The unlimited internet pricing for the same amount is possible because the lines are already laid, and the infrastructure is already in place. Data does not cost money to produce the way electricity or water does -- and to try and argue otherwise creates an artificial scarcity that only benefits the cable cartels.
Next SimCity? It has been nearly a decade since the last.
But look at EA's production model. Madden: Released annually. Battlefield: Annually (or thereabouts). The Sims: Just as often as they can get away with, it seems like.
So yes, if they can drive SimCity into the ground through releasing a new version every year with always-on DRM, they will.
My maternal grandmother uses a few dozen MB a month, she does almost nothing beyond email a couple times a week, look up the odd recipe and a little online banking. My paternal grandfather does even less with his Net connection. Both are on fixed income.
Given my bandwidth usage, I'd have to pay about $1,000 a month to get what I have now for about $70. I'm not seeing what's "highly disruptive" about that.
I'd also vote for neither, but the only way to get that is to propose a better system than this one. Out of nearly 90 comments so far, I'm not seeing anyone with a valid suggestion to that effect.
I don't know about UPlay or Battle.net, but Origin -- at least with Dragon Age and DA2 -- should work OK in offline mode, no? The saved games are stored on my local hard drive, so there's no always-on requirement.
I don't get it. If you hate EA, why do you give a shit? You're getting upset because a company isn't doing something you wish they would do? Who gives a fuck? You're not buying their shit anyway.
Because we want to make sure EA and other companies get the message that pulling shit like this is bad for business.
It's like you've gone all obsessive about a beautiful but super-cunty woman and you hate her SOOO bad because she won't give you a blow job, so you rant and rave about it.
Actually, it's not like that at all, but nice try, you misogynistic shitwaffle.
Hopefully EA will learn from the experience and buff up its servers ahead of the game's official European launch on Friday.
As nice as that would be, it's the wrong lesson. The lesson EA needs to learn here is the same one that every other video game publisher has to learn: don't build inherently single-player games with always-on requirements! There was no reason for this in SimCity.
Maybe the next SimCity will learn that lesson from this one. Maybe EA will release a patch that offers the option of offline play. We can hope... but as it stands now, I wouldn't be surprised if this is the end of the SimCity series -- Maxis' version of Master of Orion III, if you will.
In it he argues that some of the gay marriage laws have been enacted by judicial fiat and not by vote. He says that the process of enacting laws without consent will end democracy in America.
Just like the Supreme Court ended democracy in America with its Brown v. Board of Education decision... oh, wait.
Granted that the plural of "anecdote" is not data, but aren't former Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) and former pastor Ted Haggard some pretty blatant examples of exactly what GP posited?
Cars DO NOT like law obeying cyclists as much as they pretend.
The way to get this in the open is to religiously follow the law. That may or may not include taking the lane as required for one's own safety.
Personally, when I'm driving, I'll slow down for bicyclists or give them the lane... because I've been there, and because I see them as more than an inconvenience. And let's be honest, if I'm running late, it's not because of the bicyclist -- it's because I didn't leave early enough.
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No, no and no.
The unlimited internet pricing for the same amount is possible because the lines are already laid, and the infrastructure is already in place. Data does not cost money to produce the way electricity or water does -- and to try and argue otherwise creates an artificial scarcity that only benefits the cable cartels.
Next SimCity? It has been nearly a decade since the last.
But look at EA's production model. Madden: Released annually. Battlefield: Annually (or thereabouts). The Sims: Just as often as they can get away with, it seems like.
So yes, if they can drive SimCity into the ground through releasing a new version every year with always-on DRM, they will.
Then the question is, do your parents need "unlimited" high-speed Internet? Or could they make do with something like dialup or a tethering solution?
My maternal grandmother uses a few dozen MB a month, she does almost nothing beyond email a couple times a week, look up the odd recipe and a little online banking. My paternal grandfather does even less with his Net connection. Both are on fixed income.
There's still dialup.
Highly disruptive. Sure. Whatever.
Given my bandwidth usage, I'd have to pay about $1,000 a month to get what I have now for about $70. I'm not seeing what's "highly disruptive" about that.
Clippy was Jar Jar Binks before Jar Jar was ... actually, you know what, nevermind.
So whose splines do I have to matriculate to get that ability back?
I'd also vote for neither, but the only way to get that is to propose a better system than this one. Out of nearly 90 comments so far, I'm not seeing anyone with a valid suggestion to that effect.
How about "nothing"? How does that work for ya?
I don't know about UPlay or Battle.net, but Origin -- at least with Dragon Age and DA2 -- should work OK in offline mode, no? The saved games are stored on my local hard drive, so there's no always-on requirement.
I don't get it. If you hate EA, why do you give a shit? You're getting upset because a company isn't doing something you wish they would do? Who gives a fuck? You're not buying their shit anyway.
Because we want to make sure EA and other companies get the message that pulling shit like this is bad for business.
It's like you've gone all obsessive about a beautiful but super-cunty woman and you hate her SOOO bad because she won't give you a blow job, so you rant and rave about it.
Actually, it's not like that at all, but nice try, you misogynistic shitwaffle.
Boss: So help me god, if you actually think my answer would be yes I may have to throw you out of the window.
Programmer: With or without the chair?
Mod parent up. It's some spot-on truth from Gaiman: "You're not losing books, you're not losing sales, by having that stuff up there ..."
They've taken a single player game and made a barely functional multi-player game, that if you really want to you can play by yourself.
FTFY.
The obscenity here, though, isn't that the servers were failed -- it's that the game was designed to need them in the first place.
And if SimCity were available on Steam and not Origin, you might have an argument.
Funny, regions seemed to work just fine in SimCity 4.
And if you believe that, I have some oceanfront property near Denver to sell you.
SimCity 3000 was released 13 years ago. Care to guess how much desktop computing power has advanced since then? Here's a hint: A lot.
From the Ars Technica story:
Hopefully EA will learn from the experience and buff up its servers ahead of the game's official European launch on Friday.
As nice as that would be, it's the wrong lesson. The lesson EA needs to learn here is the same one that every other video game publisher has to learn: don't build inherently single-player games with always-on requirements! There was no reason for this in SimCity.
Maybe the next SimCity will learn that lesson from this one. Maybe EA will release a patch that offers the option of offline play. We can hope ... but as it stands now, I wouldn't be surprised if this is the end of the SimCity series -- Maxis' version of Master of Orion III, if you will.
A gate made of phone books, perhaps?
Those people are not worth the oxygen they breathe.
In it he argues that some of the gay marriage laws have been enacted by judicial fiat and not by vote. He says that the process of enacting laws without consent will end democracy in America.
Just like the Supreme Court ended democracy in America with its Brown v. Board of Education decision ... oh, wait.
Granted that the plural of "anecdote" is not data, but aren't former Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) and former pastor Ted Haggard some pretty blatant examples of exactly what GP posited?
Trespassing, then.
Cabbies sound worse, if for no other reason than the half ton of metal they're wielding.
Cars DO NOT like law obeying cyclists as much as they pretend.
The way to get this in the open is to religiously follow the law. That may or may not include taking the lane as required for one's own safety.
Personally, when I'm driving, I'll slow down for bicyclists or give them the lane ... because I've been there, and because I see them as more than an inconvenience. And let's be honest, if I'm running late, it's not because of the bicyclist -- it's because I didn't leave early enough.