SimCity 2013 - Oh how you sucker punched me in Love!

[Melbosa]

So I bought SimCity 2013 and I was able to play it while in Beta, so I knew what to expect.  The game is very well done, removing some of the more tedious aspects of the now over 10 year old previous version, and adding in so much more game play elements that it is an instant hit to me.  It also will make you forget to sleep, eat, #1 or #2, cause ass to fall asleep and legs to cramp.  Fans of the old I highly, HIGHLY recommend the new...

But not right now.  Enter the DRM bug once again!  Why game companies see a need to force games to require Online Presence (and if to allow for more content - well ok), and/or require Online DRM to ensure you are not pirating the game, but then DROP THE BALL launch day because of it, I will never know!  You see SimCity requires Origin, and requires Online Servers that store your city.   So like an MMO, you have to pick your "Server" to get at your City.  This is kewl if you can get in, cause you will be able to share and play MP with your Region (Cities in one location) and your Friends.  But like a @%&#ty MMO, you:

• Don't know what Server you have "saved" cities in - I forgot to look when I did my first two Regions which server I was on, so now I don't know what to pick cause it doesn't show me in the server list
• Are given a @%&#ty Queue system that only tried to log you into the server you queue to every 20 minutes.  That's right, server says full, you wait in a queue for 20 minutes, and then you expect to be able to play???!?  Nope; think again!  Your client tries a login, sees game full and queue restarts to 20... so it really isn't a queue but just a count down timer.  Those whom have seen MMO queues, know that when the timer hits 0 you get to play... but the timer is dependent on how many in front of you and how many slots are opening on average - most are usually pretty accurate - not this one obviously

So the Internets told EA the Online DRM stuff was  going to be bad, and to be ready encase it went bad.  The big review sites said the same thing when interviewing the developers.  But still they went with it.

At least, unlike Blizzard with D3, EA is offering refunds if you are not happy.

Here are some sources if you want to look:

http://thenextweb.com/media/2013/03/05/ea-botches-launch-of-simcity-leaving-users-without-the-game-and-out-of-pocket/?utm_source=Twitter&utm_campaign=social%20media&awesm=tnw.to_j0cFD&utm_medium=Spreadus

http://ca.ign.com/articles/2013/03/04/simcity-review-in-progress


But I do still HIGHLY recommend this game to anyone whom loves simulation games.  Just wait a couple days or till it comes on sale before buying and/or trying to play.

[Mr. Analog]

The always on DRM will keep me away from this title, as well there seem to be a lot of drawbacks to this game that don't make a lot of sense like the small city sizes and lack of terraforming options, heck they don't even have subways.

I'm also a bit put off by the supply chain concept where you have to spend time managing individual resources through various processing steps before you can make / use high tier stuff. I realize this is to promote inter-city trade which is fine for multiplayer but sucks in single player because while you are in one city your other city is paused.

Not to mention day one DLC, there's no excuse for that on launch day at all.

I was genuinely looking forward to this but I'm glad I held off pre-purchasing it now (and yes there was a great deal of schadenfruede toward the hilariously long wait times people were experiencing for single player login)

[Melbosa]

Yeah, it wouldn't be so bad if it was DRM like Minecraft -> initial security check then go at it single player.

Actually the Smaller City Size (in comparison to the last SimCity) and Multiple City Region concept is kinda fun IMO.  Having the ability to specialize a City and then share resources between them does add something to the game that I didn't think at first I would like.  Having played it for over 10 hours now though I find it something very kewl about this new SimCity -> but it is something you have to try to like I think.  From the outside in it doesn't look that appealing.

[Mr. Analog]

From a high level it reminds me of Soviet planning to me actually
-THIS is factory town
-THIS is power plant town
-THIS is port town

I can remember having regions that had farms, heavy industry, a bustling downtown area, sprawling residential areas, smaller out of the way communities linked by highways and high-speed rail...

*sigh* makes me want to pull out SimCity2000 all over again

I guess the main reason why the game is hosted on servers at all is the processing power to actually run the cities is fairly intensive (so EA says) and they wanted the game to be able to run on a wide variety of systems (their words not mine).

Personally I'd be happier with a less "realistic" SimCity if it just ran without a network connection.

[Thorin]

I guess the main reason why the game is hosted on servers at all is the processing power to actually run the cities is fairly intensive (so EA says) and they wanted the game to be able to run on a wide variety of systems (their words not mine).

