New SimCity Coming to Mac in February 2013

[Gasu E.]

Originally Posted by NAG

I don't know, they seem to be going the whole always online route so that could blow up in their face. Simulation-wise it looks really detailed though.

There is no alternative to online, given the nature of agent-based simulation. Each "resident" will have its own behavior individually simulated. Either the simulations would need to be really simplistic, or extremely powerful client computers would be required. Online simulation of complex behavior will keep the game open to large sets of users without limiting the richness of the simulation.

[DavidLeblond]

Originally Posted by ghostface147

i can never make money quick enough to sustain my city long term. I guess i just am a fan of aggressive expansion and it doesn't work. What am i doing wrong??

I will look at this game when it comes out.

f u n d

:d

[RedCroissant]

Originally Posted by iSayuSay

Shoot .. and I thought I was the weird one to think why people still play games on a 6 years outdated console.

See the difference, a $400 crap PC towers performs games more well than PS3/Xbox nowadays. It's that huge.

What??? Even if computers now perform better than 6 year-old console(at least I would hope so) that doesn't mean that the very same 6-year old console is obsolete. My PS3(that I just sold because I didn't have enough time to play it anyway) was awesome and I am really going to miss playing Assassin's Creed.

[MacNewsFix]

I'm ready.

[Fraaaa]

February 2013. Now I know when to upgrade my Mac.

[Mattie Num Nums]

Best news I have heard in a while (computer related)!!! I guess I can retire Rush Hour finally!

[star-affinity]

Originally Posted by kjs862

Do people still play computer games? I thought people play console games now.

I think there's room for both console games and computer games. It depends on the game really. Some games are better suited for sitting in front of the big screen TV (you can of course connect the computer to the TV too) with some friends and also the analogue sticks of the consoles can be nice in some situations. The mouse and keyboard on a computer are better suited for some games such as realtime strategy games.

[ncaissie]

Originally Posted by iSayuSay

Shoot .. and I thought I was the weird one to think why people still play games on a 6 years outdated console.

See the difference, a $400 crap PC towers performs games more well than PS3/Xbox nowadays. It's that huge.

Yeah right, not without a $600 video card.

[ncaissie]

Originally Posted by Gasu E.

You owned the physical container (a book), not the contents. You never legally could detach the contents from the physical book and do whatever you wanted with the contents.

For much content today, there is no physical container. That's your big change. I realize this is confusing if you are used to one way. But 50 years from now, people won't get why today's medievals had trouble absorbing this simple distinction between container and content.

Because when you spend $70-$80 on a game you should be able to re-sell it when you are board of it. Just like, I will want to sell my iPad 2 when the iPad 4 comes out so I can recoup some cost. Is that really that hard to understand?

[Fraaaa]

Originally Posted by Gasu E.

You owned the physical container (a book), not the contents. You never legally could detach the contents from the physical book and do whatever you wanted with the contents.

For much content today, there is no physical container. That's your big change. I realize this is confusing if you are used to one way. But 50 years from now, people won't get why today's medievals had trouble absorbing this simple distinction between container and content.

I think there is a fine line that we are not culturally prepare to cross.

I agree with you on the physical paradigm, however we have this concept in our culture and for us is hard not to go by this logic. But 50 years from now we will feel virtual stuff as physical stuff, in the same way we share photos, music and movies, eventually we will trade virtual content because next generation will grow up with a different thinking.

We are just from a older generation. We are to our (future)kids what we are to our parents.

[ihuman:D]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Origin !!!!!

[G51989]

Originally Posted by kjs862

Do people still play computer games? I thought people play console games now.

Uh yeah. Hardcore gamers will stick to the PCs, a high end gaming PC blows away pretty much any console ( This includes High End Macs as well )

[Eidorian]

Originally Posted by kjs862

Do people still play computer games? I thought people play console games now.

I guess you have never met Civilization V.

[Cougarcat]

Originally Posted by ncaissie

Yeah right, not without a $600 video card.

Try $150.

[bigcat318]

Originally Posted by RobNYC

I started playing Sim City way back to it's original version through SimCity 4. Something tells me this probably won't run on my 2008 Macbook Pro by the time it comes out. The graphics and animations look amazing though.

My 2008 MBP doesnt even handle the Simcity Social game on Facebook well. That could easily be more the platform its coded on than my MBP though. It plays SCII fine.

[MagicBoy]

Originally Posted by Cougarcat

All their computer games are Origin exclusives now.

