SimCity

Sorry to say, I will be cancelling my pre-order too. It is clear that us Sim City fans are just being taken for granted. This new game is looking more and more like all the other casual, "social" trash out there. DO NOT WANT.

"Players do not have control of placing roads, rail and waterways; these are predetermined by the region."

This is completely unacceptable. There is no way that I'm buying the game now that I'm limited to a 2x2 village surrounded by grass and cartoonish highways. To give a sense of how small 2x2 km is, its about 1/4th the area of JFK airport in NYC. If you would just let us control neighbor connections this wouldn't be a problem, but the way it is now makes this game completely worthless. I don't think you have to worry about piracy, because the way I see things now it wouldn't even be worth it.

Please, please rethink this. simcity is more than a game for many of us, its a hobby. In SC4 I could put my soul into my city through the endless customization. It was truly a blank canvas where I could make anything I wanted. Putting on a 2x2km field is like forcing picasso to paint on a sticky note.

Quote
"We built servers to connect cities to global trade and commodity markets. A decent chunk of the simulation happens in the cloud."

This is the line that scares me. A lot of simulation will be processed on their server not on your computer. Which means the new Simcity is heavily dependent on the servers in order to run. They will have to totally rewrite their stuff in order for it to work on your computer alone.

Another thing that bothers me is the shameless appropriation of the Simcity name. This is not Simcity, this is 3D sim city social. The real Simcity/Maxis died in 2003 after SC4 was released. Calling it Simcity is just a marketing ploy to take advantage of name recognition and nostalgia.

As much as I prefer not to jump on bandwagons as they pass, I have to say I agree with a lot of what everyone else is saying:

1) Cloud simulation processing - Where does this leave us - your customers! - in n amount of time when the game is considered "end of life" and no longer supported? This is a biiiiiiiiiiiiig risk, and it should tell you something that you have a fairly large number of very vocal potential customers who are telling you that they're not willing to take that risk with you.

Please don't confuse this with the knee-jerk reaction against "always-on DRM" that we're also seeing. I love me some Steam and play tons of MMORPGS, so the required internet connection for DRM doesn't bother me anywhere near as much as it bothers some other very vocal users. In fact, the idea of multiplayer SimCity excites me! I just think you're going about implementing it in the wrong way.

2) No true offline region play & no custom network connections between cities in a region - This bothers me, but maybe not for exactly the same reasons as everyone else. Yeah, I don't like that you can't create your own transportation connections between cities in a region. That was one of the most innovative additions to SimCity 4 that contributed to the game's incredible longevity.

What about importing or creating our own regions? This was supported, though not well, in SimCity 4. To not expand upon this aspect of gameplay in the next SimCity is a step backward, and that bothers me. What if we wanted to recreate our home city? Are you seriously telling us that we're not going to be allowed to do this? That's what I'm inferring from the answers you're providing to our questions.

TL;DR: You must not like money very much, Maxis, because you're taking away a lot of the things that we SimCity fans have come to expect from a Maxis SimCity title: a robust, flexible sandbox city building simulation that places the player's interests above its own.

You told us Glass Box is supposed to remove the barriers between the player and the simulation, so why are you so intent on filling it full of artificial limitations on what we can do with it?

I'll wait for reviews of the full game before I spend any money on it.

3)

Honestly who the heck were you talking to when you designed this game? why on earth did you think that forcing people to play online and removing all kinds of gameplay options were what people wanted? I really, really hope this game tanks!

I don't have much to add only that Ive been helping SC4 succeed at simtropolis for close to ten years now and seen all the city building games come and go since then. Developers think that the loyal fan base always has high expectations so screw them... we will add stupid features to attract the "mainstream buyer". This is so beyond stupid it drives me nuts how blind you are if you do not listen to these comments. We have kept alive a PC game vibrantly for ten years without you. People who see the modded version are shocked at how wonderful it is compared to their old experiances of the maxis version. In this case loyal fans are in agreement as well. Why don't you listen and cut the relations crap. Every city building game thusfar has failed since SC4 and everytime we have predicted this. We are so excited for this game because the core mechanics are insanely attractive and thought out. Obstacles that are so superficial like internet connections and fixed region connections are disasterous and will forever hamper the modding community to do what its done to SC4. This matters because I still see SC4 selling on shelves today. Make a few small changes and we will come, and we will get others to buy as well and you will have a marketing machine. Leave it as is and there will be a boycott. The choice is clear

