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"The Sims" Online, and on the PS2 237

Posted by CmdrTaco from the insert-simlish-here dept.
bahamlabs writes "Sony is is attempting to venture into the online gaming market with what is now the most popular computer game of all time, "The Sims"." It'll be interesting to see how both the console version of the game, and the online version deal with expansion and customization- the two things that allowed The Sims to become among the most entertaining games ever.
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"The Sims" Online, and on the PS2 More

"The Sims" Online, and on the PS2

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  • If EQ is any guage (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Kraegar ( 565221 ) on Tuesday May 21, 2002 @11:35AM (#3559165)
    Sony didn't do so well with allowing people in Eq to be creative and unique, so if that's any guage I'm scared to see what they will turn the Sims online into.

    With Eq they squashed numerous fan-story sites, as well as many, many in-game control-hungry stompings of players creativity. They turned the game from what could have been a great RPing platform into a service provided that catered to the "l33+ dewd" player, giving power to those who had the most time/money, not those who tried to be creative.

    Think they'll change that much to help those of us who love to customize and be creative with the Sims? I somehow doubt it.

    • Re:If EQ is any guage (Score:3, Interesting)

      by mkaltner ( 555433 )
      You'd still be wrong, even if Sony made EQ in the first place.

      The history of EQ is this:

      Division X of Sony makes sports games
      Division X spins off and becomes 989 Studios
      Team Y at 989 Studios starts EverQuest
      Team Y spins off and becomes Verant Interactive.
      Sony sees the potential they let leave and buys both 989 Studios and Verant back.

      So, Sony didn't even make EQ.
      And The Sims, Online, won't be made by Sony either. So, I don't think Sony will stand in the way, at all...

      Personally, I don't think Maxis (The creators of The Sims), would keep people from customizing the game. Of course, they'd need the Hard Drive for the PS2. And if they don't have one, they don't get to customize. Simple as that.

      Well, that's my opinion at least.

      - Mike

      • Re:If EQ is any guage (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Kraegar ( 565221 )
        Yes, Verant Interactive made the game, Sony provided the cash. However, most of the directives that squashed the fan-stories, etc came from Sony, in an effort to keep their name from being associated with material they didn't like.

    • Re:If EQ is any guage (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      One downfall of MMORPGs in general is the lack of real roleplaying. Dark Age of Camelot has seperate RP servers that do have special RPing rules that do help(like no l33t sp3ak, names that fit the setting, etc). I don't even use the non-RP servers anymore
      • They may be a bit more strict with naming conventions, but it'll never "force" people to roleplay. Seeing someone actually roleplay on the RP DaoC servers is shockingly rare. I see people refer to power buffs as "crack" more than as a spell.
    • Sims Online is EA IP. Why would Sony have anything to say about it at all?

      Sony's online strategy for PS2 is very much a hands off affair. We make the hardware, and provede some drivers. You implement and maintain the server. As opposed to you know who, who want a virtual Disneyland, complete with the army of creativity inspiring rentacops.

  • The perfect game for it! (Score:4, Interesting)

    by inkfox ( 580440 ) on Tuesday May 21, 2002 @11:35AM (#3559170) Homepage
    This is the perfect game for it. Keyboard use isn't so wildly important, save for the occasional chatty note, and the interface is pretty simple.

    I'd also love to see Diablo ported to the Playstation. This is another one that would work remarkably well on the TV screen, and that has a straightforward interface for most of the game.

    What are some of the other online games with simple interfaces? With enough choices like this, online console gaming could finally take off!

    • Their is a Diablo port on Playstation. Granted, it's not multiplayer, but it does exist. I always see it at the local Blockbuster and chuckle.

      In my opinion, they need to port the other way. Halo for the PC would lead to some wicked lan parties.
      • it's not multiplayer

        it wasn't an online game, but you could play with two controllers.

        -rp
      • There is a Diablo port on Playstation. Granted, it's not multiplayer, but it does exist. I always see it at the local Blockbuster and chuckle.

        In my opinion, they need to port the other way. Halo for the PC would lead to some wicked lan parties.