I hope not. I refuse to go anywhere near Origin. EA are a bunch of villainous scum single handily responsible for dismantling Maxis, Westwood and Origin to name but a few. It would be nice if the evil empire realised there was more to the video games industry than adding the new shirt colours to a time-expiring sports game that they shut the multiplayer servers down for after around 18 months.

I still play a bit of SimCity 4 now and again (runs great via Parallels!).

[SandboxGeneral]

Originally Posted by kjs862

Do people still play computer games? I thought people play console games now.

Originally Posted by Eidorian

I guess you have never met Civilization V.

Right on. I'm playing a round of Civ V this week. That's a fun game, but I don't play it often because I end up engrossed in it for many hours at a time and nothing else gets done.

SimCity will be the exact same thing when I get it.... numerous hours spent on it and doing nothing else.

[iSayuSay]

Originally Posted by ncaissie

Yeah right, not without a $600 video card.

$600 GPU only makes it thousand times better than current console. Any sub $100 GPU today could be on par with PS3/Xbox in term of gaming performance.

I know game titles matter too. I love Uncharted, or Ratchet Clank series. But the hardware is just getting old. A little bit too old it had to compensate a lot nowadays.

Originally Posted by RedCroissant

What??? Even if computers now perform better than 6 year-old console(at least I would hope so) that doesn't mean that the very same 6-year old console is obsolete. My PS3(that I just sold because I didn't have enough time to play it anyway) was awesome and I am really going to miss playing Assassin's Creed.

Yeah that's what I meant too, console games WAS awesome. But PC happens, BF3 happened. It's right to the point where a few iPad/iPhone/PSV games graphics look almost as good as big clunky console today.

[foobarbaz]

Originally Posted by iSayuSay

See the difference, a $400 crap PC towers performs games more well than PS3/Xbox nowadays. It's that huge.

And even that crap PC tower is more expensive than a PS3.
and the fact that you can play the latest games for 6 years is probably actually a plus for most people.

[MadeTheSwitch]

Originally Posted by Gasu E.

You owned the physical container (a book), not the contents. You never legally could detach the contents from the physical book and do whatever you wanted with the contents.

For much content today, there is no physical container. That's your big change. I realize this is confusing if you are used to one way. But 50 years from now, people won't get why today's medievals had trouble absorbing this simple distinction between container and content.

The difference with your analogy is that 50 years from now you would still be able to pick up that book and read it. You could pass it down through the generations to your heirs as well. It's doubtful that the game severs for this game will even be running after 10 years even, much less 50.

So plan to spend a few years pointlessly playing this game and then have all your hard work (and city) wiped out in the blink of an eye one day. Sadly, this will be a very temporary game playing experience compared to all the other versions of Sim City.

[iSayuSay]

Originally Posted by foobarbaz

And even that crap PC tower is more expensive than a PS3.
and the fact that you can play the latest games for 6 years is probably actually a plus for most people.

Yes it is, but it also does a lot more things than current console. It has a real keyboard, mouse, controller if necessary. It has real browser, Office, Photoshop.

I can even look at gameFAQ pages while playing the games. Or type documents, or have a bunch of cool mods like GTA IV on PC.

Like I said, I love some of Playstation and Xbox titles, but the hardware is just getting too old. And also, most of console games software cost more than PC version.

[ELMI0001]

Porntipsguzzardo!

[Roman2K~]

I'm usually hesitant to install any non-Apple app (because of the mess they create) but I want that game, so if it's distributed through the Mac App Store -- meaning it will run within a tight sandbox -- I might just get it!

I'm so thankful to Apple for enforcing this kind of restrictions. Everybody benefits from them. Poorly thought-out apps need to be rethought to ensure system cleanliness (and security). I love it. Like HTML5 vs. Flash.

[paulcdb]

i was planning to get it until i seen the price. Your a mug if you think £65 is perfectly fine for a game you download and can't sell after!

Its a download, you save money not having to employ people to duplicate it, transport to resellers, etc and yet instead of passing those savings onto the important people like... your customers, your just being greedy and trying to milk it all for yourselves.

Less people who support that kinda business model the better!

[chaosbunny]

I didn't even install Origin on my Windows 7 harddrive, it's such crap that I don't mind missing some games - there are enough good alternatives out there that do not require spyware on your computer. Why would anyone want this on their Macs? Steam and the AppStore are bad enough but Origin is even worse.