The New 2013 SimCity [Merged]

[xSinghx]

if you are on a desktop like me what's the problem with being always online ? i don't seem to get it . of course it might be the first time that a game requires that and i don't like it but it's not a deal-breaker .

though it is a deal-breaker the fact that it is not going to be available on the app store . i don't buy stuff online and the only place i find familiar is the app store . i ve bought lion and mountain lion my only 2 online purchases .

so how does origin works ? you give your credit/prepaid card number in the software and you download , you download from a website ? how does it work? never used it .

----------

also iMac early 2009 , 2.93 GHz , 8gb ram , nvidia gt 120 256mb ram .

will it run ?

and when will it be available ?

thanks !

Besides the fact that servers may not be up in perpetuity forever as others have pointed out, there is also the issue of just not being connected and wanting to have access to a product you legally bought. Whether because of your internet being out or being mobile on a laptop or their servers being down for maintenance or not working as they are now or whatever is irrelevant. Can you imagine if tomorrow the only way your car would start is if the key could radio a satellite? No connection sorry out of luck. It's that ridiculous.

Here's a longer piece on the subject of the defective by design mentality:
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-03-15-were-not-always-online-games-shouldnt-be-either


But EA in general has a reputation for anti-consumer practices which is also part of the backlash, whether with DRM issues or anti-competitive and monopolistic practices like holding their games from distribution on Steam.

And to answer your question Origin is EA's version of Steam. Which is to say a program that allows you to download games to your computer. Steam is the iTunes of games however and is infinitely better than Origin both in terms of price and DRM.

Steam does sales every 3-4 months where nearly every title is deeply discounted, most triple-A games are less than 20 dollars during those times. Sales are rare on Origin and never near the price of what you could get a game for on Steam. And with the DRM on Steam anything you buy you own in perpetuity forever. If you change operating systems, buy a 2nd computer, whatever, your games are there to be re-downloaded as many times on as many different devices as you want - all tied to your Steam account. Origin does not work in this way and has restrictions both in it's DRM and ToU.

The bottom line is if you buy and play games on your mac or pc you should have Steam.

 

[garnerx]

If I want to go and play the original Sim City from 1989, I can. If I want to play SimCity 2000, 3000 or 4, provided I have a computer that can run them, all I have to do is dig out the disks and off I go. What's the likelihood that the servers will still be around 5 years from now? how about 10 years? At some point EA is going to decide it's not worth their while keeping the servers running, and then I will never be able to play the game I have bought again.

Unless you collect dusty old PCs, having a computer that can run a game can be as big an issue as having servers available. I have Sim City 3000, Mac version, which cost me a lot more than the new Sim City. It hasn't worked since Apple patched Classic support out of OSX, many years ago, and will never work again. My only option there is to pirate a PC version and DOSbox it.

However, I'm not going to do that because this is 2013 and there's a much better version of the game out. Life's too short to play old superseded games.

 

[Cougarcat]

Unless you collect dusty old PCs, having a computer that can run a game can be as big an issue as having servers available. I have Sim City 3000, Mac version, which cost me a lot more than the new Sim City. It hasn't worked since Apple patched Classic support out of OSX, many years ago, and will never work again. My only option there is to pirate a PC version and DOSbox it.

However, I'm not going to do that because this is 2013 and there's a much better version of the game out. Life's too short to play old superseded games.

Except, SimCity 3000 is a better game than SC 2013.

 

[ActionableMango]

However, I'm not going to do that because this is 2013 and there's a much better version of the game out.

That's true, Sim City 4 + Rush Hour + several awesome Simtropolis mods is a much better game than Sim City 3000.

Not so sure about that newest version though. I freely admit I was constantly tempted to get Simcity despite the despicable DRM, until I found out you could only play on the equivalent of a "small" map. Once I found out it was really "SimNeighborhood" I no longer coveted it at all. I don't even care about all the other problems and bugs. That alone is a deal killer.

 

[Huntn]

Sorry, but this is a pipe dream.

EA will never release such a patch because it would require time and effort on their end to produce. If Simcity 2013 is a dead game, why would they invest any money into it at all to allow it to run offline?

If the entire franchise implodes and gets sold off, then there's going to be hundreds of legal issues and other assorted cruft surrounding the game, and no developer in their right mind would want to poke an old title like that.

At the same time, I hear Simcity 2013 was the tipping point for EA's recent firing of their CEO. Maybe there's still hope yet that they'll turn the game around, admit they were wrong, and actually patch the product into something everyone can buy and play however they want. But maybe that's just another pipe dream too.

