When torrenting your game offers a better user experience than paying for it, well...
Amazon stops selling Sim City V over game issues
291–300 of 452 posts
Re: Amazon stops selling Sim City V over game issues
#292Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think you're adding clarity here. People are upset about the lack of a single player offline mode, which absolutely is about preventing unlicensed copies. There is no technical reason for its absence. The cloud based stuff sounds great, and if it were an optional extra that was unavailable at launch due to technical difficulties, I doubt you'd see a hundredth as much bad PR.
>People are upset about the lack of a single player offline mode, which absolutely is about preventing unlicensed copies. There is no technical reason for its absence. I see this sentiment expressed pretty often, but in this case it seems flawed. From what I understand, you can't build a city that does everything, instead you rely on the other cities in your 'region.' The new Simcity is no more single player than Wor…
From what I understand, you can't build a city that does everything, instead you rely on the other cities in your 'region.'
The previous title in the series quite happily did this all locally. Log in and be presented with the area and all the city locations in a grid, pick one and build.
Re: Amazon stops selling Sim City V over game issues
#293Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why? I see this over and over again in this thread, but I don't believe it anymore because it is not just a one-off case of the developers being ignored, they're willingly doing bad practices like this over and over and over again. Best case: They do it reluctantly, but don't care enough about their work to stop it. Worst case: They do it willingly and think it is a great idea.
I wish developers had more power, but believe me, 90% of the time they are completely beholden to their publisher. In this case, Maxis is a 100% owned subsidiary of EA. They have no ability to kill the project walk way in protest (other than individuals quitting). The most you can do is plead your case, but it is ultimately EA execs making the call.
I'd edit this into my last comment, but it is too late. Anyway, note this exchange on Twitter with the SimCity producer, Ocean Quigley.
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Iain Kidd @oceanquigley Just wondering if you regret the decision as creative director to refuse to provide an offline mode now?
Ocean Quigley @iainkidd Making a lot of assumptions there.
Re: Amazon stops selling Sim City V over game issues
#294Earlier quoted context omitted.
> "Takeover by EA is usually considered a death knell for game studios..." Further to this point: Maxis, makers of Sim City, were notable for a long time as being the glaring exception when it came to EA's habit of buying and squeezing studios to death. But the writing was on the wall when THE SIMS hit so big and was.. "exploited"[1] so heavily. And when Will left... well, it's just flat-out inconceivable that anyone…
That's slightly revisionist history. EA bought Maxis when they weren't in great financial shape (it didn't help that basically every Friday was spent at the bar). It's true that the Sims was a huge success that EA didn't anticipate (they repeatedly tried to kill the project), but the jury is still out if Maxis would have survived long enough to release it without EA's funding and support.
EA bought Maxis when they weren't in great financial shape
Re: Amazon stops selling Sim City V over game issues
#295Earlier quoted context omitted.
Seems like Valve is spot-on with that X%, and maybe even lowers it a little by offering such a great service and caring about their customers. That sounded fanboy-ish, but it's the truth.
If it isn't on GoG or Steam (or Humble Bundle) I just don't buy it. I don't have that much time for games and will just go without. Steam is an amazing service, I am surprised that movies and music have not followed suit.
While I have a number of complaints about the Steam client, the service itself is fantastic.
Re: Amazon stops selling Sim City V over game issues
#296I feel bad for the game devs who got to see their hard work turn into something they don't intend. I suppose this is a great advertising technique for small firms, startups, indie shops, etc. "Don't want this[ http://amazon-pulls-sim-city ] to happen? Work for our small team. We won't destroy your work." I know it's standard to say "you get a part in the decisionmaking process!" That's part of it. But a lot of people…
>I suppose this is a great advertising technique for small firms, startups, indie shops You mean like all those small valley startups creating Rails web apps that only work when the user has an internet connection? I don't see the difference.
Integral to a web app is the use of the web. It's even semantically connected.
It's explicit.
But it's not even implicitly understood that a game need a web connection. It's not part of its integral operation. Why would it be?
TL;DR: Things on the internet obviously need a web connection. Things not directly related to the internet...shouldn't need one.
Re: Amazon stops selling Sim City V over game issues
#297Earlier quoted context omitted.
"I feel bad for the game devs who got to see their hard work turn into something they don't intend." On the contrary, this is by far the most realistic simulation of working for government that's ever been created.
I love how the anti-government mindset even blames greed based failures of private industry on the government.
Cool, when did that happen?
Re: Amazon stops selling Sim City V over game issues
#298Looks like it's available now - any confirmation that they stopped selling it over 'game issues', or if that was just conjecture to get more clicks?
Re: Amazon stops selling Sim City V over game issues
#299Most single-player games that have an multi-player or online component also have an offline mode for single-player use.
This game should have been a combination of a basic single-player mode (campaign style, maybe with goals to accomplish, etc) in addition to a multi-player mode that would allow for online play with other cities.
At least with a single-player mode you know there is a part of the game you'll always be able to play, long after the online components have been discontinued.
Conceptually, the online mode sounds pretty intriguing but, obviously, was poorly executed.
Re: Amazon stops selling Sim City V over game issues
#300Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is not a web site, it's a game. It is marketed and sold as a game. It isn't even being marketed/sold as an MMO. For the most part, people think this is a single player experience with some multiplayer interactions. I haven't seen the retail packaging, but does it even state an internet connection is required? And if so, is it prominent? EDIT: According to the shot on Amazon[1], it does at least state that a "per…
So your argument is really that DRM is ok as long as the user knows about it in advance?
No, you completely missed his point. His argument is that internet isn't immediately associated with games. So a web connection isn't implicit or explicit in playing a game.