A new version of Simcity ...

[PZ]

Thanks; I'm really having a good time.  For example, I just created a mining town in which I have an ore mine.  You can see the wheels turning and ore accumulating.  However, after a short while the mine stopped running and after examination of it's properties I discovered that the bins were full and I had to add another bin or do something with the ore.  My choices of things to do are use the ore in the same city, or export it for profit (I chose the later and started making money).

Intrigued about how to use the ore in the same city, I found a smelter and started it up.  Then I had to go into the mine properties and choose the option to use the ore in the same city, and now I could watch my little trucks transporting the ore to the smelter.  Eventually the smelter filled it's bins and also stopped working.  The new prompt instructed me to create a trade center where I could export the refined metal or use it internally; I chose the former and was making a much better profit than by exporting the raw ore.  Now I watched as trucks carrying refined metal went to the trade center.  It is cool watching the ore being mined and loaded into storage bins, then transported to the smelter where it is refined into the final metal, then being again transported to the trade center.

Now I need to find out how to use the refined metal internally - I found something that looks intriguing - a computer factory.

The detain in the game is simply amazing and highly satisfying.

[Art Blade]

very nice.. I can imagine that spending time watching details easily prevents one from focussing on the big picture  :-D

[PZ]

It's not bad at all because once you set the parameters you can let the thing run for the most part.  Also, because the cities start out small, it takes a while before you get big enough for the job to become demanding.  In fact, my extra large cities in Simcity4 felt like more of a challenge than these new ones because of their limited size.

[PZ]

It looks like EA and Maxis pulled another stupid idea in requiring a persistent internet connection because thousands of users worldwide are experiencing significant problems such as not being able to log in, losing hours of w@&k because of a lost connection.  Evidently EA doesn't have enough servers to handle the demand.

We have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support and enthusiasm from our fans which has made it even more upsetting for us that technical issues have become more prominent in the last 24 hours

"Support and enthusiasm"?  come on; unless I have been unlucky enough to read only negative articles, I don't think there is a gamer out there that is offering "support and enthusiasm" to those bozos at EA.

My own experience has been slow to log on, but I have been able to play.  The only problem is that if you are on one server today, and a different server tomorrow, your game is on the wrong server and you have to start over.  How stupid is that - they call it their "cloud", but the servers do not save the game files to a common area!

It will be fun to see how it shakes out.  In the meantime, I'll simply play AC:B and  FC3 when the EA servers are being annoying.

I'd not recommend purchasing this title until EA pulls their collective heads out of their asses.

[Art Blade]

EA must have learned that from UBI.

[PZ]

They obviously did not learn anything from the Diablo III fiasco.  They are really stupid to require persistent online; now due to the extreme server demand they are losing millions to fix their issues as well as countless $ to potential fans afraid of wasting their money on a game they cannot play.

I wonder if this expenditure (and bad press) outweighs the loss they would have experienced via piracy.

[fragger]

Good point PZ. A debacle like this could hurt them more than piracy would.

From what you've reported, I'll be one of those potential fans who won't be wasting his money. If people in places with otherwise stable internet connections are having probs, what hope have I got?

Sounds like a great game, but I can see myself doing a lot of swearing at it so think I'll be staying away from it.

[PZ]

I'd agree fragger; you'd have an awful time trying to get (and stay) online with the fiasco they have created.

Interestingly IGN is actually telling gamers not to purchase the game, and another online review site had changed their rating from 9.5 to 4.0, all due to EA's foolish decision to control DRM with persistent connection.

On the positive side, I'm experiencing mostly luck when trying to get on and play for extended time.  However, I'm using an eastern European server - it is rather funny; the sims are speaking in a foreign language!.  The game is really marvelous and each time new features reveal themselves as I build my city.

Here are a few pics:

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[smg id=5677 align=center width=400]

[PZ]

Here are a few images more illustrating the region nature of the game.  You can have up to 16 cities in a region (depending on the region).

The brightly lit city is my original city, and the bare bones one to the right is a new city that I intend to specialize in mining
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Here is a daylight view
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... and yet from another perspective.  The beauty of the game is that the resources can be shared between the cities.  For example, I have a nuclear power plant in the big city that is supplying power to the small city, which means that I can devote my precious few dollars to other endeavors.
[smg id=5680 width=400 align=center]

It is really too bad that EA sucks so bad fragger, I think you would have really enjoyed this game considering how much you enjoy Civ V

[Art Blade]

looks nice, PZ :)

[fragger]

I'm sure you're right PZ, it looks terrific and from what you've reported, I'm sure I'd get right into it. Maybe EA will wake up, smell the coffee and change their ways. I can but hope.

