SimCity: 10 Minutes of Gameplay Footage

TheironhandTheironhand Centerline, Michigan Icrontian
in Gaming



I loved the old SimCitys, and I can't wait on the new one to come out. Any thoughts?

Comments

  • MiracleManSMiracleManS Chambersburg, PA Icrontian
    I am so ready.
  • JBoogalooJBoogaloo This too shall pass... Alexandria, VA Icrontian
    Definitely looking forward to it.
  • ZanthianZanthian Mitey Worrier Icrontian
    I really hope this works out well. Sim City has always been one of my favorites.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    omfap it's almost 2013 please come out hnnngghhhhh
    Theironhandmidga
  • IlriyasIlriyas The Syrupy Canadian Toronto, Ontario Icrontian
    I am going to make so many cities!

    ...and then see how fast I can destroy them...
    Theironhand
  • TheironhandTheironhand Centerline, Michigan Icrontian
    I can't wait! I hope it's released Q1 of 2013.
  • BobbyDigiBobbyDigi ? R U #Hats ! TX Icrontian
    Well...

    http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20121214/16262621391/simcity-developers-reddit-ama-swiftly-turns-into-wtf-with-online-only-drm.shtml

    -Digi
  • MAGICMAGIC Doot Doot Furniture City, Michigan Icrontian
    BobbyDigi said:

    Well...

    http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20121214/16262621391/simcity-developers-reddit-ama-swiftly-turns-into-wtf-with-online-only-drm.shtml

    -Digi

    Whatever, I'm used to DRM. I'll still buy it.
  • RootWyrmRootWyrm Icrontian
    The way they're handling "DRM" in this SimCity ensures that they will not receive any of my money.
    Online only, no local control of game, no local storage of savegames. You know what I like to do sometimes? I like to cheat and give myself a ton of money and sandbox it. Guess what you cannot possibly do with this bullshit? Ding.
    Oh, and the claim of 'handling short outages'? Yeah, your ISP does a firmware push middle of your game, you'll exceed that 'short outage.' And if EA has problems and the servers are offline? You can't play. Somebody accidentally deletes everyone's save games? You're boned. EA decides to reset everyone's state to 'level the playing field'? You're screwed.

    So yeah. There is not a chance in hell I will pay money when literally all I get is an email saying EA is letting me 'enjoy' their 'product' unless they don't feel like it or it's down for maintenance or they decide to stop running the servers. (See also what happened with City of Heroes and SWG; if EA shuts down those servers or bans you, you end up with nothing at all.)
  • MiracleManSMiracleManS Chambersburg, PA Icrontian
    There are some games I can deal with the "always online" DRM stuff (mostly related to my play style). But something like SimCity, which I'll almost certainly play entirely alone, doesn't lend itself to that.

    This is really disappointing for me.
  • mertesnmertesn I am Bobby Miller Yukon, OK Icrontian
    Origin only and requires a nearly constant internet connection? Will not buy.
  • CBCB Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Der Millionendorf- Icrontian
    edited December 2012
    Meh. I'm 100% not surprised by this. I mean: was anyone truthfully expecting this not to be the case?

    Whatever.

    I sort of want to be mad about this, but no matter how mad I get, and no matter how much I boycott, DRM is not going away. SimCity is my second favorite franchise of games in the history of all games ever, so I know I'll be getting it.

    I was able to boycott Dragon Age, Mass Effect, etc. I still haven't installed Origin or any Origin only games on my system because I don't like Origin, but this is SimCity, and it looks like they've done it right otherwise.

    Would I prefer the game was on Steam? Would I prefer not to have to be connected to the internet to play? Sure. Of course. But whatever, this is how software works now. The days of using software on our own terms are dead, and it's better to accept that, and go with it. All this anger is unhealthy. Maybe I'll also finally play Mass Effect 3...

    tl;dr: This is the game that breaks my Origin boycott, and I'm too weary of the whole issue to be indignant about it.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    I care more about the future of this particular franchise than I do about butthurt neckbeard nerdrage about DRM
  • mertesnmertesn I am Bobby Miller Yukon, OK Icrontian
    edited December 2012
    It's not so much that it has DRM - I can live with that. It's more about the inability to play a single player sim game offline that's my problem. There's no need for it whatsoever.
  • AlexDeGruvenAlexDeGruven Wut? Meechigan Icrontian
    edited December 2012
    Always online means that I couldn't play this on a non-wifi flight, weak. Though unconnected situations are becoming fewer and much farther in between, the online requirement is a big no-no, particularly for a fullymostly single-player game.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    Sim City is not a fully single-player game. It has coop city-building and the like.
  • MiracleManSMiracleManS Chambersburg, PA Icrontian
    And that's part of the thing. It has, until this point, been a wholly single player experience for almost everyone. They've torn that away, which some people are disappointed in (like myself). I see no reason they couldn't do both.

    The same argument was made for Diablo 3. Because I never played offline, it wasn't an issue for me but I can understand why individuals who played it as a single player game were put off by the always online revelation.
  • RootWyrmRootWyrm Icrontian
    edited December 2012
    mertesn said:

    It's not so much that it has DRM - I can live with that. It's more about the inability to play a single player sim game offline that's my problem. There's no need for it whatsoever.

