The Sims Overtake Myst 292
krugdm writes "Gamespot is reporting that The Sims has now sold 6.3 million copies and has overtaken Myst as the best-selling PC game ever." My Sims lie dormant awaiting a wine that
can breath life into them once again. I just have been too busy to reboot.
And yet... (Score:1, Offtopic)
This whole thing is wildly inaccurate. (Score:4, Funny)
Sims are disturbing (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Sims are disturbing (Score:4, Funny)
You obviously haven't seen my kitchen sink recently. Those chore-loving Sims are high fantasy, far as I'm concerned. =)
Re:Sims are disturbing (Score:2)
Ok,NOW the game sounds interesting...Will this maid be a French Maid in a sexy, short maid outfit? Will she take it off? Will she do other nifty stuff?
No? She'll just clean the frickin' house? What a frickin' STUPID game! Back to hoards of orcs. Mumble, mumble, pussy Sims game, mumble, mumble, retards play it, mumble, mumble.
Re:Sims are disturbing (Score:2)
Hold on... (Score:2, Funny)
Something's wrong here.
Non-violent games (Score:4, Insightful)
That's unless you like trapping your sims in small shacks and setting fire to them.
Oh, and Mortimer punched me when I stole his wife.
Medic! CmdrTaco's talking about his Sims again! (Score:5, Funny)
Referring to the possibility of a Sims TV show:
"This sounds pretty lame... unless they use my Sim Neighborhood: I used skins from 20 Female Television stars ranging from the girls of Friends, Xena, Buffy, and beyond. I made many households and played the game normally for awhile. After the ladies all fell in love with each other, purchased everything available in the game, and had successfull careers, I started luring neighbors over and trapping them in my attic, or drowning them in my pool. You haven't lived until you've seen Xena Warrior Princess die in a terrible grill fire while Sculley flails her arms in terror. Now that would be good TV. Especially with anatomically correct skins."
It's all about the system requirements (Score:3, Insightful)
No. It's all about the system requirements. A game like the Sims has a much larger population to sell to than a Quake.
Of course Quake is a bad example. Id games are not merely about retail sales, licensing their engines are a big part of their business. So while Quake's requirements are a little steep, next years games based on the same engine do not seem as bad.
The licensing of the engines also contributes to the raw number of titles that show up. There can be a lower cost of entry to game business this way, less risk, etc.
Shouldn't it really be (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Shouldn't it really be (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Shouldn't it really be (Score:3, Funny)
hummer
Re:Shouldn't it really be (Score:2)
Re:Shouldn't it really be (Score:2)
Re:Shouldn't it really be (Score:2)
Re:Shouldn't it really be (Score:3, Funny)
dropped out. (Score:2)
They didn't kick me out at all, I was bored as fuck, and dropped out.
Re:Shouldn't it really be (Score:2)
5 PalmOS
2 PocketPC/WinCE
All playing solitare...
Re:Shouldn't it really be (Score:2)
30 ti-calcs of various models all playing tetris
Re:Shouldn't it really be (Score:2, Funny)
Sigh. I must be getting old.
Consensus (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Consensus (Score:2)
Mr. Malda (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.transgaming.com/gamepage.php?gameid=
Re: Oh, *that* kind of transgaming... (Score:2)
Exactly, that would make perfect sense for someone in the computer programming [planet.nl] profession.
the sims new gaming model (Score:4, Interesting)
it will be interesting to see where this model continues to go -- release a fairly simple but intricate and engaging first version and add to it continuously, for a fee.
"New" model? (Score:2)
Zillions of Web sites operate under the same model: Yahoo Mail, Salon.com, Slashdot...
Heck, even Microsoft started doing the same thing when it began charging for Microsoft Plus! and service packs to Windows 95.
Re:the sims new gaming model (Score:2)
Annoying game (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Annoying game (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Annoying game (Score:2)
I kinda don't get why anybody likes this game at all. I got it for a Christmas present and I started playing it. My Sim kept leaving trash all around his house- so I had to make him go around and clean up all the time. I said to myself "Shoot, I gotta clean up in the real world all the time, what's so fun about cleaning up in the virtual world?" Honestly, the game is so much like real life that it becomes just as tedious as real life. I play games to get away from reality, not to experience more of it.
Re:Annoying game (Score:2)
Re:Annoying game (Score:2, Funny)
Fun (Score:2, Funny)
Why? (Score:2, Funny)
Says something about human nature, eh?
