Slashdot Mirror
New SimCity To Require Constant Internet Connection
eldavojohn writes "According to Lead designer Stone Librande, it has been confirmed that the next installment of SimCity will require a constant internet connection. Perhaps as a form of DRM, the 2013 edition looks like it will be the first to include online play but will also require you to constantly be connected to Origin to play — even if that wasn't your point of purchase. Add SimCity to the growing list."
Update: 03/29 02:09 GMT by S : An online connection will be needed to start the game, but you won't be kicked out if your connection dies.
Publishers have already managed to kill the used market for PC games with stuff like this. Console games are next. A lot of new console games are already requiring online activation for certain features (like Mass Effect 3). It's only a matter of time before they require online activation to work at all, and then ultimately require an online verification check each time the game is started.
A requiem for the days when consumers actually owned videogames, and could still play them just fine, even ten years later, using just the original game discs/cartridges.
What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
Can I get my money back when the service is inevitably cancelled?
But it's simple: I vote with my wallet, just like Assassins Creed 2, no sale.
The other day I re-installed the original C&C Red Alert and had a fun time playing it.
Somehow, I doubt we'll be able to do the same with the new Sim City -- and many other new games -- seventeen years after their release. It's a sad future for old games.
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
is that the game will be multiplayer in the sense that your city will actually be located close to your friends' cities and possibly interact. That would explain the online component. Think World of Warcraft. It's not necessarily a piracy thing, but heck if it is, can you blame them? Besides, used game markets do just fine, you just can't continue to play it once you sell it. That doesn't mean ownership can't be passed along though.
Never say never. Ah!! I did it again!
Another game that I wont be purchasing. Glad I still own all my old games.
If carrots got you drunk, rabbits would be fucked up. - Comedian Mitch Hedberg R.I.P. 03/30/68-2/24/05
I'm not buying it. I'll probably buy something from GOG instead.
Still disappointed though.
Not sure if trolling or incredibly fucking stupid......
Not even close to the same thing, even when taking into account the global economy feature. Your post is bad and you should feel bad
I've had over a week's Internet downtime in the last year, and absolutely no power outage. You can understand if perhaps I'm more concerned about one than the other, then?
I was never really into EA games, but now I guess I'll be adding that company to my list of "Never, ever, under any circumstances, buy anything from this company." Heretofore, the list was [Ubisoft, Sony]. Now it's [Ubisoft, Sony, EA].
Did they also say that they would take away your RAM at some point if you did have enough? Among other important differences with you story is that an always on connection means that you lose the game whenever the publishers decides to turn it off.
Publisher decisions like this are a perfectly valid thing to complain about. It expresses your displeasure to a company so that they make a product more to your liking, and it warns other people about the faults you care about.
I don't need to play games on my computer or console (see SONY story from earlier). I still have a back log of 40 games that have never gone through.
Constant Internet Connection is Not an Option.
CIC NO
Guess I won't bother upgrading.
of games I won't buy.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
If you are that angry about it, don't buy the game.
But ... but ... but ... don't you know that this counts as piracy?
The game doesn't sell good, must be because of all the illegal copies!1!eleven
I hear this SimCity has an actual ending. Vishnu shows up in the form of Justin Beiber, and kicks your city into the sea. But you get to choose which sea.
I had heard this was going to be coming out soon and was thinking about picking it up for her. Looks like we can scratch that. Cityville already requires a constant connection and makes you reload and lose all your shit when it drops for a few seconds. Why on earth do they think I want to pay 60 bucks for that same privilege? I assume they think we're made of money AND stupid?
-pirates
http://i43.tinypic.com/1pghep.jpg
...considering what EA did to the last SimCity game. If this is the only flaw, then we got off fairly easily. They still have plenty of time to ruin everything else though, just like they did in SimCity Societies. "Let's make SimCity for the casual gamer!"
It started back in Team Fortress Classic
Huh. For some reason, I just lost 100% of my interest in SimCity 5. Good thing there are lots of other games that don't require the worthless Origin service and can be played offline--such as most of my games on Steam, for instance.
Sim City destroyed their brand with Sim City 3000. Like many simulation games, they focused too much on graphics and 3D imagery and compromised usability and basic game play. Sim City 2000 is still their best version and it was built in 1993. IMO they should return to a basic tile-based game engine and start over.
