The Failure of the SimCity Launch.

XMark

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Looking at this and the Diablo 3 launch, I think they just let it happen on purpose. The launch of any game is going to be the point of its highest activity level in its lifetime. If they pay all the extra money to support the volume of users at launch, then half those servers are just going to be sitting idle a few months later. So basically any game that's always online is doomed to have a crappy launch.
 

BloatedGuppy

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XMark said:
Looking at this and the Diablo 3 launch, I think they just let it happen on purpose. The launch of any game is going to be the point of its highest activity level in its lifetime. If they pay all the extra money to support the volume of users at launch, then half those servers are just going to be sitting idle a few months later. So basically any game that's always online is doomed to have a crappy launch.
Yep. This became apparent after the umpteenth MMO launch. A few went out of their way to buy a bazillion servers to avoid launch day queues and crashes, and those got pilloried a month later when they had to start closing down servers. "The game is failing!" the talking heads would cry.

The obvious solution was not to make it online to begin with, but that cat is so far out of the bag we can't even see the fucking cat any more. That cat is gone.
 

Vetta E-dom

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krazykidd said:
Gabe Yaden said:
krazykidd said:
So you are perfectly okay with this? A game that in the past , you could just buy , install and play . Now requires you to be online all the time , to play alone , you have to wait in queues , to play alone , you can't play when you buy it because the servers are down/full ? A game where many people bought and cannot play because of a policy that EA continues to impliment , because people keep buying their games . Okay , koodoos for you . But i am honestly surprised that so many people are okay with this .

Sure they go on forums and ***** and moan , but at the end of the day , this still bought it. It's not as if they didn't know the game they bought required always online . Thus when shit like this happens , they shouldn't complain . This is a something EA did before , and will continue to do , because people keep buying the games .

Now as i said before , it's your money , do as you please , buy all means buy the game . But this practice is not going to go away by it's own . It will continue like this as long as people keep throwing their money at EA . So you can expect more of the same in the future .

Have fun not being able to play your game unless EA says it's okay.
"So you are perfectly okay with this?" Yes, perfectly fine with it.

"A game that in the past , you could just buy , install and play," Yes I believe that's how the previous games worked

"Now requires you to be online all the time" ...It has elements that require it to be online...not sure how to use those offline? Its also a new installment of the franchise heading in a new direction ...So Yes still no problem

"to play alone", For #&*(& where are you going with this you have implied that the older versions were superior because they were single player. Now you're pissed that you have the option to play with other people if need be?

To wait in Queues, you can't play when you buy it because the servers are down/full" Its launch day grow up, how many countless titles have had issues with their launch servers take a chill pill.

"A game where many people bought and cannot play because of a policy that EA continues to implement" More bitching about EA that can be ignored, if you have issues state them don't just, Herp Derp EA.

Now for the rest, Its my money, non of this is deal breaker stuff cause its not actually as big of an issue as people like you, like to make it out to be. For F__King crying out loud its a GAME, EA didnt break into your house and force you at gun point to buy the latest SIM. You've stated that you don't like these policies, Don't support them, easy as that you clearly don't want this game so why the hubub you don't like EA either.

Let me give you a bit of life advice, these are games...entertainment, do you have nothing else going for you then to get on forums and complain because a company you don't like is making a product you don't want. Id really consider stepping away from the screen and like maybe just trying to enjoy these things, instead of spending all day getting angry at forum posts and other games.

If you think," Have fun not being able to play your game unless EA says it's okay" is true then you really need to calm down and re-evaluate how you play your games, you don't always need to have express written consent to enjoy your media outlets
 

Zenn3k

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XMark said:
Looking at this and the Diablo 3 launch, I think they just let it happen on purpose. The launch of any game is going to be the point of its highest activity level in its lifetime. If they pay all the extra money to support the volume of users at launch, then half those servers are just going to be sitting idle a few months later. So basically any game that's always online is doomed to have a crappy launch.
A 'server' is just a computer, it can be repurposed for another game in like an hour. Having enough servers to handle launch, then move those extra servers to another game (maybe another game's launch) at a later date is easy.

Stuff like this is not rocket science.
 

Jfswift

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I'll probably buy it this weekend. I don't have a lot of time right now though to play it.
 

Cowabungaa

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Farmer_Casper said:
Longstreet said:
Saw this one coming.

Miles away.

Ya'll enjoy the complete failure that is called SimCity. I'll stay far away from it.
I'm with this guy.

My advice: Simcity 2000 [http://www.gog.com/gamecard/simcity_2000_special_edition]
3000 Thank you very much. For this reason:
Can't beat that OST.
 

MPerce

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No surprise at the crash and burn at launch. When was the last time an always online/MMO game launched without a clusterfuck? Doesn't make it any less stupid, but there you go.

To anyone who's actually managed to get the game started: is it any good? Specifically, is it possible to still make a big city without cooperating or relying on other people online? That's a concern I've heard elsewhere on the interwebs. Apparently, it's almost impossible to get your city past 200k citizens without working with other players' cities. And once you do, any major mistake by your neighbors could end up fucking your city up, too.

It's a little early to condemn the game for this stuff, but it is a pretty big concern I have.
 

Easton Dark

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Cowabungaa said:
3000 Thank you very much. For this reason:
Can't beat that OST.
Play that shit with some Rainymood. Beaten.

MPerce said:
it's almost impossible to get your city past 200k citizens without working with other players' cities. And once you do, any major mistake by your neighbors could end up fucking your city up, too.

