Simcity Apology Games announced

[BloatedGuppy]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/johngaudiosi/2013/03/18/ea-maxis-gifting-free-offline-simcity-game-after-server-launch-meltdown/

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.

What a bizarre list.

Just a seriously weird cross section of new stuff, incredibly old stuff, and random stuff.

 

[aguspal]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/johngaudiosi/2013/03/18/ea-maxis-gifting-free-offline-simcity-game-after-server-launch-meltdown/

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.

What a bizarre list.

Just a seriously weird cross section of new stuff, incredibly old stuff, and random stuff.

WEll, but the do let you choose, you its right by me.


Theres couple of good games there. I just pity the soul who chooses MOH Warfighter without knowning about it. At least the other games are at the very least in the okay range (on the verge with S*** Effect 3 thougt, but theres people who enjoy that series as well so its not completly useless unlike MOH WF).


I would personally go with Dead Space 3, Bejeweled 3 And Plants vs Zombies. So random

 

[DoPo]

What a bizarre list.

Just a seriously weird cross section of new stuff, incredibly old stuff, and random stuff.

I'm sort of surprised they didn't have any Sims there. But otherwise I agree...although, what's incredibly old, aside maybe SimCity 4? To me it seems like new stuff (latest shiniest games...some with DLC/microtransactions), random puzzle games and the previous SimCity, so you can still play it, while the servers for the new are down.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I'm sort of surprised they didn't have any Sims there. But otherwise I agree...although, what's incredibly old, aside maybe SimCity 4? To me it seems like new stuff (latest shiniest games...some with DLC/microtransactions), random puzzle games and the previous SimCity, so you can still play it, while the servers for the new are down.

Pretty sure PvZ is going on 4-5 years old now, although perhaps I am mis-remembering how old it is. The Popcap stuff in general feels pretty random.

 

[DoPo]

I'm sort of surprised they didn't have any Sims there. But otherwise I agree...although, what's incredibly old, aside maybe SimCity 4? To me it seems like new stuff (latest shiniest games...some with DLC/microtransactions), random puzzle games and the previous SimCity, so you can still play it, while the servers for the new are down.

Pretty sure PvZ is going on 4-5 years old now, although perhaps I am mis-remembering how old it is. The Popcap stuff in general feels pretty random.

Yes, it is that old (at least 4 years old), but I thought you had it in the random stuff category.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Yes, it is that old (at least 4 years old), but I thought you had it in the random stuff category.

It can be in two categories!

 

[DoPo]

Yes, it is that old (at least 4 years old), but I thought you had it in the random stuff category.

It can be in two categories!

Yes, that it can.

...actually, I think pretty much all of the games would count as random. Aside from SimCity 4 - we have a couple of shooters, one sci-fi horror shooter, one sci-fi shooter RPG, a racing game and a couple of puzzle games (well, PvZ is line defence, to be more fair to it). Or to put it in other way - the most popular titles from last year and two puzzle games. Heck, maybe Bejeweled and Plants vs Zombies are also among the most popular titles (on Origin) from last year.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Yes, that it can.

...actually, I think pretty much all of the games would count as random. Aside from SimCity 4 - we have a couple of shooters, one sci-fi horror shooter, one sci-fi shooter RPG, a racing game and a couple of puzzle games (well, PvZ is line defence, to be more fair to it). Or to put it in other way - the most popular titles from last year and two puzzle games. Heck, maybe Bejeweled and Plants vs Zombies are also among the most popular titles (on Origin) from last year.

Makes you wonder why they chose the ones they did. If not the entire EA back catalogue, why these in particular? I was prepared for a list of old games or poor sellers, but this is...such a grab bag. It's like they threw a bunch of slips of paper into a hat.

I was sort of hoping to see Dead Space 3 there, as it's the only newer game of theirs I could see playing (that I don't already own), but now that the day has come and it actually is available, I'm having mixed emotions. Sure I COULD play it, but do I really WANT to? Seems like the sort of game that will just sit there forever, unplayed, while I load up Blood Bowl or DOTA for the 8,000th time.

And sure it's FREE, but it'll take me valuable MINUTES to select it and set it to downloading. That's sweat equity! My time is valuable!

This is an outrage. Heads should roll. I call for Riccitiello's immediate sacking.

 

[DoPo]

This is an outrage. Heads should roll. I call for Riccitiello's immediate sacking.

Nope, you won't get that. He already saw the list and resigned himself. Trusted sources say his last words were "I can't bare to make people suffer over the choices." then a single tear rolled down his left cheek.

