SimCity Update 4
I’m happy to report that the core problem with getting in and having a great SimCity experience is almost behind us. Our players have been able to connect to their cities in the game for nearly 8 million hours of gameplay time and we’ve reduced game crashes by 92% from day one.
A combination of optimizing our server architecture and response times, deploying these enhancements on both a series of new and the original servers and issuing a few critical client updates has achieved getting virtually everyone into the game and, once in, having a great time building cities and sharing regions.
I had hoped to issue an “All-Clear” tonight, but there are still some elements coming together. Tonight and tomorrow we’ll be monitoring each server and gameplay metrics to ensure that the service remains strong and game is playing great. We need a few more days of data before we can assure you that the problem is completely solved and the game is running at 100 percent.
The good news is that tens of thousands of new players are streaming into the game every day and the confidence our fans have shown is truly humbling. I can’t begin to explain the way a development team feels when something you’re proud of is threatened at launch. Our biggest fear was that people who love this franchise would be scared off by bad reviews about the connectivity issues.
But you put your faith in us. You bought the game with the understanding that we’d quickly fix the server issues. For that support – that incredible commitment from our fans -- we are deeply grateful. As the general manager of Maxis, I want you to know that we cherish your faith in us, and the love you’ve shown for this franchise.
Thank you very much.
Comments
"the core problem with
"the core problem with getting in and having a great SimCity experience is almost behind us."
So you're getting rid of the always logged in requirement?
Give it up. Online is here to
Give it up. Online is here to stay...
Thank you
Thank you
Only if we give up. The
Only if we give up. The expectation is they are the big company so they always win. I do not believe that is the case and I have no intention of ever shutting up until we've won
They don't give a shit if you
They don't give a shit if you shut up or not, all they give a shit about is all the $$$$$
and your saying that pissed
and your saying that pissed off customers and loss of money don't go together. How many people do you think who EA has refused to issue refunds too, went to the banks and got their money back. I hope they all did because they deserve the refund and EA deserves to get screwed out of that money. Im not saying EA won't make good profits with this game. But that they weren't incompetent jerks they probably would have made considerably more. Selling products does equal money. Consumer happiness and loyalty means more money. Also, its not in my nature to shut up.
Obviously not... Not if
Obviously not... Not if people put their money elsewhere. Your view is nothing more than a self-fulfilling prophecy.
we still hope, that they will
we still hope, that they will reconsider, and shift to offline. because online is killing the game. and will be the reason why many already quits playing, and more will do in the future.
There were a LOT of problems
There were a LOT of problems the first days after the launch, but those problems are nearly gone. The last two I've played, i had no problems at all!
Very true. My only problem is
Very true. My only problem is that each server runs parallel, and when a server is down for updates or just down to be full I am not able to access my region or city in ANY way. So I basically have to have about 5 instances of my city, which is annoying because the first instance is the largest and most valuable. I believe your regions should be accessible from any server, it is a big loss to not be able to play your favorite city because of too many people or an update.
Online is not here to stay,
Online is not here to stay, not yet at least. Gaming companies are inventing an age that does not exist yet. Servers are not reliable to save data too either as a primary storage. Don't get me wrong, online is cool, but unfortunately not legit enough just yet
It's getting old mate. Online
It's getting old mate. Online's benefits far outweigh any negatives.. You're being hipster and you know it.
You know, it wasn't until
You know, it wasn't until just the other day that I realized the greatest advantage that online game libraries offer... shelf space. I've always been an avid PC gamer and remember having shelves and shelves of game boxes. Now in the digital age all I need to hold onto are login names and passwords. It's much more convenient.
You don't need DRM to use the
You don't need DRM to use the storage cloud, though.
branding someone who asked
branding someone who asked off-line mode a hipster. just like the EA Korea official called their users 'potential pirates'. idiots.
