Keyboards plugged in? Mouses at the ready? Cool. We're about to hit the launch of another big-deal PC game: Maxis' SimCity, back from a long hiatus and looking pretty good.
But SimCity will also be the latest PC game to demand that users maintain a constant internet connection. We went into the similarly connection-demanding Diablo III hoping for the best, and wound up with a game that was regularly rendered unplayable by widespread server problems in the opening days. We're wiser now, and more wary. We know the score. This could be a bumpy ride, at least at first.
While the launch of any online game brings with it some expected server woes, it's still not too much to hope that a game that offers no offline mode will have everything in place to assure early players a seamless experience.
I thought I'd do a pre-release gut-check: How would you rate your faith in SimCity's servers?