        Not much motivation to do it though. Judging by the LAN parties I've been exposed to, if there was a really large turnout, you'd still be lucky if anyone there knew anyone who'd actually bought the game. :)
      • Wasn't Halo originally supposed to be a Mac game (highlighted at a Mac trade show [macworld.com]), followed by being a PC game, however Microsoft's acquisition of Bungie switched gears to it being a console game first. Of course as a console game probably 99% of the people playing the game are playing legitimate copies, versus the average computer game where I doubt more than 25% are playing legit copies. For all of the anti-copy protection babbling on Slashdot, the fruits of the rampant piracy on the PC is publishers who will only support the safest PC game (such as The Sims).
    • Diablo ported to the Playstation

      um... Diablo was on the ORIGINAL Playstation. Two-player hack'n'slash action.

      -rp
    • In its most basic form, Phantasy Star Online was just Diablo in 3d. The game is probably the only reason I havent pulled out my ethernet adapter and sold it on ebay . It seemed to work well for sega (although much like the original Diablo, hacking made the game alot less than it should have been). Still, a keyboard is pretty much nessecary for the game. The chat software was really cool, but its just easier to grab the keyboard to type in a couple of lines instead, and thats one of the selling points of a game like that, communication with teammates. And with the sims, communication will probably become a major part of the game as well. USB keyboards arent that expensive, and I'm sure almost every online game Sony has its hands in will have keyboard support.
    • I think inkfox is in the dark about how Diablo has already been ported for the original playstation. And apparently it got fairly good reviews, so you could argue that it's a good landmark for how a PC-based RPG made a graceful transition to a console title. However many of the people I know got addicted to playing Diablo as a (m)morpg, and the console version supports only a basic two-player version.
      I personally can't see myself playing a(m)morpg sim game like 'The Sims'. Everquest and it's ilk seem to be the 'killer-app' for mmorpg's and they do it very well, because they reward players for working together for short-term rewards and long-term gain. The system also has an inherent, "my Palidian is bigger than yours!" ego-stroke factor with the upgradable array of quasi-unique items and the structured leveling system. You play to improve your character (both XP and GP) and then take on new, more challenging enemies.
      On the other hand, games like The Sims reward intellectual gameplay based on long-term development and more qualitative goals; build a pretty house (what do you consider 'pretty'?), develop lots of positive relationships with NPCs, build some skills, budget time for work/play, etc.
      I always found that I could pop open the sims for 'just 10 minutes' (which invariably becomes 30...) but I will sit down for a good chunk with an RPG (to date I think most of my playstation RPG sessions were at least 30 minutes, if not more like 1hr +...) Without adding a new 'competitive' aspect to The Sims, or building a structured points/leveling/neighboorhood/my_sims_need_therapy system, I find it difficult to imagine that they will find the online version will get the same rabid response from the gaming community that drove the original single-player 'The Sims' to blockbuster status on the PC.
      This isn't to say that I don't love The Sims, but I think that it is going to take some serious re-tooling of the game's underlying goals and concepts to produce a (m)morpg that will sell to the online-console-gamer market.
      • I always found that I could pop open the sims for 'just 10 minutes' (which invariably becomes 30...) but I will sit down for a good chunk with an RPG (to date I think most of my playstation RPG sessions were at least 30 minutes, if not more like 1hr +...) Without adding a new 'competitive' aspect to The Sims, or building a structured points/leveling/neighboorhood/my_sims_need_therapy system, I find it difficult to imagine that they will find the online version will get the same rabid response from the gaming community that drove the original single-player 'The Sims' to blockbuster status on the PC.

        I dunno, it seems to me that the very things you describe are what keeps me from playing any current MMOGs. I was totally put off by the having to put hours of time in at a time, social hierarchy based totally on how little life you have outside the game, statistics systems designed to waste my time and addict me rather than be rewarding play in and of themselves.

        I think the lack of any clear goal, except a focus on doing whatever you think is fun, and it's focus on inherently social situations, makes it an exceptional candidate for turning into an online game. Indeed, the prospect of everyone showing off their own version of the pretty house to each other strikes me as an incredibly beautiful idea for a game.

