In a day or two (maybe has already I don't know) when all the network problems have been worked out people will really be embarassed they screamed so loud for nothing.

Unless, of course, you are Francis.

http://kotaku.com/5988580/hey-simcity-fix-your-servers-so-francis-can-get-his-free-disaster?tag=simcity

Once all the screaming died down on Diablo 3 about the servers people really enjoyed the game...

Until they realized it was shallow and lacked true end-game longevity.

Sim5 is certainly not shallow and the "end-game" and longevity is exactly the same as any other RTS game - as long as you still enjoy the simulation.

Multiplayer really helps the longevity of Sim5 though.

Originally posted by dave6660

Originally posted by FARGIN_WAR

In my personal experience people who pirate affordable items such as games and music never intended to become a customer in the first place so these DRM measures do not effect them. Sadly however actual customers who feel they are being asked to jump through pointless hoops to play a game they've already payed for have a high potential to become ex-customers.

Try explaining that to the movie and music industry.  They count every pirated copy as "lost sales".  The scary part is they're getting ISP's to side with them and act as enforcers, watching network traffic for copyrighted material.

Some people are responding by encrypting all their traffic.  So now some ISP's are throttling encrypted traffic assuming you're hiding something.  What a world we live in.

Good thing I live in Holland, where downloading 'pirated stuff' is legal, as long as you don't share with others and use it only for your self. That being said, I agree with Fargin. The Music & Movie industrie thinks that every downloaded album or movie is lost income. This is not true. If something is good enough, I'll keep it and buy the record (either vinyl or CD) itself (won't rip it again when I already got a copy :p). About movies, well, most things downloaded are already so old that they've been broadcasted on tv half a dozen times or so :p

About pirating games... I've already spoke about this before on these forums and my blog a long time ago. As long as publishers don't release demos and keep saying that pirating causes the prices to rise, then piracy will always be around. First off, a lot of players download pirated software because they want to try the game before they spend money on it. And with games becoming more and more garbage, I can't really blame them (doing so myself). This also brings me to the second point - demos... A lot of companies do not make them anymore, or start distributing them a year after release or so. This doesn't give the (potential) customer a fair chance to see if they like the game or not.

Then the pricing... Publishers keep telling us that prices need to go up because of the development costs and the high piracy problem. Well, piracy has always been around, but when developers keep pushing prices up and drop $$$ into protection measurements that are obsolete the day after release (I've read that the SimCity DRM has been hacked already), it makes one wonder how much that statement is worth. I personally think that if developers ditch the whole DRM thing and leave it to Steam/Origin and drop prices by half, people are more inclined to buy a game than when they're €60 or so. It's also worth to note that games were 12 years ago (before the €uro was introduced) less than half the price they are now. You can't tell me that all of that is inflation (of course not, it's only 10% max), so developers have been pushing prices dramatically and hence piracy took a high flight as well *chicken or the egg*

Anyway, back to SimCity DRM... Kinda sucks that developers don't learn from past experiences, their own sales figures and keep us customers with their (logistic) problems. Only for this reason, I'm not buying the new SimCity...

its funny they put alltime on DRm and in a week at most you can download the pirated version of the game without the hassle of it, then they spend more money on anti piracy spend months of development on a new way to prevent it, then 2 days after launch they already find a new way to by-pass the drm again, keep this to infinitum.

and don't forget the fools who support a company like this thinking its ok for me to be milked dry for things who should be on the game from start, DLC when it started was a way to put new content faster without the need to buy expansion packs(even though I prefer the X-Pac), now DLC make a game and find ways to cut parts of the game out so we can monetize it and raise the profit.

ah I miss the time when I bought a new game I get a full ilustred card of the game, with a full ilustred manual, and maybe a code for a part of teh game who could be inside the cd for you to play, now is I pay the game, then I ahve to pay to open parts who was inside the damn cd all along (soul calibur anyone?). worse is not companys doing it, its ok most of companys CEO and top people tehre would sell they family if it was a way to raise profit, what is bad is gamers supporting sahdy things like this.... its really sad.... then later the same people complain games are not fun like they used to be....

