Simcity & EA - amazon stops sales

  • Thread starter Thread starter mjnurney
  • Start date Start date
  • Replies Replies 21
  • Views Views 519
mjnurney

mjnurney

we live as we dream. Alone.
AmiBayer
Joined
Aug 27, 2010
Posts
9,473
Country
england
Region
Towcester
http://www.osnews.com/story/26844/EA_botches_SimCity_launch_Amazon_stops_sales# EA botches SimCity launch, Amazon stops sales

posted by Thom Holwerda on Thu 7th Mar 2013 22:44 UTC
http://www.osnews.com/topics/42So, SimCity has been released - the fifth instalment in this venerable series of fantastic games. However, just as everyone suspected, the game has been completely ruined by the always-online DRM. So much so, in fact, that Amazon has ceased selling the game. Update: and it's only getting worse - EA has suspended all marketing efforts for SimCity, and has asked third parties to do the same. Wow.

SimCity requires no introduction - from the first game onwards, it has captured the minds and hearts of gamers the world over. SimCity 2000 is my personal favourite, but I have played all versions to death. I was eagerly awaiting SimCity (no version number), but sadly, the game has been ruined even before it's been properly released.

The game requires an always-on internet connection to connect with EA's servers, partly because of online components, but mostly because of DRM. During a Reddit AmA with Maxis, the game's developers, the problems were already predicted, and they panned out: EA's servers couldn't handle the load, and the game became unplayable for large groups of people who just paid €60 for the privilege.

They were greeted by waiting screens, unable to play the game.
EA had to act, and they did. They have released a patch which... Disables several features of the game. Ironically, it mostly disables features that supposedly required the always-on connection in the first pace, such as leaderboards and achievements. A more dramatic step is the removal of the 'cheetah' speed. This is the highest simulation speed in the game, and at least in the way I play the game I require it - I switch between pause (build mode) and cheetah (develop mode).
As a consequence of all the troubles with players being unable to, well, play, Amazon has decided to remove the digital version of the game from its virtual shelves, while the physical copy now carries a warning about the game.

I don't think EA could have handled this any worse. None of the gameplay features require always-on connectivity; you can play the game entirely on your own. It's this kind of - pardon me - **** that makes people hate you, EA. You just ruined SimCity.
 
rofl.

sad for the buyers but i hate all these always-online requirements [also online activation]. i don't even think it's right for mmo's either, should always be an offline and lan mode.:lol:

it would be nice if games companies saw the lesson as "move away from always online" but i'm sure the post mortems will be about "how to make sure our servers are up to demand in future".

in other words the people getting hammered will be the volumes forecasters ["why didn't you know this would happen"] and the people responsible for setting up and running the server side.
 
If people would vote against this sort of DRM by not buying the games then it would go away. It's funny because the people who really want to pirate the games will hack it to get around the online requirements. Then the only people affected by the poor DRM are those who actually bought the software.

Heather
 
SkydivinGirl said:
If people would vote against this sort of DRM by not buying the games then it would go away. It's funny because the people who really want to pirate the games will hack it to get around the online requirements. Then the only people affected by the poor DRM are those who actually bought the software.

Heather
Click to expand...

QFT!


please vote with your wallet, don't support what is essentially illegal imposition of terms on your statutory rights.
 
I bought the latest ea battlefield game from the military commissary in Afghanistan. It came with two full DVDs. The game required fast connectivity to function. This wasn't written anywhere on the packaging. The game was unusable. I spoke with their support personnel for a week of them telling me to try again, try a new product code, etc., to o avail. Eventually they just stopped responding to my complaints and closed the ticket. Their own people couldn't tfigure out how to make the game install from the DVDs, the second of which isn't even used in the install process.

Corporate greed strikes again...


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
I wouldn't part with a bean for any game requiring connection to a server to function. Once they decide to switch off you have nothing more than a blank disk and some packaging. Some great hacking crew will remove the protection and save the day i'm sure.
 
Zetr0 said:
SkydivinGirl said:
If people would vote against this sort of DRM by not buying the games then it would go away. It's funny because the people who really want to pirate the games will hack it to get around the online requirements. Then the only people affected by the poor DRM are those who actually bought the software.

Heather
Click to expand...

QFT!


please vote with your wallet, don't support what is essentially illegal imposition of terms on your statutory rights.
Click to expand...