Okay so let me get this right...you forced the online play on us because it adds realism. Now you take away all the creativity and freedom, why we all play this game, so you can make that work. In case you didn't notice Maxis there aren't already roads built when a city is started. Your taking the realism and fun away from the game, not adding it. You will not be getting my money...or the money of anyone that I know because of this disaster you call SimCity. Unless you fix the cloud processing, forced online/global market play, lack of customization ...etc. This game is going to tank...not if you don't change this I hope it tanks...It WILL tank. PC/PS3/XBOX360 game designers should never, NEVER design games for the casual gamer. The market is gone...they all left to play free facebook games and $2 Ipod/Iphone games. Look at the troubles Wii has been having recently...if you aren't going to make this game do it right...if not quit designing this game right now, save yourselves the money and effort. If you don't all of your "Simoleons" will be gone. Make the game right or "you will regret this".

Hmm, I've been ok with all the stuff announced to far that has been considered disappointing, but the region answer really annoys me.

It doesn't make any sense. It completely ignores how people actually utilize regions. Everyone I have ever known used regions to make metropolises (Downtown district, industrial area, suburbs, and small towns throughout...etc, each on their own maps). Not city...space of nothing in between...another city...and so on. That is hardly a region, it is barely a step up from the planet in Cities XL

Multiplayer in Cities XL lasted 5 months.....'nuff said

With all due respect, taking away the freedom to customize the transit connections between cities sounds like a deal breaker. The problem is that this won't be a disappointment, it will be a heart breaker! My dreams of a revival of my all time favorite franchise are probably about to get smashed by the mainstreamification machine called EA. It's always about pumping up the pace and dumbing down the mechanics... Although i don't blame the developers, they are just doing what they're told to. I will probably not buy this game, if you (Maxis) don't happen to do a such good job on the rest of the stuff. The odds of this happening is minimal though, considering you short development times. To all others out there, the online anti piracy thing i can live with, but if they screw up the game to, I'm going to hit them where it hurts, the quarterly Report.

I demand an offline option ... period! Actually, it is apparent all SimCity enthusiasts demand it. You guys @ Maxis had better listen ... Otherwise, this is a total waste of development time.

I'm not big on making comments, but I am going to make this one in hopes that the Maxis team will read what I have to say (or rather write).

First, I don't follow new games very often and I defiantly don't have the time to constantly check for updates. When I found out that a new SimCity was in the works, I was very excited because I just got into SC4 a few months ago. I played the tutorial, I figured out why my feeble attempts to play the older SimCity games didn't work when I was a kid. After about a month of game play I started looking around on the internet for additional content - especially in the way of transit.

I found the Network Add-on Mod, Street Add-on Mod, Real Highway Mod, etc. on Simtropolis.com and sc4devotion.com and started learning how to use these mods. Development team, if you haven't used these add-ons, you are IGNORING the community. I say that because it is clear that the community has invested lots of time (and possibly money) into something that the people are passionate about. DO NOT IGNORE THIS!!

Second, I am very troubled to hear that SimCity is going the way of cloud computing. Would I like to be able to go from computer to computer and play my region(s)? Not a bad idea, but not necessarily. I like how the community was given the opportunity to create additional buildings, mods, transit systems, etc. allowing the gamer to enhance his/her experience. Were all mods good? No, of course not - but that is 100% dependent on the creator of the mod.

Personally, I would like the ability to make mods and additional content a supported feature. I don't want to get dictated to about how I am to play the game that clearly has a history of freedom.

Third, the answer to the following question is very disturbing: "Is parking simulated in the new SimCity?" How can you say that people will simply park in an underground parking structure?! If the company is big enough, they will either A) build a parking garage or B) have a giant parking lot for the employees. If you are willing to track every car in the game, the least you could do is make the parking situation realistic. If a person takes the bus to a nearby bus stop and then walks to work, great - one less car in the parking lot. Beyond that - parking is an issue that many companies have to deal with. Why shouldn't we the player have to deal with the same issue? If not enough employees can get to the factory, then production is down or halted all together. This simply expands on the Glass Box demonstration video of how the factories look for workers. Give this more thought.

Give the whole game more thought. Maybe the press release for the new SimCity was premature. Maybe the mechanics haven't been fully honed to make this installment the game we have all been wanting. With that said, I will not buy this game unless I see some major improvements. I will not waste my money on a game that I will not be happy with.

