stevejnb :
It could be that this is "bad behaviour"... Or it could be that the bubble world of internet forums and comment sections like Tom's Hardware don't scream bloody murder in the face of always online requirements. Don't get me wrong, I don't like it and I can see the pitfalls, but, when I tell people I know "don't buy that, it's always online" a lot of them say "so what?"
A lot of people don't think this is that big a deal. These sales support that. The next XBOX, if it IS always online, will probably let a lot of you here down and sell like hotcakes. This is the future - get used to it.
While this may not be the popular opinion on internet forums, the simple fact is that most people do not care about always on connections (myself included).
Most of my games are on Steam... which requires internet. The biggest game I play is an MMO which I play mostly solo at the moment, but it requires internet. The Adobe software I use likes to call home periodically, which requires internet. My work requires that I have an internet connection to respond to important emails quickly, and most of my non-work communication is done via the internet as well. As I do not have cable, satellite, or a digital antenna box, all of my entertainment comes through the internet. Life (or at least mine) already requires an always on internet connection. The internet connection is not the problem, and I simply do not care if someone wants to run their DRM through it.
The problem is making a game that:
1) Is unbalanced and broken at basic fundamental gameplay levels
2) Does not have the network support in place to play the game properly
3) Does not have the social network in place to easily find the people I want to play with
4) Strips the fun sandbox feel of the originals out, and forces players to play on much smaller scales to force specific game-play rather than letting me run a SIMULATOR where I have control of more of the variables.
If they make a Sim City like that, then I would buy it, internet connection or not. But as they managed to create Sim City-states or Sim Hamlet rather than Sim City, I am not buying it... which is disappointing because I was waiting a very long time for it from the initial announcement to final release, and I really like a lot of the new management aspects of the game... but such is life.
They sold 1.6 Million Units (to stores... not people), and they could have sold a lot more units if they had gotten a few fundamentals right.