Received an e-mail today that Maxis or EA is testing their servers. According to the e-mail, invitees will have access to the entire game for 4 or 5 hours tomorrow afternoon.

Sadly though, it looks as though the one hour time frame from the previous betas has been shortened. They are testing their servers and want to keep people running through or some nonsense like that. (again, according to the e-mail). It didn't say how long we'd have to play, if we could play more than one session in the allotted time, or anything like that. Just that this beta would allow access to the full version of the game rather than the closed off segments from the earlier betas.

If you pre-ordered the game, be sure to check your e-mail and see if you were invited to play as well! :)

I read an interview not too long ago where they admitted that it would be imperative for them to deliver on the servers especially starting from Day 1. It is an always Online title so good on them for testing it properly.

I think when they said "condensed time" they meant the fact that it is only 4 hours, not the fact that the one hour time frame has been shortened.

Yeah, you may be right. I may have misread it.

Either way, I feel like a crackhead begging EA/Maxis for a bump.

"C'mon man... don't hold out on me!"

@zzombie13: Hehe. Nice to see a "big" title that isn't a shooter of some kind, eh?

Well I can't speak for everyone, but I plan to make my cities full of crime. There'll be plenty of shooting going on in PAULOPOLIS. (My name is Paul by the way)

I wanna have 10 casinos and one lonely Barney Fife cop working the beat.

@zzombie13: Sounds like a fun time. Casinos = $$$ :)

I'll be there! Awesome that the full game will be unlocked during the four hours.

I'm super excited! I got the email last night and it seems as if you can play as long as you want (as long as you can get the game downloaded, installed, and on the servers) and all options will be unlocked! Really hope this game launches well. Really looking forward to it.

IS THERE SOMETHING I NEED TO BE DOING LIKE JERKING OFF MAXIS TO GET INTO THESE GODDAMN THINGS, I WAS ALL UP IN THE GUTS OF THE FIRST ONE BUT NOT A SINGLE ONE SINCE.

Damn you Will Wright!

@fattony12000: I heard they are doing an open beta on March 5th at midnight...

All jokes aside, I have no clue how I got in this one and more than likely I'll get the code in my email 30 minutes after the beta has started, it will take a couple of hours to download, and I'll play for like 20-30 minutes... if that

I preordered from amazon just a day or two ago so not sure if i'll get a invite, be cool to try it out though so im watching my email.

@fattony12000: Well if it helps, I'll tell you that I pre-ordered the stupidly overpriced Digital Deluxe version. And I pre-ordered it on Origin. That may play into their decision making process when picking who gets early access.

woah is that true?

oh boo I was in the first beta but not invited to the second and so far no invite to tonight's :(

I'm in it, didn't even sign up, should be great! :D

@cbarnes86: CURSE YOU!

@zzombie13: CURSE YOU!

I WANT SIMCITY IN MY VEEEEEEEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!

Since I reckon no one saw/cared about the SimCity post I made earlier today, I figure I'll whore it out here. Since, ostensibly, you guys are at least interested in SimCity.

http://www.giantbomb.com/simcity/3030-15035/forums/fatbomb-a-tale-of-five-cities-1426650/

Anyone who got in tonight's beta I was wondering: Will you wreak havoc on your city with disasters as the time is expiring (9 pst)?

is there any other way?

Well the beta starts in about 35 minutes and I'll still waiting for them to send me the key as the previous email stated would happen. Anyone else waiting?

Edit: Just got the email!

I just got the email, the beta has started!

No key sadly, seems im boned since i ordered it from amazon.

Natch. Like it was a law!

Is anyone actually playing the beta yet? I'm still waiting on "processing large file"

@dudy80: Don't think it matters where you pre-ordered from. I did it directly from Origin and I still didn't get an invite.

@sexytoad: Mine finsihed downloading, however, the servers are down still. SimCity twitter feeds states phase 1 of their tests are complete and the next phase will begin at 8pm CST.

Just random then i guess, oh well i'll live i suppose.