Finally, I would like to finish on a positive note. The glass box engine looks amazing - I think it is a huge improvement over SC4 and I applaud it's development. I'm not sure I agree with everyone's distaste for the graphics - I think they will work out. The modular buildings look very interesting and I can't wait to see demonstrations of people customizing these buildings. I also like the fact that curvy roads have been introduced with RCI that adapts and follows said roads.

Maxis: We're creating a new SimCity, and it has GlassBox now!

Us: OMG, Holy crap. That's right, I'm shed tears, and I'm not ashamed...

Maxis: It's now multiplayer Simcity, and on the cloud. Regions are more rigid to make this happen. It is done for the sake of better game play and realism.

Us: Uh, you are in fact mistaken sir. Multiplayer and the cloud do not lead to more realism, and certainly not better game play. It's all good though, you have time to change it. We are patient. We've waited 10 years. If you promise to rethink your position, we promise to wait.

Maxis: Yea, we hear you. We care about what you think. We are listening. But you are wrong. Trust us. We have the track record, so you can.

Us: ????? Please. GlassBox has the potential to make my cities like I always wanted them to be. I've dreamed about something like it. I crave it. Like cookies. (And I would take out cookie monster to get me some cookies). Problem is, cloud simulation and forced multiplayer...that is like pouring battery acid onto those new fresh baked cookies. I no longer want GlassBox, because the potential to make my cities like I always wanted them to be has been eliminated with the other aspects you have chosen for us.

Maxis: No, really! We know what we are talking about...This online thing will be the best thing since toilet paper.

Us: Your toilet paper would give us splinters. No thanks.

I've been playing since Sim City 1, had it on my C64 and my first PC. Reading this literally breaks my heart because I will not buy yet another game that forces me to be online every instant I play it. You've busied yourself with so much modeling of minutiae (Tilt-shift? really?) that you miss the grander picture, you ignore why Sim City 4 is still being played by thousands and thousands of fans. It's because we can make it anything we want it to be within the framework of the game's engine! That is now impossible with this new Sim City! Indeed, even the term "city" has not meant so little since SC1 given the very small area to work with and the fact that each region area is apparently now just a self-contained "city" with nothing but an artificial spaghetti of roads and tracks meandering across the countryside to another little cell. I'm guessing the community of artists who have made spectacular buildings for SC4 and earlier games are going to be left with nothing to do. How can we pick and choose what buildings we download and customize our cities with when everything has to be perpetually filtered through your servers? What so many of us had hoped would be the next generation visualization and on-screen realization of our fantasized alternate worlds has been thrown away for the passing fad of always-online social mumbo-jumbo. I feel sorry for you, seriously. The great work we all know you have done before and are making an effort at repeating now deserves so much more as a final product.

I've been playing since Sim City 1, had it on my C64 and my first PC. Reading this literally breaks my heart because I will not buy yet another game that forces me to be online every instant I play it. You've busied yourself with so much modeling of minutiae (Tilt-shift? really?) that you miss the grander picture, you ignore why Sim City 4 is still being played by thousands and thousands of fans. It's because we can make it anything we want it to be within the framework of the game's engine! That is now impossible with this new Sim City! Indeed, even the term "city" has not meant so little since SC1 given the very small area to work with and the fact that each region area is apparently now just a self-contained "city" with nothing but an artificial spaghetti of roads and tracks meandering across the countryside to another little cell. I'm guessing the community of artists who have made spectacular buildings for SC4 and earlier games are going to be left with nothing to do. How can we pick and choose what buildings we download and customize our cities with when everything has to be perpetually filtered through your servers? What so many of us had hoped would be the next generation visualization and on-screen realization of our fantasized alternate worlds has been thrown away for the passing fad of always-online social mumbo-jumbo. I feel sorry for you, seriously. The great work we all know you have done before and are making an effort at repeating now deserves so much more as a final product.

I have a question about the whole new direction Maxis are taking the franchise:

Why has Maxis chosen to take the somewhat risky "social" direction with this game when it has already been proven unpopular on previous City Simulation games such as Cities XL? Why did Maxis not instead choose to simply improve upon Sim City 4 (a masterpiece, and proven success)?

I tolerated the continuing talk about forced online play with gritted teeth but said nothing and hoped for the best.

