The Inevitable SimCity Launch Post

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Look you knew it was coming.  I’ve been analyzing game careers for awhile, and then EA dumps a big pile of SimCity follies in my lap.  Of course I was going to write about.

If you didn’t hear what happened with SimCity 2013, here’s the skinny: EA’s latest version of the game required a persistent internet connection (yeah, DRM any way you slice it).  The downloads, the server load, etc. caused all sorts of outages that in turn made it awful hard for people to actually play the game they paid for.

Of course they were mocked understandable across the internet.  EA added more servers and offered a free game to early adopters – after removing the supposedly so-critical features that required an always-on-internet connection.  Marketing was apparently suspended.  Amazon pulled downloads.  There’s a petition to just yank the DRM, and a Kickstarter for a DRM-free competitor.

And so, here I am, looking at the bizarre mess trying to figure what to say.  So first, let me get to my analysis.

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Create Space . . . Wow

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Well as I continue my quest to move my Focused Fandom books to print, I’m trying out Create Space.  I just got the draft of “Cosplay, Costuming, and Careers.”  Ahem – WOW.

It’s pretty much as good as any other POD I’ve seen, which is pretty much Lulu.  Paper quality may be slightly higher.  I’ll go through it with a fine-toothed mind later this weekend, but on the surface I’m at least pretty impressed.

It’s not so much easier as it is more powerful.  The cover maker is distinctly less advanced (though theres a 3D visualizer that helps), whereas the internal inspection tool where you can see what the book would look like, which includes formatting warnings, is fantastic.  You are more likely to get a book done right the first time, overall, if you use the tools right.

So if all looks well, time to move a few other books over . . .

Fantasy CRPGs And Distance From The Source

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I love Lord of The Rings.  It really is a classic, awesome and epic and beautiful.  Hell, I actually think Tom Bombadil was awesome, but that’s another story.

Or Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser.  A fantasy road movie, two guys getting into crazy trouble and magic kingdoms underground.

How about Elric?  A buddy story gone terribly wrong among battling gods and falling kingdoms.  Also, hey, god of Jesters.

But what doesn’t feel like fantasy literature is fantasy games.  I don’t say this to diss CRPG fantasy games.  I love a lot of them, I played the first Wizardry, I know Demon’s Winter is one of the most unappreciated fantasy games of the 80’s.  I enjoyed a lot of the Atelier series.  I played a lot of Final Fantasy.  I adore Dragon Quest IX.  It’s just they don’t always feel like the epic literature that inspired them or the genre.

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