        Remember, if it's sold on a montly subscription model, it doesn't matter how many hours you want to waste on it--it just matters that you're willing to pay to waste SOME time on it every month.

        I never bothered to get into the Sims, simply because everyone else already was, and I have a bigoted disdain for things everyone else likes already ;). But perhaps an online version would be different enough from all other massively multiplayer games that I'd have to give it a shot.

        • I have to agree with you Track, I myself don't play MMORPG's, I don't care for the PK/Level_whoring that many MMORPGs 'devolve' into, I guess my interests fall into 3 categories;
          a) 'flat' multiplayer experiences like CS or Quake3:TA. (well defined game structures that are based primarily on skill, not on out-spending an opponent based on in-game development)
          b) old-school paper-RPGs (gameplay shared with a bunch of people/friends in a co-operative environment that rewards thought and cognitive skill... and a little hack'n'slash for fun!)
          c) single player RPGs (which invariably seem to be console/PC based (ie: final fantasy, Marathon, Deus Ex, etc... , are their any good self-run paper RPGs?)

          I found The Sims to be interesting, and I will gladly admit that I redecorated my house a few times, learning about space management and the immportance of a good book-case to prevent kitchen-fires, however I didn't care for it as much as I did for any of the original Marathon trilogy. That was a game with intrigue, character development (not the player's character so much as the AI's that drove the story) and plot. We all look for different 'experiences' in our leisure time. I have friends who enjoy recreational drugs, making their own music, martial arts, art, cooking, porn, competitive sports, programming, MMORPGs, ADD (et al) and countless other pursuits.
          Everyone finds something that satisfies them as an individual. Companies cater to these needs (face it, you do not need 95%+ of what you see in your local 'big box' retailer) and aim their products at things they think we like spending our time doing. My belief, as stated in my first post, is that attempting to develop a syncronicity between 'The Sims' and the 'MMORPG market' will be difficult. And without altering a large portion of what makes 'The Sims' such a popular 'simulation tool' (as Maxis likes to label their products) I think that they are not going to appeal to the target market of power-gamers who make 'EverQuest' and 'UltimaOnline' such financial successes.
          I also recall that 'The Sims' had a fairly robust system that automatically generated an exportable HTML scrapbook/photo-album/family-journal of the major events in the lives of your Sims. People created houses that told stories, dark tales of death and drownings (and the funeral urns over the mantle...) and swingin' batcholer pads that had hanging gardens and would host pool parties for the whole neighborhood. Perhaps they are looking to make that aspect the selling point. Who knows, but having played most of the Maxis titles at one point or another, I wish them the best of luck.
          And don't forget to clean up after the hamster... ;)
  • how the heck does sony plan to skirt this short fall of the PS2?

  • Robert the Bemused (Score:3, Insightful)

    by rde ( 17364 ) on Tuesday May 21, 2002 @11:38AM (#3559191)
    Will someone please explain to me the attraction of the Sims? When it first came out, I gave it a couple of hours, and decided it was a waste of time. When everyone tried to convince me it was great, I gave it another go. Still nothing. I'll grant that all video games are pretty much a waste of time, but this brings inanity to new levels.

    Note: this is not a troll. I just don't understand why people would want to play the damn thing.

    • Re:Robert the Bemused (Score:4, Funny)

      by mosch ( 204 ) on Tuesday May 21, 2002 @11:43AM (#3559238) Homepage
      this may be a foreign concept to you, so i'll speak slowly and use small words.

      not everybody is the same. yes, that's right, different people like different things.

    • Re:Robert the Bemused (Score:4, Funny)

      by CaseyG ( 97275 ) on Tuesday May 21, 2002 @11:44AM (#3559246) Homepage
      I spent numerous hours maintaining my Sims' social lives, cleaning their homes, and keeping them fed and rested, until I realized that I would enjoy doing those things for *myself* even more. :)

      -c.
    • I am also wondering how that game has become most bitched about game as being most suscessful game in PC history...

      I mean, people like Counter Strike, they play it, for me its a disgusting thing.

