Bombcast Watitng Room

So I guess this is the first regular staff cast since site relaunch?

Bring it on!

8| I dont want to shovel my driveway until the cast starts

meows away!

So, all this SimCity talk has made me real itchy for some more SimCity. So I reinstalled SimCity 4 Deluxe.

Fuck you guys with your social bullshit, tiny cities and always-on DRM. I'm building fucking Tokyo over here.

Hey can we, the Giant Bomb community stop calling the requirement for online multiplayer in Sim City "DRM"? It's not DRM. It serves a DRM purpose, but it's an online multiplayer game, and no one cares if you choose not to play it that way.

Even if you choose to play the new SimCity totally solo, doing absolutely no multiplayer (i.e. making a region private), you still have to be online. There's absolutely no reason for you to be, but you still have to, for the sole reason of fighting piracy. That is DRM.

EA realised online games with DRM don't annoy people so much so they mandated that all their games will be online. SimCity has multiplayer to excuse the DRM, the DRM isn't a side-effect of multiplayer.

I guess multiplayer games have more opportunities for DLC too.

Anywho, bombcast please.

@gkhan: Is having to be online to play World of Warcraft solo also DRM? How you choose to play an online multiplayer game doesn't matter. If you choose not to engage any of the online multiplayer features, it is still an online multiplayer game.

People should realize that PC games (and perhaps softwarez in general) are now either F2P or services/experiences that expire unless the intention behind the game is to be a mod platform.

@fcdrandy: I doubt you'd you want to play World of Warcraft offline. There's no good reason to not have a single player mode in a game like Sim City, other than wanting to prevent piracy.

WoW is an online game. It cannot be another way, it is the nature of the thing. That is not true with SimCity, demonstrably because all the other SimCity's played fine single player, as does this one. There's absolutely no reason for why the game has to connect to a server (besides combating piracy, i.e. DRM) when I click a button that says "I'd like to play for myself". It's absurd that you might have to wait in a server queue to play a single player game, or that it simply will not work if for some reason my internet went out.

You can play Portal 2 online as well. What if the single player part of Portal 2 wouldn't function unless you were constantly connected to a server? Would you then say "No, that's not DRM, it's just that Portal 2 is a multiplayer game that always has to be connected"? Of course it's DRM, there's nothing else to it!

Now, that is not to say that this is necessarily bad. You might argue "Well, the DRM is necessary to combat piracy" or say "You know, I really don't mind the fact that I have to be online all the time, I don't know why people are so upset". That's a fine and sound argument you could make, but simply saying "No, that's not DRM" is nonsensical.

By the way, WoW's always-online requirement is also DRM. By forcing you to log in and authenticate, it is indeed, managing your digital rights to the game. It's just that we don't mind, since the DRM "comes with the package" of playing an MMO.

Just noticed the thread title was reverted back to its proper spelling. Thanks, whoever did that!

@fcdrandy If a game has no single player mode (WoW) then you have to be online to play it because... you have to be online to play it. There's no added burden over that which is required to play the game. If a game has a single-player mode, but you have to be online to play it (Diablo III, the new SimCity, etc.), then it's DRM. There is an added burden which has no technical justification that is there only for the purpose of trying to make it harder to play the game if you haven't paid for it.

Of course, DRM always causes more trouble for paying customers than for freeloaders, which is why people hate it so much. If it was as easy for a paying customer to play a game with DRM as it was to play a game without DRM, almost nobody would care. But that's impossible. DRM will always make life harder for paying customers because it has to in order to do what it is intended to do.

In related news, I just bought the new Humble Bundle in part because I want to support people who make DRM-free games.

@gkhan: This Sim City is an online game. It cannot be another way. You did not make the game, so you do not dictate what the game is. If you want to play single-player Sim City offline, you can do that. There are several games bearing the Sim City name that allow you to do so. None of them are this Sim City game. This has been made abundantly clear since the beginning of the marketing for this game. It is an online multiplayer game. If you buy this game, knowing that the game you want to play is not the game you are buying, you have only yourself to blame, not The Evil EA. You want to play a different game than the Sim City that released today. So you should play a different game than the Sim City that released today. There is no single player mode in this game - it is an online multiplayer game. There has never been any doubt about this.

Piracy is a factor of the DRM element of this game, but the fact that it's an online multiplayer service and not a by-yourself offline game is why it's an always-online game. Your assertion that you know better than the developers and that this online multiplayer game is really a single-player game is what's absurd. Authenticating through EA's servers to play this online multiplayer game is part of the package.

Meows Away!

You can Meows Away!

Stay all Day

If you want to!

for some reason i read that as "you can meows if you want to." which of course would be an amazing version of the safety dance.

@fcdrandy: I didn't buy this game because I kind of don't care, but could you find a source which makes it clear that there was going to be no offline mode for this game? Both sides of this argument are pretty solid, so it really comes down to how clearly it was communicated about the nature of what this Sim City is.

@the_nubster: Sure, I'll edit this post as I find them.

March 7, 2012 - First reveal: http://www.giantbomb.com/articles/here-are-a-bunch-of-random-details-for-maxis-new-s/1100-4023/

March 9, 2012 - Maxis AMA on Reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/SimCity/comments/qp15f/maxis_iama_in_easiertoread_table_form/c3zai39 (link to relevant comment)

June 4, 2012 - E3: http://www.giantbomb.com/articles/eas-e3-2012-press-conference-connecting-players-by/1100-4193/

Dec 5, 2012 - Multi-Player trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpzouhrHCpM

Dec 20, 2012 - Maxis blog about always-online and connectivity: http://www.simcity.com/en_US/blog/article/The-Benefits-of-Live-Service

I need me a dose of bombcast stat.

It's getting late, I need the bombcast in my veins so I can sleep.

How is this not the most popular thread on GB? It seems like everyone is always watitng.

Looks like Ryan is in the middle of editing. Should be up soon.

It usually is on Tuesday's.

This is bullshit and as usual, I blame Ryan Davis.

I'm looking forward to the 46 minutes of talking before whatcha playing.

I want a refund... SimCity is busted. *CRY*

Davis Don't Care

@fcdrandy: In that case, it sounds like the always on-line portion of complaints directed towards SimCity are downright SimSilly (hahahahaha).

I was actually going for Gouge Away by the Pixies, but my life can always use more safety dance, so both are cool.

Hey everyone, it's Tuuuuuuuuueeesdaaay.

rack 'em.

Already awatitng the future of Bombcats.

Man, it's too early to be waiting. But, god dammit I'm already waiting!

I have up until the bombcast goes up to get some work done... please bombcast save me!!

Guys, I think we have a problem...

I'm here, I'm ready, I'm waiting, I'm at work.

Listen to this shit while you wait: http://2mellomakes.bandcamp.com/album/chrono-jigga

i predict an early bombcats today.

@dobschutz: I think you might be onto something.

I hope. You think they recorded before all the live streaming?

My body as well as my SimCity 4 version of Petaluma is ready.

They seem to record the bombcast on Monday a lot of the time.

WWW.BOMB.CAST

When will it drop!

Pizza is ready, good time to be watitng.