A quick google search reveals QFT to mean Queen's film theatre :p

QUOTED FOR TROOF!
 
Last edited:
nicholas.jj.taylor said:
...
A quick google search reveals QFT to mean Queen's film theatre :p
Click to expand...

LOL, thats an interesting one ;)

QFT as I have known it means "Quoted For Truth"

I use this term to show that I agree with SkyDivinGirls, very well put post ;)
 
SkydivinGirl said:
If people would vote against this sort of DRM by not buying the games then it would go away. It's funny because the people who really want to pirate the games will hack it to get around the online requirements. Then the only people affected by the poor DRM are those who actually bought the software.

Heather
Click to expand...

This would be the most sensible approach. However, having discussed this on twitter with others, EA simply have too many triple A franchises for people to suddenly stop buying their games. Even if enough people stopped buying their products in order for them to at least pay some sort of attention there would still be more buying them in order for EA to continue without much hesitation. It's sad but EA simply have got to the stage that they can do this.

I remember when spore was released with all the drm stuff people kicked off. However they still sold a butload of them.
 
I haven't played many recent games, especially on PC. If what this thread claims EA is up to then I'm disgusted with the people in control of the whole thing. When you buy a full game, it should work for as long as the customer can preserve the media in which it is contained, and the media in which it is contained should be designed to strike a balance between protecting the work from piracy and giving the customer a great experience. From what I've read, EA sound like they are operating a high priced game rental service.
 
critanime said:
EA simply have too many triple A franchises for people to suddenly stop buying their games.
Click to expand...
I totally agree that they have some wonderful games. It will take sacrifice by a large percentage of the gamers to ignore a single triple A title for EA to even think about changing. It could happen... :unsure:

Heather
 
I'm doing it :) But then they really don't have much that interest me. Need for Speed being the exception. I may get an EA game on occasion, but used and only if there is no online drm thing.
 
QFT.

QFT.

commodorejohn said:
"High-priced game rental service" is basically what the entire industry is trying to move towards :blased:
Click to expand...

I feel deflated knowing that what you're saying is already true. That's why i would feel better if companies were made to sell a game under the term RENT if the user can not access 100% of the content until the CD gets CD rot or someone uses it as a coaster. Also Steam don't sell games they rent them.

EA are the worst company for pulling servers as well, i was real frustrated when i got my new copy of Lord of the Rings conquest and soon after buying it the server left.
 
These rEAtards just wont give up, never... :double

http://www.simcity.com/en_GB/blog/article/state-of-simcity-uk

Bigger Cities

City sizes have been a constant point of conversation among our players since we released the game. The game’s original design focused on the density of an intimate urban environment. It was about intercity connectivity and the challenge of managing a region of cities instead of one metropolis in isolation. However, we recognize that many players have expressed the desire to build up one big city rather than manage the interrelationship of multiple smaller cities.

We’ve put months of investigation into making larger city sizes, reworking the terrain maps, changing the routing algorithms of our agent-based system and altering the way that GlassBox processes the data in a larger space.

After months of testing, I confirm that we will not be providing bigger city sizes. The system performance challenges we encountered would mean that the vast majority of our players wouldn’t be able to load, much less play with bigger cities. We’ve tried a number of different approaches to bring performance into an acceptable range, but we just couldn’t achieve it within the confines of the engine. We’ve chosen to cease work on bigger city sizes and put that effort into continuing to evolve the core game and explore an offline mode. Some of the experiments we conducted to improve performance on bigger cities will be rolled into future updates to improve overall game performance.
Click to expand...
In other words: "we are limiting the game for you, so that all of you - dumb players who don't know how to properly setup the game - wouldn't feel limited if you couldn't load a big-sized city." :lol:
 
well i need atleast 4 coal burning power stations to start off..
then i need to make some residential areas.
and of course industrial areas for people to work in..
Then i better jam in some comershial areas so they can go shopping.
kids will neeed a park..
Better scatter around some police and fire dep's.
then im gonna need to hook all those up with roads..

after a while il need to make a stadium for people to go watch stuff in and an airport..
And that should make a teenie little part of my map...

Then I can make neuclear power stations "dont need as many of them"
And more housing.. and more work and shops...
so really, i would want a pretty big map.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom