New SimCity Will Require Always-On Internet - UPDATED

[Aardvaarkman]

But this isn't a question of Origin, which I have no problem with, but of requiring an always-on connection.

Maybe it isn't an issue for you, but you aren't the only one who gets to define the issue. I have a solid internet connection, so that doesn't bother me. Forcing me to sign up for a service I have no interest in, however, does.

Also the lack of single-player. I really have no interest in multiplayer SimCity. I was so looking forward to a new SimCity. Also, no Mac version? That's an odd choice with Mac marketshare rising and an avid app-buying community on that platform.

 

[wolfister]

i remember that someone has already tried to make "multiplayer sim city". if i recall correctly it didnt last a year.
sure! go ahead! i see absolutely no way how this could POSSIBLY fail.....


nah, maybe it will be good who knows, i played sim city 2000, it was awesome. i played sim city 3000, it was better. i played sim city 4, it was better. i see a trend here you know? - still, we cant judge the game yet, so lets judge their stupid decisions.

One thing about your chart of progression you are forgetting, SimCity Societies sucked.

 

[weirdee]

"We're aware of how people play our games, but to be honest, we think you're stupid and should play the game in the way we want you to. We'll consider your complaints and such things as "responsibility to the customer", but we can't really hear you that well all the way up on top of the mountains of cash we're raking in."

 

[DeathQuaker]

Everytime I start to get weak and think I might buy another EA title, something like this happens and reminds me why I should never ever give them money again.

 

[Lunar Templar]

EA? ruining something people liked?! NO------

oh well, so much for maybe getting back into sim city ....

 

[weirdee]

oh, and by the way, stop griping

[http://www.speedtest.net]

 

[rembrandtqeinstein]

The people who are OK with always on drm are missing the point.

It is nobody's business but our own what we play.
It is nobody's business but our own when we play.
It is nobody's business but our own how long we play.

If they want to ask me to voluntarily give up some information for the purposes of making the games I enjoy better than that is fine.

No company that feels entitled to automatically get that information is getting my money.

 

[Royas]

Well, looks like another game that I would buy it it weren't for the DRM. I can see no reason for an always on connection for what has always been, and always will be played by me as, a single player game. Just like I don't participate in the online, social aspects of the newest Sims release, I have no interest in an online Sim City. So, that's two great franchises that I won't be buying, Diablo and now Sim City. A shame, given that I pretty much own every Sim game made by Maxis and EA. This will be the first one I won't touch.

 

[Unreasonable Man]

I may have been able to stomach it being always online but requiring origin is going too far, origin will never befoul this system so welcome to my list of games I shall never pay for.

 

[Tanakh]

While my first reaction was "Oh boy, a whole not of needless whining about always on requirements. We're already always on people, get with it!, I don't really get the necessity of it for a Sim City game.

For Diablo, sure. It'd be too easy to cheat otherwise. But in Sim City? I never even considered wanting to play it in multi-player... And for this one, at least, it sounds like a poor excuse to add unneeded DRM.

I fully agree with this post. It will get compared with Diablo III a lot... but Diablo III seems to have more to do with WoW and it will feature real money transactions, this one? I don't see it being similar.

 

[Easton Dark]

Looks like I'm sticking to Cities XL. Hooray for options!

How is that? I see it on Steam from time to time, and I haven't played a city simulator in years... could be fun.

 

[lacktheknack]

Looks like I'm sticking to Cities XL. Hooray for options!

How is that? I see it on Steam from time to time, and I haven't played a city simulator in years... could be fun.

It's basically SimCity. Derivative? Yes, but it's now officially better than SimCity because of this news story.

I think it actually has more options and functions than SimCity 4, but I haven't played 4 so I'm not sure. (Could you make your own bus-routes in SimCity 4 and was there 360 degree rotation?)

 

[lacktheknack]

oh, and by the way, stop griping

[http://www.speedtest.net]

Why should they stop griping about it because you have a worse connection than they do?

 

[theultimateend]

I'll give them the benefit of the doubt still, but this kinda crushed all interest I've had.

1st the 2 different versions thing and now always on internet needed.

I >love< the idea of playing sync'd with friends, but sometimes an introverted dork wants to play by himself .

 

[carpathic]

Great, another game I simply will not play due to the expectation of always on internet. Keep going computer companies. Keep making games that require always on internet and I will continue not buying them. I'll save myself the $60 and see a movie.

 

[Hungry Donner]

So it's basically SimCity the MMO? I'll grant them that's an interesting idea, although its not a game I'm the least bit interested in playing.

 

[Quazimofo]

But this isn't a question of Origin, which I have no problem with, but of requiring an always-on connection. If a game is going to dump me because my shitbag ISP pukes out on a near-daily basis, why am I going to spend money on it? Especially when I have zero intention of playing it online anyway.

I don't much care about SimCity, but I'm infuriated about Diablo 3, which I will not be buying because of the same idiotic requirement. It's interesting, though, that you don't hear anywhere near the same level of rage about Blizzard and Battle.net. Some people have legitimate, principled concerns about always-on DRM, but I think it's fair to say that others are a little more selective about where they point their anger.

It might be worth dropping a line to EA - a civil line - to protest this always-on nonsense and ask for the inclusion of a proper, offline single-player mode. It's still fairly early in the development process, so it might still be possible for minds to change. Worth a shot.

i agree with this. i really do love sim City. i own 3000, will be getting 4 soon (because i never got around to it.... and financial problems.... and 40k miniatures). but while i do enjoy multiplayer games, i adore many good ones, and love playing games with my friends, when i am incapable of playing it alone, this is when it becomes a problem.

i don't need this game. it's just a game. it could be fantastic, but if i cannot play it alone, as i always have, without an internet connection, which i all-too-often do not have, then it is a pass, because i can already get decades of fun from modded sim-city 4

to explain, i once played a friend's copy, which is why i know it is, to put it politely, ******* awesome, despite not owning it

 

[Broken Orange]

While 90% of gamers might have access to constant internet, how about the 10% who don't. While I might be high balling the statistics, my point still stands. How about the Mountain Men who want to play god? They'll have to stick with some older game that doesn't require constant internet and that is a lost sale to EA.

 

[happy_turtle]

Another issue this raises is that EA will use the lower than expected sales figures of this title as rationale for producing more cookie cutter FPS games which sell. I think they're hamstringing their own developers so they can point to this as an example of what happens when they create non mainstream titles

 

[samsonguy920]

If they aren't idiots, then they can figure out a way for a person to enjoy the game when their internet inevitably crashes.
It's going to come a time when a good chunk of popular games require always-on access, and then isp's around the region will get hit but some snafu or another, leaving those people without net for a day or two. That's a lot of time for those people to discover other things to do with their time since they can't play their always-on games.
I like the idea of interactivity between players and their cities, that's a plus. But cities don't shut down when the highways get closed by massive blizzards or such. Why can't we play during those kind of instances, too?

P.S. Escapist, love the new verification, it's nice not to feel like I am on an LSD trip, but you guys best be using that additional ad revenue for keeping the servers decently running.
P.P.S. Never mind, just refreshed and the nightmare returned.