Originally posted by BadSpock

Originally posted by Elikal

Originally posted by BadSpock

Originally posted by BizkitNL

You can trust me on this:

The game is worth any DRM shenanigans it throws at you.

That said, this was to be expected.

Yep, I agree.

As a long time MMO player, I expect big issues and delays on day 1 of a new game - so I wasn't terribly bothered.

Still got a few hours play time in last night, and the game is worth every minute of waiting.

The depth and underlying complexity is...

Well I still haven't figured so many things out.

Can't wait to play more tonight, and the multiplayer aspects are really cool. 

Ya know, I have no difficulties to believe THAT. Even though I find some decisions, namely the small zones, questionable.

But putting my save games on an online server, binding a single player game to continual online connection, AND the sheer audacity to take 60 Euro + another 30-50 Euro to buy all the download content ON DAY ONE - these are totally NO GOs. That's just unacceptable. I will not support such a development anymore. The online registering duty was bad enough. The cash shops are bad enough. But this is where the line in the sand must be drawn.

Oh come on, the DLC is just what - a couple of visual themes for your buildings? Hardly a day one required purchase.

The small zones do anger me a bit, but I guess the point of this one is building UP and branching OUT to neighbors, not building a whole continent yourself.

I'm still on the fence on that aspect of it, only a few hours in, but I haven't played a Sim game of any type in like... 10 years.

I'm hooked so far. Love it.

Well for me visuals are not "just". When I know there are 3 extra architecture sets, French, English, German, each 10 Euro = 30 Euro, I WANT them. And when they are added LATER, I would not care so much. But on day one, it's just they ripped it out of the box and sell it extra. 60 Euro is VERY expensive. Usually games cost 40-45 Euro. With that price I would expect it to have full content of all DLC and then maybe sell a light version without this DLC for 35-40 Euro. But this is sheer robbery.

See Sims3. I was such a Sims2 fan, but with Sims3 they really lost me. 30-40 Euro expansions with content I already had bought for SIms2, and which back then cost 20 Euro. Sorry, but the cost VS content relation just feels totally off.

And as I said: I dont want my neighbours pollution of a stranger player come over to me nor do I want my savegames be bound to their servers. I want a total offline mode and stop of the EA extortion. Still, if you enjoy it, thats fine. ;)

Originally posted by GrayGhost79

Originally posted by Species5021

DRM is not a great system at all but they have to use it to make sure the game does not get pirated by 90% of the community which whatever anyone says always happens these days.

I have to say that the price tag is pretty high and i won't buy it right now because of the super ridiculous VAT system where 60 dollars mysteriously turns into 60 euro's. Goddamn laughable is what is is.

But the price is basically the only thing holding me back.

The morning it came out i had a day off and watched someone on gamestreams wait for it to come online and then started playing it.

It's great, he played for around 8 hours or so and i was watching it on my second screen the entire time. The game is really smooth, is incredibly detailed and its a LOT of fun to watch not to mention play. The guy playing it was a massive Simcity fan and he was enjoying himself immensely. When i stopped watching because of dinner he had almost 8000 people watching him play.

 The single player is cool but it shines in multiplayer, private regions with your friends founding citys on the plots next to you. You being the ore driven industrial and him being a university town that educates all your workers. Buying power and water from eachother etc etc. 

So before you crash and burn the game, hop over to gamestreams or twitchtv and watch someone play the game for a while.

Amazing. Honestly, the previews do not do the game justice.

Whats funny is, I was going to buy the game for my daughter but because of this crap I pirated it lol. 

I'm glad thay had to do it  to stop pirating... certainly seems like its working! 

No, you haven't.

Originally posted by Caldrin
The problem with this kind of DRM system is that it does not stop piracy it just annoyed legit customers..

I have to agree with this.

I'll be honost and I have plenty of games on Origin, Steam, U-Play, all those games I have with them are singleplayer games that I simply can not play if I lose connection or think on putting them on my laptop and be some where where there is no wi-fi or internet connection.

Yes it's very annoying but I still will continue to buy the games I like regardless DRM.

