SimCity Fix Means Disabling Features as Amazon Suspends Sales

[ddpruitt]

[citation][nom]kinggremlin[/nom]EA has now announced that they will be giving a free game for download to people who have already purchased SimCity. The exact details will be announced on the 18th. Just an FYI for people who don't like finding out things a week after everyone else if THG is your only news source.http://www.simcity.com/en_US/blog/ [...] ur-trouble[/citation]

So it's definitional not as bad as D3. They knew what kind of load they would see, EA didn't (poor planning on EA's part but what can you do). And they're doing something to make up for it.

Now if Sega would give us something for the horror known as A:CM....

 

[downhill911]

I hope that Sims will not even get hacked and pirated not because it is/was/will be difficult, but because NOBODY WILL CARE.

 

[hiruu]

complete debacle...all in the name of shameless greed!

 

[techguy911]

The game was rushed out too soon not enough beta testing remind me of the seira online fiasco with outpost the game was shipped with NO AI at the time broad band internet did not exist 28.8 was fastest modems out at the time and the patch to add the ai was 80mb.
Seems developers are in a rush to see profit even if the game is not finished or tested properly they put out half finished/tested games.

 

[bigdragon]

[citation][nom]techguy911[/nom]The game was rushed out too soon not enough beta testing remind me of the seira online fiasco with outpost[/citation]
If you check the SimCity Twitter and Facebook accounts from a month ago you can see that these launch problems also showed up during the beta. That makes it abundantly clear that the 1 hour beta was just a demo and not a beta at all. There is no possible excuse EA or Maxis could offer for their failure given that they were negligent in addressing this well known problem prior to launch.

Furthermore, it took dropping Metacritic score to finally light a fire under the butts of EA and Maxis employees to get them to try and make up for what went wrong. Their bonuses are based off of Metacritic scores which is why they were happy to use this debacle as a "come buy the game everyone is lining up to play" marketing opportunity while the score was still high. Now that the score has sunk they're desperately trying to find ways to placate those who haven't posted reviews yet.

 

[kinggremlin]

[citation][nom]techguy911[/nom]The game was rushed out too soon not enough beta testing remind me of the seira online fiasco with outpost the game was shipped with NO AI at the time broad band internet did not exist 28.8 was fastest modems out at the time and the patch to add the ai was 80mb.Seems developers are in a rush to see profit even if the game is not finished or tested properly they put out half finished/tested games.[/citation]

Have you actually played the game? It plays fine. The problem these first few days has not been with the game itself, the problem is that EA apparently decided that a couple of iPhone5's setup as hotpots in each continent would be enough to handle the traffic. This does not fall at the feet of the developers, they were not in charge of determining necessary hardware to support the server side of the game. This falls squarely on the shoulders of EA, who has admitted it was their fault, and by their own admission that it was dumb mistake.

 

[murzar]

[citation][nom]kcorp2003[/nom]Um, Battlefield always requires an internet connection to play multiplayer. Unless you mean Single Player, I know Battlefield 3 Single Player can be played offline. and logically Co-Op will require online.[/citation]

You made my weekend. Every now and then, I'll randomly laugh remembering your comment for the next couple of hours.

 

[heero yuy]

meanwhile i have noticed that at least one game cracking group has come up with a patch that lets you play sim city without the internet

look ea the pirates are having no problems with your game why are the people who brought it and are trying to use it with your system the ones getting boned?

 

[heero yuy]

^ of course people who have brought the game can use the patch
i'm thinking of ordering it now i know there is something i can do to get rid of the consumer punishment EA put on the game

 

[ddpruitt]

[citation][nom]bigdragon[/nom]If you check the SimCity Twitter and Facebook accounts from a month ago you can see that these launch problems also showed up during the beta. That makes it abundantly clear that the 1 hour beta was just a demo and not a beta at all. There is no possible excuse EA or Maxis could offer for their failure given that they were negligent in addressing this well known problem prior to launch.Furthermore, it took dropping Metacritic score to finally light a fire under the butts of EA and Maxis employees to get them to try and make up for what went wrong. Their bonuses are based off of Metacritic scores which is why they were happy to use this debacle as a "come buy the game everyone is lining up to play" marketing opportunity while the score was still high. Now that the score has sunk they're desperately trying to find ways to placate those who haven't posted reviews yet.[/citation]

We already have parrot's and don't need another. This kind of problem didn't show in the betas, I know because I ACTUALLY played them, obviously they didn't give you full access on an open beta but several other problems did come to light (like roads doing funky things). What you're seeing is people making up problems that didn't exist but exist now.

Maxis has always been a decent game company. OF COURSE they're responding to criticism, any real company would. They're trying to make up for a screw-up, they're not pulling a Blizzard/Activision and telling you "just deal with it".

