tinfoil hats. The most obvious reason is usually the correct one.

Agreed but it gets fishy when

A) He spends over a month attacking people who don't like ME3's ending, even cherry picking the few idiots who liked it to record an insane podcast that doesn't contain one intelligent statement defending it.

B) Acts as if Deadspace3's microtransactions aren't gross.

C) Treats sim city as if it is some wounded puppy needing twitter knights to shield it from criticism.

EAX3 in a row.



Arthur Goose is basically Baghdad Bob for EA.
 
I'm still deciding what's more funny.

EA fucking up big time SimCity release or the whole PR offensive commanded by the journalists which mouths and pens are just big companies tools.
 
It's a terrible shame too because it's an industry with a hell of a range of talents in it. Inevitably these people are taken under when the ship eventually sinks.

It's weird also to see someone like Bradshaw sounding like a corporate drone. How people like that can defend this mess is beyond me; I don't remember Maxis being particularly anti-consumer back in the days of the original The Sims and Simcity 3000. I'll lay off her though because clearly it's EA pulling the strings.

Nobody asked for this game, just like nobody asked for the dumbed down, linear minigame collection that was the final version of Spore. Nice to see they charge full game price for addons to The Sims 3 too. EA has pretty much hijacked Maxis and destroyed any respect I had for them. I stuck by them for well over a decade too.
While I agree about the talent, I think we should really stop pretending all these people are somehow working under duress and are an entirely separate body of EA. I'd like the "poor devs vs evil suits" narrative but honestly, it's them choosing to work for assholes. I'm not saying these are individually bad people or anything like that and I'll be sorry for them the day EA lays them off but this failure of a game is theirs.
 
Its ok. I don't think any of them were journalism majors. They just spend their free time embarassing the profession. Parfit was a theatre major (lol so fitting) and Gies was an art major. So basically for both of them it was either write about video games or sell lattes at Starbucks.

...oh god, that's fucking awful.
 
Sad to see journalistic integrity go out the window for some journos.

Honestly at this point there is nothing that could happen that could make me buy sim city. Short of it coming with a kilo of blow and a hooker.

Fuck EA, the last thing they deserve is my money
 
The only EA IP's that even interest me are Mirrors Edge and Battlefield. After this whole situation I will most likely wait until BF4 is about $5 just to play the SP (not a fan of MP) and I assume that EA will fuck up Mirrors Edge 2 big time so needless to say I am done with them.
 
Agreed but it gets fishy when

A) He spends over a month attacking people who don't like ME3's ending, even cherry picking the few idiots who liked it to record an insane podcast that doesn't contain one intelligent statement defending it.

B) Acts as if Deadspace3's microtransactions aren't gross.

C) Treats sim city as if it is some wounded puppy needing twitter knights to shield it from criticism.

EAX3 in a row.



Arthur Goose is basically Baghdad Bob for EA.
I think it's just that game journalists aren't as uh, dramatic, towards these things as we are. You can accuse Giantbomb of having the same positions and making excuses for EA as well.
 
Online teething problems? Are you fucking kidding me? Nintendo gets torn apart (rightfully so) for lagging behind, but EA delivering a flat out broken game, with the worst DRM imaginable, and these blithering idiots have the nerve to call this anything but a complete and utter disgrace?

Despicable.
 
Like a broken record, man.... you sound much better when you talk about things you love, not actively and vehemently despise. :(

Look who is talking... dude who always remind other people that they should stop speaking bad about D3.

Diablo 3 is a bad game. They got almost everything wrong beside combat animations (not combat mechanics because it is also broken).


On actual thread subject.

Why people are ganging on Arthur ? He was/is just wrong same as many people on NeoGaf on every other subject. MetalMurphy was/is also trying to defend it in same way as Arthur but as gafer i won't laugh at him because he has his own opinion (no mater how far from truth is).

He probably was told by Maxis about it same as rest of us where we believed game logic was on servers.

Sorry KRRT Maxis/EA told many times in interviews that always online was because they need to run "advanced" simulation on their servers. People don't fallow all articles and they assume every article states truth. So most o
 
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