EA Suspending Marketing of SimCity

[jomni]

People are voting by their wallets.  Buyers are still there despite the DRM.

[tgb]

From what I read, the game is fundamentally broken, with or without the DRM. Barnum was right.

[Barthheart]

The game doesn't feel "fundamentally broken" to me...  ???

It's a fun, very different take on SimCity.

Funny how people condem things when they first appear and are not exactly what they want or are not just a straight upgrade of the last interation.
Civ V went through the same teeth nashing when it first came out, because it wasn't a straight port of the Civ IV.

Yes there are bugs in the game, yes the always on DRM blows. But lots of people I read, and myself, are having fun with the game... hardly "fundamentally broken"....

[Rayfer]

Saw this on Rock-Paper-Shotgun site.  A scathing review, almost a condemnation, but not about the game play itself....more about the drm/must be online aspects.  I was interested in the release but haven't and won't pull the trigger on it.  From what I have read in these forums it seems to more an mmo than a solo experience (which is what I would want to play).  Anyway, for what it's worth, here it is....http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/03/11/simcity-is-inherently-broken-lets-not-let-this-go/#more-145044

[Greybriar]

John Walker is a man after my own heart. Thanks for the link, Rayfer.

[JudgeDredd]

But what about this bit

I feel very bad for many of the developers at Maxis, who would have set out to make the best game they could. They, of all people, should possibly be the angriest – to see their creation so needlessly broken, so cruelly and stupidly trapped in an online-only prison, cursed to piss players off where it should be providing them fun. I would like to see them speak out too – they should have their voices heard, let them express their frustration.

Didn't Maxis go into bed with EA knowing about the DRM? If not - or if it was pounced on them once the deed was sealed then fine - they are innocent - but did they really not know about the DRM? Where they (like so many developers) not enticed by the promise of more money and less piracy?

I find it difficult to believe they were innocent in it.

As for DRM? I don't really care one way or the other - so long as it's not intrusive.

[tgb]

EA purchased Maxis years ago, so it's not a matter of "getting into bed with them, DRM be damned".

Aside from the DRM, I've read that pathfinding doesn't work right, importing and exporting money or resources to neighboring cities (the fundamental hook of the game) doesn't work right, there are frequent crashes not DRM-related, and water and power allocation doesn't work right.

Sounds fundamentally broken to me.

[Cougar_DK]

And now a Maxis insider steps forward: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/03/12/simcity-server-not-necessary/

It seems its possible to play the game up to 20 mins with out server contact....

[Yskonyn]

'fundamentally broken' eh?
Well then this is the first 'fundamentally broken' game that has literally soaked up the hours of the day from me. And I am having a blast with it!

The 'nonsense and screaming the loudest' train seems to be going full steam ahead on many websites. Not to say that the release wasn't a debacle, because it was. And the DRM sucks indeed, but the sheer anger and bloated articles on the net are just eyebrow raising.

I lean more towards Barth's comment.

[Nefaro]

Saw this on Rock-Paper-Shotgun site.  A scathing review, almost a condemnation, but not about the game play itself....more about the drm/must be online aspects.  I was interested in the release but haven't and won't pull the trigger on it.  From what I have read in these forums it seems to more an mmo than a solo experience (which is what I would want to play).  Anyway, for what it's worth, here it is....http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/03/11/simcity-is-inherently-broken-lets-not-let-this-go/#more-145044

from the article..

But no! cry EA and their more loyal defenders. The online is there for the players! It's not DRM, it's about enhancing the game, it's designed that way, it's it's it's... It's all bollocks. Yes, SimCity offers some multiplayer options that sound a lot of fun. Being able to build cities near your chums, create trade routes with them, share resources, be affected both positively and negatively by your neighbours. Ranked leaderboards, cloud-saved cities, perhaps even world-wide events at a later stage? And of course everything is always up-to-date, latest patch, etc. This is all brilliant stuff. If I want it.

What EA and Maxis have done with SimCity is attempt a year-long PR assault to suggest that the online-only nature of SimCity is designed to offer enhancements for gamers. This is simply not true. It's utter rubbish. It's a backward step for a format that seemed to be managing for years to offer single player and multiplayer options for games without the universe cracking in two. The idea that multiplayer-only is an enhancement is such an obvious piece of newspeak, such a ridiculous untruth, that we can only loudly and furiously react against it if we're to not see it incredulously accepted as fact. I do worry it's maybe already too late.

These are the exact points that were made regarding Diablo 3's always online DRM (along with the Ubisoft crap before that) and this writer is stating the obvious facts as I've seen so many others do in the past regarding the subject.  It's the only sane view, from a consumer viewpoint, that I can see.

I'm just appalled that some customers buy into these publisher's nonsense about it having to be online only - enough so that they're publicly repeating the official EA line about how it's so much better this way, a great leap in features, as opposed to having the online gameplay being a separate option as it traditionally has been and should be. 

I was kinda curious about this new SimCity but even if it's in perfect shape, this bullshit online DRM has got to go before I do anything but watch the carnage unfold (once again).

[JudgeDredd]

It probably is better online with others - the maps seem so small.

I would like to buy - I loved the original and 2000 - but I have no intention of playing online and therefore no need to be online.

So until they drop that (and make the maps bigger - I've seen several videos of people playing and the maps they've used are really small) I'll keep hold of my money.

[Bison]

Didn't you buy Diablo 3 Nefaro?  :P

[Nefaro]

Didn't you buy Diablo 3 Nefaro?  :P

Yes.  And it still pisses me off.  I had to have it .. because it's Diablo.  But in the end I don't think it (and it's DRM) was worth what they wanted for it.

[jomni]

So until they drop that (and make the maps bigger - I've seen several videos of people playing and the maps they've used are really small) I'll keep hold of my money.

Actually I appreciate the small maps.  They make the game so much challenging as you need to maximize all your space.  There are real-world cities with those kinds of constraints like Singapore, Hong Kong, etc.  Definitely not a relaxing game of just placing things at random without any thought.  A lot of thinking needs to be done this time around which makes it a better strategy game.

[Greybriar]

Didn't you buy Diablo 3 Nefaro?  :P

Yes.  And it still pisses me off.  I had to have it .. because it's Diablo.  But in the end I don't think it (and it's DRM) was worth what they wanted for it.

I would have skipped Diablo III due to the DRM but Blizzard gave me a free copy for subscribing to World of WarCraft for a year.

Now I no longer play WoW or Diablo III.