Sim City

[Crator]

/facepalm EA

And I've read posts on the forums of beta testers that told them to give an offline option.

[Hamma]

This has been quite easily one of the biggest fuckups in the gaming industry in a while.

[Assist]

Originally Posted by Hamma

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013...art-after-all/

Sad.
Hilarious. (Intersection Sims = awesome)
Super disappointing.

Now I don't want to play SimCity and I can't play PS2 cause of my FPS! ><
/rude

[Crator]

Dem modders :P

So with a little bit of package editing within SimCity, and a little playing about in the code, it's possible to enable debug mode. I linked the activation to the "Help Center" button in the main menu for ease. Most debug features are disabled without having an actual developer's build (they have terraforming tools etc. available in the full developer build!), but a few things do still work - including editing the main highways.

Not only that - but you can edit the highways ANYWHERE - even outside of your city boundary... and even if you quit the game and log back in later, it's all saved safely on the server.

This shows that highway editing will be easily possible, AND that editing outside of the artificially small city boundaries should be very viable too.

Other things I have modded out with a quick change: Unlimited time to remain disconnected (won't get booted at 20 minutes, can now be disconnected "forever"). Population count now shows REAL figure, not the "artificially inflated" figure. My large cities have a population of about 15k now, not 100k :P

[Assist]

I don't mind the small cities, I think that's part of the game design. Makes it more difficult, IMO! I think this is another game that came out a year too early.

that video bothered me the most. With how much I've worked to build a more balanced city and then to see that :| Time to unleash some disasters.

[DrRodneyMckay]

Episode 1 of my tutorial series, focusing on how to get started.

[Crator]

Man, won't back down from the always-online feature, will they?

http://www.ea.com/news/simcity-updat...wers-from-lucy

Forum thread on article: http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/9369469.page

EDIT: This is kind of funny too: Breaking news, forum censors EA call center phone

[ChipMHazard]

1. We keep the simulation state of the region up to date for all players. Even when playing solo, this keeps the interactions between cities up to date in a shared view of the world.
2. Players who want to reach the peak of each specialization can count on surrounding cities to provide services or resources, even workers. As other players build, your city can draw on their resources.
3. Our Great Works rely on contributions from multiple cities in a region. Connected services keep each player’s contributions updated and the progression on Great Works moving ahead.
4. All of our social world features - world challenges, world events, world leaderboards and world achievements - use our servers to update the status of all cities.
5. Our servers handle gifts between players.
6. We’ve created a dynamic supply and demand model for trading by keeping a Global Market updated with changing demands on key resources.
7. We update each city’s visual representation as well. If you visit another player’s city, you’ll see the most up to date visual status.
8. We even check to make sure that all the cities saved are legit, so that the region play, leaderboards, challenges and achievements rewards and status have integrity.

1) Since it also works while playing solo it's entirely irrelevant as an argument for DRM.
2) Could also be achieved by a single player running the region by him/herself. Other players aren't a requirement.
3) Same as above, unless there's an arbitary requirement in place to force a more than one player requirement.
4) Irrelevant for those seeking a single player experience. Would have worked equally well in a separate multiplayer mode.
5) Same as above.
6) Irrelevant, unless it spans regions and somehow ties multiple regions together. Even then I doubt a single player owned region would be starved for resources. Anything besides that would be irrelevant for the gameplay experience.
7) Seems irrelevant, if a single player wants to update the visuals of a city they need only open it.
8) Same as nr. 4.

(If I am wrong in any of my above statements, please correct me.)

Cloud-based saves and easy access from any computer are another advantage of our connected features. You can pop from work to home, play the game and have your cities available to you anywhere.

A gimmick, USB's are just as mobile and more effective since they do not require internet access.

Almost all of our players play with connected cities. But some chose to play alone – running the cities themselves. But whether they play solo or multiplayer, they are drawn to the connected city experience. And Always-Connected provides a platform for future social features that will play out over regions and servers.

Players playing alone would experience the same city connectivity. Social features are irrelevant for those who do not want or need them.

The game we launched is only the beginning for us – it’s not final and it never will be. In many ways, we built an MMO.

I wouldn't go as far as to call it an MMO, there's nothing massive about it. I do hope that is a promise of continued post-launch content support.

So, could we have built a subset offline mode? Yes. But we rejected that idea because it didn’t fit with our vision. We did not focus on the “single city in isolation” that we have delivered in past SimCities. We recognize that there are fans – people who love the original SimCity – who want that. But we’re also hearing from thousands of people who are playing across regions, trading, communicating and loving the Always-Connected functionality. The SimCity we delivered captures the magic of its heritage but catches up with ever-improving technology.

So far most of ideas are perfectly capable of working in a singleplayer enviroment. SimCity 4 wasn't limited to just one city, so why would SimCity 2013 be? Catches up with the ever-improving technology? Like when the EA servers weren't capable of handling the stress?

Would be fair to say that I reject their arguments and premise that always being online is required to enjoy all of the points listed.

/Rant

[p0intman]

NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM Giant publisher making a huge embarassment of itself. It has been massive entertainment for me these past couple of weeks. Almost as hilarious those times Smed fucked up. I laughed (and raged) then too, but for different reasons.

[Crator]

Originally Posted by ChipMHazard

/Rant

Chip, I made those exact comments in the thread on their forums :P Even the USB thumb drive one!

[ChipMHazard]

Originally Posted by Crator

Chip, I made those exact comments in the thread on their forums :P Even the USB thumb drive one!

Great minds think alike. Or perhaps to be more accurate, common sense is universal... Except in EA's case

[Assist]

The always online thing doesn't bother me really. I'm always online anyways. I can see why it does bother people though. The servers being crap are a separate issue. If that was solved there wouldn't be *as much* whining about always online.

[ChipMHazard]

Aye most of the complaints almost certainly stem from EA's inability to provide adequate and stable servers. Just like what happened with Diablo 3.

[MrVicchio]

Originally Posted by Hamma

This has been quite easily one of the biggest fuckups in the gaming industry in a while.

It was telegraphed by Diablo III... I beta tested this monstrosity, and was NOT impressed.

1. I want an offline, single player experience. Steam has a very good system for this.

2. I don't want small, "The Sims" city, I want a BIG FREAKING METROPOLIS.

3. Sim City can redeem itself by giving a huge refund to all that bought this, starting over, back to the roots of the game... ignoring "The Sims".

[Assist]

So, what free game to choose ?
Any thoughts on what is the best game on Origin ?