Or does that just speak volumes about me?
Perhaps I should keep these observances to myself.
Wine (Score:2)
Mine sleep in vomit : wine abuse ?
I would pay $39.95 (Score:2, Funny)
Re:I would pay $39.95 (Score:3, Funny)
It's really no surprise... (Score:2, Interesting)
Sims and Wine - just say yes (Score:4, Informative)
So reboot already. The time for Linux to be the gaming platform of the future is now. Windows is dead, and Bill G is starting to realize this. Good thing he cashed out a lot of money for his (actually good) Foundation.
Got me The Sims. Gonna get Warcraft III. Need Black and White for WINE next.
-
Re:Sims and Wine - just say yes (Score:3, Informative)
Question (Score:2)
Does that mean you're too busy to play as well?
Quake Plug In (Score:5, Funny)
"Goodness, how did you people ever live long enough to invent tools?"
-Hobbes (the tiger, not the philosopher)
Dolls (Score:5, Funny)
Gender repression denial is a hugely untapped market.
Not dolls, action figures (Score:2)
They're not dolls, they're action figures. That's what my son tells me about all his transforming figures, LotR figurines, and all that stuff.
Now if you could just do magic in The Sims - sweet!
Re:Not dolls, action figures (Score:2)
Re:Not dolls, action figures (Score:2, Funny)
Well, I do have quite a few haunted houses on my blocks. On my Win machine (the one with House Party) there are at least five houses.
One is a Black Widow - she's very charming, but there are many urns and gravestones on her tiny plot.
Another is a surfer dude and his boardbabe. They have a surf shrine and a few have died at their cookouts cause it was too crowded. That's why they sleep on the second floor of their bamboo shack.
Another is a family of ghouls. There's just a couple of them, but their plot has a moving pool that has claimed many a victim in its meandering path.
And the last is a couple who are continually building stuff - they seem to have a habit of walling in their guests, forgetting about not having any doors, and then changing the layout.
I wish we could get the expansions working in WINE - but until then I'll have to be satisfied with The Sims at least working on my Linux boxen.
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My little sisters love this game... (Score:2)
Can anyone explain to me why this game is not exactly like playing with Barbie dolls? Granted, I play lots of console games...maybe this is another thing I just don't "get". =)
What about half-life / counter-strike? (Score:3, Interesting)
I just don't see many pcbangs renting out stations so people can play SIMS.
Re:What about half-life / counter-strike? (Score:3, Interesting)
There's no way you can have a 5 hour game of Sims and call it 'complete'. Its a long-term strategy game, and that kind of thing just doesn't work in an arcade (or PC Bang, or whatever)
Re:What about half-life / counter-strike? (Score:3, Interesting)
Ok with that logic then why does Starcraft rank as #2 in these places? Starcraft doesn't really fit your mold of a quick fix game.
Re:What about half-life / counter-strike? (Score:2)
I was referring to the recent popup of the PCbangs in San Jose, 6 in just the last year. All of these places proudly display thier boxes of counterstrike behind the counter.
Re:What about half-life / counter-strike? (Score:2)
Gamer1:so, uh blah blah blah
Korean:GOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOGO!!
gAMER2:Yea
Korean:GOGOGOGOGOGOGOGGOGOGOGOGOGOGO!
K
Korean:GOGOGOGOGOG
I don't get it (Score:5, Interesting)
I do not understand the draw of this game. There, I said it. I live life every day, mow the lawn when it needs it, go to work...why the HELL would I want to play a "game" within which I get to do the same crap? I play to escape and solve mysteries/puzzles, put my tactical and strategic wargaming skills against those of the computer or another person. Why do I want to play a game where I have to go to work, mow the lawn, etc?
That said, I WOULD find it interesting if the game maker would BRING BACK the plague hamster that kills. Add plagues, pandemics, crime, terrorists, serial killers... THAT would be frickin' cool (or COULD be if done properly). You character goes for a walk at night and gets mugged or does the wrong girl/guy and gets a disease. Has a car accident. Make it gritty and more unpredictable. Toss in the wildcards. THAT would make it more interesting.
As it is, I'll never touch it or even look at the box. I'll stick with Deus Ex, Half-Life, the coming Call of Cthulhu (YEAH!), and Warcraft III. REAL escapist fun games.