Add simcity to the growing list
Of games I won't be playing.
I wonder how much bandwidth will be sucked up by this.
Paul: Father... father, the sleeper has awakened! - Dune
Right, because fighting the market for used games did not factor into this decision at all. Gaming companies have so much respect for their users that they would only create these sorts of draconian DRM schemes if they were desperate to do so, because of the crushing weight of piracy, right?
Get real -- this is because Maxis has no respect for SimCity players and sees nothing beyond a chance to make a little more money than they did before.
Palm trees and 8
Seriously; we will not see real change in the media marketplace unless we hit the content controllers where it hurts: their bottom line.
I propose a boycott of any company or industry who attempts to impose draconian measures to disable consumers from owning what they paid for.
RIAA suing grandma into oblivion? Boycott the music industry.
MPAA trying to coerce the government into passing unconstitutional, anti-privacy laws? Boycott Hollywood.
In this rare case, collateral damage is a good thing; Those who work in these industries but aren't members of the "bad guy"groups will have incentive to pressure their peers into doing right by consumers.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
And you're concerned that he's concerned. That's even more confusing. You say this can't affect him, how does this not affecting him affect you, to the point you had to post?
No idea what your point is, other than generally being upset people might have the audacity to care about things different than the things you care about.
What if 1984's publisher was able to put DRM in the book, and did so, at that time?
Sure, you don't need it. But a valuable part of culture would've been unavailable to subsequent generations due to, uh, Orwellian restrictions.
~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
If I had to wager a guess, I'd say a little from column A, little from column B...
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
I also want to add: I'm more likely to buy a game if I don't have to deal with the DRM. I can install it anywhere, just like I can read a book anywhere. Software has enough limitations as it is, I don't need the added restrictions of DRM to restrict my use of the game after a certain poorly defined point.
~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
If anything, DRM like this will cause *MORE* piracy, as the pirated versions will be cracked and able to play locally.
This signature is false.
If you are that angry about it, don't buy the game.
Unfortunately, even if all slashdotters stopped buying, the effect on video-game market would be almost zero. On the other hand, if we raise stink about it and manage to educate a significant portion of buyers managements will think twice before crippling their offerings. And that is exactly what we are doing here.
If most of their market is ok with this deal
Most of their market does not realize/give it a thought that their acquisition will kick the bucket as soon as it is not profitable to maintain those DRM servers, which could happen after a few years or as soon as tomorrow. And at that point they will need to go to the grey market looking for hacked version and punch themselves for shelling money for it in the first place. If the DRM locks the game to hardware, they are out of luck with the next hardware upgrade as well. Meanwhile those who have a hacked version can enjoy a DRM-free experience for years to come. This is called "defective by design". Look it up.
You're missing the point. Any authority which grants permission can also not grant permission. Services are sold off and shut down. Games and ebooks can be and have been "unsold" retroactively. If you want the software you buy to remain functional, it must operate without the need to call home for permission. There was a recent article about PSP games becoming unavailable for download, even if you already paid for them. No refund was offered. Similarly, you could buy this new version of SimCity only to find that the publisher has decided to discontinue it, rendering your purchase inoperable.
Just 4 weeks after the release of their latest AAA title, SimCity 2013, EA today complained about millions of downloads of the illegal, but DRM-free version of the game from P2P sites after a server malfunction made playing the game impossible for hours. Hackers had removed the need to be always online from the game earlier this week. "They are stealing our intellectual property!", a unnamed EA spokesperson said.
I think there's a huge difference between something which is necessary and therefore required, and something which is not necessary but the publisher is choosing to require anyways.
Steam does not require you to be online to play. Steam works just fine offline. I believe Steam games just need to be activated online once.
I've played Fallout: New Vegas offline. And I think it is funny that you choose to call that game specifically "Payus" when the developer basically didn't get paid on that game.
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=3160-AGCB-2555
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
You could say the same things about usurping, gouging and destroying the interests and consumerism of ANY technology or ANY hobby or ANY interest. "just don't buy it" and "they're a business so it's OK" and all variants of these statements are bullshit non-responses and nothing more than flakey attempts to avoid valid criticisms and contempt of abhorrent business practices.
