Sim City Review

 
The latest instalment in the Sim City franchise saw overwhelming doubt and speculation months prior to its launch.

For fans, including myself, it’s been a long time waiting and hoping. I am happy to report that while the new Sim City has its flaws, gameplay is thoroughly enjoyable, visuals are beautiful yet informative, and the overall presentation of the game is clean and easy on the eyes.

No Sim City game has been easy. Its deep simulation meant a significant amount of “number crunching” in comparison to games such as Call of Duty where the only numbers you need to be concerned with is your health and ammo, as well as kill/death ratio, if you’re obsessively competitive.

The latest Sim City cuts back on the amount of number crunching. EA and Maxis have tried to make the new Sim City a more approachable game for newcomers. However, in doing so they have taken away the technicalities that defined past Sim City games.

While there are still numbers to play with in the new Sim City, it’s not as predominant as it used to be. Instead, most in-game data is represented as colours and 3D bar graphs.

Despite what some players have criticised the game as “dumbing down” to appeal to a larger audience, the new Sim City offers plenty of hurdles to overcome, even for veterans of past Sim City games.

The game feels rewarding more than ever, especially when you start seeing skyscrapers under construction and high density buildings developing, then being able to maintain them through taxes and zoning. Earning money in the new Sim City is as pleasurable as it has always been.

The new, somewhat omnipresent social aspect of the new Sim City provides a fresh set of challenges for players to feast on. In a way this game has become an MMO.

For instance, playing as a highly industrial city causes health and environmental problems that not only affect your city, but the entire region and its players. If crime is unresolved in one city, criminals can travel to another city wreak havoc there.

Dirty industry causes air pollution.

Should you and your friends play in the same region, everyone can contribute to “great works” such as an international airport which will provide lots of tourists and demand for city expansion.

Unleash your inner stalker. You can follow individual Sims in the new Sim City and see what they’re thinking and how their life is going. By listening to them, you can then tailor your city based on their needs. You really do get to play God.

Finally curved roads!

If you’ve got a decent computer, you’ll be pleased to know that the game looks amazing. Models are well sculpted and architecturally beautiful. Some complained that the new Sim City’s graphics look “cartoony”. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

I personally love the sunlight’s reflection you get while moving the camera around your city’s skyscrapers and water. I like the blurring effect when viewing things up close as it gives your city a more cinematic feel. The day/night cycle and weather adds new layer of realism that past Sim City games did not possess.

The new Sim City’s in-game interface is clean and minimalistic. It has adopted a somewhat “clinical” appearance that looks fresh and modern, but potentially mundane to players who like StarCraft 2’s interface for the difference races. Buttons are small and city notifications do not interrupt your view too considerably. It’s an improvement over Sim City 4’s interface.

Sadly, this is where the positives end. The new Sim City’s downsides range from large-scale to small-scales issues.

The major concern that the majority of players had prior to launch was how prepared servers were to handle the inevitable flood of people trying to enter a game.

I had preordered the new Sim City, and downloaded it before the actual launch date (7^th of March). The download went well, and my hopes were high. Installation took a couple of hours so I was impressed.

Then I tried to join a game. It was a disaster. There weren’t any servers that could take me in and finally after getting into a server, I couldn’t join a game because of “an error that was currently being worked on”.

Sometimes I actually got to play the game. For about ten minutes. Then I got disconnected from the server and couldn’t rejoin.

I was locked out of my own city. That is unacceptable.

To this day, EA and Maxis are still working to fix server issues by adding more servers and increasing capacity, and I’m glad that the game is almost free of its server problems.

The new Sim City does not allow for any terraforming and maps are limited to “medium” size which is really too small for any real city to exist. Some buildings take up so much space (such as the Sydney Opera House) that you are forced to compromise entire suburbs to allow for them to be placed and expanded later.

Additionally, the fact that you require an internet connection whenever you want to play Sim City has received much debate. This is partially the reason why players experienced network issues from day one.

There are some smaller issues in the new Sim City and while they do not take away from the overall gameplay, they may cause some redness, swelling and tenderness amongst those who have OCD. The graphics, while pretty, can bug out sometimes sometimes causing higher terrains to cut into roads if viewed from further away.

