I dislike this not for what it is by itself, but for the door I fear it opens in the industry. When Activision thinly disguised their DRM by calling Diablo 3 a

I dislike this not for what it is by itself, but for the door I fear it opens in the industry. When Activision thinly disguised their DRM by calling Diablo 3 an MMO, it was a notable and large step for the industry in the direction of removing value rather than adding it in order to accomplish an objective. If anything, I wish the backlash was much harsher, enough to convince EA not to do the same thing with SimCity. It may be disproportionate to the case at hand, real brands may be actually appropriate in a game of this type. I prefer that door remain firmly closed, rather than opened with some cause and later reopened with none at all. EA has a very bad track record. Having brands in SimCity would only add to the immersion of the experience if they were all over place, which EA couldn't do if they wanted to.