Thu, Mar 07, 2013 | 23:06 GMT
SimCity: EA disables non-critical features to ease server issues
SimCity server woes continue, and EA is working around the clock to put them right. In the meantime the publisher has switched off some of the game’s non-essential features to ease the weight currently bearing down on the game’s servers.
Over on the EA Forum, a post from the community manager discussed the situation.
“We are continuing to do everything we can to address the server issuesm” the post explained. “In the meantime, so that we can give you as good an experience as possible, we are in the process of deploying a hotfix to all servers.
“This includes various improvements and also disables a few non-critical gameplay features (leaderboards, achievements and region filters). Disabling these features will in no way affect your core gameplay experience.
“We will continue to let you know as we have more information. We know it has been said before, but we do appreciate your patience as we complete this latest update. Getting you playing is our absolute highest priority.”
We’ll have more as we get it. Meanwhile, see the rest of this unfolding saga here.
15 comments
#1
DSB
07/03/13, 4:53 pm
I borrowed an account and managed to play a bit yesterday.
It’s just not a very good game. It’s like a mix between Cityville, The Sims and Simcity, and that takes away a lot of the things that actually made the series great.
It used to be all about expanding, creating the best designs, and the satisfaction of watching your masterpiece in between.
Now it’s about “plopping” shit down and watching little people run around. It’s just not very satisfying even if it did work properly, which it doesn’t. Good luck finding your friends.
It does lead to a bit of good humor. The regions of “EASUCKS” and “EA/MAXISSUCKS” sound like very enjoyable places, and there are quite a few to choose from.
#2
ps3fanboy
07/03/13, 5:32 pm
EA Hires 100s of Chinese Spammers to Post Positively About SimCity’s Always Online Requirement
link:
http://www.p4rgaming.com/?p=1473
simcity is shit and fuck ea, period!
#3
Talkar
07/03/13, 6:02 pm
@2
Yeah that seems like a reliable website. Serious accusations, no sources…
#4
OwnedWhenStoned
07/03/13, 6:18 pm
This amused me earlier…
Best review for SimCity so far:
http://www.jonathancresswell.co.uk/2013/03/review-simcity/
#5
The_Red
07/03/13, 6:50 pm
What does this new “always connected” singleplayer add to the gameplay that SimCity 4 lacked? NOTHING. That along with the super small size for individual cities kinda ruin what is a rather decent game experience.
#6
rusty_shackleford
07/03/13, 7:27 pm
Go look at the metacritic page for sim city.
Review score 82/100
User score 1.9/10
(and both scores are steadily going down, user score was at 2.7 yesterday, cant wait for tomorrow, can a game end up with a 0.1? lets watch EA make history)
Look at the discrepancy of ‘paid’ vs ‘actual users’
If you don’t think EA throws millions into viral marketing and other underhanded practices you are only fooling yourself.
#7
rusty_shackleford
07/03/13, 7:34 pm
http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/simcity/user-reviews?sort-by=score&num_items=100&dist=positive
This is sim city’s metacritc user scores sorted from high to low.
Click on every user who gave it a 10/10
As of right now (11:31am 03/7/13) almost ALL users who gave sim city a 10/10 have only rated 1 game on metacritic and its sim city. Theres a few users who have rated TWO games and 2 users who have more than 10 ratings.
The rest of the sim city ratings are all negative or 9/10s with the same issue(only rated sim city)
if you dont think EA paid for those few dozen 10/10s you are blind.
#8
The_Red
07/03/13, 7:43 pm
@6
I wouldn’t say the online reviewers were bought. It’s just that almost every single one of them played the game before release, on test servers which worked. Sites like GiantBomb that waited for actual launch before the review are the ones that have give it 6s and 5s instead of those unbelievable 9s and 8s.
#9
xxJPRACERxx
07/03/13, 8:05 pm
I have the game and for me so far it’s a solid 8.5. And these user reviews are a complete joke. Some people rate it 0 just because it’s EA or because of always on DRM. And let’s be honest, 95% of these bad reviews are written by people who don’t even have the game.
#10
DSB
07/03/13, 8:20 pm
@8 Doesn’t explain why so few actually see the bugs though. Transports going missing etc.
It’s not very well polished by any means.
I’m not saying they’re bought, I just don’t think they’re doing people a very good service.
#11
SplatteredHouse
07/03/13, 8:32 pm
Amazon, in the States, has now pulled the digital game from sale. EA should just pull the cable out and carry on build – oh.
#12
The_Red
07/03/13, 8:40 pm
@10
Are there that many bugs!? That + Always online for Singleplayer + Micro-transactions = WTF!?
@11
Wow, does their move have any precedent in gaming?
#13
DSB
07/03/13, 8:47 pm
@12 There seems to be a lot of problems with the functionality of cities trading with eachother.
Some of them are detailed here.
I had some of the same things happen during the short period that I was playing yesterday, and that’s really pretty shit, because the whole game revolves around only letting you play thes tiny plots, surrounded by more tiny plots, which they can become dependent on through trade.
So if those plots can’t specialize in something, and then trade with eachother for services, then you’ve got a real problem, because that’s fundamental to the gameplay itself.
#14
ps3fanboy
07/03/13, 9:11 pm
#9 xxJPRACERxx
is a hired ea chinese spammer so dont listen to that guy, he is full of it!
#15
xxJPRACERxx
07/03/13, 10:38 pm
@14 Show me a proof that you’ve played the game and then I’ll listen to what you have to say about it.