I read in a recent EA blog post (http://www.simcity.com/en_US/blog/article/a-simcity-update-and-something-for-your-trouble) that “to get us back in your good graces, we’re going to offer you a free PC download game from the EA portfolio. On March 18, SimCity players who have activated their game will receive an email telling them how to redeem their free game".

Looks like EA and Maxis have learnt their lesson after all.

Sim City is not perfect, but as we get more and more updates, it’ll come close. This is a small step for making the best Sim City game yet, and a giant leap for making city building simulators a more enjoyable experience for new players and fans.

Buying Petrol with Ian

 
I bought some fuel for my car recently.

Buying petrol is a pretty big deal. It can set me back up to $80 every time I refuel.

Fred Flintstone be pimping in his new ride.

Obviously I've bought petrol before, but this time was definitely the worst time I've ever bought petrol.

So I'm driving down to the local station, pondering the mysteries of the universe, wondering what I could've spent $80 on besides petrol and of course, paying attention to the road.

Remember kids, drop five. Save lives.

Speed kills. Not if you're sober.

It's night time. No one goes out to buy petrol on a Wednesday night, right? Saves me the hassle of waiting.

Wrong. It's as if the entire neighbourhood is invited to Kate's party at the same petrol station I'm refueling at.

It's so crowded down there that cars are actually blocking the streets on both sides of the station.

And because cars have their fuel hatch on one side, you have to choose which booth you want wisely, otherwise the whole place ends up looking like mi goreng.

In retrospect, I could've walked away from the situation like a man, but I stood my ground like a BAUS.

But after waiting for about 10 minutes, I'm already bored of Angry Birds so I decide to investigate as to why I hadn't gotten my petrol yet.

I see the problem instantly. Up a few cars is a white Holden Colorado, basically a ute but bigger. Equally as big is the man standing next to it.

It wasn't this guy, but I wish it was.

 

He's refueling his car, but there's five jerrycans (portable petrol tanks) at his feet and he's refueling those as well.

Probably in his mid-40's, he looks like the sort of guy who eats microwave meat pies for breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner and supper.

In other words, fat.

I don't approve of someone holding up the line like that. Besides, why would anyone have to refuel FIVE jerrycans?

2012 has already passed, so there's no need to worry about a zombie apocalypse, and I doubt he's off to fight the Second World War because that ended 70 years ago.

I decide to go over to the petrol hog and tell him to hurry up but before I can, I am rudely interrupted.

If you've never heard of Murphy's Law, it's a saying that goes like this:

"Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong"

Murphy's Law is one of those things that everyone can relate to.

Ever wondered why out of all the days you forget to bring your umbrella, it ends up raining? And whenever you do remember to bring an umbrella, it's nice and sunny.

Or what about that time when you stepped into the shower for a second and your phone started ringing?

Go ahead and read into it more. You'll find it quite enlightening, I promise.

So I'm walking over to the troublemaker when suddenly, of all the things that could happen, the power goes kaput.

All the lights are gone. The lights inside and outside the station, the traffic lights, street lights - gone.

Only the headlights of a few cars illuminate the area.

People start shouting. I hear doors banging.

A few bogans rev their V8 engines. They're at a petrol station, wasting what they put in just a minute ago.

Some people honk their horns, as if that will do anything.

Petrol hog has hogged so much petrol that even power to the neighbourhood has buggered off.

Look at what you've done. Said Jet.

Even if you've got an electric car hooked up to the wall, there's no escaping the inevitable petrol hog.

Then it hits me. What if the zombie apocalypse is starting?? What if Petrol Hog is right and we all need to fill up our petrol suitcases??

Some loser starts playing "Dancing In The Moonlight" by Toploader very loudly in their car.

They are destroying my moment of fantasy.

Shortly though the power comes back and the hog resumes hogging. I walk on over and tell him the lady in the car behind is not happy, Jan.

Not happy, Jan!

He starts packing away his jerrycans, pays and drives off. Not long after it is my turn for fuel. What a night it has been!

Instead of opening the little hatch for the petrol to go in, I open the boot.

There's five jerrycans in there.

Might as well fill them up while I'm here, right?

Official Trailer!

