Electronic Arts is offering patient SimCity mayors who have stuck with EA Maxis through thick and thin (not that retailers allow you to return PC games these days) with a selection of free digital games. One of those games is none other than SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition, an offline, DRM-free game that doesn’t force players to remain online to play single player. It’s a bit ironic that EA is offering this game to fans who have been begging for the game developer to deliver an offline experience for the new SimCity 5 game (EA gave up on numbers with this latest sequel).
SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition, which retails for $20 on Steam, comes with SimCity 4 and the Rush Hour expansion. These games date back to 2003, long before DRM was something that publishers resorted to as a must-have for PC games like Blizzard Entertainment’s Diablo III. So gamers are getting an offline SimCity experience, but missing out on over a decade of technological advances and the new Glassbox engine.
I was able to play SimCity before the game had its horrible launch issues â€" the result of too much demand for the game and too little anticipation on the server side by EA. And the game is a lot of fun. I built model railroads as a kid, something both my uncle and grandfather did, and playing this game brought me back to those Lionel days. The world of SimCity is absolutely gorgeous (as long as you have a pretty recent, powerful PC). The game employs the franchise’s patented pick-up-and-play game mechanics, making it easy to micro-manage and macro-manage as you build your city or cities.
I’m not a fan of DRM â€" I’m not sure if there are many fans out there besides publishers. If I want to play a game online, it should be multiplayer. If I’m building my own city offline, I don’t want to be connected to the net. I understand that SimCity offers the promise of multiplayer gaming with neighboring cities impacting the economies and everyday lives of your city and citizens. And that’s great if you want to play online, but gamers should have a choice when it comes to the offline experience.
It’d be completely different if this DRM issue wasn’t a problem for multiple big game launches. But that’s not the case. And it’s tarnished a great brand that has had loyal fans for decades. Some of the comments I’ve received from recent SimCity stories have been from PC gamers who will never buy the game, let alone any potential sequels.
I don’t think Lucy Bradshaw’s recent blog post that includes an admission that SimCity could have been made to support an offline experience â€" something hackers have already have proved is possible â€" is going to win back any of those lost customers.
“Could we have built a subset offline mode? Yes. But we rejected that idea because it didn’t fit with our vision. We did not focus on the “single city in isolation†that we have delivered in past SimCities. We recognize that there are fans â€" people who love the original SimCity â€" who want that. But we’re also hearing from thousands of people who are playing across regions, trading, communicating and loving the Always-Connected functionality,†wrote Bradshaw in her blog yesterday.
For those who have stuck it out with EA Maxis, the publisher is giving you until March 25 to register your SimCity game and until March 30 to download any of these digital games: Battlefield 3 (Standard Edition), Bejeweled 3, Dead Space 3 (Standard Edition), Mass Effect 3 (Standard Edition), Medal of Honor Warfighter (Standard Edition), Need For Speed Most Wanted (Standard Edition), Plants vs. Zombies and SimCity 4: Deluxe Edition.
While this is a great list of games, it will be interesting to see what impact this has on the entire launch black eye. Only time will tell. The game has been getting solid reviews from gaming press, but they get their games for free and don’t have the same relationship with EA as consumers have. And consumers have been extremely vocal with their outrage at being locked out of a game they’ve been waiting 10 years to play.
“At Maxis, our studio values dictate that we innovate and create something that is quirky, complex and challenging,†wrote Bradshaw in her blog today. “Sometimes this bites us in the butt, but our servers are green and we’re seeing record numbers of players all online and having a great time.â€
Of course, having a great time is what gaming is really all about â€" no different than building model railroads for hobbyists who prefer the real world to the virtual. Lock them out of their basement miniature world, and there’s no fun to be had. Now that it seems like the server issues are finally fixed with SimCity, PC gamers can finally build their own virtual metropolises without any issues.
UPDATE: The SimCity launch debacle might have been one reason EA CEO John Riccitiello is stepping down, according to Bloomberg TV. Online rumors are that EA will miss its earnings forecast, which could be partly the result of the SimCity launch debacle that kept a lot of PC gamers away from the much-anticipated title.
Source Article from http://www.forbes.com/sites/johngaudiosi/2013/03/18/ea-maxis-gifting-free-offline-simcity-game-after-server-launch-meltdown/
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