Well, you know that's just bull.  Even if my machine is slow, I'm still only doing computations for one game; the server has to do computations for a thousand or more games to make it economically viable.  And no way are their servers a thousand times more powerful than people's home machines.

So is there a monthly subscription fee for this game, to support the cost of the servers?  Because if not, how are they going to pay the monthly costs of those servers a year from now?

[Mr. Analog]

You buy the game full price up front, I suspect the plan is to supplement running servers with pricey DLC. From what I recall a startling amount of profit was made from The Sims through upgrade packs, this is a different model though and IF it doesn't catch on, people who bought into it might get left with a game they can't play if EA pulls the plug on servers.

Honestly as soon as pirates figure out how to run this game in LAN mode I'll consider it, but not before then.

It's like a lot of EA games *cough BLOPS2 cough*, where until pirates figure out a way of setting up LAN servers it's not worth the time or money really (like why should I have to pay to host a clan-only server?)

You know what else is kind of strange, there were a considerable number of pre-orders, so you'd THINK EA would be ready for the first day bum rush (a-la Diablo III), but they weren't, they crashed and burned and now we're all talking about it.

You'd think large game companies would have this figured out, I mean look how damaging first impressions were to Diablo?

Actually even then, I can understand (if I don't sympathize) with Diablo III, with SimCity it just adds so much more humor to the situation and perhaps highlights exactly WHY "always on" always sucks.

[Melbosa]

So is there a monthly subscription fee for this game, to support the cost of the servers?  Because if not, how are they going to pay the monthly costs of those servers a year from now?

As Mr. Analog said, it is a pay once, play forever with DLC and probably some micro-transactions on the way.  So that would be the only way to keep the servers open... I would be very sad if they closed down the servers in say a year .

[Mr. Analog]

To put things in perspective the NHL '10 servers were shut down in '11

If they make this a series with iterations expect a 2 to 3 year server lifespan. It is not in EAs interest to keep things flowing for free.

[Mags]

From a high level it reminds me of Soviet planning to me actually
-THIS is factory town
-THIS is power plant town
-THIS is port town

I can remember having regions that had farms, heavy industry, a bustling downtown area, sprawling residential areas, smaller out of the way communities linked by highways and high-speed rail...

*sigh* makes me want to pull out SimCity2000 all over again

I guess the main reason why the game is hosted on servers at all is the processing power to actually run the cities is fairly intensive (so EA says) and they wanted the game to be able to run on a wide variety of systems (their words not mine).

Personally I'd be happier with a less "realistic" SimCity if it just ran without a network connection.

In Soviet Russia you do not review game, game reviews you!

[Mr. Analog]

In Soviet Russia you do not review game, game reviews you!

In Soviet EA, game plays YOU!

[Mags]

In Soviet Russia you do not review game, game reviews you!

In Soviet EA, game plays YOU!

In Soviet Russia you do not get touche, touche gets you.


*

[Mr. Analog]

In Soviet Russia you do not review game, game reviews you!

In Soviet EA, game plays YOU!

In Soviet Russia you do not get touche, touche gets you.


*

LOL!!

[Darren Dirt]

To put things in perspective the NHL '10 servers were shut down in '11

If they make this a series with iterations expect a 2 to 3 year server lifespan. It is not in EAs interest to keep things flowing for free.

Welcome to the modern era of purchasing a "license to play a game" instead of actual ownership of a copy of a game.

[Mr. Analog]

To put things in perspective the NHL '10 servers were shut down in '11

If they make this a series with iterations expect a 2 to 3 year server lifespan. It is not in EAs interest to keep things flowing for free.

Welcome to the modern era of purchasing a "license to play a game" instead of actual ownership of a copy of a game.

Bigger than that, software as a service.

Bad for consumers, great for service providers (except it's not really).

[Melbosa]

Bigger than that, software as a service.

Bad for consumers, great for service providers (except it's not really).

Yep except it seems the Gaming industry missed one major part to Software as a service - cost savings to the consumer.... This game wasn't any cheaper than any other, and didn't save me any money on hardware/infrastructure costs - that is unless this Glass Engine requires 2 super gaming computers to every instance of Region on a server....

But even then, most software as a service providers do a subscription based model or a annual renewal, which of neither is more expensive or even the same amount as the cost of purchasing the products of similar design on the shelf.

Booo EA, terrible model.  Why did you have to move away from Steam and start your own digital delivery stuff... boOOO!