It's a little early to condemn the game for this stuff, but it is a pretty big concern I have.
That's what it seems like. And if there are no players watching a city, that city is frozen in time. I suppose they did that to ease server load and preventing just rampant crime and disasters from happening while the owner's away.

Basically, the problems are transferable between cities, but the benefits of cooperation don't come close to equaling out how someone could screw you over.

OT:

Trying to market it to everyone and their grandmother's grandmother, EA should have been prepared. Hell, Blizzard should have been prepared. No one's prepared :(
 

Cowabungaa

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Easton Dark said:
Cowabungaa said:
3000 Thank you very much. For this reason:
Can't beat that OST.
Play that shit with some Rainymood. Beaten.
Way too upbeat to be played with Rainymood. We got some other jazz for that:

I was so saddened when Simcity 4 did away with the glorious jazz soundtrack. I doubt this new installment is a return to form as well.
 

MPerce

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Easton Dark said:
That's what it seems like. And if there are no players watching a city, that city is frozen in time. I suppose they did that to ease server load and preventing just rampant crime and disasters from happening while the owner's away.

Basically, the problems are transferable between cities, but the benefits of cooperation don't come close to equaling out how someone could screw you over.
Bleh. In that case, count me out for now. This, coupled with the really small city size limit, does not sound like it's worth 60 bucks.

Back to SimCity 3000!
 

Easton Dark

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Cowabungaa said:
Way too upbeat to be played with Rainymood. We got some other jazz for that:

I was so saddened when Simcity 4 did away with the glorious jazz soundtrack.
I dunno man, I kinda like it. The trumpet noise really blasts through the falling water and it sounds great. Like you were standing outside a jazz club in the rain downtown. Though I would recommend the Pheonix Wright jazz with Rainymood more.


More games with jazz plz.
 

Nurb

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Dec 9, 2008
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"Too soon to judge"
People can't play the game they just bought in single player. There is no "too early". When you buy any other product, you expect it to work or you get a refund.

People are facing 30+ minute waits and discovering their saved cities aren't carried over to all servers, so you start a new city with different servers. It's the perfect time to judge their purchase.

Why are gamers putting up with this and still defend EA?
"You just bought the game, dude. What, you expected to play it right away? You gotta give it a few days. Totally normal."

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/03/simcity-impressions-we-waited-ten-years-for-this/

Gabe Yaden said:
Let me give you a bit of life advice, these are games...entertainment, do you have nothing else going for you then to get on forums and complain because a company you don't like is making a product you don't want. Id really consider stepping away from the screen and like maybe just trying to enjoy these things, instead of spending all day getting angry at forum posts and other games.
That's usually the answer these companies give to legitimate complaints they can't defend against:
"Look do you want me to buy your game or not?"
"Yes, give us money! Now!"
"Then I don't want an always online tether, or server logins to play a single player game or content you developed with the game only to withold it and try to sell it to me for extra cost."
"Well fuck off if you don't like it! These are just games! They aren't important you know!"

Then they start crying about sales and numbers and oh woe is them, surely piracy is to blame and not their treatment of customers or business practices. So they rip-off paying customers even more in an effort to force the market in the way they think it should be instead of paying attention to what customers want and don't want. Because the ultimate question is why should we give them money? The gaming industry isn't interested in doing proper business with us, and they're just daring us to kill it.

The industry doesn't mind losing a customer anywhere near as much as they mind not being able to force people to give them money.
 

InsanityRequiem

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So yeah, this launch has made me not like the game so far. I'm sure its fun for people that are able to play SimCity, but as someone that is force into the tutorial city, and not even able to do one single thing in it, I'm just thinking of dropping the game and not playing it at all. Seriously, I'm looking at the screen for the city and every icon is shaded out and unclickable. And the thing is, I am not able to ignore the tutorial city to play the game properly.
 

Zenn3k

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I hope the reviewers grow a pair and knock down this games score due to this really bad launch.

There is no valid excuse for the customer being unable to play the game. If they simply didn't include the online only, we'd all be playing and having fun right now. Everyone getting angry (myself included) because EA insisted on doing something we told them we didn't want in the first place.

Truly pathetic.
 

Snotnarok

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The failure is it doesn't improve on previous iterations, it doesn't add anything either.
A problem many games seem to be stumbling into today.
 

DeadlyYellow

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I'm pretty sure we don't have the technical aptitude for any online requiring game to have a successful launch.

Keymik said:
This is just another reason to hate Origin. God I hate that platform. You purchase a game and you won't get it until you call them personally and other annoying things for hours.

I don't care about being called a Steam fanboy but.. Steam is so much better.
It's an oddity for me really. Steam has more conveniences sure, but somehow I've found Origin to be more stable and far less obtrusive.
 

EvilRoy

The face I make when I see unguarded pie.
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I kind of want this game to succeed, its been too long since I've enjoyed simcity after playing 2000 into the dirt and not enjoying 3 or 4.

Keep us updated OP, server problems and successes alike. As much as I would like to buy the game I won't shell out for a sub-par product, and unfortunately a professional review can't be expected to give me a week long or so breakdown on how the servers hold up.
 

VladG

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Ultratwinkie said:
Funkysandwich said:
How long till the DRM is cracked? I'm guessing it'll be shortly after a pirate manages to actually download it.
you can't. Its an MMO. You ONLY get PART of the game on your computer, the rest is done on servers. Unless someone steals a server and takes the data, this wont get pirated.
Ahem. Ever hear of "Private Servers"?


It will be pirated. It just won't happen within hours of release.