Post by Eorl @ 11:21am 09/03/13 | 37 Comments
The report comes as an email was obtained by Polygon which was sent to all affiliates of EA Origin's LinkShare program, detailing that EA has "deactivated all SimCity text links and creative and we ask you to please remove any copy promoting SimCity from your website for the time-being."
"To be clear we are continuing to payout commissions on all SimCity sales that are referred, however we are requesting that you please stop actively promoting the game," the email reads. "We will notify you as soon as the SimCity marketing campaigns have been resumed and our promotional links are once again live in the Linkshare interface. We apologize for any inconveniences that this may cause, and we thank you for your cooperation."Earlier this week SimCity launched to a rather rough start, with a large amount of players being placed in queues or unable to connect to the servers, a new method that comes from the consistent online-only DRM that EA and Maxis have chosen. Yesterday EA took drastic steps to help combat the overwhelming numbers by deactivating certain online features such as leaderboards and "Cheetah" mode in order to help facilitate server loads and promised to continue rolling out fixes to address the server instability.
To add injury to insult a recent EA forum post by senior producer Kip Katsarelis (thanks Destructoid) has stated that - in what could only be an incredible amount of PR spin - apparently the server issues are a direct cause from "players [...] having such a good time they didn't want to leave the game, which kept our servers packed and made it difficult for new players to join." Katsarelis also ensures that the recent online features that were cut out will make their way back into the game "soon, but our number one priority is to bring stability to our servers."
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Posted 11:44am 09/3/13
Posted 11:47am 09/3/13
Posted 12:06pm 09/3/13
Posted 12:17pm 09/3/13
Posted 12:22pm 09/3/13
Posted 12:22pm 09/3/13
they have a fear that people will pirate the game, so they spend $X amount on trying to protect their income,
however at some point, they need to look at how much business they are losing due to loss in clients due to people not wanting to deal with s*** DRM, (and loss of future sales due to bad experiences with DRM) vs how much business is kept due to DRM
I mean, lets be honest here, how many people have had a cracked copy of a game in the past, that have ended up buying it in the end anyway?
hell I think I've bought like 4 copies of UFO over the years
Posted 12:48pm 09/3/13
A vast majority of games I have pirated I end up buying. The only reason I pirated it was because I am poor and/or I wanted to try it before I went and paid for it.
Or, when they have f***ed DRM like this.
To amend my comment earlier, I actually don't think I feel sorry for people. Almost all PC gamers know what EA is like, and if anyone was following the Sim City hype, would also know you needed an always on connection.
Posted 01:51pm 09/3/13
Posted 02:14pm 09/3/13
Posted 02:25pm 09/3/13
Posted 02:34pm 09/3/13
Posted 03:16pm 09/3/13
Posted 03:22pm 09/3/13
You should feel sorry for me, cos.. I said so.
OK here's why: I've never bought an EA game, I've never used origin, and all the game I have bought recently require an internet connection to use, either because they're multiplayer games, or because they connect through the microsoft thing. I do know it's annoying, but I also didn't think it would affect me in any noticeable way since my computer is always on the internet.
I knew not to preorder, I even told other people not to, but then the day before I thought.. f*** it.. Ausgamers gave it 94, it's clearly worth it, and I'd like to be playing it ON THE NIGHT.
Still haven't got my CD Key btw.
Posted 03:27pm 09/3/13
Always online DRM doesn't matter to me at all if the game is always available.
Posted 03:41pm 09/3/13
Honestly if the launch wasn't this bad there would probably be less hate and more "hey this is new and interesting." I think that's what Steve's review was trying to get at, that this is a game that is interesting and different, however the botched launch hasn't help showcase that.
Posted 03:54pm 09/3/13
Posted 04:00pm 09/3/13
I can still play my single player games offline with steam. I didn't have the net for about a week while I was moving place but I could still play all my singleplayer games through steam without a hassle. If I had sim city I would not be able too. If I go somewhere with my laptop and have no internet I can still play games through steam, not the case with games like Sim City.
If Steam and/or Valve or any other developer had an "always online" thing for any single player game I would not support them. The steam model I can get behind. It's still DRM, but it's not invasive and doesn't stop me from being able to play singleplayer games offline (unless there is third party DRM similar to Ubisofts.)
The only way developers and publishers will learn that this s*** isn't kosher is if consumers don't buy a product until this type of DRM s*** stops. I just wish more people didn't support games that do this.
Posted 04:07pm 09/3/13
Posted 04:13pm 09/3/13
Tropico 4 + all the DLC for ten bucks is a pretty bloody good deal.
Purchased.
Posted 04:36pm 09/3/13
Posted 05:03pm 09/3/13
Posted 05:07pm 09/3/13
Posted 05:59pm 09/3/13
Dunno, every time I've needed it it hasn't worked.
Posted 06:00pm 09/3/13
Posted 06:23pm 09/3/13
You just go "reload in offline mode" and it reloads into offline mode for ages (I had mine in offline mode for like a month when I moved for example).
Not sure about it not working, never had an issue between my 2 computers, my brothers, my mothers and my few friends who use steam regarding offline mode. Not saying it can't happen, but if it is, chances are you're in a small minority of people :P
Posted 06:26pm 09/3/13
Posted 07:14pm 09/3/13
Posted 08:01pm 09/3/13
Posted 08:20pm 09/3/13
Released almost 3 years ago, I think it was one of ubisofts first attempts at the always online model and that worked... when the auth server wasn't been dos'd or server errors stopping people from australia playing at all.
Posted 08:27pm 09/3/13
Posted 08:40pm 09/3/13
Posted 09:18pm 09/3/13
Posted 07:13am 10/3/13
Posted 07:32am 10/3/13
First server I played on was Oceanic 1, then went to join a mates region on Europe East 1 before joining up with another mate last night on Oceanic 2.
If anything, I've had a much better launch experience with SimCity than D3.
Posted 07:46am 10/3/13
Posted 08:06am 10/3/13
Granted we're still young cities but it all appears OK so far.
Posted 10:36am 10/3/13
I was able to play all day yesterday on Oceanic 2 which was good.