SimCity PC > Mac

[CPressland]

Hey Guys,

So I've had a quick look around for some information on this, but I cannot find any clear facts. If I were to purchase SimCity for Windows, when the Mac version is available, would I be able to play it on my Mac?

My reason for asking is simple, I mainly use Steam as it gives me the flexibility between using Bootcamp for non-supported Games and Mac OS for any Games that have been ported. I worry that if I purchase the 'PC' version of SimCity, I'll only be able to play it in a Bootcamp state, which doesn't really help me as I'd like to play it on Mac OS when it's available.

So what do you guys think? Do you think EA will do the 'right' thing and let us play regardless of platform and have the game tied to the Origin Account, or do you think EA will release 'SimCity for Mac' as a separate product to 'SimCity'?

Thanks

Chris

[Teebor]

Its EA so they will probably charge

Source - I have none but its EA and they are just generally a money grabbing company

[CPressland]

Its EA so they will probably charge

Source - I have none but its EA and they are just generally a money grabbing company

This was my initial thought also. I guess the smart thing to do would be not buy the game until the OS X version is available, but by then a decent chunk of the community online would have died out. Plus, we have no release date.

[Nick H. Supervisor]

If you buy it on Steam I believe it would be cross-compatible like all the other games they offer. Like Teebor, I have no source but I remember back when Steam started supporting Mac that they said this.

EDIT: Wow, brain fart. I forgot that SimCity uses Origin...I go for EA screwing the users over.

[CPressland]

Yeah, I wish it was available via Steam. I completely trust Valve to do the right thing by there users, where as EA, not so much.

[Teebor]

I would send them this question, either via email or twitter and see if they respond.

Its a good question to ask them directly.

[CPressland]

Lets see what happens.

[spaceelf]

I have Dragon Age 2, Spore, Sims 3 and Sims Medieval for Mac showing in Origin and I've certainly never paid for any of them or owned a Mac.

I'm guessing you'll be good to go.

[_bobcat_ Veteran]

I have read that you won't have to pay again to play it on OS X.

I also found that with the Sims 3 attached to my Origin account, I can install and play it on both Windows and OS X without paying extra.

Edit: looking for a solid source about that but I can't find anything despite it being a common question. Even the EA customer service can't give consistent answers.

Edit edit: I found this: http://answers.ea.com/t5/Miscellaneous-Issues/If-I-bought-Simcity-for-PC-will-I-have-to-buy-it-again-for-the/td-p/625216

See the last post on that page.

[Hurmoth]

Edit edit: I found this: http://answers.ea.co...the/td-p/625216

See the last post on that page.

Basing this comment on that being true...

And people wonder why there's so much EA bashing going on :rolleyes:

[spaceelf]

Funny how the last post on the page and the last post in the thread say different things, but it's very likely the last post on the first page is correct.

Origin for Mac is new so the last post (if even true) is probably just support people that don't know the new stuff yet.

[.Neo]

Edit edit: I found this: http://answers.ea.co...the/td-p/625216

See the last post on that page.

The comment on the second page contradicts it though.

[CPressland]

And here you see my problem, nobody seams to know the correct answer, not even EA. The EA Rep I spoke to Yesterday wasn't even aware that they were releasing a Mac version. Not that he was all that bright honestly.

[Hurmoth]

And here you see my problem, nobody seams to know the correct answer, not even EA. The EA Rep I spoke to Yesterday wasn't even aware that they were releasing a Mac version. Not that he was all that bright honestly.

That's sad. I know EA is a massive company, but they really should know their own products. It would be one thing if it was a third party developer releasing a product on Origin, but Maxis is owned by EA, so they should know what products an arm of EA is doing.

It should be a simple answer, just like Steam, you buy one copy and you get it on all platforms that game is made for.

[.Neo]

And here you see my problem, nobody seams to know the correct answer, not even EA. The EA Rep I spoke to Yesterday wasn't even aware that they were releasing a Mac version. Not that he was all that bright honestly.

You're probably better off waiting for the Mac version anyway considering all the issues that have been reported with SimCity.

[NeoTrunks]

As others have already said, the safest thing to do is wait for the Mac version to be released. However, with that said, I have successfully registered my CD keys for the Mac versions of Dragon Age 1 and 2 on Origin, and they are now available to me on PC (haven't checked on the Mac Origin client yet). As far as the games being different, the Mac games from EA so far have just been the Windows versions wrapped in a modified Cider client. So, they were basically the same code as the Windows counterparts. Also, the boxed DVD games included just one CD key for Mac and PC.

Anything can change with SimCity though.

[Teebor]

You're probably better off waiting for the Mac version anyway considering all the issues that have been reported with SimCity.

^^This

They are fixing the game slowly but I would still give them a little more time (despite a few people having fun playing the game). The biggest issue at the moment actually seems to be rollbacks and vanishing cities

[CPressland]

So I bit the bullet, or should I say my impatience got the better of me.

I was playing SimCity in Bootcamp last night; seamed to be running okay but it did lock the MacBook up a few times. But I'm sure thats just something wrong with the VMWare + Bootcamp Drivers.

I'll report back when the Mac version is available I guess...

[Teebor]

Cool, Good luck :)

Check the other thread, I think Deranged has a Neowin region if you want to play with other people

[CPressland]

Cool, Good luck :)

Check the other thread, I think Deranged has a Neowin region if you want to play with other people

Honestly, I want to play with myself, gosh that sounds worse than it is. I like SimCity for the SinglePlayer aspects, if I wanted multiplayer, I'd play SimCity 2000 Network Edition.

[PGHammer]

Honestly, I want to play with myself, gosh that sounds worse than it is. I like SimCity for the SinglePlayer aspects, if I wanted multiplayer, I'd play SimCity 2000 Network Edition.

There IS a solo-play option (which I and others have mentioned) - it's called Sandbox Mode.

You can Sandbox cities or entire regions. A region (either public, invite-only, or Sandbox) can be anywhere from three cities to eight.

Further, there is NO limit to the number of Sandboxes.

(Sandboxes are SERVER-specifc - so as long as you remember what servers you play on, you won't lose your Sandboxes; I have two Sandboxes on NA East 3, and one on NA East 4, for example.)

The anger isn't over a lack of solo play, but a lack of OFFLINE solo play.

[spaceelf]

I have a round up with Hawkman on EW1 and with umm....someone else on NAE3 :laugh:

I don't know if I said something wrong or what but I'd prefer to have everyone together.

[Shadrack]

^^This

They are fixing the game slowly but I would still give them a little more time (despite a few people having fun playing the game). The biggest issue at the moment actually seems to be rollbacks and vanishing cities

My biggest concern is the very limited city size. I really don't care about the be-online to play single player. I sold my soul to Blizzard on that one when Diablo 3 came out. What concerns me is all the complaints about tiny city sizes. Do you know if they plan to address that at all or is that pretty much set in stone?

[CPressland]

The small cities aren't actually so much of a problem as services can be 'traded' between other cities in a single Region. Think of it as splitting your city into chunks. While I'm still a fan of the huge cities from SimCity 2000; I'm starting to get the hang of the smaller cities.

[Matthew S.]

I have read that you won't have to pay again to play it on OS X.

I also found that with the Sims 3 attached to my Origin account, I can install and play it on both Windows and OS X without paying extra.

Edit: looking for a solid source about that but I can't find anything despite it being a common question. Even the EA customer service can't give consistent answers.

Edit edit: I found this: http://answers.ea.co...the/td-p/625216

See the last post on that page.

Thats also because the sims 3 dvd's shipped with as both windows and mac on one disk, and the download origin grabs is actually the cd image.