Oh, you must not have had the
Oh, you must not have had the experience so far of their online servers rolling back your city. When you spent hours of time developing your city, you come home from work and load it up only to see... the last few hours work are nowhere in sight. You're looking at a city that's missing at least 4 hours of work and development. Yeah no thanks. I'd rather save to my computer.
And so far... I haven't experienced a SINGLE online benefit from this game. NOT A SINGLE ONE.
Region play? Teamwork?
Region play? Teamwork?
Well, SO FAR, I've not
Well, SO FAR, I've not successfully recruited a single person to play in regions i've made. And, haven't had any teamwork. I've had a region with three cities, but I was the mayor of all three cities. If I really wanna go single player and make multiple cities and design an even greater network; that's gonna take a lot of work. I could have done that in a single LARGE player map in an offline version. The online always part hasn't really affected my gameplay as far as that is concerned.
the definition of a hipster
the definition of a hipster is someone who wants to be different from everyone else. Since offline is technically a conservative aspect in gaming, if anything the people who just want online are hipsters
Where'd you get that
Where'd you get that definition? Being a "hipster" is the ultimate in conformity. It's trying to be "hip" or current". The direct opposite of non-conformism.
No. "hipster" As it's
No. "hipster" As it's commonly used nowadays online refers to someone who likes to think of themselves as "old school". Usually for example, if you liked Transformers in the 80's before it was the new thing; you'd be called a "hipster". Were you riding your bike everywhere before everyone got green? You'd be hipster. It's just a new way people use the word.
Hipster also has a cultural definition of men who wear badly put together vintage and thrift store clothing. Really short shorts with almost knee high socks, thick glasses, and have sideburns. They are called hipsters too.
What universe do you live in?
What universe do you live in? As far as i can tel there are no advantagedes to be online.
Get over it...the online
Get over it...the online experience is awesome. I hope there is never an offline mode. It's like sitting in the dark home alone like you do. Get out and experience the world!
You do understand that
You do understand that something like 93% of all gamers play games while sitting in a dark home, alone, and could give a rats ass about interacting with others, just like YOU do when writing a snarky reply. Stop trying to deflect your shame of being an internet forum warrior onto others with the freedom of internet anonymity you enjoy :)
Get out and experience the world!
I guess you are hinting he is
I guess you are hinting he is a socially awkward nerd, but it really is you who posts this unfriendly (anti-social) reply to a very normal question. Just explain to me why we are forced to be online in this game, even while playing a solo game with one city in one region?
Don't get me wrong: I like the online features of this game, but I should not be forced to be online all the time. I travel a lot and it is hard to find a working internet connection abroad. This means I cannot play the game, even solo, because EA wants me to be online all the time. What's more: cities are saved on the EA servers, which means I have to reconnect to whichever server I made the city on and if I lose the connection, my city is not synced.
No really, the online experience is awesome. NOT.
Ahhhh... no. If you want
Ahhhh... no. If you want that... turn off your computer and actually go into the real world. If you want on-line interaction... I direct you to Facebook or Second Life.
Online IS great, but i would
Online IS great, but i would enjoy an offline mode, for the times I wan't to play, but don't have access to internet...
Thanks for that opinion, but
Thanks for that opinion, but if your online "experience" is unplayable (I haven't even been able to finish downloading the damn patch yet) then you're still sitting alone in the even darker home, without even an offline mode to keep you company.
And what's with the retail disk only having the Origin application on it, and still having to download a 12Gb file that's the actual game? I don't, but many people have download limits on their monthly plans, you know. If I go to a shop to buy the retail box, I expect to have the install files for the game ON THAT DISC! If I'd wanted to buy the game online, I wouldn't have spent the petrol money to get out and get it... experience the world my foot >|<
For real, stfu already.
For real, stfu already.
These tiny build areas are
These tiny build areas are easily the second biggest problem... there is simply no real room to work. If anything... the build areas should have continued to grow. I understand the trade-offs and the reasons... it's just that I totally disagree with them. Totally. LARGE, SINGLE city space... anything else just... well, pisses me off. I'm done with SimCity if this does not get resolved.
