[dLMN8R]

[edit] Note that this thread was created before EA announced that an online connection was required after all. See the latest posts in this thread, and the other thread here.






Original thread for posterity's sake:

Thought this was worthy of its own thread, but if mods feel otherwise, feel free to move to the main thread here: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=465738

Anyway, Shacknews posted an article that I think is a lot more important than they do:

http://www.shacknews.com/article/728...-online-design

One of the goals of SimCity is to make it a game you can "play anywhere." In order to do that, it relies on cloud storage. Because the game save is in the cloud, players will have a continuous save file that they can access from multiple devices--such as (but not limited to) an internet browser. Games like SimCity are "data-driven," meaning it will only require "small upload bandwidth" to have a continuous gaming experience.

This is freaking huge. SimCity is basically designed from the ground up to support playing it anywhere, on any device. They haven't outright said as much, but one can easily presume they have HTML5, iOS, Android, Mac, etc. front-ends in the works. Your data would be easily portable between them, and the back-end simulation could stay the same on every device. The only thing that would have to change is the visual presentation of it all.


Yet don't be scared:

And while online is a key feature for SimCity, Maxis has implemented an asynchronous server model, so that there's "no reliance on a dedicated live server" in order to continue playing the game. That's a philosophy that Ubisoft would best learn from.

[Staal]

I would love to have Simcity on my Vita. the touchscreen would be excellent for it.

[Wario64]

I would love to have Simcity on my Vita. the touchscreen would be excellent for it.

I want it on my new iPad

[maniac-kun]

Webbrowser would be awesome if it dosnt require plugins.

[Xanathus]

It's being published by EA so I bet there's going to be a gotcha somewhere, I'm guessing monthly fee required for online connectivity and cloud services.

[Littlegator]

I want it on my new iPad

[dLMN8R]

It's being published by EA so I bet there's going to be a gotcha somewhere, I'm guessing monthly fee required for online connectivity and cloud services.

Considering that the entire game revolves around them, that would be a silly and cynical assumption.

[animlboogy]

So is this going to be my third Sim City game on a phone? I'm such a sucker for this series.

[Keasar]

There has to be a catch, just has to be!

[zomgbbqftw]

Give me a Vita version and I will pay hundreds. SimCity 5 on the go? Fuck yeah.

[Chittagong]

Superb and simple idea, multiscreen access, one franchise.

Just scale the input, features and exprience for each platform.

I can see this being huge.

[Cosmo Clock 21]

There has to be a catch, just has to be!

origin only

[bjb]

I've been playing Anon for a few months, but the growing hype of Sim City has me ready to uninstall it.

[Black-Box]

I don't care what people say, I like internet browsers for games now, there's no point in a menu screen when you are just going to be looking at it for a second.

[Anony]

what?
i can do that too
upload save to mediafire or something, then redownload it where/whenever i want
and it's not 'always online'

is this suppose to be a big deal or something

[Leonsito]

Redirect save folder to Dropbox -> Profit

[massoluk]

Uh, I supposed the graphics on Internet Browser version will be dumbed down?

[TheExodu5]

what? i can do that too upload save to mediafire or something, then redownload it where/whenever i want and it's not 'always online'

Yeah, because that's totally the same thing.

Might as well say PS1 games have cloud storage since you can plug in your memorycard to a USB adapter, copy the files to your PC, upload them to mediafire, download them off another PC, copy them back to another memory card with another USB adapter, and play it on another PS1.

[The Albatross]

I'd kill to have this on my home computer, work computer, and iPad. I can see this being huge.

[dLMN8R]

Uh, I supposed the graphics on Internet Browser version will be dumbed down?

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/d...lmicpokoefkgid
http://news.softpedia.com/news/From-...h-257082.shtml

So no, not really.

[Bomber Bob]

I want it on my The New iPad

Fixed

[Dennis]

What happened to PC only?

[bodyboarder]

Sounds too good to be true. Though would
be awesome.

[TheFightingFish]

I want it on my new iPad

Can't argue with that being a pretty solid fit for the platform. Minus the UI information density having to be a little bit low to support finger input versus mouse input.

[Leonsito]

What happened to PC only?

Didn't you hear that iPad will lead the Post PC world?

[dLMN8R]

What happened to PC only?

Well, the PC version is still the only one that's been announced so far. This is just the technicality of how it works that enables them to easily bring it to other platforms if and when they choose to do so.