@elko84: How long does the "Processing Large file" stay? I have decent internet and it would be a shame if I won't be able to play the beta.

I haven't pre-ordered yet, (I am going to do today), I signed up for the beta testing after a fellow user gave me their first beta key.

@sexytoad: Well I started downloading it and went into another room and watched the GB stream that is going on. I'd say it took maybe 20-25 mintues for me to download.

@elko84: Mine shouldn't take too long then, I'll just play Vessel while I wait.

Geez. Downloaded, patched, took forever. Now its only one server and I can't claim a game. Hopefully this will get ironed out quickly. I'm getting frustrated.

@zzombie13: The servers are still down. Phase 1 of their stress test was to see how the servers would handle the large amount of downloads and log-ins. Phase 2 will probably be the actual playing of the game which begins at 8pm CST.

I hope launch day wouldn't be too bad. I am at a measly 25%

Letting people know, I was going real slow and at around 30% it kicked into high gear and shot me up to 91% and changed from "Processing..." to "Downloading Updated Data"

@cbarnes86: That's actually great news! I'm at 29%, so I should get a boost soon.

Had a blast! Want to keep playing :(

Well that ended up being quite a fun evening. Took them long enough to get it off the ground, but once it all kicked in it was awesome. The core game is solid and fun. .And it's great to know, first hand, that filling the play space with buildings and roads is not the end game. There's so much to do, add in even more when you take over more than once plot. It's good to know how well it all came together. Now all there is to do is bide the time while we wait for the week to pass.

AAAGH!

@elko84: I feel your pain completely... I just left a truly awesome city. Had things finely tuned and the server told me 300 seconds left... Either way, only a few more days. Plus, I just pre-ordered on Amazon for about $48 and they said I can start downloading on Friday (hoping the Beta files carry over so it isn't so much to download).

Good to hear, cant wait for the release.

Holy Hell, people saying the game is simple are definitely off the mark. Between the multi regions specializations and the new density system the game has a lot more depth than I was expecting. In the hour and a half or so I played today I only filled up half of the map and had around 30k citizens, a waterfront covered in sexy high rise condo's and it killed me a little when I saw the 300 seconds left message. So pissed I have a massive two day training course the day this game comes out. Stupid job skills.

I appreciated that all the buildings in this beta from the previous betas were unlocked but I hope that was not all of them. I did not see trade ports or any freight train stations to facilitate freight movement from my industrial population. I reached 50k population by the end of the beta and still had a lot more I could have done while I played only 3 hours. Very excited for release can't wait.

I think *cough* you might be getting *cough* a little under the weather.

*WINK*

They were available under the Mass Transit tab, though you have to build your City Hall accordingly and put in a Dept of Transit building. That gives you access to the rails, shipping by sea, etc. They were there though.

I hit 60k and got the City Hall upgrade for that, but I never made it to the next upgrade (which I believe was 75k). I had a Dept of Education, Utilities, and... something third thing. It's a bit fuzzy at this point. I never got to Transit though. I'm eager to see it come Tuesday though. Can't wait to see how far I can take those choices.

Such a good game. I cannot wait for more.

Man, I am so pumped for this game but I still haven't bought it. Where can you find the best deal for it?

@subjugation: I believe amazon has had some discount codes you can use on games lately people around here have been making use of.

@zzombie13: Sadly I don't think I'm allowed to be sick for this one as it's needed to do my job and the next session is six months away. I wonder if I'll need to "take notes" on my laptop though.

I had a great experience with the beta last night, but I'm more excited to see that other duders did too. It's a small sample size, but if they were testing server stability and load capacity, it seems like things were a success. I couldn't be more excited for Tuesday!

@asmo917: I mean as far as getting the game downloaded and getting in the game, I had no problem, so I'm hoping Tuesday will go very smoothly.

There's still some pretty serious glitches with gameplay, like my fire station in the middle of a road, a gas station hovering 50 feet in the air halfway inside an office building, and I have no idea why it auto sets graphics to garbage every time when I can pretty much max it out.