-SC

Yes, most likely you are right. I based the comment on some other company (can't remember who) who said when the time came, they would turn off the online requirement of their game. If it was a simple patch, I could see it happen, but by no means would it be certain. As it currently sits, I'm not buying SimCity so not too worried.

 

[garnerx]

Except, SimCity 3000 is a better game than SC 2013.

Have you played SC 2013?

If you have then fine, that's your informed opinion, but this thread and many others on gaming forums is riddled with people who'll happily tell everyone how terrible the game is, and how much better a clunky old version from a decade ago is. I suspect many of these people haven't played SC 2013 at all and last played SC 3000 in about 2001, if ever.

I've put more hours into SC 2013 than any other game so far this year. It's excellent, I've had no problems at all with it, but I do appreciate the efforts of all the whiners because it netted me a free copy of Need For Speed.

 

[Cougarcat]

Have you played SC 2013?

Yes, I have. It's incredibly fun for the first ten or so hours, until you actually see how fundamentally flawed the simulation is, and you start to question if it's simulating anything at all. The agent-based model means that everything acts like sewage, including the sims themselves.
They all go to the closest available job or residence, which changes every day. This wouldn't be that big a deal (it's a city simulator, not a people simulator) except this wreaks havoc on traffic and it leads to situations when you will have smart people manning your nuclear facility one day, and then dumb people the next day, just because some stupid sims moved in closer to the plant and get there faster. Meltdown!

Even more worrisome is the RCI model is totally broken. There is no interdependency. C doesn't need I, and you can build a residential city all by itself in a region if you want. It's very hard if not impossible to fail in the game. So yes, the interface may be "clunkier," but SC 3000 is better because the RCI model actually works, and that's the cornerstone of the game.

2013 is a gorgeous looking game, though. They nailed the art direction. I really do hope they iron out the problems because I'd love to play it again.

I've gone back to SimCity 4, and plan on modding it up.

 

[S.B.G]

I've gone back to SimCity 4, and plan on modding it up.

I started playing SimCity 4 again on my PowerPC Mac. In the past I've never modded anything about the game except for a money trainer. Where can I go to get mods and what kind of stuff can I do?

 

[Cougarcat]

I started playing SimCity 4 again on my PowerPC Mac. In the past I've never modded anything about the game except for a money trainer. Where can I go to get mods and what kind of stuff can I do?

The most essential mod is NAM, or Network Addin Mod. This overhauls the traffic path finding, and adds a ton of new traffic options,
including overpasses and roundabouts. I think it requires rush hour, though.

Simtropolis is a good source for mods.

 

[S.B.G]

The most essential mod is NAM, or Network Addin Mod. This overhauls the traffic path finding, and adds a ton of new traffic options,
including overpasses and roundabouts. I think it requires rush hour, though.

Simtropolis is a good source for mods.

Cool thanks, I have Rush Hour so I should be all set.

 

[garnerx]

Yes, I have. It's incredibly fun for the first ten or so hours, until you actually see how fundamentally flawed the simulation is, and you start to question if it's simulating anything at all.

Fair enough, at least you gave it a go.

The problems you mentioned don't really mean anything to me though. Agent based models, sims having random jobs - I can't say I've noticed any of that while playing, but I've seen a lot of people complaining about it.

Another common criticism I've read is that the population figure is fudged - nobody would know or care about that kind of thing if people hadn't started hacking the game files, and that's only happening to such a degree because of the DRM.

I honestly think that if it wasn't for the always-online thing and consequent server issues, people would be enjoying Sim City for what it is rather than pulling it to pieces and criticising what's going on under the hood.

 

[Cougarcat]

I honestly think that if it wasn't for the always-online thing and consequent server issues, people would be enjoying Sim City for what it is rather than pulling it to pieces and criticising what's going on under the hood.

I disagree. The SimCity audience has always been attracted to the simulation--understanding how it works is part of the fun, and for some, the whole point. The problem is that I don't think maxis was going after this niche audience--they decided to make a "mainstream" game like The Sims. Most people won't care or even realize that the "simulation" of the game is just a flimsy illusion.

I agree about the GetFudgedPopulation thing, though. It's a rather odd thing to complain about given that we were explicitly told the engine can only track 100,000 sims. I don't really understand the fuss--I guess because it's just another thing the game is lying to you about.