Now I'm being told I can't even control road and rail connections between regions. Part of the appeal of the Simcity 4 region was the ability to sprawl cities over several regions. What's the point in having high density in the new simcity if you can't sprawl into other regions? It'll just look like medium-sized squares of skyscrapers next to a border of grass. I was looking forward to this game and the realistic cities I'd be able to create, but now I'm just hugely disappointed. No sale.

Hi Maxis Team..

There are great questions and fabulous responses. (°+*) ♥
I've nothing against online gaming as well in SC. I know it from Darkspore, he needs as well a internet connection. It's nice when you can play with friends together. I like multiplayer games and it has always worked very well on my machine and his Internet connection.

Even when traveling in other countries, example Denmark, Sweden or U.S (Colorado) etc. Now I have another request to the Maxis team.

Since few weeks ago, we try that our question will be answered
I'll write here now and I still hope I get a answer.

Here's the question of a player from our community in Scandinavia.

Tax & credit budget in SimCity:

Is there a credit limited or budget in SC, if your city isn’t enough yields?
- You’ve more expenses tax than revenue
- Your city can’t pay your bills

- What happens if you’ get this disaster, you’re then bankrupt?

- You will regret it – if you take a credit (financial aid/support

Thanks in advance and best regards
Liz from community Alien Bommel (Denmark)

There are great questions and fabulous responses. :)
I've nothing against online gaming as well in SC. I know it from Darkspore, he needs as well a internet connection. It's nice when you can play with friends together. I like multiplayer games and it has always worked very well on my machine and his Internet connection.

Even when traveling in other countries, example Denmark, Sweden or U.S (Colorado) etc. Now I have another request to the Maxis team.

Since few weeks ago, we try that our question will be answered
I'll write here now and I still hope I get a answer.

Here's the question of a player from our community in Scandinavia.

Tax & credit budget in SimCity:

Is there a credit limited or budget in SC, if your city isn’t enough yields?
- You’ve more expenses tax than revenue
- Your city can’t pay your bills

- What happens if you’ get this disaster, you’re then bankrupt?

- You will regret it – if you take a credit (financial aid/support

Thanks in advance
Liz

There are great questions and fabulous responses.
I've nothing against online gaming as well in SC. I know it from Darkspore, he needs as well a internet connection. It's nice when you can play with friends together. I like multiplayer games and it has always worked very well on my machine and his Internet connection.

Even when traveling in other countries, example Denmark, Sweden or U.S (Colorado) etc. Now I have another request to the Maxis team.

Since few weeks ago, we try that our question will be answered
I'll write here now and I still hope I get a answer.

Here's the question of a player from our community in Scandinavia.

Tax & credit budget in SimCity:

Is there a credit limited or budget in SC, if your city isn’t enough yields?
- You’ve more expenses tax than revenue
- Your city can’t pay your bills

- What happens if you’ get this disaster, you’re then bankrupt?

- You will regret it – if you take a credit (financial aid/support

Thanks in advance
Liz

I have a lot of questions and unfortunately annoying ones:
What if my Internet connection suddenly abrupts? What if I don't have an access for internet? What if Maxis shut down their servers? What if there is a storm in USA and all the servers shut down? What if the servers in my country shut down? And finally, how will your raise enough funds in order to smoothly maintain our gameplay 24/7?
How, you, guys at Maxis will tackle those problems?
Those were my questions to name a few to you, game developers.
I know that you a do a very hard work in order to bring this game at time, but I think your efforts will be in vain, if you do not listen to us regarding the issue of constant Internet connection as a prerequisite for playing this game, more and more people will opt, and , I hope, will finally cancel their preorders of the game.
In my humble opinion, problems regarding the Internet connection are too difficult to tackle, so don't take too much responsibility for this. Simply, don't take responsibility for problems that are too difficult to resolve, or might remain simply without an appropriate solution. Just be realistic on the issue of Internet and let us play the game as we want.
I sincerely love SC4, because its very beautiful, and what's more it lets us customize it as we want.
I hope that my voice will be heard along with lots of other fans.

Did you team up with Blizzard to create Simcity 5?
- Online required play; bad. This isn't for the player's benefit, it's ugly company greed. Multiplayer sounds awesome, but single player should be allowed to be played offline. I'm going to bet that Sims 4 will be online too huh? ..for multiplayer features and to connect to the world stats and stuff when you play by yourself of course!
- Unable to control regional connections; really? So a new player goes into a developed region and ends up on the outer edge. He has a road to a city or three, while the guy in the middle has roads, rails, waterways, etc. to a dozen or so cities? I wonder who will have the benefit there?
- No terraforming? I hope this is not true. I can see how it would be problematic in multiplayer region play, but it needs to be in solo and multiplayer games. If you can't create regions, rivers, lakes, cliffs, etc, this WILL NOT BE SIMCITY.