This video was HEAPS of fun to make.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

If you want to keep up to date with my latest posts, go ahead and subscribe to the left.

You can also follow my Twitter at
http://twitter.com/Ianception_

Dealing With Twitter

I was on Twitter the other day, and I still don't get it.

Facebook makes sense. Even Timeline makes sense. But Twitter? No.

I joined Twitter in July 2009 when it was about 3 years old, the same age Justin Bieber started dating Selena Gomez.

My first impressions of Twitter were actually pretty good. I liked its simplicity. I liked how you could follow people without having to send friend requests like a loser.

Who wants to be friends with Bill Gates?

Back then Facebook was the harbinger of spam requests, so Twitter was a refreshing alternative...if you could understand what the hell was going on.

Let's take a look.

1. Logging in.

First of all there was the time it took just to get to the login page. Even these days it takes ages. I can run around our block before I'm logged in. This is unacceptable.

2. Trying hard to be hip.

After I was logged in, I didn't understand the whole "@" and "#" nonsense.

People were saying stuff like:

Where did @myfriends go? #ForeverAlone

Go ahead. Say it out loud. It sounds like "where did at my friends go? Forever Alone" which is grammatically incorrect and doesn't make sense.

I was so eager to learn more about Twitter that I even went on Wikipedia.

I like to call this Twitipedia.

Apparently "@" is used to direct a message (known as a "tweet") at someone and "#" is used to categorise the tweet into a topic.

3. Conversation.

So what happens when someone tweets at you? How do you comment on it?

It turns out that you don't. You have to tweet them back with a separate message using silly "@" and "#", making it hard to track a conversation. You couldn't see what was already said easily.

On Facebook, comments are listed directly under each other, similar to chat programs like MSN Messenger or Skype. It's clean and easy to follow. Most of all, it makes sense.

Rome-ing the internet.

Twitter is like discovering SMS all over again.

It totally turned me off, just like when you discover that a pretty girl smokes.

With newer versions of Twitter, it's easier to follow a conversation, but I wonder why they didn't add that feature the first place. This is madness.

4. Followers.

Facebook introduced "friends" which makes some sense. But followers?

It's not like you're Jesus of Nazareth or Neo from The Matrix. Twitter might as well call them "disciples" while they're at it.

5. Retweets.

Retweeting is basically copy and pasting what someone else said and showing it to your followers. Where's your Vancouver referencing?

6. Photos.

Facebook has its own photo viewer built into the website. Twitter doesn't.

Twitter has to use separate websites for people to post pictures on, which lowers the pressure on servers. Even so, pictures still take ages to load and sometimes they don't even load at all.

Imagine this, but on Twitter.

7. Mobile Twitter.

If you've ever used Twitter on your phone, it's like Inception. It's impossible to navigate.

You don't know how you got to that page. You can't even update tweets. It's as if you're stuck in time itself.

You need to wake up.

You need the kick.

Twitter needs a kick.

Maybe a punch too.

Tell me about your experiences with Twitter! Would you recommend it to your friends?

Cliché

Do you know why this picture is here?

I don't, but you'll never look at Megan Fox the same way again...

The first time I heard the word cliché was when I was 12, about the same age as Justin Bieber today.

I didn't know what cliche meant, and I definitely didn't know how to spell it.

Cleeshay? English has to be simple, not French.

Might as well name it cleejriaj69jifjijsa and it'd be the same thing.

I came across the word more often in high school, especially from my English teacher at the time, who now sings and plays the guitar for a living.

My school only hires cool teachers.

Like Jimi Hendrix. To teach English.

If you're reading this Mr Dimitroff, take it with a grain of salt. Or was that too cliche?

That's the problem.

It's not the phrase that everyone says which is the problem. The problem is that everyone is saying it.

Crystal clear?

Welcome to the club. Time after time, we will use cliches. You do the math. Without cliches, our world wouldn't be the same.

With cliches, our world would be the same.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

All those literary freaks can go buzz off. That includes them Grammar nazis who wont stop fixing you're speeling mistakes.

They'll be Russian to fix your terrible English.

It's like skating on thin ice when your around grammar Nazis.

Time and time again, they will get there knickers in a knot / trousers in a twist until the cows come home.