I completely agree here.
I completely agree here. These city limits are terrible. :( I get the idea is probably for us to design our cities to develop it upwards instead of outwards at a point, but still.... it gets limiting. You could end up just being mayor of an entire region because your population limits hit the walls.
What I dread to be the case... is that big city areas will come.. but will be either DLC or expansion content.. which is total BS! Why should we have to pay extra for a feature that has been part of every previous SC game. :( Dislike.. but that's EA for you. EA = oh you bought the cow.. yes... but... if you want to milk it.. that'll be an extra fee....
............
............
Exactly! These Execs have
Exactly! These Execs have their head's up their butts!
The game is GREAT! thank you!
The game is GREAT! thank you!
when will region play work in
when will region play work in real time?
having some problems with
having some problems with city buying / selling sewage to each other, even on a private region.
Found it on the reddit list
Found it on the reddit list of known bugs: keep up the excellent work and client updates flying our way.
Thanks for all the hard-work
Thanks for all the hard-work fixing the issues - I've been having a great time playing :) Just an aside, I was born in November 1977 - timeanddate.com tells me that on the 25 of September 2057 I will be 700,000 hours old...so 8 million hours of gameplay is impressive!!
Please ADD Bigger Maps ://
Please ADD Bigger Maps :// these maps are too small 4 a great town :/. But Anywhere else..the game is Great :)..sry for my bad english, i'm german
I would certainly buy an
I would certainly buy an expansion that lets me build bigger cities; by then you will have Glassbox running at it's best (presumably it's a CPU / memory consuming beast to keep track of all these city stats in near real-time).
Where to do bug reports?
Where to do bug reports? Because even though the crashes and connection problems were the biggest issues, the game is still loaded with bugs.
Does this mean we will have
Does this mean we will have cheetah speed back in the next few days? Hoping that is what "We need a few more days of data before we can assure you that the problem is completely solved and the game is running at 100 percent." means?
I've been playing since the
I've been playing since the 1st day and the game is great, only a few connection problems, but still awesome :-)
Compiled list of suggestions
Compiled list of suggestions and bug reports to report to Maxis for SimCity.
http://www.reddit.com/r/SimCity/comments/1a0taq/compiled_list_of_suggest...
Thanks for this, it's less
Thanks for this, it's less frustrating to see a bug and know it was at least reported somewhere. Still a very addictive game.
Sims are not commuting to get
Sims are not commuting to get education and Trade Depot is not receiving freight nor exporting to global market! I cannot grow my cities!
Stay sharp!!
Stay sharp!!
don't forget the games speed is lower rit now.
and there are million of Mac user waiting to join simcity. So i think you need to predict the situation first.
These "issues" - more like
These "issues" - more like complete debacles - should have been handled LONG before you took our money. I don't have any faith in you, EA or the Origin division and hope that us, as a consumer base, are able to destroy your companies for your horrible actions and lack of ethics.
You WILL HONOR our refund demands! Delaying the inevitable will only cost you more.
I, for one, will not be a
I, for one, will not be a part of any consumer base that's going to destroy these companies. As it turns out, SimCity is quite the enjoyable game! Besides that, there's more important things to do than holding a grudge over a hiccup in gaming time. Good luck with your campaign, though! Also, they do honor refund demands. They just restrict the account from playing the game afterwards. Naturally.
I don't want to destroy Maxis
I don't want to destroy Maxis or EA (is the A for Ass?), although their lack of ethics is more than irritating, but I DO want a refund... hey, I wouldn't even mind if they banned my account afterwards... it's not like I'm aching to play any more of their Origin games after this experience. Now I just want to either play a re-mastered version of Sim City 2000 that will work on newer computers, or maybe I will just have to get that virtual box working so I can play the original – OFFLINE game-play at its BEST and brightest! And the manual was brilliant too!
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