[PZ]

I hope so, but I doubt it.  EA will spend ten times the amount that they save from piracy just so they don't look stupid by retracting their ridiculous online requirement.  The funny thing is that they are so stupid they don't even realize how much they would gain by taking the online requirement off of single player.

[PZ]

EA/Maxis reports that the reason that the persistent online connection is required is that the game offloads many of the city computations to their servers so that the gamer's PC doesn't need to w@&k so hard.

However, when one of the tech companies tested this theory, they reported that you can disconnect your router and the game continues to play fine.  I can confirm this myself because my PC reported that my internet connection had been dropped and yet Simcity was still running fine on my computer.

I guess the people at EA think that gamers are a particularly stupid bunch.  I guess that it won't be long until an offline crack is developed.

[fragger]

If so, it'll serve them right for insulting their customers' intelligence \:/

[PZ]

Well, it's official.  The first crack to run Simcity offline has been released.  While not fully complete, the mod does allow you to play offline for as long as you like.  The functions that need to be fleshed out are the ability to save the game locally (right now you need to log in after you play to sync the game with the server), and to play more than one city.  However, the modder was able to demonstrate that you can build functional roads outside of the current small cities.

Evidently much of the Simcity code is in javascript, and the always online DRM was "hastily thrown together" which suggests that it was more EA than Maxis in the decision to require always online.

You can read about it here.

[fragger]

I found this article of interest as well, from the same site.

I definitely won't be buying this game, and I'd think twice before buying any future EA titles purely on principle

[PZ]

I read that article as well.  It's really too bad that EA is so foolish.  I do not think the always on DRM was Maxis' idea because the code to play offline was well established in the game, and the always online code was hastily added at the last moment.  In fact, I read somewhere that the code was still embedded in the script.

It's a shame because the game is really marvelous, and the only issues I had were the small city size (as indicated in the article), and the always on DRM.  However, I believe that game modders will eventually circumvent both issues.  Evidently Maxis developed the small city size toward the lowest common PC denominator because they were afraid that gamers would complain about poor performance, and their sales would be lower because of high horsepower requirements.  All in all, just about every marketing decision they made was stupid.

[Art Blade]

we used to build cities until they grew so big that the PC turned the game into a slide show. It was still fun. We used to zoom in a lot until the graphics card could handle it again :)

[PZ]

Yes, that was what I did as well; zoom in far enough and just about any PC can handle it.  :-()

In this game there are regions of various size with city plots of varying number, so you can choose what style you like best.  It seems to me that the developers could have easily created at least a few regions with much larger cities for those that have fast machines.  I'm sure it is already possible in the game because one of the modders has already proven that he can create roads in between cities, which is not possible in the vanilla game.

[PZ]

Just discovered that the gamer that found a way to play offline does so by starting in developer mode.  Evidently even the coders at Maxis didn't want to be annoyed by being online.

In the vanilla game you have to rely on a single highway connecting the cities in a region - this gamer simply changed a toggle from 0 to 1 and he was able to activate the ability to create multiple roads between cities - and they w@&k (traffic uses them)

He posted his discoveries on the Simcity forum, and EA deleted it.

[PZ]

EA is offering the angry mob of Simcity purchasers a token - one of their games for free, downloadable from Origin.  Among them are Dead Space 3, Mass Effect 3, and Medal of Honor Warfighter.

[Art Blade]

downloadable from Origin

so much for UBI's efforts of getting EA on board of their U-Play platform and EA's loyalty to their new partner. The only thing UBI and EA have in common is a solid, heartfelt stupidity.

[PZ]

They are evidently going in different directions.  Ubi still allows offline game play while EA with their online DRM wants sunset their game servers so they force you to purchase something new in the future.  EA holds you hostage; you can play as long as they let you.

[PZ]

Despite the online annoyances when Simcity released, I must admit that I'm quite immersed in the game.  Although the city size limit is small as many have complained about, it is much fun to have the cities specialize and assist each other.  For instance, I puck up recycling materials from neighboring cities so my CPU processor factory has the raw materials to make the expensive chips.

Once I fire up the game, it is difficult to leave even though the hour is late.  ^-^

[Art Blade]

 :)