SimCity Offline-Mode Patch Won't Be Arriving "Any Time Soon"

[Darks63]

Well somebody was told by their king to fall on their sword so to speak.

 

[Kargathia]

I respect Lucy Bradshaw and Maxis for owning up and taking the blame instead of taking the easy way out and shifting the blame onto EA. It would be nice to see if they did put in an offline patch.

Indeed, owning up to this is definitely the right call here - regardless of whether it's strictly true. The surest way to lose all respect and appreciation from your customers is to start pointing fingers.

 

[Combustion Kevin]

Maxis Exec: "Alright, fine, release an offline version, the fans demand it."
random code-monkey points at his explosive collar.

"Oh right."

 

[kailus13]

If you want a really good laugh

http://www.ea.com/executives

Not a single one of their own executives are even playing that shitty game they released :3

Peter Ricitello appears to be playing it now. I also noticed that his sim looks more human than he does.

 

[lacktheknack]

Well, when that offline patch gets around to getting made, then they can have my money, not a moment sooner though.

This.

I'll take what I can get, and I'm glad they're "looking into it".

As soon as they look into it, make it, tweak it and RELEASE it, though, I'll buy the game at full price. As is, I'd buy it for a couple bucks.

 

[Nocturnus]

If you want a really good laugh

http://www.ea.com/executives

Not a single one of their own executives are even playing that shitty game they released :3

This is grasping at straws. The game was released less than a week ago, and I doubt they've updated the EA Website to compensate. Most companies have to go through Doc Control to even rev a website.

 

[duchaked]

well Maxis kinda has to take the blame otherwise EA would probably have a few words for them lol...

gotta have em offline modes tho :/

 

[Atmos Duality]

It's funny that they just can't say no.

And they wonder why so many don't trust them or their parent company.

"Hey, this is on Maxis. EA does not force design upon us."

I don't buy that for a second.

Every major design decision in SimCity follows the EA roadmap (more emphasis on DLC and multiplayer, with Origin-centric distribution), but hey, that could just be coincidence, right? Those are more "guidelines" than hard rules for development.

What isn't coincidence is the fact that SimCity runs on EA's SERVERS which is handled entirely through the Origin SERVICE.
Maxis is completely dependent on EA here; so don't try to tell me it's only Maxis' fault when the SERVICE side collapses.

Besides, even if we assume Maxis had full development autonomy (which is patently absurd, considering EA owns and backs them) EA is the publisher. Surely it's part of their job to pay attention to what their competition is doing (both good and bad, success and flop) and if they paid any attention at all in the last year, they might have noticed this little game called Diablo 3.

Customers aren't always right, but I think they might be onto something when another game running a similar model experiences catastrophic backlash, and subsequent extreme user falloff.

 

[Hekler]

Diablo 3 isn't always online because DRM. It's because Diablo 3 is an MMO.

No it's not. While it's true it doesn't have a proper single player component you can play by yourself in a private game, so you get lag in 'single player'.

I don't play D3 because it's always online DRM ruins the play experience. So I wont be buying SimCity because it's always on DRM seems to be doing the same.

 

[Alphakirby]

If you want a really good laugh

http://www.ea.com/executives

Not a single one of their own executives are even playing that shitty game they released :3

Well nobody can play the game right now because EA botched the launch by not realizing how many people would buy the game, breaking their servers preventing everyone from playing it because the game wants to constantly be online.

Also the game isn't shitty, I hear praise about the game itself, just that the game can't be played because of shitty business practices. If the game were bad, I don't think this Simcity server issue situation would be as big as it is.
People WANT to play the game, what they did play of it is good, but they can't because EA decided to act like idiots and not bother to even put in a way to simply play offline.
That's where all the refunds and such come in, simply put, if the game were shitty, nobody would care about the servers and ask for a refund anyway but it isn't shitty, so a lot of people care that they can't play it due to a fault on EA's part.

 

[Wolf Hagen]

Kinda funny how Companys think that "multiplayer" excuses everything.

For fucks sake, Sim City is something I wanna play, while sipping tea, leaning back and do nothing else, instead of trying to befriend, ignore or trade around with human beeings.

I have tons of games for that, from TF2 to WoT up to my usual Minecraft servers.

But hey! It is multiplayer focused! Cause you know.... Sim City! Don't you remember all those LAN Partys where we been playing Sim City for hours? No? Me neither! >


Sorry guys, but this will be the first sim City title I won't buy, better luck next time.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

It's funny that they just can't say no.

I wish they would just say no. They kept harping on and on that the single player was going to have to be online for their DRM to work.

