I found an article Here that says the new Sim City requires that you be connected to the internet to play. Is this true? Has anyone else run into this problem? Is it frustrating, or can you handle it? I know if it were Sims 2 or 3 it would drive me crazy.

I don't play it either ($70 for a PC game? Seriously?) but from what I've seen, an online connection is needed at all times while playing the game. The game launch was a huge disaster because of this. EA's servers are very unreliable.

http://games.yahoo.com/blogs/plugge...-201105322.html

Interesting article about it. Guy who was supposed to review it hasn't been able to play it due to EA's faulty servers. Hope they get it fixed.
Graphics for the city look really nice ---I might want to buy it if it's available offline.

@ Sims99Fanatic : I like your avatar !! Funny :p

The avatar was my original avatar, it's in celebration of my 1 year anniversary as a creator coming up.

Yes, it's always online - and it seems to be a disaster. Trying Googling it - people are spitting feathers across the whole Internet.

When I learned that EA had decided that they would make the new SimCity require an always-online internet connection, access to their servers through (spyware) Origin, and allow only one save of your game and only on their servers, I decided that EA had gone too far in their fight against piracy. I will not buy any EA game with these requirements.

I guess like me you won't be buying TS4 then.

Simcity 5 you mean. Simcity 4 came out 2003.

That's correct. I will not be buying any game which requires an always-online requirement. I have other fun games to play which I can play on my gaming computer (which is never connected to the internet).
Note that kennyinbmore said "TS4". That's "The Sims 4", which will surely have an always-online requirement. SimCity 4 is usually abbreviated to "SC4".

Oh, how the mighty have fallen...
Why must you do this to us EA...
WHY

Ah my b ad. Still waking up.

Still, yes if they go this route, and all signs point to that being the case, no I will not be buying TS4.

They stated years ago that it is their intention to force all of their games online. I remember seeing an article recently where one of the upper management was gloating about the fact that he had refused to OK any games recently which were not.

I thought I wrote that in English

The requirement of having an internet connection seems to be something that EA decided to add at the extreme end. Their first gameplay video didn't mention anything about needing an internet connection, AFAIK/AFAIAA.

the need for a internet connection at all times was out before they ever brought out alpha gameplay videos. This was well known in advance and Ocean Quigley went to the wire saying it was his design decision and was stickied on the Simcity offical forums for months before the game came out.

Ea had nothing to do with the Always Online fiasco in this. It really did come from inhouse at Maxis. EA might be requiring a multiplayer component on all games, but it was Maxis that pushed it to Always Online.

Actually, just the opposite. They decided that it needed a constant internet connection, then designed the game to try to justify it.

I also doubt that Maxis asked for always-online. I suspect that EA said, "yes, you can make the game as long as it requires a constant internet connection", and Maxis designed it in from the ground up. The fact that Maxis is willing to take the fall for this decision doesn't negate the fact that EA made it clear years ago that they were going to force all of their games online.

We're spitting nails now Although, I'll admit, it's gotten a wee bit better. I still get disconnected and reconnected (it's up and down like a toilet seat in a mixed party), take at least 20 minutes to get in (not like the HOURS it used to be), some stuff still disabled but... it is getting a wee bit better. I could go back to spitting feathers

As far as the constant internet connection, I don't have a problem with it. I wish they would have said it IS an MMO because that's what they wanted it to be or at least designed it to run like. They FLOGGED the blasted game and encouraged one and all to pre-order it. I never pre-order regardless of what game it is. Anyway, again, no problems with the online connection (I'm a huge MMO player and I currently play 3 other MMO's so not a huge deal. What I wanted from EA/Maxis - and so does a few million of us (OK I'm exaggerating - a few thousand) - is the capability to play sandbox mode OFFLINE so if we don't get in the game, at least we can play the game we paid for. That is the huge sticking point - at least it is for me. I'm loving the online game, but I can't play consistently for hours at a stretch like I would with the sandbox game. At least give us the choice and it would have worked really well given their inability to fix the game at this point. OK not the game - their connectivity issues and server issues and other EA/Maxis issues.