[Dennis]

Let me be honest, I wish they would Dreamcast this idea and just focus on one thing: making a PC SimCity V that is a worthy successor and not all this social/cloud/whatever that I have no interest in.

[Emitan]

Wait, for the new one announced at GDC? OMG

[Durante]

Let me be honest, I wish they would Dreamcast this idea and just focus on one thing: making a PC SimCity V that is a worthy successor and not all this social/cloud/whatever that I have no interest in.

I agree. But the videos of the game make me hopeful that this is just a severely dumbed down "anywhere-interface" to the game, since what we've seen in the GDC presentation certainly won't run in a browser.

[zoku88]

Let me be honest, I wish they would Dreamcast this idea and just focus on one thing: making a PC SimCity V that is a worthy successor and not all this social/cloud/whatever that I have no interest in.

Since the internet browser thing wasn't in quotes, I'm going to guess the whole "play anywhere" thing was more talking about playing on different PCs rather than different devices.

So, for the people worrying, I wouldn't worry too much.

[Emitan]

Can't believe how casual Quake Live is. All the depth from Quake was removed! You can't fit depth into a web browser! It's impossible!

[Berordn]

I agree. But the videos of the game make me hopeful that this is just a severely dumbed down "anywhere-interface" to the game, since what we've seen in the GDC presentation certainly won't run in a browser.

What about a browser that has direct access to the GPU? We're not talking Flash games here.

[Notrollious]

There has to be a catch. There just has to be. From what I've been reading this is the true and perfect successor to the older Sim City games...

I'm getting my hopes up, and I worry that they'll be dashed.

[Zoator]

When they say the cloud save file could be "accessed from an Internet browser," it sounds to me like they mean you can download your save from the cloud using an Internet browser (not necessarily that you'll be able to actually play the game in the browser itself).

[Mister Saturn]

With cloud-saving, EA can just hold your save data hostage now instead of outright banning your account for using their message boards.

[Emitan]

With cloud-saving, EA can just hold your save data hostage now instead of outright banning your account for using their message boards.

Are they going to come to my house and take my hard drive?

[Raoh]

iPad/iPhone/Vita and I'm happy..

Maybe PS3/PS4 browser?


Throw it on Apple TV as well damn it.

[dLMN8R]

Let me be honest, I wish they would Dreamcast this idea and just focus on one thing: making a PC SimCity V that is a worthy successor and not all this social/cloud/whatever that I have no interest in.

There is absolutely nothing whatsoever that indicates that SimCity will be anything but a groundbreaking, deep simulation, and the most worthy successor to 4 as possible.

Enabling the ability to interact with friends' cities (without that being a requirement) is a perfectly natural extension of the previous games.

With cloud-saving, EA can just hold your save data hostage now instead of outright banning your account for using their message boards.

No, they can't, considering that the OP (heck, the subject of the thread) specifically says you don't need any sort of internet connection to play.

[inky]

There has to be a catch, just has to be!

EA.

[dLMN8R]

Bumping this thread to raise awareness of the fact that SimCity was intentionally designed with the ability to play offline, yet EA is instituting an always-online requirement "because fuck you that's why"

[Lyphen]

Well, this certainly is confusing.

[Emitan]

You don't have to be online unless you want to play the game.

[TeegsD]

Bumping this thread to raise awareness of the fact that SimCity was intentionally designed with the ability to play offline, yet EA is instituting an always-online requirement "because fuck you that's why"

Fucking hell

[markot]

Feh people give blizz a free pass with this crap. Its just drm.

[inky]

There has to be a catch, just has to be! EA.

Prophetic words by this man right here.

[dLMN8R]

:-( I should have known better

[Xanathus]

It's being published by EA so I bet there's going to be a gotcha somewhere, I'm guessing monthly fee required for online connectivity and cloud services.

Still isn't too late for them to announce monthly fees.

[MiniBossBattle]

I would love a portable SimCity.

[dLMN8R]

*ahem*

In the wake of Rock Paper Shotgun's article with a "Maxis insider" saying that SimCity could be easily built to work offline, just reminding everyone that Maxis themselves confirmed a year ago that there's "no reliance on a dedicated live server"

[Xanathus]

Still isn't too late for them to announce monthly fees.

Maybe they should charge a monthly fee in order to alleviate their server costs.