If you haven’t been following the news lately you might have missed the fact that SimCity launched two weeks ago. If you didn’t know that then you probably missed all the internet rage that followed the travesty that the launch ended up being. Lucky you. In a nutshell the always-online requirement of the game led to overloaded servers to the point where no-one was able to login or play the game at all. All of that has been fixed now and EA are offering an olive branch to consumers.
Despite all the issues at launch the game has still sold over 1.1 million copies since launch making it the most successful SimCity launch yet. Anyone who has purchased the game and registered it with an Origin account (which is a requirement to play the game) by March 26th will be eligible for a free game download. While it doesn’t quite make up for the fact that people purchased a game they couldn’t play immediately, it does equal a free game so hey, why not enjoy it right?
As of March 23rd a “redemption portal” will be opened in Origin allowing owners of Sim City to choose one game from the following list for free:
- 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
- SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition
While most of those games have a number of DLC options available (encouragement to give EA more money of course) they are all very decent games. The irony of offering the offline-playable single player SimCity 4 on the back of all the complaints that SimCity 5 is online-only is not lost on me either.
For those who are eligible to pick a free game, the selection must be made and downloaded by March 31st otherwise it will be forfeit. I haven’t yet decided which game I’ll be choosing but with Sim City working now, perhaps it might be worth picking it up before March 26th if the game interests you. We will have a review of the game up sometime soon by Susie but my impressions of the game so far are good (despite the initial hiccups). Have you played it yet or did the launch troubles put you off the game entirely? Let us know in the comments below.