Will we be able to play as soon as the servers launch? Or will we have to wait for "Maxis Maintenance" to fix the servers that can't handle the amount of people logging on at once? Would be a good idea to make your maintenance window on TUESDAY as well so we'll have multiple games we can't play.

Will SimCity have an Inferno mode difficulty? Where basically you DOUBLE the maintenance on everything? Just curious.

will users still get to control things like taxes? lets step up the realism as much as possible on all gameplay aspects like taxes and funding for firefighters, education & hospitals (etc.). example would be a power plant being forced to close down for not meeting a clean air regulations. things as such should definitely be implemented

Don't like this region style at all. Pock-marked 2x2 squares of city surrounded by a green void with weirdly snaking computer-generated roads and rails? Sounds stupid. What was wrong with the Simcity 4 style region, which gave us complete control and allowed us to make more natural-looking sprawling cities? And why on earth would you think people don't want to terraform?

I was discouraged with the forced online component but kept quiet with the hope that everything else would be awesome. But now... congratulations EAxis - you've just lost yourself a sale. I'd rather keep on playing Simcity 4 (which I still do after ten years).

At First, I Thought the Online feature was like a 2 - 4 player region play, where you shared a massive area, building cities together over time...
i do NOT WISH to play with an ignorant beginner, Putting a plague on my city...
If the Environment is still gonna be an ACTUAL FACTOR in the Simcity to come, i think Bad neighbours will be the main reason to want to play OFFLINE, Which btw IS NOT ALLOWED :/

GIVE THE NEW GENERATION THEIR ONLINE FEATURES.
HARDCORE SUPER-FANS MAY LIKE THEM A BIT TOO.
BUT GODDAMMIT, DONT TAKE AWAY OUR GOD-MODE AND MASSIVE REGION EDITOR.

My Conception of the game at start, was that Simcity's developers wanted it to be the community's dream, with IN-GAME Mod support and Added Multi-Player Features.

What i am seeing is the exact opposite...
Forced Multiplayer, Growth, Creativity and Playability Limitations...
NO Offline mode / Sandbox SC4 style mentioned anywhere ever.

I was shaking in awe when i first heard about this game... I Watched the trailers and E3 footage over and over again... i Read and visited pages on multiple forums featuring SC fans already purchasing the game and hardcore modders preparing their websites for tons of SC5 Content etc.

Dont disappoint us all, Make it playable for everyone...

Your regards:
Super Fan - Tegewaldt

I can't tell you how insanely excited I am about this game and maybe there is something wrong with me but unlike everyone else I think their ideas are pure genius. I feel for once they really are listening and instead of producing SimCity Societies crap that plays like the Sims franchise which is for simple users who need immediate entertainment on the screen every few seconds to keep playing as opposed to a SimCity user who like me probably spends hours drawing their city out on graph paper before even playing it on the computer. A user who wants to have to think, wants to be challenged, and is willing to put in hours and hours before they can create that one city that is a work of marvel as their reward.

Now about online play, it is the future not because it has to be but because it can bring SimCity to life, a true city simulation that I've dreamed of for more than a decade. Sure I can't play on my laptop on a plane flight or when I'm deployed overseas and stuck without internet for months on end. But in return I get a real world, not just a flat city with no true economy or true social issues that only encompasses city planning. I get neighboring cities who don't do what I want, that are alive and create real world challenges and also the opportunity for real world collaboration. Honestly I can only do such much in a city that doesn't have any real world connections. It is a simple process of grid counting to maximum Sim City 4 in all areas of traffic, health, police, fire, education, zoning and so on. Sure it is fun to lay out cities, but the opportunity to lay out my city and run it like a real mayor and not just a city planner sounds incredible. Thank you cloud computing for your simulation powers as I would never get this opportunity to run a city in real life!

And sure maybe on the edges of my city I have no control with road or rail to the next city. But honestly that is part of what gives your city life. The fact there is a mountain or river or road connection you just can't move. Cause lets face it in the real world you couldn't just build roads anywhere and move mountains anytime. You have to plan around it, adapt for it, overcome it, and you are rewarded all the more for it when your city shines despite it. That is real city planning, not the stuff I used to do in SC4 with massively flat regions and perfect grid like connections across entire regions with cookie cutter cities one after the other that perfectly maximized the simulation rules that were contained within each city and their was no true region impact other than population demand across borders.

