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Cougarcat

macrumors 604
Sep 19, 2003
7,766
2,553
Anyways, what is Origin? I assume it is like Steam (which I also don't have). How do these systems work? I assume they don't work well and everyone complains because of this. Do they slow down your machine and boot at startup?

Origin is EA's version of Steam. It's not terrible--most people don't like it because it isn't as good Steam, and they dislike not having their games from one service. EA also never does big sales.
 

peskaa

macrumors 68020
Mar 13, 2008
2,104
5
London, UK
Anyways, what is Origin? I assume it is like Steam (which I also don't have). How do these systems work? I assume they don't work well and everyone complains because of this. Do they slow down your machine and boot at startup?

Origin is EA's version of Steam. The problem with Origin is that it just has EA's titles on it (so a restricted range of titles) as opposed to Steam that gets pretty much everything else. Steam also has huge sales on a regular basis, but Origin not so much. The systems work very well, and digital is far easier than keeping DVDs/boxes around/

As for slowing down the machine? No. It's simply an application that you have to open. The only 'issue' with them is that they will automatically download updates - I have over 300 games on Steam, which means I regularly download 30GB of updates in a month.
 

VoR

macrumors 6502a
Sep 8, 2008
917
15
UK
The problem with Origin is that it just has EA's titles on it (so a restricted range of titles) as opposed to Steam that gets pretty much everything else.

...and it has one of the most invasive EULAs ever conceived - Puts sony to shame
 

0098386

Suspended
Jan 18, 2005
21,574
2,908
...and it has one of the most invasive EULAs ever conceived - Puts sony to shame

Not only that, but with Steam if you get caught cheating in a game - you won't be able to play on VAC servers on that game again.
Cheat in Origin - have your entire account blocked.

I don't know if they changed this rule, but if you got banned on the Origin forums you'd also lose your games account.

I'll buy SimCity on Steam in a heartbeat. I'm never going to use Origin until their EULA and account banning methods are fixed.
 

SkyBell

macrumors 604
Sep 7, 2006
6,603
219
Texas, unfortunately.
Wow, it has been a while. I've seen SC4 in the sub-$10 section at Wal-Mart for a long time now. I still play SimCity 3000 Unlimited every now and again, never played 4, just had no interest. (Maybe I'll buy it when this new one comes out for dirt cheap. :D) But great to see they're still continuing the franchise, even though I seriously doubt I have a machine that could handle it. :eek:
 

AQUADock

macrumors 65816
Mar 20, 2011
1,049
37
Good news, hopefully we won't have to wait too long for it to get released. I hope they won't mess it up like they did with societies, but since maxis is involved it should be good.
 

0098386

Suspended
Jan 18, 2005
21,574
2,908
...don't cheat?
I've never had a problem with VAC on Steam or Origin's equivalent. It's draconian, sure, but cheating ruins a game for all the players, and to be honest I support EA's stance.

As for the EULA....meh. It was revised - http://www.joystiq.com/2011/08/26/ea-revises-origin-eula-data-collection-is-still-in-collection/

Oh I know, I personally don't cheat in multiplayer games, and only in single player games if they're boring/too tough (IDKFA ;)).
But Origins methods of banning you from all of your games is absolutely ridiculous. Can you imagine if a console manufacturer did that? You throw in hundreds, if not thousands of £ or $ into one specific console, cheat in a single player game and you've no longer got access to any of it. That's scary. Especially when legit apps can be seen as cheating apps to detectors.

Valve have it right. You can play on none VAC servers (which are few and far between and overrun with fellow cheaters), you keep access to the games/account you paid money for and it doesn't affect other games.

I totally agree that cheaters ruin online games. Which is why I like reporting the occasional one I come across and then never have to deal with them again :).
 

David085

macrumors 6502a
Nov 9, 2009
811
3
Will be getting SimCity Deluxe so I can get the other cities buildings didn't Preorder yet waiting until is gets closer to 2013 before I decide to Purchase the game, Wish there was also a OS X Version, Probably not going to happen anytime soon
 

ScottishCaptain

macrumors 6502a
Oct 4, 2008
871
474
Jeeze.

They don't even have screenshots of the in-game stuff. Everything on the website is "concept art", and the trailers are all pre-rendered. That's some game release. They might as well have simply come out and said "We're thinking about making another SimCity game, we haven't even started on it but I'm sure we'll have something we can sell in a year".

Frankly, the fact that it says "Maxis" on it means absolutely nothing these days. Will Wright went off to do his own thing a long time ago. After what EA (and "Maxis") did to Spore (go take a look at the Spore 2005 demo videos, then tell me it's the same game they released), what makes any of you think that SimCity will honestly be better then SC2000, SC3000, or SC4?

News flash, most gamers these days are idiots. SimCity is far too complex of a game to survive in the gaming market, so EA will do the only thing they can to make it "accessible to everyone"- dumb it down, then introduce a bunch of stupid aspects (like finite resources) to try and make it complex enough that people don't realize just how shallow it is.

Maxis doesn't exist anymore. It's just a brand name, controlled by EA. The fact that you're all falling head over heals for something with their logo on it is hilarious. Just what EA wants.