    Exactly this. SimCity is a SINGLE PLAYER GAME. Even when you're online in SC5? You're single player. Yes you interconnect to other cities perhaps, but the only person playing your city, is you. Co-op is entirely optional and flat out, purists are going to eschew that feature without a doubt. The most co-op they want is to have a friend building the city next to them. (Which by the way, my understanding is you may not have any control over.)

    If it was some sort of reasonable DRM, then I wouldn't care. Daily check in at startup, limited installs, must have DVD in drive, Steam with offline mode available, whatever. No big deal.

    But this isn't even DRM - this is you can only play online and only when and how EA says you can. You literally cannot do anything offline at all. It is the "no sub" MMO model, plain and simple - if EA takes things down for maintenance, you can't play the game period. If your Internet goes out, you can't play the game period. If your Internet connection is iffy, then you're going to have nothing but problems.
    And frankly, the MOST fun I had with SC4 was cheats and mods. NAM + unlimited cash = hours of fun sandboxing epic metropolises. When I buy games like this - and gods do I buy them - I buy them specifically because I can do that. SC5? Forget it. Totally banned. You can't play it your way - only the way EA says you can. And only when they say you can.

    That's not DRM. DRM is for preventing the illegal copying of games. This goes so far beyond it, I honestly don't even know what to call it other than a slap in the face to people who have faithfully bought the SimCity franchise games from EA for years, despite so many horrible, horrible missteps.
  • CBCB Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Der Millionendorf- Icrontian
    I call it: 'the way the gaming world works now'. My steam games are all also 'play only online and only when and how they want me to'. The only difference is that I like Steam, and I don't much like Origin, but this is where the industry has gone, so whatever.
    primesuspectMAGIC
  • MiracleManSMiracleManS Chambersburg, PA Icrontian
    CB said:

    I call it: 'the way the gaming world works now'. My steam games are all also 'play only online and only when and how they want me to'. The only difference is that I like Steam, and I don't much like Origin, but this is where the industry has gone, so whatever.

    Not entirely, at least you can put steam in offline mode and a good many games will work. I guess my only problem is the multiplayer-ification of a decidedly single player game. Not to mention there are still plenty of titles that aren't "online only".
  • NiGHTSNiGHTS San Diego Icrontian
    edited December 2012
    I think CB's fallen victim to the same thing I have. Offline mode just absolutely refuses to work on my desktop. No amount of workaround or fix seems to do the trick.
  • MiracleManSMiracleManS Chambersburg, PA Icrontian
    I had to actually be online to turn it on the first time. Was fine after that.
  • WinfreyWinfrey waddafuh Missouri Icrontian
    MiracleManS said:

    I had to actually be online to turn it on the first time. Was fine after that.

    This is what I had to do to make steam work in offline.

    You'd think Maxis would update their stance on obstructive DRM. IIRC a little very hyped game called Spore was almost completely neutered by DRM. Seems like a good way to discourage customers. It still won't stop pirates.
  • CantiCanti =/= smalltime http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9K18CGEeiI&feature=related Icrontian
    edited December 2012
    NiGHTS said:

    I think CB's fallen victim to the same thing I have. Offline mode just absolutely refuses to work on my desktop. No amount of workaround or fix seems to do the trick.

    Same problem for me with Steam. I have never once in all the years I've been on Steam been able to run offline mode.

    Offline mode being broken aside, the real problem with games and any industry is this. If the your solution to reducing piracy and theft is to make things more difficult for honest paying customers, you need to wise the fuck up or get the hell out.



  • RootWyrmRootWyrm Icrontian
    NiGHTS said:

    I think CB's fallen victim to the same thing I have. Offline mode just absolutely refuses to work on my desktop. No amount of workaround or fix seems to do the trick.

    No, it's just deliberately disabled on the vast majority of titles now.
    Read that again. There is no requirement that any title be permitted to work offline. And Valve encourages developers to be aggressive with regards to DRM. And yes, it is per-Steam application; it's part of the API.
    https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Steamworks#Anti-piracy
    Do you want to know how absolutely screwed up Steam and DRM has gotten? CivV. I went through a dozen trainers because I wanted to play some single player sandboxing. I'm not playing online, I'm not impacting anyone's fun, I just want to have some fun myself without having to worry about certain mechanics. There is absolutely nothing illegal about it, or wrong with it. Steam actively blocked every single trainer. Every last one. If I want to enjoy the game I paid for in the fashion I like, my only choice is to use an 'illegal download.'

    Shit like this is why I'm a huge proponent of developers like Colossal Order (Cities in Motion) who put absolutely no DRM in at all. I STILL play that game because I can install mods, I can install addons, I can cheat and sandbox it, I can actually play the game I want to play. And why there is not a chance in hell I will pay one penny for SC5 - or any other game that tries to go the same route.
  • mertesnmertesn I am Bobby Miller Yukon, OK Icrontian
    edited December 2012
    RootWyrm said:


    Read that again. There is no requirement that any title be permitted to work offline. And Valve encourages developers to be aggressive with regards to DRM. And yes, it is per-Steam application; it's part of the API.
    https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Steamworks#Anti-piracy
    Do you want to know how absolutely screwed up Steam and DRM has gotten?

    You're missing the point of that page. The important thing is highlighted below:
    image
    I think @UPSLynx would agree with me on this.
    /derail
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