      Can't we go away from "sims suck" and "life game for lifeless people" and ask how come EA decided on PS/2 version while there is X86/DirectX version in their hands. You know how easy it will be for porting purposes.

      Oh and... This is Xbox'es grave?

      Let me say, I have NEVER, EVER seen a 45 year old married with children woman asking how to install an expansion pack for a game, for HERSELF. Its a phonemenon but it doesn't mean it has to suck.
      • > how come EA decided on PS/2 version while there is X86/DirectX version in their hands

        Because EA doesn't care about the marginal cost of porting to the PS2 (they have some in-house expertise in that department). What EA does care about is a potential additional 30 million sales. That and the ability to do Sims Online without having to pay a certain other company it's vig (in exchange for the promise of vapour).
    • I know, I just don't get it either. Maybe it'll sell, maybe it won't.

      What about a network enabled Grand Theft Auto?

      There's a game that definetley HAS sold well on the PS2 (apart from in Auzzie). Hell, if they're that keen on the 'Sims' motif, have an expanded 'At home with the Mafia' bonus game where you can breed mafiosa (probably enacted at Luigis Club in Red Light, Portland). You know, add a few hot-tubs etc. 'Say hello to 8-ball, ladies'.

      You could help out the neighbours 'Give them an offer they can't refuse' etc.

      It'd be Kewl...

      As for my earlier comment about Hairy Saliors playing street girls, I think we have one in the discussion already (RE:fp, score1).

    • Re:Robert the Bemused (Score:5, Informative)

      by mattbelcher ( 519012 ) <matt.mattbelcher@com> on Tuesday May 21, 2002 @11:53AM (#3559325) Homepage
      While explaining why something is fun to someone else is nearly impossible, I'll give you a few hints towards enjoying the Sims. 1) Play with more than one person in the house. Many hardcore gamers tried to "win" the game right off by trying to create a Bruce Wayne-esque playboy, power-levelling through the career ladder. This is probably the most boring way to play the game. A lot of the fun comes from putting your Sim household through all manner of interesting situations. You need to have several house members to do this. Inviting people over doesn't provide enough interaction. 2) Be creative. Try to create theme houses. For example, after the first expansion came out, I tried to re-create the 80s New Wave band "The Police." I created three characters: Gordan, Andy, and Stewart, put them all on the musician track and bought two guitars and a drum set. I held concerts for the neighbors. Eventually, I got Gordan and Stewart to start beating the crap out of each other. Basically, I amused myself by telling a story. The Sims is a game that takes a lot of personal investment into having fun. The game won't entertain you without your involvement. In this way it is a lot like table-top D&D. You only get out of it what your imagination puts in. The game is only there to make that imagination a little more tangible and to put some structure into the creation of your vision.

    • Re:Robert the Bemused (Score:5, Funny)

      by Rupert ( 28001 ) on Tuesday May 21, 2002 @11:53AM (#3559327) Homepage Journal
      I don't know why other people like it. I like it because computer processes that do stupid, self-destructive things in contravention of my direct instructions are a familiar concept from my job as a Windows programmer.

      I have at least got to the point with the Sims that I don't stay up all night making sure my Sims go to bed on time.
    • In my experience, the people who most enjoy The Sims are the ones who cannot get a handle on their real life affairs. So they exert control in the virtual world.

      That's my take, FWIW.
      • Up to a point, Lord Copper.

        I tried creating a family that matched my own, and building a house that looked like mine. That wasn't any fun (particularly since my Sim-family could only afford to build the basement at first). Since then I've been playing with random families, which is a lot more fun.
      • My girlfriend is the most "together" person I know. She has such a handle on her real life affairs it makes me sick. And she adores The Sims.

        I'd like to say it's because she's a girl and doesn't like violence (or something equally sexist), but she also happens to be the most sadistic GTA3 player I've ever seen.
    • So what isn't a waste of time?
    • It is a great fantasy game for all ages. Instead of getting magic powers or wasting baddies with a BFG, though, you are able to get a cool house, a big tv, wife, mistress, and all other manner of fly shit. You can fairly easily upgrade your character's charisma, physical fitness, intelligence, creativity, etc. It appeals to college-age kids who are eager to get out into the real world, as well as to older people who want to recapture that youthful sense of wonder, in a setting where the problems of the RW don't exist.
      • I'll add in my two cents about what I like about it; namely, the architecture.