---------------------------------
I wish EA would stick to their guns more often and just tell people, "This is how we are going to do business, deal with it, move onto to someone and something else. And, if you use piracy as a way to 'get back at us', will rain fire and brimstone down upon you, for pirates are the evil plague that needs to be eradicated."

Yes they would lose paying customers, but not enough to matter. I know there are plenty of people that play EA games, like me, that can easily put up with what they do. I hate more the pirates and people that think they deserve to play games the way they want instead of how they were designed, than having a little inconvenience of waiting a little bit as they fix the problem and get the DRM to work.

I'm all for a war against piracy even if there are friendly casualties blown by the wayside. Pay or you don't play. Don't have a demo to test a game, too bad, look at reviews and let's plays to make your decision, or pay and live with the purchase. Don't have the internet to handle the game, too bad, wait till you do or find another game.

I seriously don't care if I'm viewed as some mustache twirling bad guy "ruining" fun and "consumer rights", as long as I know I'm on the right side.

Come on EA, don't falter to the silly complaints. Channel your wrongly demonized outside and practices, while nurturing that good at heart core that they are to blind to see.

 

[devotedsniper]

Just wait for a few weeks there's bound to be an offline crack sooner or later, pretty much all these always online DRM attempts get cracked within a few hours to a few weeks, as someone with programming experience i can also tell you it is not impossible to change the game to allow for an offline mode Maxis simply do not think it financially viable (or they just don't want to).

I also have to point out that after a few years without a crack or an offline patch you won't even be able to replay this once EA decides its not worth having the servers.

 

[Charli]

There are some games I just want to be anti social in. And Sim City? Yeah that would DEFINATELY be one of them.
Multiplayer OPTIONS are nice but frankly for games like that, I want to escape the world, including online friends and people. Which is kinda not possible now that I'm 'renting' space on your crammed servers and thusly having my gameplay impacted not by my computer but by your 'service'.

You make an offline mode. And you have my money and a lift on my EA boycott. Hows that sound?

No? Welp plenty of other shit to do.

 

[GAunderrated]

I remember the good ol days when companies actually considered choice to be a good thing. Now it is a relic of the past. They no longer want you to choose to play single player or multiplayer, you will have to play what they tell you. Or you know just play good old games or new games that let you do that.

 

[Vault101]

oh look !*cracks knuckles* here we go...

Since Diablo 3 was such a giant commercial success, and has had such a positive impact versus PC internet piracy, it's no surprise that EA has adopted the always online DRM.

Diablo 3 was a comercial sucess because it was Diablo 3 , made by a company known for quality...it was going to sell regardless that is why they were able to get away with it....because when faced with the choice many people accepted the always online, that and blizard being the owner of the biggest online game ever were shifting their focus in that direction

you seem to assume that priacy is the biggest problem/reason for this kind of thing...aside from how much damage piracy ACTUALLY does no..itd about money, blizzard "MMO"-ifed diablo 3 for the aution house...and that sweet sweet money

[quote/]EA Maxis is working/updating/changing things, in such an aggressive way, that PC gamers should be thankful.[/quote]
because a company goes and does what they are suposed to do (tries too unfuck the big mess that didnt need to happnen int he first place) we should be grateful?

no....we have a right to be pissed off

the thing about PC gamers is we are not so starved for developers to "give us games" because 90% of us are aparently pirates that we are willing to bend over for who ever throws us a bone

generally speaking EA has dont from "anti consumer" to "disney villan levels of retarded"

[quote/]The numbers have spoken, and this much care (after launch problems) is truly a step towards the right and only direction.[/quote]
.......for what? we don't need always online

[quote/]EDIT: Before you troll me:[/quote]
oh how cute....differing opinions is trolling now..or *LA LA LA LA LA CAN'T HEAR YOU*

[quote/]Look at the companies that are currently being pirated the most... Square Enix, Bethesda, Mojang, Ubisoft, hell, even Valve games are more pirated than Blizzards Diablo 3...[/quote]
yah...always online is so great..look at how well it went for Ubisoft oh wait

again your assuming that piracy is the biggest factor when it comes to making/breaking games sales. They might get priated more but what about the actual sale numbers? and unlike EA those companies (generally) build a fan base buy making quality games.....I mean just look at EA's treatment of Dead Space 3

[quote/]lol[/quote]
what the fuck are you laughing at?

 

[Vault101]

I suppose you could look at Diablo 3 specifically, [b/]but that's a niche game that only a tiny portion of gamers would even enjoy.[/b] I haven't even once been motivated to look at Diablo 3, and none of that has anything to do with it having online DRM.
.

....assuming your not joking

what? how the hell is a game like Diablo 3 "niche"