I'm a huge SimCity fan and have been waiting for the next installment patiently for the past 8 years. I'll just grumble anytime my internet disconnects - and for the past months that was only for a total of 10 minutes, giving me an uptime of 99.977%. I think I could deal with that.
Until - Like in my case, the city decides to put in some light posts on a street three blocks from you, then proceeds to drill thru the main trunk for your area - knocking out phone/internet service for almost two weeks.
_ _ _ Go for the eyes Boo! GO FOR THE EYES!
Fine by me -- interacting with other people's cities has been something I've been looking forward to in the series for a long time. I imagine a world where one country's low industrial taxes suck away all of the factory jobs from your online neighbors, but everyone lives in another region and takes that neighbor's super-fast rail to world, while yet another neighbor develops a coastal resort for this population of transit workers to relax at on their days off, all the while a struggling farm community sits on its hands with a "World's Largest Llama" display...
Count me baited. DRM or not, I'm on board, assuming this enhancement is at least somewhat more than a simple statistical one.
I am not a zealot, I'll meet publishers half way on DRM. I'm ok so long as it doesn't mess with my gameplay experience. Steam is fine, activation on install is fine. I prefer no DRM but I'm not going to be an absolutist dick.
However I will not accept always connected DRM for single player games. Part of the reason I have single player games is for when I don't have net access like when I'm on a plane, or when my Internet dies (and please let's not pretend like that never happens) and so on. That means they'd better work without it.
As such I've not bought Settlers 7, Assassin's Creed 2, or Heroes of Might and Magic 6. All games I wanted, all which I was willing to pay for, none that I have because of the always on DRM.
Thing is, it really isn't a big deal. There are SO MANY good games these days. Not just big studio titles, but indy as well, and digital distribution lets me get them easy. I have a backlog of games that I've bought, and haven't even installed. Time is my limiting factor, not games to play.
As such I can give some titles a miss, and will. I encourage others to do the same. Don't pirate, just don't buy. If they want always on DRM, just give it a miss and get something else. There's tons and tons out there. You can't be a zealot about it and demand NO DRM EVAR! If you do that you'll find your selection fairly limited, however if you meet them half way and say "Only DRM that doesn't mess with my ability to play," you find a whole lot of games.
What happens when your internet connection is Broken? How the heck do you play while waiting for the Telco / ISP to fix your service. I suppose we can all go back to Mimesweeper and Solitaire :-)
I liked the whole SimCity genre and still do today. I like city builders. That said I don't particularly like online games. I certainly don't want to have an always on internet connection to play them. When I'm traveling for business firing up a quick game before bed becomes a lot more of a hassle if I now have to rent internet service for it. Also I don't want to sign up for another service. Steam was pushing it, I just can't do Orion too. That probably means the next Dragon Age release is out for me as well. Oh well.
If you don't like Comcast and Verizon and AT&T and (insert monopolistic service provider here) violating net neutrality and grossly under-delivering on their promises, then just don't buy from them!
The reason people are catching on fire about it is it's a growing trend, and one that allows for abuses ("we sold you a game, but we decided to close the authentication servers two weeks after the initial release. You agreed we could do that in the EULA. No refund for you!").
Lead designer Stone Librande, and SimCity, and Maxis and Origin, are welcome to a constant connection between their lips and my ass.
You know, I'm starting to enjoy putting these companies on a permanent pay-no-mind list. It means I have more money to buy things from companies that are not hostile to me.
If enough of these companies get onto my pay-no-mind list, I may be able to get that little house in Santa Lucia that I've always wanted. And I will relish it all the more, knowing that I bought it thanks to companies like Maxis ensuring that I never, ever give them any money for another one of their products. Sweet!
I mean, when you add up the games I won't be buying and the Sony Vita I won't be buying, and all the Sony products I didn't buy, and the cable TV I didn't buy from Comcast, and the next-gen console I won't be buying and all the other products and services from all the other companies that are hostile toward me, it starts to add up to some real money.
I don't care if not getting my money doesn't really have any effect on these piece-of-shit companies, and I don't care what y'all do because the benefit is for me, not for them, but Maxis and "Lead designer Stone Librande" are dead to me now. And what kind of name is "Stone Librande" anyway? Why would anyone give their kid a name that sounded like a '70s gay porn star?