        My first experience with The Sims was on my vacation to Israel; the family I was staying with were a bunch of sims junkies (the kids anyway), and so Galia and I would sit there for hours playing house, as it were.

        I'd come up with some neat new design for a house (my favourite was every-room-a-building with paths and foliage in between, fenced off), and we'd spend an hour working on it, getting it perfect, furnishing it, trying to fit furniture in, and then she'd take over and do most of the managing of people with some input from myself, micromanaging their lives while I teased her about being a control freak.

        Quite an amusing game to play with someone else, but I've never managed to play it alone for more than a few minutes. Games are always better in groups of two or more.

        --Dan
        • Agreed. Trying to design a house with good flow and aesthetic appeal is one of the big challenges of The Sims, and one I have the most fun with.

          Hot Date has made that even more fun, as you can design entire downtown areas, so you not only get to design shops, restaurants, clubs and the like, but you have to think about street layout, seating, lighting, etc.

    • Re:Robert the Bemused (Score:2, Insightful)

      by ergo98 ( 9391 )
      What isn't "escapism"? Anything apart from perhaps work (of course all of us put on "business faces" and play a role during the day. One could say that the game of business is escapism, because it certainly doesn't conform to any utopian dream), there are two types of entertainment: Passive and active. Active entertainment is things like gardening, or spending hours on your lawn to have a super gold green (now those people I think don't have a life, but hey c'est la vie), or working out at the gym, or writing or playing computer games. Passive entertainment is things like reading a book or watching TV. Personally on the grand scale I'd put active entertainment FAR above passive entertainment any day of the week (despite the elitist "read a book" BS. Books are someone else's imagination, not your own. If you really want to use the book elitism, at least say write a book which is something that anyone is capable of doing once they're literate), and I'd certainly give kudos to the person creating a universe in The Sims over someone running to catch the latest pop action flick from George Lucas, or the latest episode of Friends.

    • I agree, I cannot see the attraction.

      I think the people that do like it are the same people that watch Soap-Operas on TV, Briggs-Meyers F types, feelers not thinkers. They have been convinced join the computer revolution but are content to be passibe consumers, of emotional content, rather than knowledge.

    • It's like the Real World on MTV, and the accursed 'reality' shows. The Sims allows people to look in on other people's lives, even if they aren't real. The game is made in such a way to create drama to entertain, and give just enough control to keep people "playing".

      I hate reality TV. I hated the sims.

      The sims is just reality TV you can interact with.

    • It's for people who don't like Video Games... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by JohnDenver ( 246743 ) on Tuesday May 21, 2002 @12:42PM (#3559671) Homepage
      Or can appreciate people who don't like video games.

      Take my girlfriend for example: She's really not into the objective nature of most video games which either keep the game interesting by appealing the need for visual stimulation (Quake)or mental simulation (Command and Conquer).

      There are a slew of people who get dizzy from all the visual stimulation and don't want to joggle the brain with strategy games.

      The Sims doesn't make people dizzy and they can't lose, because they're not in competition with another player or AI.

      Really it's the first really successful girl friendly game, and one of the reasons people like it because they can explore scenerios with the Sims that they wouldn't otherwise risk in thier own lives.

      It's not that hard to figure out if you can make an effort to understand why people don't like every other game.

      • I totally agree with you. Now if I could just figure out an easy way to help my wife learn the UI of it....oh, wait, then she would be using the computer all the time when I want to do Everquest. Nevermind.
      • Absolutely you can lose at the Sims. Like when you leave it running overnight and come back in the morning to find the husband dead (from a kitchen fire because you never had him study cooking) and all the furniture sold because the wife can't hold down a job because she's always out in the yard crying over the gravestone.

    • The attraction to the Sims is really quite simple: SEX.