For those users who liked God mode, I could see the gains in economic and social planning aren't worth the loss of sculpting the landscape so you can build your city on the land you dream of. But I'd assume that it is too complex right now to allow users to change elevation and river flow between cities and still have them connect correctly. Still I'd rather trade those features for a more realistic city simulation and cross my fingers that the Sim City after this will figure out how to restore those God mode powers now that Maxis seems to be back at creating true city simulation games.

My hat off to all the developers who have labored to create such a real simulation and enduring all this criticism. Hopefully when everyone plays this new Sim City they will get it and the old days of playing a flat contained city with predictable simulation rules that could easily be manipulated will no longer seem appealing, instead this vibrant combination of true city, economic, and social planning will rule.

I've been playing since Sim City 1, had it on my C64 and my first PC. Reading this literally breaks my heart because I will not buy yet another game that forces me to be online every instant I play it. You've busied yourself with so much modeling of minutiae (Tilt-shift? really?) that you miss the grander picture, you ignore why Sim City 4 is still being played by thousands and thousands of fans. It's because we can make it anything we want it to be within the framework of the game's engine! That is now impossible with this new Sim City! Indeed, even the term "city" has not meant so little since SC1 given the very small area to work with and the fact that each region area is apparently now just a self-contained "city" with nothing but an artificial spaghetti of roads and tracks meandering across the countryside to another little cell. I'm guessing the community of artists who have made spectacular buildings for SC4 and earlier games are going to be left with nothing to do. How can we pick and choose what buildings we download and customize our cities with when everything has to be perpetually filtered through your servers? What so many of us had hoped would be the next generation visualization and on-screen realization of our fantasized alternate worlds has been thrown away for the passing fad of always-online social mumbo-jumbo. I feel sorry for you, seriously. The great work we all know you have done before and are making an effort at repeating now deserves so much more as a final product.

"You spoke, we listened! All of us here at Maxis value you..."

You're kidding right? Please do not insult our intelligence with this condesending BS.

Maxis, please read the comments on this page... all of them. It is clear that you have not listened to one single thing we have said ever since the new game was announced.

I am not going to repeat what many have already said, the issues are clear, but again Maxis... please read every single comment on this page. Carefully.

Then when you have done that go and read every single post in the Simcity 2013 forum at Simtropolis... I am sure you know exactly where it is, even if you don't have the guts to front up to us in person.

I play in SC4 too. I waited out Sim City 5, but the last time out SC Societies.I hope you don't create SC Societies 2 =)
What new in transport system? Only tram? How about trolleybus?
I see curve roads. Can I hope watch in the game curve bridge, tunnels (underwater tunnels) and so on? Reversible lanes on highways, canals. Are you see that? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0wGz9VDqvs I think all (the greater part) what we want to see in SC5 was in this video.
P.S. Sry for my english. I from Russia. =)

Every time I learn more about Sim City it gets worse. I'm serious when I say it feels like the developers are deliberately trying to destroy the franchise with this. It's sounds so crap and restricted. I loved Sim City 1-4 and this is just such bad news.

I guess all of the years of waiting was in vain huh? I don't mean to be rude, I can see what creativeness you're adding to the game and that's fine. But, there are always these KEY COMPONENTS that will make the game supreme. I don't care about those detailed goodies. To tell me that online is forced is UNACCEPTABLE!

No Offline means No good game. I don't want to elaborate, it's just how we want it. I don't care about these cloud data. Why on earth would I want to play Simcity in my friends PC...Am I living with him full-time?! I simply don't want to share my gameplay or statistics with people.

Also, the lack of some features begged by the fans make me scared that this would be a hint for upcoming DLCs...something really bad. Which also implies, the game won't be MODDABLE.

In general, if you can't slightly shift your path a bit, you'll lose tons of buyers...including me :( I really wanted this game too bad, but after what I heard, it's a bit disappointing.

Just answer me, why can't you try to derive from Simcity rather than following your own mind (that doesn't do us good). The least you can do is a graphical and simulation remake of Simcity 4.