But I do think that it doesn't help against piracy, I actually feel the opposite and that more people actually will try to get those game illegal, mainly because the want to play when ever and where ever they want.

Like another poster said games like SimCity or even every other singleplayer game can be a great entertaining sollution if you want to game but don't have internet acces for what ever reason.

Last week on my free day I had internet connection issue's, Unfortunaly for me it took the whole day. It was a actuall day that I really had time to put into my gaming hobby. Yet I had to resort to my older games cause of my most recent games all needed a internet connection, and most where singleplayer games.....Mehh

Sure with many games the DRM does reward you, like in Assasin Creed it opens up several feature's that you can not have/use, in others you gather points to buy extra's. But overall it's a annoyance.

And sorry.....still going buy the game

Originally posted by Reklaw

Originally posted by Caldrin
The problem with this kind of DRM system is that it does not stop piracy it just annoyed legit customers..

I have to agree with this.

I'll be honost and I have plenty of games on Origin, Steam, U-Play, all those games I have with them are singleplayer games that I simply can not play if I lose connection or think on putting them on my laptop and be some where where there is no wi-fi or internet connection.

Yes it's very annoying but I still will continue to buy the games I like regardless DRM.

But I do think that it doesn't help against piracy, I actually feel the opposite and that more people actually will try to get those game illegal, mainly because the want to play when ever and where ever they want.

Like another poster said games like SimCity or even every other singleplayer game can be a great entertaining sollution if you want to game but don't have internet acces for what ever reason.

Last week on my free day I had internet connection issue's, Unfortunaly for me it took the whole day. It was a actuall day that I really had time to put into my gaming hobby. Yet I had to resort to my older games cause of my most recent games all needed a internet connection, and most where singleplayer games.....Mehh

Sure with many games the DRM does reward you, like in Assasin Creed it opens up several feature's that you can not have/use, in others you gather points to buy extra's. But overall it's a annoyance.

And sorry.....still going buy the game

Well, for what it's worth: Steam has an offline mode? So I kinda doubt you even bothered with that?

It's been a pain to play, but holy crap it's an awesome game. 

I can suffer through the release pains, very worth it. 

i don't care how good a game is or how bad i want to play it if it has always on DRM and no offline mode in a traditionally offline game i will not buy it and i will hope it fails.

any of you that support this are the problem, EA and companies like EA think they can screw over their customers and apparently they are right many gamers are more than happy to bend over and take whatever EA gives them.

shame on you.

Originally posted by cheyane
All the threats about piracy is just that threats .This is like diablo 3 you need to be online to play so no piracy can work unless they do the server thing.

Hello, welcome to the pc gaming world, where the most pirated game is Spore(Maxis game) with the most strict DRM in existence.

I give this two weeks Max. Expect it on the usual pirating channels by then.

PS: im Sticking to Anno 2070, they removed their DRM.

Originally posted by austriacus

Originally posted by cheyane
All the threats about piracy is just that threats .This is like diablo 3 you need to be online to play so no piracy can work unless they do the server thing.

Hello, welcome to the pc gaming world, where the most pirated game is Spore(Maxis game) with the most strict DRM in existence.

I give this two weeks Max. Expect it on the usual pirating channels by then.

 

PS: im Sticking to Anno 2070, they removed their DRM.

also let me tell you starcraft 2 also have pirated copys around, pretty much all steam games have a pirated copy avaiable too,

only reason I have games on origin is I bought the case of then and I had to liberate the damn thing and for bf3 since I bought it just for multiplayer makes little diference for me, other games like this? meh forget i'm buying then, same with ubisoft, since they games are sub par anyway not really spending money on then, and o boy how assassins creed is pirated lol

Originally posted by BadSpock

In a day or two (maybe has already I don't know) when all the network problems have been worked out people will really be embarassed they screamed so loud for nothing.

Unless, of course, you are Francis.

http://kotaku.com/5988580/hey-simcity-fix-your-servers-so-francis-can-get-his-free-disaster?tag=simcity

Once all the screaming died down on Diablo 3 about the servers people really enjoyed the game...

Until they realized it was shallow and lacked true end-game longevity.

