SimCity. Always on DRM example of failure.

It is perfectly understandable that EA would think people would stop playing their games after a short time. They have probably have done studies with gamers to see what the average duration of play for their games is. What they forgot to account for though is that this might be the rare EA game that doesn't suck and people might want to play. Their bad.

 

True, they most likely have strict algorithmic projections that are based on countless data compiled in databases through their years of feedback research and gaming sales, trends and forecast climates. The upsetting aspects of EA , regarding this debacle is two fold. One, their sh*tty business practice of blackmailing gamer's accounts against refunds and the all around refusal to play by standard consumer policies and two, bringing in full online DRM which EA apparently is spearheading ahead of what is to be the new permanent trend in gaming, PC and Console. It's greedy , controlling and Ubisoft itself has released studies showing that piracy doesn't go up when DRM isn't in use.

Combine these two issues and EA becomes a leviathan two headed nightmare heralding in the buffoon age in gaming with these DRM protocols which are backwards and controlling.

Edit: In my personal opinion, the used second hand unmonitored market is being targeted for annihilation. My local gamestop manager thinks that developers will be pushing access codes in a controlled, limited second hand market , beyond new games, chosen by the industry for Next GEn. For example, Gamestop sells the majority of xbox's units for Microsoft and apparently a deal is under way allowing gamestop to be a new game and second hand source for the next gen games. These codes will be under lock and key , activated through controlled methods. This not only stops piracy but keeps games from getting into the wild. This is why BBC's article which was posted here earlier projects into the readers mind, that strict online DRM is something to be accepted. It makes sense from a business standpoint. The Developers will make far more profits by everything essentially being kept in house, with a second hand market being controlled through corporate partners. The industry will monopolize every aspect of it's product.

Edit: So, if you buy a new game, activate the game, you can take it back for trade and someone else can buy the game and activate it themselves, taking ownership. The second hand market is still alive, but within a highly controlled fashion. There will still be a physical medium, but extra steps to activate gameplay, within a chosen second hand environment, such as gamestop. Perhaps the industry is so confident with their next batch of games that they can reshape the entire gaming culture.

 

People are paying full price for a 300mb loader file with a limited subscription to play a game till EA decide it's profitable.

And if they don't like, screw them. No refunds.

EA. Charging Everything.

 

You know, I bought the Diablo 3 collector's edition and during the release I had a lame radio internet connection which lagged a lot!

So I've pirated a game that I own to play offline.

It's pretty idiotic and Sim City will be another example but this time I won't pay for an EA Games, their lack of interest to customers is beyond stupidity.
Those companies seem to be impossible to break but take a look at Sony situation on any economic magazine. EA is just leading the race to the abyss.
The retail copy of this game in 10 years will be rare like an Atari Jaguar game.

 

EA sucks. End of story.

Also, this.

 

I hope EA die along with Actitivison they both have ruined games I love.

 

Anyone who is against piracy/circumventing even with the knowledge of all the bullshit consumers have to deal with like this, I say, fuck you.

Always Online DRM is appalling, and I can't believe it ever sprung into existence along side Sim City, a game where each previous iteration I have played completely alone.

Alas, maybe they still get more sales overall, but I am a long lost customer to them & many other companies.

 

That's basically the problem, they didn't have the server space. Let alnoe they KNEW how many people pre-ordered the damn game, I don't understand what was so fucking complicated for them.

If the server load is 500,000 people, and they sold 2 million copies. Then only 500,000 people will be able to play the game... What were they thinking?

Apparently I just saw on Twitter, EA are giving people a free game... a free $20 title. So maybe a game from 4-5 years ago.

 

A wish British man who looks like a Cross between Stephen Fry and Ricky Gervias once called EA "Electronica Ainus"

 

Not to sound like a broken record bringing it up again, but it would be funny if the free title was SimCity 4.


And hey, speaking of SimCity 4, that one had a botched release, too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SimCity_4#Bugs
I remember getting it preowned, long after its initial release, and it ran like CRAP on my computer even though it was an "old" game by then. Patches helped.

 

Why is Need for Speed in there? The picture was probably made by one of those retard kids who think the series was always about stupid Fast and the Furious shit, despite the fact that NFS existed for almost a decade before they decided to cash in on dumb children with that crap.

 

I tried switching server today only to find that my city no longer was around.... when I switched back to the server I used yesterday my city was back, whoa... this is so massively broken

 

you have to keep using ONE server. it's saved just there. or at least i heard around the net.

BTW i waited for years after simcity4, and went throught the orrifying sc: societies... how is the damn game by itself? is it worth playing is it a Sim City?

 

Just thought I would update you guys on my experience, so I was trying to get it to work from 6pm to 11pm regardless of what the server status was "Busy/Available" or what server you choose, it will eventually start the game, but as soon as you see the main menu you will get a "Failed to connect to EA servers" if your lucky you can click on play and a few seconds later you get the same message without the game starting.

At approximately 11:15PM I got connected and it allowed me to start the tutorial, I finished it, started a game, no-problems and continued to play till 3:30AM the following morning,at 3:30 I was a bit weary of exiting the game as there was alot of reports that most servers dont save progress but I had to due to the fact that I was way to tired and had to get up at 7 for work.

As for the Game: it didn't even take 2 1/2 hours to completely saturate the entire building area in the city, its way too small.I started a new map and throughout my play session no other players joined me, meaning it was impossible to share utilities, giving even more strain to the small tiny build area, as its difficult to build up a large enough work force in one area without getting into too many problems like pollution, education, and crime problems, there forcing the social multiplayer onto every one and it shows.

Hell if random stranger takes up residence next to my town they will enjoy near limitless services and utilities as I had to build THEM ALL

The whole social/multiplayer aspect is complete failure as I believe that every one just wants to do there own cities,making the fail-drm even more FAIL!!!

Heres the thing, it can be solved easily by adding offline-mode or dedicated servers, I know a lot of people who would jump to host there own dedicated servers if they had the chance to.

Correct if you play on one server and join on another your town wont be there any more.

 

Because it's been rolled together with Burnout, therefore isn't NFS any more. It's another game with the label "NFS".

 

Official EA Update is a joke:
http://www.ea.com/news/a-simcity-update-and-something-for-your-trouble

That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard of a company,ofcourse the number of disrupted experiences dropped 80%, thats becouse no one can log into the game so there is no experience to disrupt,as soon as your actually on a working server its fine, but its the getting in part thats close to impossible, it took me 4 hours+ of constantly trying just to get in.

There literally saying: "Yes we were stupid, but we dont care, so here have a game that doesnt cost us anything as its downloaded digitally and we already made our money from it, and screw you you can only play it on the 18th , Why? Well F' You Thats why!! Enjoy Playing Nothing till the 18th."

 

Maybe in a way, but under Criterion NFS is better than it's been for over a decade. And I'd say the recent games are closer to its roots than all the shitty ones that were aimed at Fast and the Furious-loving retards.

 

I'm alright with DRM when it isn't invasive as fuck. I thought EA and other companies early "key needed to play" thing was enough (evidently it wasn't when it got cracked) but then shit like Starforce takes over your goddamn computer, Securom wont let you play if you have Daemontools or two CD drives and this bullshit now. Fuck these companies. Utilize a DRM that does the job and isn't invasive or be ready for people to pirate your shit.

... So the series still got taken out back and shot?

 

Before the new Hot Pursuit you could've said so, but that game made the series good again after 7 years of pure shit.

 

I've not played the new Hot Pursuit yet but I always thought the series died after Underground 1/2.

I wouldn't mind seeing a new road rash either