Giving us a choice of playing offline defeats the purpose of the always-online requirement, which is an attempt to defeat piracy.

I read somewhere that SimCity only requires the Origin servers for the following: authentication, cloud saves (currently unreliable), Global Market (currently disabled/price fixed), Leaderboards (currently disabled), achievements (currently disabled), and regional play (extremely buggy this month). If you play in a single city (and it is possible to add in larger cities in an expansion), an offline mode would not be impossible since offline saves are not hard to code.


--Ocram

Yes, Rock Paper Shotgun had an article where they have someone they confirmed worked on the project. They said it was fairly easy to do a patch for offline with single player with little effort.

Goddamn. I hadn't really paid much attention to the new SimCity (much less bought it), so I didn't know that the problem was this large, or that EA is intending to make all of their games require constant internet connection. I guess that this vid really is the most accurate SimCity Let's Play at the moment.

As for them even making Sims 4 connection required, well, maybe they'll learn from this fiasco (probably not, it is EA after all), and actually listen to their customers for once in their lives and reconsider. Otherwise, screw shooting themselves in the foot, they're gonna be lobbing full-on frag grenades at their own big toe, seeing how the Sims series has always (and still remains) their top-seller. If EA screws up TS4 as bad as they have SimCity, it could very well and truly be the actual end of the entire company (especially considering how many former fans they've already managed to anger and alienate already).

Personally, I won't shed a single tear if EA sinks, it's more them dragging Maxis down to a watery grave with them that I'm concerned about.

Many game devs like Notch (of Minecraft) have tweeted about the fact that the game continues to run for minutes and minutes (the longest I've heard is 20) when the servers go down. Everyone's aware that EA has screwed them with lies, now. What is worse, though, is that the cake is also a lie: Glassbox is not the simulation we were told it would be. Under the hood it's boosting up a fake "shadow population" to make it seem like cities are much more populous than they are (ie, not every single sim is being simulated as an agent). The engine cuts corners everywhere. It is *nothing* like what we were told.

They don't even have RCI interdependence. You absolutely do not need industry to make goods. Industry does nothing but pollute and "provide jobs", it produces nothing, and is more trouble than it is worth. This means, if you're willing to build only a little more slowly, you need not zone industry in a city at all - and you probably shouldn't zone any, cos: pollution. Commercial lots just magically restock from the goods fairy.

The game is, largely, bullshit. And probably too borked to fix. Do EA really want to break everyone's cities making the game work, and bringing even more outcry from the casual players who are uncritically enjoying the game for the moment.

I rate SimCity 2013's shelf life as very, very short unless it undergoes major work towards being what we was advertised. Sure, you've got the casual gamers for now - they'll move on, though. The thing that gave SC4 it's long, long, long lucrative tail in terms of sales was the integrity and complexity of its simulation (once third parties patched up the bigger holes). SimCity doesn't have that going for it, it doesn't even appear particularly moddable.

So SC4 is still the best. Sim City Societies was shit, too.

1. RCI interdependence was in the alpha and industrial factories still do produce freight. The problem is that the freight does nothing once it goes to its destination. It is actually more lucrative to put a trade depot full of freight lots right smack dab in the middle of your industrial area and set the depot to "export to global market." Factories get short freight shipping times and are happier, thus if they are fully staffed and have the ability to grow (sufficient space and high density roads), they will reach their maximum density really quickly.
2. EA is still losing money and requires a successful new game to remain afloat. They were hoping SimCity 2013 would be their cash cow and saving grace. I won't shed a tear when EA eventually fails completely and goes bankrupt. Maxis might even survive, going independent or being bought out by a better company.
3. Pretty much every major news network (CNN, BBC, CBC, ABC, FOX, NBC, etc) in addition to every single gaming site has published something regarding the server fiasco.
4. It is possible to fix SimCity 2013 though it must be pretty hard and it will make current cities function differently (commerce would either require factories or trade depots in order to sell goods and souvenirs).



--Ocram

Maxis was originally independant - the original 1989 Sim City was by Maxis, NOT EA - some time in the mid to late 90s EA bought them.