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[SteveWinwood]

It's not just a case of DRM. The game is designed with core features of the simulation to be run on the cloud. It's a completely different beast than simple "Digital Rights".

They designed it that way because it's a fancy way of drm. It has those features because they wanted it to. It wasn't just a oh if we do this I guess it has to be online!

Nothing in this game couldn't have been done completely offline.

 

[legacyzero]

A sign of things to come if they're serious about always online as the "future".

 

[ForteanMan]

This whole situation has gone from interesting to bizarre in only a matter of days. I wonder what the next step is for EA assuming that they actually wish to save this game?

 

[Joe Shlabotnik]

they should straight up put it on sale for $15 tomorrow or something, i'd buy it

I don't think they're looking for a massive influx of new purchasers right now.

 

[Kiryu]

Screw EA

 

[Empty Space]

How bad is this relative to the Diablo III launch? A lot of people bitched back then, but it wasn't that bad as somebody who'd play through a big MMO launch. Is this the same case here?

 

[old manatee]

But has Polygon suspended its EA marketing campaign?

 

[Bisnic]

This whole situation has gone from interesting to bizarre in only a matter of days. I wonder what the next step is for EA assuming that they actually wish to save this game?

They'll probably act like nothing happened after they fixed the server issues. Just like Blizzard with Diablo 3. They will say "sorry" and never mention it again months later.

 

[dreamfall]

This is awful. Hilarious that the article is being reported by Polygon too. 9.5, forever and always~

 

[TheSeks]

stop actively promoting the game. only thing i can think of is the bad press lol.

Same. Was there any positive promotion before this train derailed coming out of the train building station half-complete?

 

[SolidSnakex]

This whole situation has gone from interesting to bizarre in only a matter of days. I wonder what the next step is for EA assuming that they actually wish to save this game?

If the game isn't as online integrated as we've been lead to believe, then they should figure out how to patch it so that there's an offline mode. That still seems unlikely, but it's really the best course of action that they can take. It started out with just gamers on forums ripping them. Now the media is tearing them apart. The inability to play this game was even one of Yahoo's top stories yesterday.

 

[massoluk]

LOL, it has come to this? EA? EA is asking people to not selling the game so it can fix the kink ? EA?

BWAHAHAHAHA.

 

[Neuromancer]

How bad is this relative to the Diablo III launch? A lot of people bitched back then, but it wasn't that bad as somebody who'd play through a big MMO launch. Is this the same case here?

I wasn't there for D3 but from I gather this has been way worse.

 

[antitrop]

IGN (of all fucking places) just put up a pretty decent article:

SimCity Burning: A Warning to Microsoft, Sony, and All Publishers on The Dangers of Always-Online DRM -- Why it's just not worth it.

 

[Salsa]

I'd spend $0 on something I couldn't play.

$15 is a lot more tempting for something that I could play eventually

I don't think they're looking for a massive influx of new purchasers right now.

lol, granted

 

[dragonelite]

It's not just a case of DRM. The game is designed with core features of the simulation to be run on the cloud. It's a completely different beast than simple "Digital Rights".

And despite what a lot of uneducated people think. You can't just "flip a switch" and turn that functionality off like DRM

The social features?

 

[+Aliken+]

Can they un-DRM it with a patch?
They need to do this after everything that has happened

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

I hope other companies (and console makers) are watching closely.

 

[Domstercool]

How bad is this relative to the Diablo III launch? A lot of people bitched back then, but it wasn't that bad as somebody who'd play through a big MMO launch. Is this the same case here?

Diablo III was nowhere near as bad as this. EU side was sorted after a day, and that was a worldwide release on the same day.

 

[Perkel]

It's not just a case of DRM. The game is designed with core features of the simulation to be run on the cloud. It's a completely different beast than simple "Digital Rights".

And despite what a lot of uneducated people think. You can't just "flip a switch" and turn that functionality off like DRM

Designed my ass. Those "core" features don't need to be simulated on server PC are perfectly capable of doing much more than this. They did it to have online DRM. D3 also has server side gameplay parts that simply don't need to be calculated on server. They did choose that because of DRM. Call it what you want but it is not acceptable and it is dickery to your customers who pay for game.

 

[Interfectum]

What's crazy is SimCity is such a powerful franchise... they are literally destroying decades of goodwill for what? DRM bullshit? Hope it was worth it.

 

[SteveWinwood]

How bad is this relative to the Diablo III launch? A lot of people bitched back then, but it wasn't that bad as somebody who'd play through a big MMO launch. Is this the same case here?

That was unplayable the night of, and parts of the next day. It cooled off after that.

They also didn't have to disable major features.

This is a lot worse.

 

[Savitar]

I can't remember the last time I've had so much fun with a video game that I never played.

 

[SolarPowered]

Can they un-DRM it with a patch?
They need to do this after everything that has happened

Somewhere within the bowels of EA there is probably a highly paid and important suit that won't have any of that regardless of what the devs or customers have to say.

Maybe

I hope other companies (and console makers) are watching closely.

Yeah, Nintendo is probably shaking their head at this whole mess. Valve is most likely just laughing. Only God knows what is going at Sony and MS Headquarters.

 

[Archer]

Polygon to shut down.

yep. don't ask those kind of questions if you want to keep your revenue stream.

 

[McLovin]

I guess it's definitely not a tale of two cities.

Spoiler

I have no clue what I'm saying

Seems like something that Space Ghost from coast to coast would say lol

 

[R1CHO]

I wasn't there for D3 but from I gather this has been way worse.

