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Update #2: SimCity Just Got A Whole Lot Slower
Update #2: The latest SimCity update disables a decidedly critical gameplay feature in hopes of alleviating EA's continued server woes.
Earlier today, the SimCity team announced it was disabling some "non-critical" gameplay features to help resolve its network instability. These features included leaderboards, achievements, and region filters. The latest update, Patch 1.2, continues to address the city-building simulator's online issues – only it axes a rather vital function. In a post on EA's forums, SimCity's community lead states that the new update disables Cheetah speed, the fastest simulation speed in the game. Instead, Cheetah speed now runs at Llama speed.
Or reviews editor Joe Juba is still in the process of playing SimCity for our review, and confirms that unlike the previously disabled features, not having access to Cheetah speed is in fact a big deal. There's currently no ETA on when Cheetah speed or any of the other disabled features will be restored.
Update #1: A community manager on EA's SimCity forums has stated that in addition to adding more servers to address the game's network issues, the team is also temporarily disabling some "non-critical" gameplay features.
A hotfix is being deployed to all servers that will disable leaderboards, achievements, and region filters, features that Maxis insists "will in no way affect your core gameplay experience." There's currently no ETA for when these features will be restored, but the post goes on to thank players for their patience.
Original Story: SimCity fans have encountered delays and problems getting into the always-connected title since its launch on Tuesday, and EA and developer Maxis say they are working on it.
In a statement on the game's forums, Kip Katsarelis, SimCity senior producer says, "We are hitting a number of problems with our server architecture which has seen players encountering bugs and long wait times to enter servers. This is, obviously, not the situation we wanted for our launch week, and we want you to know that we are putting everything we have at resolving these issues."
To help solve the problem, Katsarelis says that more servers are being added and that updates are being pushed to fix bugs.
If you're having problems with the game and can't play it, you can always enjoy our Test Chamber session with the game in the meantime.
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