 

[generals3]

SimCity 4: Deluxe Edition.

Did they decide to give Simcity 4 just so ppl who bought the new sim city actually get to play a sim city

 

[wurrble182]

they didnt have to give away a free game, they chose to, and as somebody who has so far enjoyed what simcity has offered him, i find the choice of games more than satisfactory. win, win, as far as i see it =D

 

[Sargonas42]

It's a really smart list actually. One from every genre (RPG, FPS, Racing, Action, Casual, Strategy) and a collection of recent AAA titles (ME3, DS3, BF3) and some older stuff in case you bought all of those. Also there is some casual/younger age appropriate stuff, and the previous Sim City for anyone who want's something a little different than what they got and does not own it.

To be honest I think they did probably the best wide-variety they could have without opening up the entire first party catalog.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

It's a really smart list really.

Two really's in one sentence? Appalling. How dare you, sir?

One from every genre (RPG, FPS, Racing, Action, Casual, Strategy) and a collection of recent AAA titles (ME3, DS3, BF3) and some older stuff in case you bought all of those. Also there is some casual/younger age appropriate stuff, and the previous Sim City for anyone who want's something a little different than what they got and does not own it.

To be honest I think they did probably the best wide-variety they could have without opening up the entire first party catalog.

That's a good way of looking at it, I suppose. Shooting for variety. Still *feels* like a weird list. I do wish they'd crammed some Sims 3 expansions on there.

 

[Sargonas42]

It's a really smart list really.

Two really's in one sentence? Appalling. How dare you, sir?

One from every genre (RPG, FPS, Racing, Action, Casual, Strategy) and a collection of recent AAA titles (ME3, DS3, BF3) and some older stuff in case you bought all of those. Also there is some casual/younger age appropriate stuff, and the previous Sim City for anyone who want's something a little different than what they got and does not own it.

To be honest I think they did probably the best wide-variety they could have without opening up the entire first party catalog.

That's a good way of looking at it, I suppose. Shooting for variety. Still *feels* like a weird list. I do wish they'd crammed some Sims 3 expansions on there.

I agree on that I would have expected to see Sims 3 expacs as well, but then when I think about it I think I know why. Long and the short of it... "bundling" is messy with Origin right now, from a technical point of view, and to give fair value they would probably need to put 2 or 3 together. To do that would have been a logistical headache, as well as a fiscal one as they have to write this games off on the bottom line and trying to account for multiple titles in place of one would be messy.

Also you are right on the "double really". Poor grammer on my part. I fixed it but by all means feel free to keep the quote for posterity. The Internet NEVER FORGETS!

 

[Beryl77]

We don't want any of you to miss out on your free game, so please note that you must register your copy of SimCity before March 25, 2013 at 11:59 PM PDT and you must claim your free game by March 30, 2013 at 11:59PM PDT.

Wait wait wait, does this mean that I could buy SimCity and get Dead Space 3 for fr- NO! Bad Beryl! Very Bad! You must resist the temptation!

 

[Reven]

I don't see any mention on origin or anything, so does this come at a later date? or is it already in effect?

 

[Paulo Belato]

I don't see any mention on origin or anything, so does this come at a later date? or is it already in effect?

They may add a warning later on Origin, but it is already valid for anyone activating/buying the game between the launch and march 25.

 

[FoolKiller]

It's a really smart list actually. One from every genre (RPG, FPS, Racing, Action, Casual, Strategy) and a collection of recent AAA titles (ME3, DS3, BF3) and some older stuff in case you bought all of those. Also there is some casual/younger age appropriate stuff, and the previous Sim City for anyone who want's something a little different than what they got and does not own it.

To be honest I think they did probably the best wide-variety they could have without opening up the entire first party catalog.

But no EA Sports... which I am a bit surprised by.

 

[jaysoon11]

I personally have had no issues with SimCity apart from the limited features and I got it on release date in UK, so for EA to offer a free game and what I thought was a great selection. Personally they are are all big games but I would never have bought any of them games, except for Plants Vs Zombies which I already have(Thanks to Susan). I struggled to select one as I would like to play Mass Effect but I would need the first 2 as well, and same for Dead Space. As previously mentioned who would select Medal of Honor and I actually like the new SimCity (Big shock I know) so I would't want a previous game as I would never play it. So leaving either BF3 or Need for Speed, without a controller for my computer I can see Need for Speed being horrible on PC so I went for BF3.

I think the list is smart from EA as SimCity users will get a free AAA game which everyone loves but those users would never have bought them so EA don't lose money, so overall it is a good win-win after a horrible launch.