Category Archives: Origin

SimCity developer Maxis has rolled out a new 3.0 patch for its world-building title, tweaking traffic, hotels and much more. It’s a biggie.

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EA has begun rolling out a new version of PC platform Origin, adjusting the system’s interface and adding new features.

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EA has bundled a piece of SimCity DLC with specially-marked Crest and Oral-B products.

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SimCity will be released for Mac in June, and players of the PC version will be able to play with one another across servers. Players who have previously purchased SimCity for PC, either as a physical or a digital copy will receive the Mac version as a free digital download on Origin. It arrives on the digital distribution service June 11.

The SimCity Facebook page confirms that cheetah speed is now available in-game. Some servers have been lucky enough to have the fastest speed available for quite some time, but even those of you in the busiest regions should now have access. Maxis also noted that update 2.0 is on the way.

Thanks, Blue’s News.

If you can stomach looking at the word “Nissan” from time to time, head over to Origin to grab the Leaf Station, a free piece of DLC bearing the car manufacturer’s brand. The charging station gives a one-time boost to business happiness in surrounding areas, boosts happiness for each sim that uses it, requires no water, power or workers, and produces no waste or pollution. The DLC will be available for just six months.

Thanks, games.on.net.

DICE GM Karl Magnus Troedsson has said war and “geo-politics” will be more of a background element to Battlefield 4′s story instead of the main focus.

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EA Labels boss Frank Gibeau says DRM isn’t something EA is interested in anymore, and therefore not the reason SimCity has an always-on Internet requirement.

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Maxis has patched SimCity to version 1.8, which is available the moment you fire it up. Improvements have been made to text, roads and general fixes such as police stations no longer being able to hold more prisoners than the max capacity, and more. The full patch notes are below. Thanks, Blue.

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Maxis has issued a new patch for SimCity with some much-discussed fixes for traffic congestion. As well as helping clear your streets, the patch helps emergency vehicles make it to their targets, ensures all buildings can be demolished, and adds some performance improvements for ageing rigs. Plus, a new server – Asia 2 – launches today. Full patch notes are available on the EA forums. Despite its troubled launch, SimCity made 1.1 million sales.

Thanks, Gamespot.

EA’s Origin service now has 40 million members, according to the firm. This is up from 39 million announced during its Q3 financials in January. The firm gained another 2 million new registrations in January 2013 alone, and with the launch of SimCity, the service saw 1.3 million concurrent users at its peak. To celebrate, Origin is hosting a Player Appreciation Sale for one week, with up to 70% off on select titles. It was reported earlier today that Origin contains an exploit which could allow hackers to hijack PCs. Thanks, Gamespot.

Presenting at the Black Hat conference in Amsterdam, as reported by ArsTechnica, security experts at ReVuln highlighted a potential exploit in Origin. Essentially, the exploit could allow hackers to send your browser to an auto-download malware site when you try to launch a game – but most browsers guard against this kind of thing, and ReVuln did not explain how hackers would be able to manipulate your Origin client in the first place. ReVuln was also responsible for exposing possible flaws in Steam, CryEngine and IW Engine.

Thanks, PCGamesN.

SimCity’s everyone’s favourite whipping boy at the moment, but that hasn’t stopped it selling like tasty Canadian hotcakes and attracting more users to Origin than ever before.

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SimCity buyers who register their copy before March 25 can get one of eight free EA titles on Origin as compensation for the game’s shaky launch issues.

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As discussed in a previous update, EA Maxis will patch SimCity to do something about the currently unavoidable and nonsensical traffic jams which ruin everything, forever.

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Mayor Brenna reigns over one bustling metropolis and a few more more half-developed shells serving only as fodder for the people of SpecDraqular. This is city-building at its finest, apparently.

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EA Maxis has launched an official SimCity server status page, showing the current condition of all regional servers. Go ahead and bookmark it, but maybe hold off visiting just yet because at time of writing it’s returning looping errors rather than useful information. Possibly this is because everyone’s trying to look at it at once, which is kind of perfect, given the social sim’s launch struggles. The latest on dit is that Maxis could take the game offline with little trouble, but Maxis boss Lucy Bradshaw says the problems are almost under control.

Thanks, Joystiq.

It’s friendly reminder time. Visceral Games’ Dead Space 3: Awakened DLC has launched on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

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SimCity is close to farewelling its persistent launch issues, EA Maxis boss Lucy Bradshaw has said.

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All three Mass Effect games are on sale on Origin, according to Joystiq. You can apparently grab all of them at about half-price, for a total of $25, and the sale is valid through March 12. I can’t find any mention of the offer on my end, which suggests it may be restricted to the US. The sale marks the third game’s one-year anniversary, as well as an end to DLC support.