Unless you've got an ace up your sleeve, just go with the flow. Rome wasn't built in a day, so hold your horses.

It's hard to swallow (that's what she said) the fact that some people keep they're eyes peeled for these kinds of things.

But theirs no point crying over spilt milk. What's done is done.

The necks time I knuckle down to write, let's talk about the word hypocrite.

How To Pull A Successful All-Nighter

Most of us have pulled an all-nighter at some point in our lives. For those who haven't, you haven't lived.

Usually a thesis or test in another 8 hours are to blame. Those nights when you realise the impending doom that will occur when the sun rises.

But now you can put your days of despair behind you! Here's how:

1. Slap yourself.

Really hard. On the face.

You're a procrastinator. You're really good at procrastinating.

Maybe it'll wake you up. Or maybe, it'll remind you to start earlier.

2. Have a drink.

You deserve it. All those hours spent watching cats on YouTube have really taken a toll on your body. It's time to refuel for the big night ahead.

Go get some coffee or tea, but don't overdo it.

Avoid Red Bulls. They're for losers.

3. Eat something.

Eat foods with complex carbohydrates because they'll give you energy over a longer period of time like a sandwich or oats.

And I would strongly advise not to do anything ridiculous like cook a three-course meal.

4. Listen to music.

Avoid music with lyrics. Stick to instrumentals with a strong but fast bass. Blast it on your headphones. You don't want to be waking everyone up.

And please, avoid Miley Cyrus. Forever.

Clearly a musical genius.

5. Keep the lights on.

Some of us study under a single table lamp. Hopefully none of us study under candlelight or even worse, moonlight.

You need a good amount of light otherwise you'll be reminded of where you should be: in bed.

6. Don't text your friend.

If it's your friend that's bombarding you with text messages, chances are they're equally as screwed as you are.

Engage in conversation if it's relevant to work, but don't go off to discuss the mysteries of the universe either.

7. Don't Google "how to pull an all-nighter".

You'll end up reading about what you should be doing, when really what you should be doing is studying.

8. Man up.

Harden up. Like Metapod.

You will pull this all-nighter.

Give yourself a pep talk. Tell yourself that the fate of the human race rests on your shoulders.

Your number has been called. Your time is now.

No pressure of course!

The Eight Friends You'll Make At University

Friends are a big part of uni life, and these are

The Eight Friends You'll Make At University

1. The Nerd.

This friend doesn't fluff around. Always studying, uni IS their life.

Nothing is more important. Not even fixing that bowl cut.

The culprit.

The victim.

2. The Model Wannabe.
This friend is hard to miss. It's not that you can't find them, but somehow they're always in your face.

On Facebook, they're the ones posting pictures of themselves posing half naked or covered in makeup.

When a guy wears makeup...

3. The Nice One.
You've always thought that you were nice. You had no idea. This friend makes you look like a badass. Help is never too far away.

Quiet and reserved, they are the most underrated friends you'll ever have.

4. The Gym Junkie.
This friend claims not to take steroids, but you've got different opinions.

The other week when you were at their house, you found a pile of needles on the table labelled:

STEROIDS

Then you remembered it was April 1st.

Clearly Ronnie Coleman in a gorilla suit.

 
5. The Lovey-Dovey One.
This friend is in a relationship. Of course, you don't need to be told that. You are reminded every second you're with them.

Where's that bucket? You're about to throw up.

6. The "Super Social" One.
You don't even know if this "friend" considers you as a friend or just another number on Facebook.

While this friend likes to organise social events and invite everyone, ironically, they'll only hang out with their own circle of friends.

Classic Wonka.

 
7. The Geek.
Geeks are not nerds, so don't get confused. This friend loves computer games, the latest gadgets and pretty much anything that runs on electricity.

Geeks love making friends too. Especially the online variety.

"I have plenty of Elven dwarf friends online."

8. The Troll.
This friend may as well not be a friend at all. You can't tell if they're laughing at your joke or at you. They have an extremely sketchy smile.

Sometimes it's hard to have a conversation with this friend, but deep down you know that even the biggest trolls are just misunderstood douches.

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Did I miss one of your friends? Tell me in the comments below!