I don't know man, D3 was fucking awful with the multiple errors, and even when you could play the game the lag on "single player" was pretty bad.

 

[SteveWinwood]

Designed my ass. Those "core" features don't need to be simulated on server PC are perfectly capable of doing much more than this. They did it to have online DRM. D3 also has server side gameplay parts that simply don't need to be calculated on server. They did choose that because of DRM. Call it what you want but it is not acceptable and it is dickery to your customers who pay for game.

Brah don't you want to trade your oil to your friends and message them?

 

[PastorOfMuppets]

I'm a launch day D3 player and the server issues weren't nearly as bad as what I'm hearing from Sim City. Diablo 3 still has a ton of unresolved issues but they've been well covered in the 45 billion Diablo 3 threads on the internet.

 

[Beelzeboss]

This is why you always make a single player.

Good screw up EA

 

[dispensergoinup]

Damn, this makes D3's mess look like a cakewalk. Jesus.

 

[JaxJag]

An online only DRM future is a glorious future.

 

[ForteanMan]

If the game isn't as online integrated as we've been lead to believe, then they should figure out how to patch it so that there's an offline mode. That still seems unlikely, but it's really the best course of action that they can take. It started out with just gamers on forums ripping them. Now the media is tearing them apart. The inability to play this game was even one of Yahoo's top stories yesterday.

That's been the most fascinating aspect. It probably has a lot to do with how broad SimCity's cache is in the public. I don't remember, or maybe my memory is just poor, the outrage about ME3's ending stirring up quite this much controversy.

 

[SGRX]

I guess it's definitely not a tale of two cities.

Spoiler

I have no clue what I'm saying

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

 

[qwerty2k]

IGN (of all fucking places) just put up a pretty decent article:

SimCity Burning: A Warning to Microsoft, Sony, and All Publishers on The Dangers of Always-Online DRM -- Why it's just not worth it.

well...i just visited that site and clicked play and their ign news of them talking about sim city burning down was preceded by a Sim City advert ffs

 

[Empty Space]

I wasn't there for D3 but from I gather this has been way worse.

Diablo III was nowhere near as bad as this. EU side was sorted after a day, and that was a worldwide release on the same day.

That was unplayable the night of, and parts of the next day. It cooled off after that.

They also didn't have to disable major features.

This is a lot worse.

Alright good to have perspective. People tend to over react about this stuff, but this seems to not be the case here.

 

[Morts]

Can they un-DRM it with a patch?
They need to do this after everything that has happened

Probably, but why do people think this would be any faster/easier for them than resolving the server issues?

 

[Won]

That's quite something.
Not sure how we got here or where all this will end, but this is an amazing journey so far.

 

[TheSeks]

This is awful. Hilarious that the article is being reported by Polygon too. 9.5, forever and always~

Is it really surprising?. "Game's awesome until it's servers affect me, then it sucks!"

Polygon has always been a joke with that dude being hired from day one.

Spoiler

Yes, he may be "joking." But given his past, I don't see it that way.

 

[lantus]

Yuuup, ya dun fucked up EA.

 

[DaBuddaDa]

That's been the most fascinating aspect. It probably has a lot to do with how broad SimCity's cache is in the public. I don't remember, or maybe my memory is just poor, the outrage about ME3's ending stirring up quite this much controversy.

Of course not, there's a huge difference between a disappointing product and one that is functionally broken.

 

[Can Crusher]

Instead of making people want to play the game online, they are forcing it. That's what's wrong and I'm glad this shit is bombing in their face.

EA is trying to stop people from buying their game, that's show bad it is.

Imagine if some group found a way of making this game playable offline before EA solved their problems? Man that would be just the most hilarious thing ever.

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

yep. don't ask those kind of questions if you want to keep your revenue stream.

This is getting old.

 

[Shard]

Why this shit storm didn't really happen with Blizzard and D3? There were complains from fans, but no this level of media cover, and at the end, they didn't give a shit, got the moneys and run.

There are differences, aside from the obvious Blizzard biases. Diablo III never got this bad, this disaster worse then both Diablo III and Assassian's Creed II because it combines the problems. The game is not only unplayable most of the time, but saves are getting corrupted and features are being torn out in order to make it playable.

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

Stop giving EA your money people.™

Every time you buy and then complain, they don't learn anything.

 

[Boss Man]

I hope this is as big of a disaster as it needs to be to reinforce that always-online is bullshit.

Which means they will probably need to be sued.

 

[AngryMoth]

I hope it's reached the point where they won't try to pull this shit again, at least for a while. Surely they realise it has cost them far more than the sales they would supposedly gain from the drm. I lost interest in the game when I saw the city sizes on the Giant Bomb QL, but that notwithstanding I had no plans to buy the game this week after seeing what happened with Diablo 3.

 

[Bsigg12]

This keeps getting better and better

Fixed!

This is a fantastic train wreck to watch.

 

[dreamfall]

Is it really surprising?. "Game's awesome until it's servers affect me, then it sucks!"

Polygon has always been a joke with that dude being hired from day one.

Spoiler

Yes, he may be "joking." But given his past, I don't see it that way.

Aha, seriously.

Utter shitshow on both EA's part and Polygon. Revising review scores through directed playtesting on "EA servers" should merit no score. Even IGN waited to put that up- a new low.

 

[dan999]

Bet MS is regreting making a deal with EA right about now.