You are welcome on my lawn.
There are tons and tons of games out there with new ones coming out all the time. So long as you are willing to be pragmatic and meet publishers half way and accept DRM that doesn't interfere, you can find a shitload of games. None of my games do always-connected DRM except for maybe the multiplayer ones in which case I'd never know since I have to be connected to play them (actually they don't bother, just saying) and I have a bunch of them. Many do have DRM, but it is DRM that isn't a big deal.
Steam would be an example. I do have to be online to get the game, of course, since it is a download. However I can run it offline just fine. So my net goes down, no problem I can play my game. Another would be some of the activation based systems. I install game, it activates, and then never checks again.
Companies are testing the waters with this and the easy way to put a stop to it is to not buy. If they sell Title X with always on DRM and they do 20,000 sales and sell Title Y with regular DRM and do 2,000,000 sales they'll learn quick enough.
Even Ubisoft who has talked shit like this up and was the first big on to do it is highly schizophrenic about it. They have done releases without it, even from the same series (AC2 has always on DRM, AC Brotherhood does not).
Just don't buy, or pirate, shit that has it, stick to the many, many other titles and there you go.
I'm going to download it.
This is what "the cloud" is all about. Why let people pay you once to own something when they can pay you forever to rent it?
Deleted
Personally, I was mighty pissed in 1995 when I tried to install Might & Magic III and the program told me it needed access to the phone line to call Mr Z. who sold the game to verify that he actually did sell it and it wasn't resold, copied, etc. I mean the NERVE of those guys. They sell me a game but it turns out I need to have constant access to phone line and Mr. Z. needs to be in business and still selling it, because as soon as he quits picking up the damn phone the game says buy-buy and bricks itself. ? What a load.
If you are that angry about it, don't buy the game.
Or, you could do something effectual, and not buy the game AND tell them why... just like 'whining' on a forum like Slashdot is accomplishing.
Millions of people don't buy games, just a little over a thousand got EA to change its DRM policy. Look up Spore.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
Typo: ... says bye-bye and you go to buy-buy yourself another game.
I remembered earlier when VGA only games started to come out. I had a CGA screen and most EGA games will run in CGA mode... However when VGA came out they dropped CGA. I was quite annoyed that they dropped CGA.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Given North America's current 23% packet loss and multiple core pipelines out I think your sarcasm isn't warranted. That's not including the rest of the world, just my native area.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
Publishers are making it harder for me to bother buying games.
- -= Napalm means serious BBQ =-
You may have connectivity but when their server goes down from the bean counters deciding that the old server is a cost center they can no longer afford after the next sequel comes out you'll be shit out of luck trying to pay your newly rented game from EA.
Fixed.
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
It won't affect me. It'll get patched and released on the usual channels within a week or two.
It'll just affect everyone who bothers putting up with this shit and paying for it.
I really disagree with this strong-arm method of getting people into their digital distribution platform. I'm not going to sugar coat it and suggest Valve was any better, as all Valve titles after HL2 required Steam as well. It's a shame that services can't entice users based on their merits and instead resort to strong-arming legitimate users with these tactics. So if I was to purchase SimCity on Steam, I'd need both Steam and Origin running to play a video game? Talk about redundant.
I'm disappointed. I've been wanting a new SimCity for years. I have been a big fan of the game spanning all the way back to SimCity for the SNES. I'm not sure what my motivation I'm supposed to have to purchase the game with all these conditions attached.
The point is the electric grid is so much more stable than the Internet, for most people?
Having no offline mode in a game that I can play single player is like having your kitchen faucet stop working because the electricity is down. It sucks, and the user sees no practical reason for it.
How does "game refuses to play in single-player mode without an online connection" equate to microtransactions?
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
What do I do when my internet connection goes down? Play games? Sorry, you can't play a single player game because you're not connected to the internet.
What happens when the connection is cut while you're playing? Does it stop you playing?
So much corporate cock sucking in this thread.
"Herp derp, don't buy it then"
Well of course. That's the point. But likening this to the equivalent of the mandatory removal of leaded gasoline and then saying "deal with it"?