Re:I don't get it (Score:5, Funny)
Of course, my job is being an elite commander of a mutli-national elite counter-terrorist squad dedicated to the destruction of contraband nanotech viruses and eliminating cults of unspeakable extradimensional entities.
Finally! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I don't get it (Score:2)
It's for control freaks, as someone mentioned. People who like to control people, but tend to be frustrated in their attempts at real life control. Personally, control freaks have always eluded my comprehension. I can't control much of anything, let alone other people, so why would I want to play a video game and try? I don't get it.
Re:I don't get it (Score:2)
Control freaks? Hmmm, this sounds like a PERFECT game for...$CIENTOLOGISTS! Yes, $cientologist players could happily and without consequence squelch dissenters, prevent Sims characters from protesting at their "churches", have perfect, all-powerful OT III and higher characters with magical powers.
I wonder what percentage of the Sims players are $cientologist?
Re:I don't get it (Score:2)
so its a chicks game?
Re:I don't get it (Score:5, Funny)
Becuase, if you're a geek, in the sims you occasionally get laid. For some of us, that's as unrealistic as running around with a BFG, and being able to get shot with a rocket launcher 7 times before dieing.
Re:I don't get it (Score:2)
then how do you know you wont enjoy it? It could have the thing you think would be cool in it, and you wouldn't even know.
I haen't played it because I have no interest in those KIND of games as a whole.
Now that I have found out its so popular with women, I may buy it for my wife.
Did you try playing it? (Score:2)
It's hard to appreciate anything if you oversimplify it. Now there are 6.3 million people that think you're an idiot, heh.
Re:I don't get it (Score:2)
I remember one time I had a baby and not enough simes to sleep/work/care for the baby. So some social worker came to reposses the baby. I removed all the exit doors and installed a bunch of fireplaces and wicker furniture to try and burn her for taking my baby. Not only did she not burn, but she can walk through walls. That was scary.
Re:I don't get it (Score:2)
If that is what you want, then buy and play Black and White. That certainly seems more interesting than the Sims.
Re:I don't get it (Score:2)
Well...I don't know why the previous reply was modded down to -1. The comment about teaching one's creature not to eat its own poopidoops is one I've read before from other people.
I believe that the trick is to be very careful how you administer rewards and punishment. Sure, it might take time - and if your balance if wrong with the rewards/punishments, you get unexpected results, or so I hear. Haven't played that game either.
Re:I don't get it (Score:2)
Re:I don't get it (Score:2)
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, due this summer. Action/adventure RPG 3d:s html
http://www.chaosium.com/cthulhu/DCOTE/index.
Re:I don't get it (Score:2)
If you can deal with a very flash-laden website, you can go to the source of the game at
- http://www.fishtankgames.de/
. I look forward to this game. Looks cool, SOUNDS cool, and it is Lovecraftian. THAT'S cool.Any games targetted towards women? (Score:5, Insightful)
- Its worldwide appeal spans hard-core gamers, casual computer users, and even gaming's most elusive group of consumers, women. Over
- 50 percent of new Sims players are female."
Other game makers should take heed to this. Targetting females or more specifically not targetting only males would make a lot of other games sell much better. IANAW, but I'm sure women aren't impressed with big breasts and alpha blended puddles of blood. And to tell you the truth, I don't care for it much either.Sure, a hot chick on the box will sell a few copies but good gameplay and depth in a game is what makes people tell thier friends to buy the game too. Say what you want about the Simms - it's definatly an involved game. That's why it sold so good.
Just my opinion.
On games for women (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm not saying that women don't/can't enjoy games popular with men, just that most women I know don't care for them. When I picked up a copy of the Sims for my brother, a friend of mine gushed over the box and said she'd buy a PC just to play the game and its expansions. Hot Date was a popular birthday gift among women friends.
Perhaps a romance-style adventure, heavy on the character-interactive, would appeal to many women. I don't know - I'm a guy, so my clue factor is pretty low when in comes to games-that-appeal-to-women.
Most programmers/game designers are men - I think it's probably pretty obvious that a game company that wants to cater to women should go woman-heavy in recruiting designers/coders.
Re:On games for women (Score:2)
Re:Any games targetted towards women? (Score:2)
they say that, but if you had a two for 1 special on breast augmentation, you would have a line around the block.
Re:Any games targetted towards women? (Score:2)
She's rare, but that market is out there (Just look at Ms. Case [mobygames.com])
Cool thing about the girl mentioned above, The Gimp [gimp.org] caught her interest at a starbucks here and we started talking. UNIX can help you meet girls.
