Yep, they've come out saying it in a few places. First article I could find about the matter:

This is the future of EA right here....considering they came out and said every game was going to require this kinda crap from here on out...

The game is useless. Unless Maxis ends up delivering a massive patch to the game that allows for you local machine to do the calculations currently being done in the cloud.

This whole new site hit a new low a while ago...it's so haphazard that I can't tell the difference between official posts and fan posts. Actually, some of the fan posts are better...at least they have more than the headline...

I think it's both to be honest. EA has come out and said that all their games coming out have these kinds of features. Every. Single. One.

The point is that if you do accept the offer and they're just trolling you...you wouldn't know until after the damage was done. Then you're left with a ruined hulk of a city next to yours and no one moving in to fix it. Even worse...that could be left there for the foreseeable future if they don't abandon it or if no…

A piece or two of tape is time consuming? Really?

Except they will just force it down everyone's throats. Look at what EA is talking about doing. Look at what Crytek has come out and said recently. Look at Sim City even...it's happening to everything...

What if someone doesn't have Facebook nor want it connected but still wants to use the features? No other social networks are being considered? I mean it's unlikely these days that someone won't have a Facebook account, but you do see many people who have migrated to other services.

I'm with you there. There's a reason so many of us that grew up along with the internet in the 80's and 90's prefer to be anonymous. It's surprising how many people willingly fork over so much information these days.

"get a better ISP" yeah...that may not be an option due to the horrible infrastructure that's laid out in the US, some places only have one choice for their ISP.

And the probing....can't forget the probing...

What I don't see mentioned at all is the case of Demiurge Studios and their role in things. Did they have the same problems? Just a curious as question as there is that version of the them (whether or not it comes out is another matter) that is left unreported...

Yeah, 3D will become standard...only because you won't have a choice soon. Which isn't bad, the 3D sets do produce some amazing picture quality in regular 2D as well...

It's the first 4K ready device you'll own...(at least for video output), so there is that I guess...

You make some really good points.

No problem at all there, it happens to all of us online at some point or another. I definitely agree with those points there about MS, I'm really curious what they're going to do and how far their going to lean on Kinect or if they will at all.

yeah, but the PowerPC is way closer to the x86 than the Cell Processor is...so that right there gives them a huge one up.

Then I stand corrected...I was going off the conference where they didn't mention it. Awesome that it is too!

Actually, I haven't decided what I'm going to be buying. Don't assume anything, that's just stupid.