Bullshit.
Stuff like this needs to be voted down in the free market by customers buying competitors' products. Oh wait, the free market only matters when it fattens CEO wallets. Customers don't count. Right.
--
BMO
I'm not sure why you mock "then don't buy it posts", and then proceed to tell everyone how it needs to be voted down by the free market? Granted, you included buying competitors products, but I'm under the assumption that people who post in this thread are actually interested in games and purchase them in some regular fashion...
That being said, yeah, totally agree with you. And btw, they don't give a shit about places like Slashdot - it's not really a gaming site... more a site for tech fans that also covers a few gaming stories that happen to coincide with Slashdot interests (i.e. anything DRM-related is ALWAYS picked up). They'd only start to care if the general gaming media and public started to vocally complain about it and also stopped buying their products.
Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
Oops, I forgot to add the part about "or you post something on their forums that they don't like (such as complaining about the DRM?) and they kill your account and even the single player mode won't work anymore, for every game you have registered with them"
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
Well, almost. Steam works offline just fine if you tell it you want to go offline while you are still online. If you have a power or internet outage or some such, you cannot play your games offline because it does not have the offline key. Also, you cannot be permanently offline, you have to go online at least once every 30 days to re-validate they key.
If only they had. Then all the fucking assholes around here who never read the book would stop with the "Orwell predicted this..." or "Right out of 1984..." bullshit.
With my internet connection out for a week, i think i'd be playing more games in my spare time since i wouldn't be able to read slashdot or do many of the other things i pass my time with.
http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
> The fact that you are "concerned" at ANY level about the possibility of not being able to play a game for a little while is difficult to understand, especially when you have the free choice of not purchasing said game.
You clearly speak as someone who has never tried to connect Steam over wifi to an Android phone, so they can get it into offline mode, to give them something to do while while the Internet is down...
Seriously though; when the Internet is down is more or less exactly when I want to have computer games readily available to play. It's almost like it's fine tuned to be as annoying as possible.
Unfortunately, even if all slashdotters stopped buying, the effect on video-game market would be almost zero. On the other hand, if we raise stink about it and manage to educate a significant portion of buyers managements will think twice before crippling their offerings. And that is exactly what we are doing here.
But the maximum effect of preaching to the choir, by your own logic, is almost zero. Go forth. Spread the bad news.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
My always-on connection will be working great when their cobbled together authentication "server" is down due to overload or the president of EA tripping over the power cord and will keep working when they disable said server the week after they release the next sequel.
upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
If I buy it, and ever inhibited from playing by the DRM, I will simply fix the issue. /Endstory.
A risk? It's practically guaranteed. The only thing that isn't guaranteed is the timeframe. It's like buying a computer knowing that it has a timebomb inside that will destroy the CPU after a random period of time. It might go off after a week, or it might go off after three or four years, but it will go off.
Let's look at the history of DRM for a moment.
These are just a few of the types of content that have become inaccessible or are expected to soon become inaccessible because of the shutdown of DRM-related servers. In some cases, the content still functions on the original devices, but for most of the above list, it does not.
Buying games that will stop working if they can't contact a server isn't taking a risk. It's throwing money away. Taking a risk is buying products that require activation on new machines; at least the continued operation of your own equipment is, to an extent, under your control.
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
If publishers keep persisting with this anti-consumer push for always-on DRM, I'll have to find another hobby. Good thing I bought my first Arduino last week.
I remember when Linux was good... too...
Origin was only required in order to “start playing the game,”
.
EA has since clarified to GameSpy Origin was only required in ordee to “start playing the game,” even if it wasn’t the service players purchased it from. Players will also not be kicked out of the game should they lose internet service..
http://www.vg247.com/2012/03/28/simcity-to-require-always-on-internet-connection-to-origin/
Minor thing, Steam games need to be prepared for offline play.
You cannot suddenly loose your internet connection and just play in Offline Mode, you'll need to download some needed files first to enable the offline play. So if you're going on a trip and wont have internet access or planning to move and it'll be a few days till the internet is on at your new place; THEN you can prepare beforehand and play in Offline Mode.
Another game you have to pirate to actually have.
What do I know, I'm just an idiot, right?
