SimCity Mac Launch Facing More Problems 177
The launch of the new SimCity back in March made headlines for the problems caused by the game's always-online DRM. EA Maxis even decided that people who bought the game early deserved a free game for their trouble. They also decided to postpone the launch of the Mac version of the game. Well, the delay is over; SimCity has arrived for Macs, and players are now facing a whole new set of installation and launch problems. "Those issues include a 'mutexAlert' error, which can be resolved by switching the OS to English. Another simply doesn't allow a player to install the game once downloaded. The suggested solution for that is to re-install Origin and opt in to the new Beta version. The game also apparently doesn't currently support Mac OS X 10.7.4 nor the upcoming 10.9 beta release." There are also reports that the game won't function on high-resolution display settings.
Same shit, different day (Score:5, Insightful)
Did anyone expect anything less from this series of disasters?
Treat the EA badge as a warning sticker (Score:5, Insightful)
No, really.
Thats it (Score:0, Insightful)
Keep sucking that EA dick like good whore consumers you are.
At last, platform equality. (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe they're afraid that if they gave Mac users a non-broken version of SimCity, people would accuse them of playing favorites.
Really, this level of "quality" isn't much different from what the Windows users were delivered, so EA is just trying to be fair. "Look, we put just as much effort into our OS X products as Windows. Which just happens to be little to none. Now buy more DLC!"
Re:Thats it (Score:3, Insightful)
Hey Maxis, outsource much? (Score:5, Insightful)
I've got an idea! Maybe if you can get some 3rd world country to train children to code your games 20 hours a day in exchange for only housing and basic sustenance then the development costs will be low enough that you can still afford cover up the huge faceplant that every game's release has become...
Re:The continuing saga. . . (Score:4, Insightful)
While I've met my fair share of awful programmers, the blame can't be placed solely on programmers. We don't know what kind of internal deadlines existed at EA, what sort of QA/testing procedures were in place, etc. For all we know, the programmers knew of these issues and simply had no time to take care of them. I'm not saying that is 100% the case, but it is unfair to simply assume straight away that these are just a group of talentless individuals.
Re:meta-game (Score:3, Insightful)
The only winning move is not to play ...er, buy.
Good old WOPR, shame you got stuck in a crappy sequel.
Re:The continuing saga. . . (Score:5, Insightful)
And you might be amazed at how much of that is the fault of management.
Between ridiculous timelines, cutting budgets for QA, management who change their minds fairly often, and salespeople who promise the world -- there's often quite a disconnect between what people are saying and what's happening.
Having spent a lot of years in and around software, I lay more blame on bad PMs, clueless management, and overly optimistic forecasts.
And the game industry is famous for the continual 'deathmarch' -- the constant scramble to finish it like the deadline is tomorrow, and when you finally get there you start all over again.
I'm more likely to believe the management at EA is lousy, and the developers can only do so much. Because that matches my direct experience in the industry.
Re:At last, platform equality. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Same shit, different day (Score:5, Insightful)
Deluxe Paint was the only good thing they ever published, and they didn't even make it.
They are the anti-Midas. Everything EA touches turns to shit.
Re:Treat the EA badge as a warning sticker (Score:5, Insightful)
The Film and TV Industry (Score:5, Insightful)
The games industry continues to be a shitshow of project management incompetence. Unrealistic deadlines, budgets blown, line workers (i.e., devs in their twenties) death marched... it's like after three decades, they still haven't figured out how to actually make what they make.
What always surprises me is that a very similar model for producing creative content already exists and works really, really well, for the most part. Movies and TV shows deal with comparably large budgets, multiple different yet co-ordinated creative teams, and go through a similar lifecyle of design, execution, post-production, and release. You hear about film productions that go bad largely because it's uncommon for them to do so, and that's virtually always driven by a single figure with excessive influence (e.g., Michael Cimino on Heaven's Gate, Kevin Costner on Waterworld). For the most part, films and TV get made profitably, people get paid, and this is all with a bunch of union labour too. Roles and responsibilities are well-defined; financing models well worked out. They even know how to integrate IP franchises to everyone's benefit.
Why don't Hollywood producers move over to videogames and explain how it works?
Re:Same shit, different day (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Same shit, different day (Score:2, Insightful)
They didn't make this originally, either. SimCity was a Maxis game until EA bought them.
Re:More than project management... (Score:4, Insightful)
You're right. The problem is a systematically badly managed company.
Your developers don't set your priorities, your deadlines, your feature set, or your budget. They don't cancel your project in the middle, they don't suddenly decide there's a pressing need to implement a new set of features.
So, either management laid out a perfectly awesome plan and it was hindered by developers. Or management were idiots and incapable of shepherding good product out the door.
This is kind of like saying your bridge is 6 months late because of the welders, when they've been working double shifts for months while the CEO vacations and collects his huge performance bonus.
Sorry, but to me, it's the management of EA who gets to own this issue, not the developers. Because they're the only ones who can make any change in how they do things.
Anybody who has ever worked for a publicly traded company has listened to those quarterly "rah rah" calls and thought to themselves ... "do we actually work at the same company?" Because it's staggering how often the people at the top don't have the slightest clue about what is really happening, and the front-line workers just say "whatever", and get on with their day.
Re:Same shit, different day (Score:5, Insightful)
I pretty sure all the problems are caused by EA.
Re:Same shit, different day (Score:4, Insightful)