      The people who purchase the game enjoying having all of the little Sim people copulate like sex crazed bunnies. They get those poor little Sims into all sorts of intriguing of love triangles and trysts.

      The Sims builds upon the its cultural antecedents: TV Soap Operas and Barby Dolls.

    • Re:Robert the Bemused (Score:5, Insightful)

      by dswensen ( 252552 ) on Tuesday May 21, 2002 @01:28PM (#3559988) Homepage
      For me, the appeal is:

      It's not twitch gaming. I can chill out and not have to clench my teeth and aggravate my carpal tunnel wondering if I can get to the Sodomizer 5000 before the Meklors kill me.

      There are no serious consequences to screwing up. No saving and reloading, no trying to wade through mounds of enemies to get the Magical Hoobajoob. So, somebody gets fired from their job, or the shower breaks. Big whoop.

      There's no real goal, so the pressure is off. I don't feel the need to charge forward so I can see the next level, cut scene, or badass monster.

      My 3d card doesn't scream in agony trying to push the graphics.

      I get to make the kind of interesting, screwed-up, freaky people I usually don't get to meet in real life -- and control their every move (cue Snidely Whiplash laughter).

      But seriously, it's just a nice break from the games I usually play. I enjoy first-person shooters, RTS, and space sims as much as the next guy, but sometimes I just want to relax and play a quiet, dip-and-twiddle game that won't leave me shouting at the computer screen when lag kills me or I get overwhelmed by baddies.

      I don't enjoy puzzle games like Minesweeper or Tetris, so this is a good alternative for me. Before The Sims came along, I usually played SimCity for just these same reasons: no pressure, no finale, no disastrous consequences. Just good fun.

      Plus, and this may seem a little trite, but sometimes I just get tired of all the violence in games. Every once in a while I need a break from it. But when I start thinking "Gee, I really wish Betty Newbie had a railgun so she could pop Bob in the dome for leaving the dishes undone," I go back to Return to Wolfenstein and all is well again :)

    • Depends what you do with it...

      The only time I really saw this game played was when my brother had it. His character had an attractive next door neighbor, the only problem was, she was married. So, he invited the husband into the backyard for a cookout, and then built a shed around him with no doors.

      After a little while of begging to be let out, complaining that he was hungry and needed to use the bathroom, he died. My brother then started to woo the poor widow, and they were married shortly after.

      So you see, almost any inane game can be made interesting... if you're sick enough. After that instance however, the game DID get rather boring rather quickly.

      And yes, sometimes I do worry about him. ;^)

      • We did exactly the same thing. Well, tried, anyway. She just went loopy, crying over the gravestone in the garden, the house became haunted, and whether as a direct consequence or not the kitchen frequently caught fire since the incident occured.

        Also imagine our remorse when we finally got round to reading the instructions and discovered that Sims are basically polygamous and we never needed to kill the poor fellow in the first place.

        Hmm... all this Sims talks makes me want to reinstall it tonight. I think I will merge it with my current obsession (THPS3) and create a fantasy world of Tony Hawk's home life. Anyone have a model site with skate park apparatus?
  • How in the world could you play that with a console control?
  • Maxis has had failures [hotgames.com] in the past porting their simulations to consoles. Without a real mouse or keyboard, most SIM games just end up being unplayable. I doubt the PS2 version will get very far.
    • So you think PS/2 hasn't, won't have a mouse?

      As playing game since it was first shipped, I don't believe anyone over EA or Sony can be that moron not thinking it.
      • Nobody is going to pay $50 for a PS2 mouse just to play a $40 game.
        • They are paying...
          $40 for the game
          $40 * x for expansion packs

          People wanting to play Sims on Linux, pay for $69 Mandrake gaming edition and the Win32 CD (modified). I don't want you to go postal but some are having win32 version in hand while doing it. :-) For being real MS (OS) free.

          Don't be surprised if they include a mouse with the game. How much a Taiwan made USB mouse cost?

