Sim City 5 (2013) - Sim<parameter: string>

[Manako]

I built a train station and it keeps telling me that I need to buy more trains... the only thing I can add when I click on edit mode is a sign. Do they really expect me to build more train stations?

[Kisamoo]

I recall another recent online only game, a rather large one in fact, that went off without a hitch. They held stress tests and multiple betas over the course of multiple months and it launched without a hitch. It was called Guild Wars 2. This is pathetic now, beyond pathetic. Disabling features in a sad attempt to get a game working? Is this what the game industry has come to, and what online only is to be used for? Quick-fix-bandaging, paid ad removal and queues to play a game I paid 60 dollars for? I'm usually not one of those people who 'speak with their wallet' but I'm never buying another EA game again. Except Bioware, cause they're Canadian and I gotta support my boys.

[Lucavi]

GW2 didn't launch without a hitch, per say, but GW2 is also a MMO. This proves that EA shouldn't treat a stand-alone single player title with a few multiplayer options as a MMO, because, to do that, you need to fund the same amount of servers as a MMO, and keep them running alllllllllllllllllllllllll the time. Did EA really think they could pull this off with some crust-bucket shoddy servers?

Edit: And apparently the hits keep coming. EA has now made the ABC news over this nonsense.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/ea-...ry?id=18677568

[Prothescar]

GW2's overflow server system helped a lot for launch server stability. That said, as Lucavi pointed out, it's an MMO. You'd expect their server infrastructure to be able to handle an initial surge of connections. It doesn't come close to excusing EA for this shitstorm though, especially when the game's online feature should be optional at best.

[Kwijiboe]

The Street system is buggy as all hell. This game needs a terrain editor.

[Kisamoo]

At least they had overflow in the first place and I could play the game. They anticipated and prepared appropriately. They didn't run around like headless chickens 3 days later and start disabling non-critical features; idk what you guys think but Cheetah speed is PRETTY FUCKING CRITICAL to me pretty much only behind being able to play the game. As much as I enjoy slowing down time and watching the the tiny details I had Cheetah speed on 99% of the time.

[Ohemgee]

The Street system is buggy as all hell. This game needs a terrain editor.

Fuck yes it does. Its highly annoying that we can't do this anymore

[djzombie]

As much as I enjoy slowing down time and watching the the tiny details I had Cheetah speed on 99% of the time.

pretty sure most everyone runs on cheetah until something catastrophic that requires attention happens, pretty shitty they removed that, dont understand how they can call that non critical

[Lucavi]

GW2's overflow server system helped a lot for launch server stability. That said, as Lucavi pointed out, it's an MMO. You'd expect their server infrastructure to be able to handle an initial surge of connections. It doesn't come close to excusing EA for this shitstorm though, especially when the game's online feature should be optional at best.

What makes me nervous about all of this is that EA is all about money, money, money. This game doesn't require a monthly sub, and not everyone is going to DLC the shit out of it. Just how long are they going to maintain the high number of servers needed when those servers are costing them money, without a monthly fee to recoup the losses? Its not like they're selling vanity items like a F2P MMORPG, or have a RMAH like Diablo 3, as shitty as that concept was.

I could easily see them dropping right back to their original 1 server per region once all of this blows over. The only reason they're working so hard right now is because the game just launched and its blowing up in everyone's faces. They've been caught lying, repeatedly, based on interviews that they, themselves, scheduled in the past.

[Krandor]

I swear something similar to this happened with another DRM game lately.

Diablo 3?

Wish this DRM sh*t would go out the window. It doesnt stop pirating, and its just a burden not only on the gamers, but the company who has to uphold these servers.

D3s issues were fixed pretty quickly all things considered. This feels more in line with Battlefield 3s launch (Oh hey EA), albeit that game did have an offline component.

[Prothescar]

What makes me nervous about all of this is that EA is all about money, money, money. This game doesn't require a monthly sub, and not everyone is going to DLC the shit out of it. Just how long are they going to maintain the high number of servers needed when those servers are costing them money, without a monthly fee to recoup the losses? Its not like they're selling vanity items like a F2P MMORPG, or have a RMAH like Diablo 3, as shitty as that concept was.

I could easily see them dropping right back to their original 1 server per region once all of this blows over. The only reason they're working so hard right now is because the game just launched and its blowing up in everyone's faces. They've been caught lying, repeatedly, based on interviews that they, themselves, scheduled in the past.

worst part is, because of their reported DRM tactic being most of the game's calculations and inner workings taking place on EA's servers to prevent piracy, once the servers go down you're literally shit out of luck and your game just became a brick. tbh I think im going to stick to sim city 4 and spend the 60 bucks elsewhere, the whole system that they have laid out for this thing is beyond ridiculous and does not deserve any support. a shame that the IP is what it is and it got so much right out the gate because of it

[Kisamoo]

zzz im done with this. I'm glad the Arma 3 alpha just came out on Steam. At least they tell me that I'm paying for an alpha version of the game upfront.

[Lucavi]

worst part is, because of their reported DRM tactic being most of the game's calculations and inner workings taking place on EA's servers to prevent piracy, once the servers go down you're literally shit out of luck and your game just became a brick. tbh I think im going to stick to sim city 4 and spend the 60 bucks elsewhere, the whole system that they have laid out for this thing is beyond ridiculous and does not deserve any support. a shame that the IP is what it is and it got so much right out the gate because of it

I'm just going to pirate the shit out of the game and save that file across multiple harddrives. Its not illegal to pirate software that you already own; the only case EA would have in court is that I don't actually "own" Sim City, since we're essentially licensing the game from them due to all of it being located on their servers. If they really want to go that route, they'd suffer far worse of a PR nightmare on that end, with everyone knowing the truth about how they consider gamers, than simply letting one guy finally get to play HIS game offline.

[Prothescar]

[Odesseiron]

I'm genuinely curious, do people find Francis funny? I sure as hell don't.

[Prothescar]

first couple of videos I saw were ok, it's dwindled over time though. figured it was contextual, however.

[Azull]

My first day having server problems.. yay? This is a wee bit annoying.

[Arkanna]

Yeah it's really bad tonight. This is the first time I've tried to play where I couldn't. :-/

[Ohemgee]

My new favorite punter

http://kotaku.com/5989350/nfl-punter...ium=Socialflow

[Odesseiron]

Server: Available

Log in: Could not reach server.

I'm giving up til next week. This shit is the worst ever, hands down.