News

EA will be "locked and loaded" for SimCity's demand for Internet
Posted: 17.07.2012 14:00 by Simon Priest Comments: 8
Maxis' Lucy Bradshaw affirms that EA won't drop the ball when it comes time to launch SimCity next year. Fans have been nervous over the revelation it requires a constant net connection.

EA's recent launch of online games has been "really quite flawless," boasted Bradshaw, citing Star Wars: The Old Republic as one of the "most absolutely stable MMO launches". No worries then?

Okay, but happens if it DOES actually lose Internet? The Maxis bigwig didn't go into specifics but did allude to a "nice, graceful way" of dealing with the particular situation.

It seems Maxis is designing the game to survive with Internet loss while needing it at the same time. Overall she's confident that EA has the chops and the record as proof that they can keep SimCity's online needs fed. "If you’ve seen some of our recent launches they’ve been really quite flawless. Battlefield had huge amounts of players and stayed extremely stable, and think SWTOR was one of the most absolutely stable MMO launches," Lucy Bradshaw said.

Should it lose that thread to the wider world then Maxis "have a nice, graceful way of dealing with those kind of things so that you’re not going to lose stuff. That’s the beauty of it being asynchronous, is that we are able to be very graceful about how that online connection works and stuff."

“I think we’re going to be in a really great place,” she added.

The problem is necessarily EA's servers but the reliability of the clients'. Why is the 2013 bound SimCity wanting to connect online all the time anyway? "What we’re giving you is a lot of choice in terms of how you play. You can play connected with friends but you can also take an entire region on by yourself – you’re not going to really witness the fact that this is anything keeping you from exploring the space or doing what you want in terms of how you play," she explained.

“I think that what we wanted to do was give SimCity a context. In the past Sim Cities were these kind of isolated little islands, they had their own closed economies. What we wanted to do was put you, in a sense, where you had kind of motivation and purpose and context.”

Source: PC Gamer
Related games: SimCity (2013) (PC)

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Comments

By lichlord (SI Core) on Jul 17, 2012
lichlord
we all know what everyone thinks no connection they still are going to do it so they can use origin or some other crap to keep eyes with their polluting shit...
By nocutius (SI Elite) on Jul 17, 2012
nocutius
The benefits they are alluding to are minor in relation to possible headaches a constant internet connection can cause.

Steam would not have been half as big without the offline mode.
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Jul 17, 2012
herodotus
Actually, I do not really see the issue as any MMO is prone to downtimes of up to 12 hours or, as with "SW:TOR" 2 hour service periods that often sat squarely in the general play time for those in different time zones - but folks, despite some whinging accepted it. So that kind of flies in the face of Bradshaw stating that MMO was and is stable. it's hasn't been and isn't.
Still this is meant as a MMO-style game so I'd expect constant connection.
By nocutius (SI Elite) on Jul 17, 2012
nocutius
But this is basically a single player game, all those minor influences the neighboring cities/players are supposed to have are irrelevant.
But I get you, as long as the majority accepts it the rest of don't have much of a choice if we wanna keep gaming.
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Jul 17, 2012
herodotus
The only real issue with requiring a constant internet connection, besides the obvious down-times, is if you have a slow connection, are in a remote locale with poor networking or you wish to play while travelling. I think far too many gamers see this "constant online connection required" and simply reiterate the negative posts made by others without any real understanding as to why they are objecting.

I'm definitely not placing either of you guys into that category, but that's how this sort of thing gets such a large bad rep. I agree that SP games should be bought, owned and played however this is not the way gaming is evolving. Adapt or die....basically:)
By lichlord (SI Core) on Jul 17, 2012
lichlord
well if people are getting banned for cheatng in diablo 3 SP for example its just going to far it creates the whole anti-DRM for a part i don't mind if its like steam with an offline mod button but lets think really do we all really need a constant network or is it just another way for companies to demand more money for it? we all know the pirates just crack it even its only an emulator and then use hamachi or idk tunngle to play it online with friends...
By Netuno (SI Newbie) on Aug 26, 2012
Netuno
The truth about new SimCity (2013)
SimCity (2013): The Deception Continues ...

sc2013thedeception.blogspot.com
By nocutius (SI Elite) on Aug 26, 2012
nocutius
Hehe Netuno, you seem to be really pissed at them for posting this in all simcity related news :).
But I get you, it doesn't feel good when one of your favorite franchises disappoints.