And in five years when they take the servers offline? (Didn't EA take a sports game servers down after like four yrs?)
We would have zero legal recourse to continue to play a game we may very well enjoy and invested hours playing, not to mention paid for.
I personally still play quite a few old games, going back 10+ years from studios which are no longer in business.
My GF's truck is over 10 years old, still runs well; would you say Mazda should be able to come and remotely disable her truck when they felt like it?
Anyone know where there is an available version of SimCity 2000 To play these days? Like on the web, or free to download? Or maybe it is now called minecraft.
I hate any game that requires a constant internet connection, I don't care what reason they give. If I wanted to interact with other people, I'd go outside instead. Or probably I'd just play WOW or something. Anyway, in protest, I am going to emphatically not purchase this game. I wasn't going to buy it before, but now I will not buy it even more. I might even pirate it with the express purpose of not playing it. That'll show 'em!
Having the code for the AI (which in sim city would be how the city reacts to what you do) completely off the client's computer would require reimplementing it if you wanted an offline only mode. For example, WoW one of the most popular games of all time has semi-functional private servers for the previous expansion. It lacks various feature, and the timing of NPC abilities is often off.
If by "Always a way" you mean that you can play a game in its entirety, then decide to create your own clone of it, then sure there is "Always a way".
>I'm not sure why you mock "then don't buy it posts"
Maybe I wasn't precisely clear. I'll clear up my rant a bit.
What I'm really mad at is the stuff after "That's the point."
The whole thread, when I wrote that, was non stop "get with the times, old man" nonsense.
Primitive copy protection in the late 80s early 90s was beaten by people who refused to buy software that was encumbered by artificially bad sectors, keydisks, codes in books, etc.
The descendant of this, DRM, can also be beaten the same way if people stopped being complacent and "dealing with it" and just refused to buy.
--
BMO
While I don't believe that Slashdot readers make up a significant portion of video game shoppers, the hope is that interesting ideas will network their way out to the rest of them. And that is the logic behind why it is better to speak out rather than quietly "boycott" the wrongdoers all by yourself.
1. By forcing people to play online, we can fight piracy (especially if some game mechanics are not present on the client).
2. Online only means more players online (those that prefer offline, but will play online if they don't have a choice), which forms a bigger community.
3. Players don't have the oppurtunity of making the mistake that their offline save data doesn't work in an online, no cheating, setting.
4. DLC can be a form of "pay what you want," but at the same time drives up piracy as players realize they would have to spend a lot of money to get a full and complete version. This ties in with #1. Offline games can't really go into the free-to-play model.
5. No need to update both the offline and online version of the game. Online patches can be done server side in some cases, and those bugs can "gone forever"
6. You can later dismantle the game, and not keep players hooked on the older version they bought and you aren't making money off of any more.
In effect...
1. Get a bunch of players to play a game where they notice each other
2. Allow someone to get ahead by paying you.
3. Profit!
It was 02/03 when I purchased a copy of SimCity 4 - Rush Hour because how much time I was spending at the universisty while she was in class - 90 miles one way, 3 nights a week and class on saturday. It wasn't worth driving back home as I would simply have to turn around and head back to pick her up and no, there wasn't anyone she could have car pooled with.
Wanted to make a backup copy as the optical drives in laptops have never impressed me with their robustness but due to their DRM scheme breaking the damn CD/DVD functionality (even attempted to use linux and make a mirror copy (bit for bit) and it failed. Gave up and decided it simply wasn't worth having spent the money (own both SImCity 2k/3k before) and decided that because of the DRM system selected, that I would never buy another EA product again. What actually happened is that I haven't bought any games since then because of a bad experience with DRM to begin with and then we heard about the Sony Root Kit issue. Put me off buying anything other then absolutely needed software for a long time. Because of that bad experience I started using OSS and became an advocate while refusing to purchase anything except absolutely critical software. Time change though and although still an OSS advocate, I've found myself buying stuff like Office and Nero as I've needed their functionality and running Windows instead of Linux. My main concern now is to keep food on the table, which means using what everyone else uses due to interoperability (Damn you M$). Of course on the OSS front, I'm finding myself using a GPL PDF creator based on Ghostscript and functioning as a Printer in Office. Saves me lots of agravation because it's something I know almost everyone has installed in the business world, so I can begin weaning myself from the M$ Office Teat though I love the functionality of OneNote.