Sim5 is certainly not shallow and the "end-game" and longevity is exactly the same as any other RTS game - as long as you still enjoy the simulation.

Multiplayer really helps the longevity of Sim5 though.

lol, no people just kind of forgot about it. Sure, there are some that stayed and played but most moved on after their rants. Most though left, you kind many of them in PoE currently. 

In any case, the "screaming' as you like to call the complaints has actually been good for games as of late. FFXIV received this "Screaming', War Z, D3, SWTOR, etc. Some things were fixed due to the "Screaming". 

I would also advise you not to get overly attached to the game. With it being online only, if the revenue goes below what EA wants then guess what... they are going to shut the servers down like they have for many many other games (Even a few newer games lol!) and you no longer get to play the game you enjoy so much. When EA pulls the plug, it's over. The only way to play at that point is of course snagging a pirated version. 

When EA ceases making enough profit in their eyes to justify spending resources on keeping the servers up they will shut them down. 

When EA releases a sequel to SimCity5 and not enough people are buying it they will shut down the servers to force the migration. 

If SimCity6 does well then they will still shut down the servers to try and force those that remained in SimCity5 to spend more money even if they don't want to.

This is EA's track record. This is crap they have already pulled with other games. 

Advocate this always on DRM for single player EA games all you want but do realize that it is entirely possible that a few months after launch they can take the game away from you regardless of how much fun you have or how much time/money you have invested in the game. 

Originally posted by cheyane
All the threats about piracy is just that threats .This is like diablo 3 you need to be online to play so no piracy can work unless they do the server thing.

 I think people really need to stop comparing this to Diablo 3.

Diablo 3's online element actually has significant function and value offered to customer, such as the ability to sell high end gears. Quite a lot of people that I knew made some money (real $$) off that Auction House.

Simcity is NOT going to have any of that. It is just DRM for DRM sake. You are not going to loot a Mithral Nuclear Power Plant +5 in that game and be able to sell it.

Apples and oranges guys.

Originally posted by Torgrim

Originally posted by Starpower

Originally posted by nilden

Yeah they also had this issue. http://kotaku.com/simcity/

Oh and on Metacritic that user score is 2.9 right now. http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/simcity

I did not buy it and EA can die.

I'm not saying your reasons for not buying EA products isn't a valid one but quoting metacritic is laughable at best and downright pathetic at worst. You have people voting who never have and never will play it. I'd much rather somebody gave an opinion based on .. you know.. actually having played the game?

 

Try read some of them posts at metacritic and tell me if they haven't played it.

I have and it's quite a mixed bag of people having played it (supposedly) and people who just rant about the DRM which people have known about for quite some time

I can't take metacritic or amazon reviews seriously when it comes to EA. Too much EA hate to sort through fake and legit users

Originally posted by Loktofeit

Originally posted by Jyiiga

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUl_Cj2_KWU

I have not bought it, but I find a 30 min line to play a single player game hilariously terrible. 

 

 

I'm curious about how many of the people that rail against EA and like the Sim City series still went and bought this game.

 

I'm a big fan of the series and I have played almost every Sim City that came out, but this Origin crap was the last straw for me with that company.

I was actually going to buy the game this morning, but then I checked metacritic and saw the 9.2ish reviewver scrore and 2.7 user score.  That made me investigate further and I learned about:

1.  Always Online DRM

2.  Day one DLC

3.  And worst of all...Cities limited to 2x2km maps.  Seriously, WTF?  I'm guessing EA is planning to sell bigger maps later with microtransactions.

So I passed...and I wound up dropping $125 on the new Torment kickstarter instead ;).

Originally posted by Loktofeit

Originally posted by Jyiiga

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUl_Cj2_KWU

I have not bought it, but I find a 30 min line to play a single player game hilariously terrible. 

 

 

I'm curious about how many of the people that rail against EA and like the Sim City series still went and bought this game.

 

I'm a big fan of the series and I have played almost every Sim City that came out, but this Origin crap was the last straw for me with that company.

    Same here buddy huge fan of simcity not going for this one because of EA