-SC
 

InuNacho

macrumors 68000
Apr 24, 2008
1,998
1,249
In that one place
I just hope the multiplayer doesn't mean an MMO that we have to always be connected to the internet with no offline single player option. If so I'll just stick with older versions of Sim City, 2000 being the best.

The other problem with games that always require a connection is what happens to the players when the servers are shut down? They are SOL. I can still pick up an Atari game if I wish and play it, which I do along with NES. Games that require a connection won't work 30 years down the road.

My other concern is that they completely botch it and make it too simple. As they did with the Sims 3.

Here's hoping they also fix the number of hospitals, police and fire stations needed.

Yea, I too am a bit worried about the online part of the game. I don't want to always be connected to the internet in order to play and I don't really want MMO style play, just being able to drive around my friend's city over the net is good enough for me, or heck go on covert terrorist attacks while he leaves his town on overnight.

Oversimplification is what I don't want too, but you gotta admit it was kinda fun trying to lay out public services proportionate to population densities. Honestly I wouldn't mind the pains of trying to get the hospitals just right.

----------

I REALLY HOPE they don't make the game as stupid as possible like they did with Spore. For years a part of me hoped for a successor to Sim Earth and Spore definitely was not it.

If Sim City is what it lives up to be in the trailers and everything, I'll grab a used Mac Pro instead of i7 Mini and plop a couple of 5870s in it just to get the graphics as good as possible.
 

peskaa

macrumors 68020
Mar 13, 2008
2,104
5
London, UK
Jeeze.

They don't even have screenshots of the in-game stuff. Everything on the website is "concept art", and the trailers are all pre-rendered. That's some game release. They might as well have simply come out and said "We're thinking about making another SimCity game, we haven't even started on it but I'm sure we'll have something we can sell in a year".

Frankly, the fact that it says "Maxis" on it means absolutely nothing these days. Will Wright went off to do his own thing a long time ago. After what EA (and "Maxis") did to Spore (go take a look at the Spore 2005 demo videos, then tell me it's the same game they released), what makes any of you think that SimCity will honestly be better then SC2000, SC3000, or SC4?

News flash, most gamers these days are idiots. SimCity is far too complex of a game to survive in the gaming market, so EA will do the only thing they can to make it "accessible to everyone"- dumb it down, then introduce a bunch of stupid aspects (like finite resources) to try and make it complex enough that people don't realize just how shallow it is.

Maxis doesn't exist anymore. It's just a brand name, controlled by EA. The fact that you're all falling head over heals for something with their logo on it is hilarious. Just what EA wants.

-SC

Actually, there are videos out there of the more in-depth presentation given, that clearly showed the gameplay as it stands right now. It looks like an updated SC4, with clearly defined mechanisms and so forth. So no, you're wrong, it's a lot further down the path than you think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsjY...st=PLF51B45B0B35DE242&lf=results_main&index=1
 

Schtumple

macrumors 601
Jun 13, 2007
4,905
131
benkadams.com
Actually, there are videos out there of the more in-depth presentation given, that clearly showed the gameplay as it stands right now. It looks like an updated SC4, with clearly defined mechanisms and so forth. So no, you're wrong, it's a lot further down the path than you think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsjY...st=PLF51B45B0B35DE242&lf=results_main&index=1

Cheers for that, I like the agents idea, seems like SC5 will be kinda like a middle ground of SC4 and Cities XL, which is good, nice to see lots of thought has gone into it, not so sure on the cutesy graphics, I always loved SC3000 for being so artistically driven in it's architectural design, but there we go, I'm sure SC5 will be pretty awesome.
 

ScottishCaptain

macrumors 6502a
Oct 4, 2008
871
474
Actually, there are videos out there of the more in-depth presentation given, that clearly showed the gameplay as it stands right now. It looks like an updated SC4, with clearly defined mechanisms and so forth. So no, you're wrong, it's a lot further down the path than you think.

It looks like SimCity Societies 2.

-SC
 

guzhogi

macrumors 68040
Aug 31, 2003
3,733
1,824
Wherever my feet take me…
There's an intel patch available for Simcity 4 deluxe, but it's been in a perpetual beta state and people have had various levels of success with it in Lion.

Every other Maxis title has made it to the Mac, so I have high hopes for this. It'll be cider, though.

I can get it to run on Lion, however, I can't make custom regions. I try opening the regions. *.bmp file can setting the city sizes to something specific, but doesn't work.

Some things I hope it adds:

-Be able to expand your city instead of keeping the same size & shape for the whole game

-Build dams & build levies so you can have your city below water level (think New Orleans)

-Be able to import your city into The Sims 3

-Maybe a new SimTower game?
 

guzhogi

macrumors 68040
Aug 31, 2003
3,733
1,824
Wherever my feet take me…
Are you aware of YootTower? It's the sequel to SimTower, by the original Japanese developer. It's pretty great. They recently re-released it for the iPad.

I'm aware of it and actually bought it. However, it's just the original SimTower game from the 90's ported to the iPad. While cool, the graphics are awful and you can only build a 2D tower. I'd like to build a 3D tower. Maybe something like the house creator in the Sims.
 
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