Criticizing them for trying making things right just means the next time something similar happens the company won't really consider making things better, consumer's have really short memories (ten bucks says we see another AAA title do the same thing within 12 months).

 

[inzone]

Heero yuy !

Please do not encourage piracy or cracking , hacking or any other illegal type of action in these forums. Please edit your post accordingly or they will be deleted. In the future read the forum rules before posting.

 

[kcorp2003]

[citation][nom]murzar[/nom]You made my weekend. Every now and then, I'll randomly laugh remembering your comment for the next couple of hours.[/citation]

enjoy your day, your the clueless one.

 

[snotling]

[citation][nom]dudewitbow[/nom]the problem is users keep buying into EA. they will not learn their lesson until supporting EA stops, as investors keep investing in them. That goes for buying games like Crysis 3, Dead Space 3, or upcoming games like Dragon Age 3. the more people buy into it, the more EA is just going to do what they have already been doing, because their money is coming from the investors.[/citation]
The problem is not just with EA, the movie industry is just as sick. why would they care to make good movies? you only know it sucks once you've paid! to them its a success if they got you in the theater.

 

[mynameis1]

they don't want used game sales, so they kept it online only.. total greed..
they should of kept both options as single or multi-player..

 

[jkflipflop98]

If you're going to do something so stupid as make a single-player-only franchise suddenly online-only, then you shouldn't get cheap when it comes to the server farms.

 

[wilem_WAR246810]

[citation][nom]Novuake[/nom]DRM just gave them a good wake-up call.[/citation]
I don't think they'd 'wake-up'

 

[bigdragon]

[citation][nom]ddpruitt[/nom]We already have parrot's and don't need another. This kind of problem didn't show in the betas, I know because I ACTUALLY played them[/citation]
"Works for me" or "works over here" doesn't cut it. Just because you didn't experience the server capacity problem doesn't mean it didn't happen. During the second beta the official SimCity Twitter account was flooded with complaints about the game not even loading the tutorial. What we really don't need are uninformed people making excuses for EA/Maxis. The server component of this game is completely unnecessary except in the scenario EA plans which is to nickle and dime everyone for every building pack, map pack, vehicle pack, road pack, and so on just like a Sims game. The old SimCity is dead now.

[citation][nom]ddpruitt[/nom]Maxis has always been a decent game company.[/citation]
Maxis hasn't been a decent company since SimCity 4. Did you forget all about Spore, Darkspore, and Sims 3 The $470 Game? They're the latest victim of EA's greed. Like Westwood, Origin Systems, Bullfrog, and soon-to-be Bioware, Maxis is a shell of its former glory. They've lost their magic touch and have been corrupted by the EA machine.

Don't get me wrong, I really wanted to like SimCity. I was willing to tolerate Origin to play it. I have fond memories of playing the original on an ancient 486 PC. I had PC and SNES copies of it and SimCity 2000. I probably spent the most time with SimCity 3000 Unlimited followed by 4 Rush Hour. They are tremendous games. It is angering to see EA/Maxis screw up what should be such an easy task. Just make 4 or 3000U 3D and call it a day. Instead they went off on another tangent. Cities XL is a stronger product at this point.

 

[d_kuhn]

Ruin a game in the name of non-value added 'features'... way to go EA.

 

[okayivomited]

Kudos to Amazon for suspending sales. Retailers should be taking note: this is how to respond when a company gives you a faulty product to sell.

 

[pliskin1]

I'm against piracy by all means. But EA screwed this up so bad, I just may consider. I want the game, but I am not willing to put up with this online only crap. Leave it to EA to make an anti-pirate switch sides.

 

[Icecweam7]

This just in: Current owners of the new SimCity (DRM) are now participating in the extended beta test. If all goes well (as it's looking like it's not) they will then be moved to the rare delta testing as a final measure that the game will be 100% playable. Of course this doesn't include the 697 patches that will be released soon after delta testing is complete. Hopefully one day this game will be playable and that EA will need to be reminded yet again that DRM just doesn't work well. Remember when games use to be fun EA?

 

[Novuake]

[citation][nom]Novuake[/nom]DRM just gave them a good wake-up call.[/citation]
I don't think they'd 'wake-up'

Yeah well the call was still clear as day...

 

[quotas47]

[citation][nom]f-14[/nom]all i read was EA, say no more.their shining examples of star craft and diablo3 are pure filth due to the online 'cloud' b.s. i pray every day anon takes down EA's entire server farms and renders them into what the 'cloud' is worth. nothing but target practice for Lock N' Load with R. Lee Ermey on the history channel[/citation]

Downvoted.
I don't know if you're trolling, but either way you are factually wrong. Starcraft and Diablo3 is Activision/Blizzard.
The whole "Pure filth; pray every day" thing reminds me of some vengeful religious ignorance.