
We’ve already examined the effects of SimCity’s city size limitation after Maxis stressed the necessity of the restriction for a gain in performance. City sizes will remain fixed when the game launches next Tuesday, but in the words of Gandalf (who’d make a pretty great mayor), “Hope remains.” Speaking to IncGamers, Creative Director Ocean Quigley says SimCity’s team “could certainly make the city sizes larger” as a reaction to more powerful hardware setups.
“We need to keep in mind that SimCity is a mainstream game,” Quigley clarifies. “It’s not a game that’s only going to run on high-end gaming PCs. It has to run in your dad’s PC as well. We’ll eventually get around to expanding the city size, but I can’t make any promises as to when.”
Yeah, well, my dad just installed his second Titan, so there. In any case, the prospect of seeing my populace spread across the map in a wave of prosperity and garbage trucks feels exciting indeed. That is, of course, if Maxis’ plans involves a substantial grid increase and not a fractional bump—I’d like to see the amazing GlassBox Engine roar with its newfound freedom, not mumble.

Some games force online-only measures onto people. It sucks! Especially when some titles, like these seven, 100% didn't need it.

The following is an excerpt from Chapter 5 of The Secret History of Mac Gaming, “Simulated.”

EA has something of a reputation when it comes to awkwardly handling much-loved franchises. Here are 7 that Screen Critics feel they ruined.
Need for Speed as well. Here's to hope that the new one will be a return to form for the franchise.