Re:Any games targetted towards women? (Score:2)
Ditto Ditto Ditto.
I bought The Sims on the day it came out, installed it, and my wife, usually at best indifferent about computer games, proceeded to kick me out of my chair and not be seen for the next month. She still plays, though of course not as intensely. It's like a doll house, only seamier. She's bought all the expansion packs, and there's been a bunch of them.
Will Wright's a friggin' genius. And like many geniuses, he just realizes the obvious about human nature. Wake up developers. Be more willing to foray off the fantasy/space reservation, get away from the combat ethos a little, and you might find that women really will play and get addicted to video games.
Re:Any games targetted towards women? (Score:3, Funny)
Say what you want about the Simms - it's definatly an involved game.
Yeah, but it's kinda out-dated. The Dimms is more advanced. :)
Re:Any games targetted towards women? (Score:2)
I met several of the programmer and talked to them about it. The "Its geared toward women" came later, after they relized more women were playing it then any other game.
Kind of like that whole Higges
Praise those 6.3 million people (Score:3, Interesting)
I know people don't like hearing this, but I never really considered Myst a game. It was more like a story book with some clicking thrown in, and some maddeningly inane puzzle things.
Nice story, bad game. Obiously, quite a few people disagreed, but whatever.
Re:Praise those 6.3 million people (Score:2)
Sims as a reality replacement (Score:4, Insightful)
It's amazing how the Sims can suck people into this alternate reality where the game play consists of managing characters who, for the most part, are just living their lives. And all of a sudden you look up and it's six hours later, and you haven't taken out your own trash, or called one of your friends, or worked out, and are eating cold leftover pizza. And instead of being bothered by the irony of that, you tell yourself, "just a few minutes more, I almost have these two characters ready to get married."
It's way creepy. And even creepier that I'm thinking "gee, it's been a while since I fired the game up, I think maybe I'll go see where I left off." And I should be going to the gym, cleaning the house, making dinner or spending more time trying to find a job!
Re:Sims as a reality replacement (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Sims as a reality replacement (Score:2)
You've done it! You've answered the mystery of the Sims! What mystery? I don't frickin' know because I'll never frickin' touch that stupid frickin' game BUT...someone else posted a comment about how long it takes to put the dishes away or turn on a radio across the room. The Sims must be playing the Sims so that the mundane aspects of REAL life that they normally do go undone so they can play the Sims and run the mundane lives of these computer pustules. I think it is an infinite regression. The Sims play the Sims who play the Sims, etc, etc.
Stupid fuckin' game. It speaks VOLUMES about the game that character DO DISHES or TAKE OUT TRASH, or shower, shit, brush teeth, etc, etc. Hell, I sure hope the people who get off playing that "game" do at least the same thing as their pustule Sims characters do.
I'd actually play the game if I could create a molecular biologist character who creates a nasty plague virus and releases it, wiping out whole geographic Sims areas. Or let me be the leader of a Sims country and develop a neutron bomb and start lobbing it at enemy Sims cities. THAT would be cool.
Re:Sims as a reality replacement (Score:2, Interesting)
The premise is that you get to control a bunch of simulated people. The challenge is to keep them happy so they can succeed at their job and ultimately this rewards you by allowing you to add more crap to their house or build a bigger house or whatever. It's fun to be able to design any kind of living environment you want and then see how "people" react to it.
It's also just as escapist as any other game. Think about it- when was the last time you controlled the lives of an entire neighborhood of people? Jesus, people, it's not like this is a first person shooter where your goal is to go take a shit every five minutes.
Lighten up.
Well... (Score:3, Funny)
I guess that's better than too busy rebooting, like the rest of us working under Windows. *sighs*
two for two (Score:2, Funny)
It's a toss up (Score:2)
Ya know what'd be cool .... (Score:2, Funny)
You could get your sim to work out and become a football player and play him in the next Madden.
They could join STAR and be in the next Resident Evil game.
They could become drug lords and be in next GTA
The possibilities abound!
Me, I'm waiting for the iPod version, so I can upload my sim onto some computers at CompUSA, it would then lounge around with other uploaded sims, acting as an itelligent agent looking for kewl software for me to later download.
beggers can't be choosers (Score:2, Funny)
If they're in that advanced stage of alcoholism to not even be able to move, they shouldn't be picking and choosing the type of wine. pick any alcoholic beverage and run with it. i guess the sims have a 1 step AA program: step 1 -- just don't run on wine. ;)
Statistical Anomolies & gift games. (Score:2)
Granted, this doesn't make publishing companies happy (except for Verant maybe), but it should make the developers happy.