Mod me up/Mod me down: I wont frown as I've no crown
I have been playing SimCity for years. No longer. Do you think they will ever get it?
You just saved me $50.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Yes. For I have played them enough for them to not be fun anymore.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Yes. And if the Technology Fairy came down to everyone's home and gave us all magical Internet connections with literally zero latency and infinite up/down, it would STILL be ridiculous, because there's no good reason that a game needs a constant internet connection if it isn't integral to the actual gameplay.
Understand? The problem isn't that they expect us to have Internet access. The problem is that they think we should need permission to use the product we bought.
There are a lot of people out there that travel around for work or otherwise and would like to spend some of their downtime playing a game. That gets harder when every game released requires an internet connection completely unrelated to how a user intends to play. Sure you could simply not purchase the game, but it doesn't hurt to try and tell the game company "hey if you would just let me play it offline I'd hand you money" and hope they actually listen.
...and here I was, getting all excited for it... :\
Isn't there a fairly broad market for offline, single player games? Or am I just amongst a small minority of consumers who actually prefers offline, disconnected play?
I've also noticed that local splitscreen support (offline multiplayer) has all but been pretty much abandoned in many games now. "Always on" might be a nifty mechanism for games developers/companies, but I think it has a fair amount of downside for the consumer - especially if/when we get the "server is full" experience. Or when the game is less profitable, and the company decides to pull down the servers (Star Wars Galaxies, etc).
Shame, SimCity might be a perfect candidate for a long haul flight. Civilization V was awesome on some long flights I had last year.. Pity.
The game development market has become very competitive and very expensive.
Game became increasingly expensive to make because everyone was trying to add more and better content to their games in order to set themselves apart. As the price to develop went up, profit margins disappeared. Piracy and used game sales made the problem worse. To preserve the profits, the publishers and the developers are trying everything.
Games move from cartridges to CD's as much to bring down manufacturing costs as to increase available space to content.
DRM schemes were created, and they become increasingly draconian in an effort to diminish piracy.
Online pass requirements and Downloadable content are added to diminish the impact of used games sales (used games are great for retail sellers like Gamestop that buy used at $10 and sell used at $40).
Also, why do you think the publishers are chasing the iPhone / Android market so damn hard and going 'freemium' for everything? iTunes offers a huge install base, and being freemium kills the pirate problem (who is going to go to the trouble of jailbreaking a phone for a free to play game?). Users cannot resell an iTunes game, and they developers make a good profit by turning into spammers that constantly suggest their users buy freemium content on the device.
Personally I would rather deal with the DRM software then play a game clogged with nag popups asking me to spend more money on freemium content.
END COMMUNICATION
While like everyone I think DRM sucks, I do understand that piracy is still a bigish issue, but what I don't get why they inconvenience people that legitimately purchase a game, when the DRM is the first thing that is removed from any version on pirate-bay.
So the message they are trying to send is; "get a hacked version if you want to play off-line"? A bold move for what is traditionally a single-player(offline) game.
I jest though, the real reason I play Battlefield3(only EA game I play) on a ancient(by comparison) console instead of my PC, I wouldn't let Origin near my system with a ten foot stick! Not with those T's&C's; My data is MY data!
And the cheating... Punkbuster: the definition of irony...
The pricing is a bit hard to swallow too; your only getting a licence to access the game, rather than legally owning the game(i.e. no right to lend to friends).
It's a shame, I would have like to played the new SimCity; spoze I'll have to wait for Valve to buy EA, can't be long now...
People will pirate no matter what.
I think I see a problem here. It seems to be an example of wasted votes syndrome. You and people like you are hurting your own boycotts. "Well, no one else will stop, so I'll pirate it anyway." Suddenly, you have one more pirate. And then other people who feel the same way do the same thing.
But definitely don't buy the garbage. I would rather people pirate it than buy it.