 

[garnerx]

I disagree. The SimCity audience has always been attracted to the simulation--understanding how it works is part of the fun, and for some, the whole point. The problem is that I don't think maxis was going after this niche audience--they decided to make a "mainstream" game like The Sims. Most people won't care or even realize that the "simulation" of the game is just a flimsy illusion.

I think I must be part of the mainstream audience they were after.

Much as I liked previous Sim City games, I found them a bit slow and difficult. I'd want to expand as quickly as possible but I'd run out of money and have to use a cheat, which eventually ruined things - 'call cousin vinny' in SC3000, if I remember correctly. That one ended up giving you a city full of crime.

In SC2013 I've got 5 cities on the go at the moment, I'm trading services between them, donating money so a nice little town can invest in facilities to take sewage and trash from an oil-rich area.

I know that the 1 million+ residents in my region don't *really* have individually simulated lives, but it's fun to follow them around for a while. I clicked on a criminal and saw that his business for the day was to kill somebody, so I tracked him until he went into the victim's trailer, waited for the murder to happen, then followed him home (and demolished the scene of the crime afterwards). Everyone in the area was killed the next day anyway, in a zombie attack.

Emergent gameplay definitely happens here. I guess it's more like a little sandbox that you can poke and prod without too much consequence, rather than the hardcore infrastructure-building simulation of the past. I prefer it this way.

 

[soloer]

I started playing SimCity 4 again on my PowerPC Mac. In the past I've never modded anything about the game except for a money trainer. Where can I go to get mods and what kind of stuff can I do?

I found this a couple days ago while reading up on all of the SimCity hoopla:

http://www.reddit.com/r/SimCity/comments/orbt2/the_super_ultimate_awesome_essential_sc4_mod/

That should help!

 

[S.B.G]

I found this a couple days ago while reading up on all of the SimCity hoopla:

http://www.reddit.com/r/SimCity/comments/orbt2/the_super_ultimate_awesome_essential_sc4_mod/

That should help!

Cool, thank you.

 

[spyrmac]

with all this talk you guys made me play sim city 4 again ...

why will not be available on the mac app store ? it's easy and i m used to it .

why origin only ?

don't get it .

aspyr and feral have some serious titles on the mac app store ...

 

[Cougarcat]

with all this talk you guys made me play sim city 4 again ...

why will not be available on the mac app store ? it's easy and i m used to it .

why origin only ?

don't get it .

aspyr and feral have some serious titles on the mac app store ...

Aspyr probably don't have the rights to it anymore. And they would have to make a new intel patch, the current beta one doesn't really work.

Good news it runs flawlessly in wine. Just buy it from Steam and use that.

 

[spyrmac]

no my question was if EA will have the option to buy from the Mac App Store ...

and if not why ...

by the way my intel patch for SC 4 works

 

[sahni130]

You guys are talking about maxed-out iMacs and MBPs.....makes me worried... SimCity should run well on my 13-inch cMBP? I do have a SSD and more ram.


Thanks,
jay

 

[Cougarcat]

no my question was if EA will have the option to buy from the Mac App Store ...

and if not why ...

Are you talking about SimCity 2013? All of EA's new games require origin, they want to push the service. It sucks but it's the way it is.

 

[spyrmac]

Are you talking about SimCity 2013? All of EA's new games require origin, they want to push the service. It sucks but it's the way it is.

that's what i was ''afraid'' about .
well it does suck ... i downloaded the software ... did not make a good impression . not smooth . looks like a web app .

EA if you want mac games there is the Mac App store ...
quit origin ( at least for the mac )

why would they want their own digital download service ?

 

[blasto2236]

with all this talk you guys made me play sim city 4 again ...

why will not be available on the mac app store ? it's easy and i m used to it .

why origin only ?

don't get it .

aspyr and feral have some serious titles on the mac app store ...

This is the 3rd post you've made about the same issue. If you don't trust EA with your credit card info, go buy the physical copy in a store. You'll have to wait for the Mac version.

Also, just so you know, the Mac App Store is not the only safe place to buy software online. Stop being paranoid.

 

[81Steven]

None can answer if I buy the pc version of the game on origin I will have to buy the mac version when released...

 

[S.B.G]

None can answer if I buy the pc version of the game on origin I will have to buy the mac version when released...

Nope. No one knows what EA is going to do. There are even conflicting reports on this subject from EA buried in this and the other SimCity threads here.

Best to take a wait and see approach before you spend any money.

 

[81Steven]

This is weird
Full of people asking about that on twitter

they should answer about that