I am sure it's gonna be a fairly decent game, just..not excellent as Simcity 4 was :S
(Well at least it's better than Societies)

Online only :( If only I had known that prior to pre-ordering. 60% of the time, due to my work, I'm in areas without internet access. This is VERY sad to have read. Also, please look at some of the issues Diablo III has had with online only, from what I've read it has been a source of frustration for many. Please reconsider having an offline mode for folks like myself. I was so excited to hear about a new Sim City, this has made it a disappointment for me. I'm sure the game will be great, but I just won't be able to play it most of the time.

read much of the comments, and have played simcity back in the early 90s. was an awesome game then.

with the 2013 version, i'm wondering if the scale will be much better, such as a 1:1 scale or real earth life scale. simcity did make a great impact to my life then, since it was the game that i've decided to become a engineer instead of a chemist. it was also because i was playing the game late into the night that i discovery a computer virus that would have took out the whole college campus if it wasn't discover until the morning. so simcity was a great game to me.

since the 2013 version will be online and multiplayers, i wonder if players/mayors could buy and sell game assets as well. recently i came across a game called simcountry, that i thought was also made by the same company that made simcity. i just played simcountry for a few months, and i wish that game has the graphics that simcity does (even back in the 90s). would be even better if games like these could be combined/integrated. obviously simcity should evolve to be on a planet, where a player can start out with one city then build a whole country. the game would allow players to buy addition real estate (land) as the city grow. there could even be war to conquer other players too, similar to simcountry?

i'm looking forward to see this new version, as i haven't played for many decades. multiplayers will definitely bring challenge to the game, and that you can play anywhere that you have internet connection. solo play back them was okay, but not that exciting. the excitements would be you better build your cities/states/countries or will be fallen to other better players. trying to rebuild do to natural causes isn't that challenging, trying to play against other humans is much more dynamic.

people don't like to change because they are comfortable with their existing knowledge. changes are good, just don't have too many limitations and everything should be okay. change is evolution. i'm one of those who played simcity in its early life, where the graphics were barely consider good in today's standards.

SIM CITY NEEDS TO BE REALISTIC!!!! (Physics) My Pet hates are despawning vehicles and characters and unrealistic building construction (i actually dont like plobables, but as it adds depth to the games its ok) also please, please, please [[dont make the buildings stretch, they are not elastic bands, they need to build stage by stage as in real life]], i dont want sim city to be a game as such that will be a major turn off, i want it to be a representation of the real life development of a city.

PLEASE FIX!!!
1- Despawning vehicles and characters (if this does occur at all, dont do it)
2- Unrealistic building construction (i actually dont like plobables, but as it adds depth to the games its ok), dont make the buildings stretch, they are not elastic bands, they need to build stage by stage as in real life
3- Long Term support, if you want an online only game (which i intend to play outside of internet/ or wireless telephone coverage areas, and on my 1gb a month plan) it would be a complete waste. And what happens once there is no longer any servers to play your game off in many years time, i think if you want this, make an additional option of having a local server (LAN) or an offline mode, i want to, if i buy your game, be able to revisit it and play it many years on like i still do with Sim City 4 and Sim City 3000

PLEASE FIX!!!
1- Despawning vehicles and characters (if this does occur at all, dont do it)
2- Unrealistic building construction (i actually dont like plobables, but as it adds depth to the games its ok), dont make the buildings stretch (during construction), they are not elastic bands, they need to build stage by stage as in real life
3- Long Term support, if you want an online only game (which i intend to play outside of internet/ or wireless telephone coverage areas, and on my 1gb a month plan) it would be a complete waste. And what happens once there is no longer any servers to play your game off in many years time, i think if you want this, make an additional option of having a local server (LAN) or an offline mode (or tell me that once the official servers switch off you will implement this), i want to, if i buy your game, be able to revisit it and play it many years on like i still do with Sim City 4 and Sim City 3000

PLEASE FIX!!!
1- Despawning vehicles and characters (if this does occur at all, dont do it)
2- Unrealistic building construction (i actually dont like plobables, but as it adds depth to the games its ok), dont make the buildings stretch, they are not elastic bands, they need to build stage by stage as in real life
3- Long Term support, if you want an online only game (which i intend to play outside of internet/ or wireless telephone coverage areas, and on my 1gb a month plan) it would be a complete waste. And what happens once there is no longer any servers to play your game off in many years time, i think if you want this, make an additional option of having a local server (LAN) or an offline mode (or tell me that once the official servers switch off you will implement this), i want to, if i buy your game, be able to revisit it and play it many years on like i still do with Sim City 4 and Sim City 3000

I think the reason that the new simcity is failing is because will wright left, I mean he is the one who created the simcity franchise right?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2012/07/19/five-reasons-ea-is-in-...