After leaving the tabletop gaming market for the electronics game market, I find myself slowly returning to the tabletop gaming. Sure, there aren't as many good solo games (Lord of the Rings "living card game", Arkham Horror, etc). Sure, the cost is about the same - $50 to $100 plus $25 to $60 per expansion - and many of them are designed to only work in multiplayer mode. However, I don't have to activate over the internet each time I start the game, I never have to worry about a service going down for a month and preventing me from even opening my game, and I never have to worry about servers shutting down and causing my game to become non-functional. True, sometimes when I buy a used game there are components that are missing that can render it non-functional, so I have to be careful and check that the game is complete. Still, the best part is being able to play my game when my power is out. (Wish I had gotten back into the tabletop gaming before Heroscape got cancelled - that one looked fun, but its pricey to buy it used.)
Seriously, I was looking forward to a real sequel to SimCity, but this DRM scheme is something I want to avoid. At this point I think I'd rather head down to my local game shop during game night and have several hours of fun that way. With game companies also churning out the boardgames with great visuals (plastic figures, sometimes painted figures, colorful map tiles, tons of chipboard markers, higher quality art work, etc), the lack of DRM in tabletop games is a welcome relief from the electronic game lockdown. Heck, as fun as video games are, nothing beats a nice tense game of Pandemic + Over the Brink with my wife - best coop play I've ever seen in tabletop or electronic gaming!
Anyone mentioned gog.com already? You can buy and download lots of games, all DRM free, for just 10$ or less. I have like 20 games already and will definitely buy more.
http://www.mueller-public.de - My site http://www.anr-institute.com/ - Advanced Natural Research Institute
Dear $publisher$ I will not be buying your new game, $title$, because it requires me to be connected to the internet in order to play it. A significant amount of my gaming time is spent on planes and trains, and in the outhouse while visiting family - during none of which I would be able to play your game.
This is a shame, as I would like to play it in order to take part in the inevitable conversations with my friends regarding the game, who will all have download a warez copy around 48 before your game hits the store shelves I won't be buying it from.
Yours,
Russ
No Mass Effect 3 or Half Life: Ep3 for me, either. Fuck em. What I find most saddening is that they've stopped me caring about the story line and characters that I once so cared for. The last straw that broke the game-playing camels back: http://simplypeachy.livejournal.com/632013.html
Yes, this is correct. However, you set your work PC to work in Offline Mode while you were online, caching your authentication token. If you hadn't done this and tried to launch Steam in Offline Mode, it will bomb out. This happened to me when my connection was down for 3 days, and is widely reported on the Steam forums.
Try it yourself; Go online, unplug your network connection, exit and restart Steam. Your games will be inaccessible.
Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
I remember when all games were indie games. I remember when Doom was shareware and id found a market. I remember an unknown company shipping Half Life Day One with a bunch of hardware just to get noticed. Thing is this market still exists. Anyone on Steam knows the huge library of indie games that get released every day. They sell for a fraction of the cost of a huge publisher game. They are of differing quality as with all indie markets. The thing is a game like Torchlight I played every bit as much as Diablo or Diablo II. They sold it for 20.00 brand new. They have announced Torchlight II as bigger in every way with multiplayer and no drm for 20.00. Yet all i hear about is Diablo III. Kind of pisses me off. Anyway rockpapershotgun is a great site. Steam store is an awesome place to find indie games. Humble bundle is a great way to get a drm free copy of games for under 10.00. Just stop buying the drm ladden EA / Blizzard / UBISoft crap. Problem solved. Play something else. The Indie devs are infinitely more grateful and will give you a lot more for your dollar.
Do not let EA do this. They tried it with Mass Effect. They made steam remove ME1 & ME2 from the market in the days leading up to ME3 so you had to purchase through Origin, but nobody was buying the games, so they put them back on Steam later. They want their own DRM nation, don't let them have it.
hmm, not sure that I get what would stop people from sniffin the traffic and using etc/host to your own server to make the game *think* it is in contact with them. with that said, what's the issue again?
Quite a few times on games Ive legally brought, either their registration sever was down, wanted to put the game on a laptop with no dvd drive, got a message this game has been registered more than 5 times, didnt want to pull the disk out every time I played, etc.....So I download a pirated crack or patch for the game, that I just bought, to fix overzealous or broken drm.
The 5 remaining people with dial up internet won't be able to play a game in the 21st century.
I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
And once again the pirated version of a game will have greater functionality than the purchased copies