I gave up playing (Score:2)
Ten minutes (real life ten minutes) just to walk over to the fridge and open the door to get some food. . . . nooo thank you!
The Japanese do MUCH better LifeSims IMNSHO.
Besides, the game is WAAAAY to limited. Unless I can plot to control the world, what's the point?
What?? (Score:2)
I thought that rampant copying and wanton piracy were destroying the industry!
I thought that people would never buy something they could just rip and download for free!
I thought that games were a niche market!
I thought that games would never appeal to the mainstream!
I thought PC games didn't make any money!
Whaddya wanna bet whoever came up with the idea for this game had to perform the equivalent of giving birth to a washing machine in order to get it green-lighted by the publisher?
This game has made approximately Three HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS in gross sales (if it was priced at $50).
This provides a two-word answer to any game publisher from this point forward who says:
"Ehhh, PC games can't make money"
"Ehhh, ehhh, Piracy is damaging the industry"
"Ehhhh, you need state of the art 3D graphics to sell"
"Ehhhh, people only want to play action games"
"The Sims"
Re:What?? (Score:2)
Uh huh. What's so complicated about the Sims? It wouldn't have run on computers in 1999? or 1998? The Sims needs more resources than Win98? Come on...
And it was published by Electronic Arts. I GUARANTEE YOU that it took MONTHS and MONTHS of meetings and skeptical producers and budget negotiations and "yeah, but" people and bean counters and enough dogs and ponies to pull the Southwestern Flyer from Phoenix to San Diego to get this thing green-lighted.
The FIRST WORDS OUT OF THEIR MOUTHS were something along the lines of "who's going to buy a game about people doing chores in a simulated apartment?" That's as predictable as the Rose Bowl. Problem is, nobody ever gets to call them on it. There is probably at least one person probably still working at EA who flatly stated "it'll never work."
Well, they were WRONG, but they'll never admit it. They'll cash their bonus check the same day, though.
Now that it's a success, sure, everyone will backfill with "well, of course that was our vision from the beginning," but sorry, that dog won't hunt.
Ironic, isn't it? (Score:4, Insightful)
Hmmm.. maybe the MARKET IS TRYING TO TELL THE GAME INDUSTRY SOMETHING, YOU THINK????
ahem...
misinformation (Score:2)
Not as meaningful as you might think... (Score:2)
While Myst has been around a lot longer than The Sims, most games get their greates number of sales fairly soon after the release of the game. The computer market in 1993 was much smaller than it was in 2000.
So the fact that Myst sold (or shipped) as many copies as it did is really quite impressive. That it's still being sold at all is even more impressive.
I'll be more impressed with the performance of The Sims if it's still selling well in 2007.
I just wanted to say (Score:2)
Re:And... (Score:2)
Re:Sorry (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Haven't seen anything yet (Score:3, Interesting)
The Sims has MASS MARKET appeal. That's why its the #1 selling game of all time.
Sure, CS and Warcraft3 and Doom3 appeal greatly to the 'hardcore' gaming crowd, but that market is insignificant next to the throngs of women, men, adults, children of all ages who think The Sims is a lot of fun.
And I hate to break it to you, but these games (CS, Warcraft) aren't ever going to appeal to the mass market -- unless later iterations are changed to the point of pissing off the existing players, that is.
Tools instead of demos (Score:2)
A stripped down demo version of The Sims would have sucked, taken too much work, and severely delayed the release of the actual game. Instead, Maxis released SimShow to introduce people to The Sims and kick start the skin industry before the game was released in March 2000.
Given the choice, Maxis thought it would be better for fans to have a simple useful tool for creating content that enriches the game, than yet another useless lobotimized game demo.
Of course the best place to see thousands of user-created Sims demos is The Sims Exchange [ea.com], where players have uploaded more than 50,000 families. You can view the houses and people on family web pages and albums with stories about them. And if you have the game, you can download and play with any of them.
-Don
Re:Had to stop playing (Score:2)
Thats some funny stuff! (Put some laughs into an otherwise dull day...Well except when "Lifes Been Good..." came up on my playlist...that was not to bad)