Hello EA and Maxis!

I can't wait for start playing this game! I love Sim City and any kind of city simulation game and you guys know how to do it.
And this time, with all the features you have presented here plus online one..wow! To make this game even better, why not give us the chance to play offline too? Sometimes I want some "privacy". Also, it would be wonderful if I could talk with my city neighbor and we agree where to build the connection or, accept or not a connection.
Another great option you could give us is, why not make a kind of "A-train" game here (sorry for mention names) where we have total control on the trains, subways, monorails, etc....full control I mean even on what time we want them to run. That would be fantastic!!! About no control on natural resources, that's a great idea, I like that.
Please guys, consider, think about it. I know it is not an easy job and quite simple for us to say do this or that or what don't this or that.
By the way, what will happen after few years? How about the data and what about our personal data? Is there some threat when playing online?
Thank you very much!

No Maxis, you haven't listened at all to the community. You and EA are driving this whole online thing when the majority of the community does not want it. You're keeping maps down to a tiny 2x2km square, which is the size of my village! Now you've said you're going to restrict how players connect to other cities. I'm pleased I didn't pre-order this worsening train-wreck of a game.

This answers a lot of my questions, except for one. Will there be expansion packs after the release?

Maybe you guys should look towards Civilization 5 as a template for SimCity 5, as both are (at their cores) single-player games. Where Civ 5 is a single-player game with the capability of online play, you're (sadly) taking the opposite approach by making SC5 a multi-player online game with the (potential) capability for solo play.

Not cool.

Sim City's biggest "selling point" has always been (and should always be) that you, the individual, are in absolute control. Whether that control be as mundane as zoning (forcing your poorer Sims to live in the heart of an industrial complex), as sadistic as unleashing volcanoes and GDRs (giant death robots) upon the unsuspecting populace, etc. These, terraforming, inter-connectivity, and all other long-standing aspects that have been part of Sim City need to remain.

I was so thrilled to discover that Sim City was making a comeback - and looking forward to playing one of my all-time favorite games updated to take advantage of how far computer technology has come in the decade since Sim City 4. A lot of what I've seen/heard has exceeded expectations.

But, if the developers insist upon this 'cloud' nonsense and prevent me from being able to exert the same authority over my Sims as in earlier Sim City games, you can forget about me buying SC5. I'd come to the site today to pre-order a copy but, after reading this, I'm not doing so - not until I can confirm that SC5 will be a proper successor to SC4 and remain true to it's heritage.

Maybe you guys should look towards Civilization 5 as a template for SimCity 5, as both are (at their cores) single-player games. Where Civ 5 is a single-player game with the capability of online play, you're (sadly) taking the opposite approach by making SC5 a multi-player online game with the (potential) capability for solo play.

Not cool.

Sim City's biggest "selling point" has always been (and should always be) that you, the individual, are in absolute control. Whether that control be as mundane as zoning (forcing your poorer Sims to live in the heart of an industrial complex), as sadistic as unleashing volcanoes and GDRs (giant death robots) upon the unsuspecting populace, etc. These, terraforming, inter-connectivity, and all other long-standing aspects that have been part of Sim City need to remain.

I was so thrilled to discover that Sim City was making a comeback - and looking forward to playing one of my all-time favorite games updated to take advantage of how far computer technology has come in the decade since Sim City 4. A lot of what I've seen/heard has exceeded expectations.

But, if the developers insist upon this 'cloud' nonsense and prevent me from being able to exert the same authority over my Sims as in earlier Sim City games, you can forget about me buying SC5. I'd come to the site today to pre-order a copy but, after reading this, I'm not doing so - not until I can confirm that SC5 will be a proper successor to SC4 and remain true to it's heritage.

Many questions/ideas :

1. Will we be able to customize our city ? For example, it would be cool if we could be able to customize our parks. We could add trees, picnic tables and fences where we want so that nobody copies us.

2. Did you think for something that would fit with shores. In Simcity 4, shores are a big problem. I worked for almost 1 hour to be able to build something near the shore. You could create a brick wall that would easily fit with the shore so that we don't have to use terraforming tools.

3. Will we be able to create our own buildings in Simcity. It could be another way to customize our city.

Hope you will read this comment. If you do, have a good day working at Maxis studio.

Simcity 4ever, Cities XL 4never ! :D