Frustrated SimCity owners to get free game

EMERYVILLE, Calif., March 18 (UPI) -- Maxis has listed the games it's offering free to disappointed SimCity players who found themselves unable to play during the game's trouble-plagued launch.

Maxis decided to give a free game to SimCity "mayors" after its eagerly-awaited online town simulator suffered server problems that left many unable to save their city creations or even play at all.

Maxis on Sunday said existing customers and those who register before March 25 will get a free game along with their copy of SimCity as compensation, theregister.co.uk reported.

"Our SimCity Mayors are incredibly important to the team at Maxis. We sincerely apologize for the difficulties at launch and hope to make it up to you with a free PC game download from Origin," the company wrote in a blog post.

The free downloads will be available March 22 and registered owners have until the end of the month to grab their games, Maxis said.

The games include SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition, the previous version that does not require an Internet connection to play, and standard editions of Battlefield 3, Bejeweled 3, Dead Space 3, Mass Effect 3, Medal of Honor Warfighter, Need for Speed Most Wanted, and Plants vs. Zombies.