News - Latest SimCity game launch offers no fun, just frustration

[HEXUS]

Always on internet connection requirement at root of many user problems.

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[MrNeil]

thats a bummer !!

a game like really needs to have to be connected to the internet ??

I don't think so !

[w1ntergr33n]

I got burned in exactly the same way by Diablo 3's error 37 debacle.. After that experience, I swore a terrible oath to never buy one of these always-on single-player games again, starting with this one (despite how much I would love to play SimCity again - I haven't since 2000 and this was the first one I was excited about).

Let's hope all those who got burned this time on SimCity do the same, hopefully after a couple more cycles of this, this preposterous business practice will soon die the death it deserves.

[lowers93]

Agreed, it looks so good! If they expect us to always be online to play it, surely we can expect their servers to always be online to allow us to play it. If they screw up, they shouldn't be allowed to punish the consumer for the problem they created. Get rid of the DRM for happy customers.

[funke_munke]

Same here, I've even stopped pre-ordering games full stop now. Never again after D3! I was really looking forward to SC too. Part of the core reason for playing for me was the ability to take SC wherever you went and boot it up on low spec pcs when travelling etc. I think the online features are interesting, but I don't see why you should be forced to be online. It ain't gonna stop the pirates. On the contrary; I bet sooo many more people will pirate this now.

[alpha channel]

Is it just me or do these half wits never actually learn anything? How have previous releases like these go? Exactly the same as this, a monstrous mess where there are never enough servers, a service that is constantly fubar and a user experience where paying customers can't play the game they paid for.

Anyone with an IQ over 20 could have predicted this exact outcome with the always on DRM requirement.

[Chadders87]

The sad thing is this is designed to PREVENT piracy whereas it is achieving the reverse, since the pirates have removed all DRM forcing the player to be 'always online'.

I own the game and have managed to fix the EA issue by applying a crack. Now thats something new for me... cracking a LEGITIMATE copy!

There's another signature added to the petition at least, so maybe EA will realise it's mistake and get a patch issued for offline single player asap!

EDIT:
So that I don't appear to condone piracy, by "Crack" I clearly mean "Community Made Custom Patch"

[fadeaway]

I wonder how many people are going to investigate how to crack a legitimate DRM game as a result of this, and therefore crack an illegitimate DRM game next time round?

[Steve]

So what happens when EA closes down the SimCity servers in a couple of years time?

[jonny4288]

PERSISTENT INTERNET CONNECTION, ACCEPTANCE OF PRODUCT AND ORIGIN END USER LICENSE AGREEMENTS, INSTALLATION OF THE ORIGIN CLIENT SOFTWARE WWW.ORIGIN.COM/ABOUT AND ORIGIN ACCOUNT REGISTRATION WITH ENCLOSED SINGLE-USE SERIAL CODE(S) REQUIRED TO PLAY AND ACCESS BONUS CONTENT (IF ANY). YOU MUST BE 13+ TO PLAY. SERIAL CODE REGISTRATION IS LIMITED TO ONE ORIGIN ACCOUNT PER SERIAL CODE. SERIAL CODE(S) ARE NON-TRANSFERABLE ONCE USED. EULAS AND ADDITIONAL DISCLOSURES CAN BE FOUND AT WWW.EA.COM/1/PRODUCT-EULAS. EA ONLINE PRIVACY POLICY AND TERMS OF SERVICE CAN BE FOUND AT WWW.EA.COM.

EA MAY RETIRE ONLINE SERVICES, ONLINE FEATURES, AND DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT AFTER 30 DAYS NOTICE POSTED ON WWW.EA.COM/1/SERVICE-UPDATES.


as taken from the origin product purchase page for simcity, once they shut down the servers i guess your stuffed.

[pinkpound]

That feckless mess they call Origin..which kindly scans whole of you hdd spying on you.....tho it can be stopped... Just another EA fail

[shaithis]

as taken from the origin product purchase page for simcity, once they shut down the servers i guess your stuffed.

This, plus stupidly high prices for a stupidly small game. SimCity deserves to be the biggest pirated game of 2013.

[AlexKitch]

The sad thing is this is designed to PREVENT piracy whereas it is achieving the reverse, since the pirates have removed all DRM forcing the player to be 'always online'.

This.

How do EA expect to deter piracy when piracy becomes the easier option? Also not condoning piracy, but where's the incentive to buy a game when a pirated version works *better*?

[GeorgeStorm]

I love the sound of some of the features enabled as a result of the regions, and online stuff.
However I really wish you didn't have to be connected all the time, and they offered a simple offline mode single player mode

Still aiming to buy it, but my spirits have been dampened as a result of all the problems associated with the DRM.

[sykobee]

Everything about this release is a fail. The need to be connected to play a single player game, the need to save your cities to EA's servers rather than locally, the tiny maps, the move from simulating a city to building a city for sims to live in, and the failure to ever connect to their servers, because clearly their server architecture is not designed to scale out.

[AGTDenton]

While this game looked impressive, the downsides now seem to outway owning it.
I'd love a copy of Sim City 3000 Ultimate again...