          Know what? I'll check for a demo at Sony reseller here. If it works OK, I don't care, I am buying PS/2 and Sims... getting rid of win32 FULLY and FINALLY.
        • The PS2 has 2 standard USB ports, so you just buy a mouse for 10$ (or less) or just grab the one that is hanging on your PC...
    • Except that you can easily add a keyboard to the PS2 if you really want one.
      • At that point, wouldn't it just be easier...and cheaper...to use a computer and a TV-out compatible videocard?
  • Has anyone here actually played The Sims?

    It's boring. Your sims are like dolls living in a doll-house. You send them to work, feed them, clean up after them, put them in bed. Rinse. Repeat. Forever.

    It's really not all that fun. I gave it away to a friend's girlfriend after playing it twice.

    However, she loved it. [shrugs]
    --
    • That's exactly what it's supposed to be and that's why it's so popular with women. It's the dollhouse they couldn't afford when they were a kid.
    • Now, you don't let them do casual things, you'd make them do things you would never (unless you're an idiot) do, like: electrocute, stunt with fireworks (in-house), drown those sims, call the police for nothing, drown them, the Sims is just like an ordinary horror game, really!

  • Sims PS2 and Online are separate products (Score:5, Informative)

    by vtown_mike ( 579793 ) on Tuesday May 21, 2002 @11:41AM (#3559218)
    The Sims Online has nothing to do with Sony. They are not providing any service for the game. The Sims PS2 is a separate product and is NOT an online game. It is being produced by Maxis and developed by Edge of Reality (who ported THPS, THPS2 etc... to the N64). It will have a classic mode as well as a new level/goal based game mode.
  • Sony isn't doing The Sims online. It wouldn't be their first venture into online gaming anyway, as hundreds of thousands of EQ players could tell you. :)

    This is EA's first online game. The article also mentions that EA is teaming with Sony to bring titles (possibly including The Sims and/or The Sims Online, though it was not specified in the article) to the PlayStation 2.

    -c.

  • Oh really now that's just silly. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by TRACK-YOUR-POSITION ( 553878 ) on Tuesday May 21, 2002 @11:42AM (#3559229)
    It'll be interesting to see how both the console version of the game, and the online version deal with expansion and customization- the two things that allowed The Sims to become among the most entertaining games ever.

    No, that's ridiculous. Do you think an unexpanded version of the Sims wouldn't have been the mega hit that The Sims is currently? The Sims sold just fine before any expansion packs. Because lots of people want to manage a virtual family. Lots of people can and do love The Sims with no additions whatsoever.

  • RIP XBox (Score:2, Troll)

    by rseuhs ( 322520 )
    One should think that XBox would be the first choice for PC-Console ports, right?

    At least that's what Microsoft want us to believe.

    With the bestselling PC-games being ported to PS2, XBox will die a quick death like Hailstorm, Windows/Alpha and PenWindows (read: Microsoft will pretend to push it and then tell all customers to f**ck off without warning)

    I think MS will lose a lot of their fanboys with XBox...

    • I don't remember Windows/Alpha having quite the backing (both financially and publically) that the XBox does.

      I don't like the XBox myself, but that doesn't mean that people out there don't either. MS has created a machine that is doing what they want.. Infiltrating people's homes so that they can have Billy come onto your TV set daily to tell you his demands for the next 24 hours.

      XBox isn't going to die just yet. Don't compare it to platforms that were dead from lack of public interest.

      • Re:RIP XBox (Score:2, Offtopic)

        by rseuhs ( 322520 )
        XBox isn't going to die just yet. Don't compare it to platforms that were dead from lack of public interest.

        XBox *IS* dead because lack of public (and developer's) interest.

        PS2 sells over twice as many units in the US, about 10 times as many units in Europe and over 60 times (!) as many units in Japan.

        And all this only few months after release, where the sales are usually the highest.

        Time is working against the XBox:

        • At release, the XBox looked attractive to PC-gamers (XBox' primary audience), it looks a bit outdated today and in half a year it will be hopelessly outdated compared to any PC-gaming system. Even after 2 years, the PS2 doesn't look outdated.
        • Sony just reduced their costs by producing everything one one chip. Microsoft will not be able to get a GeForcentium.
        • When XBox is outsold several times by an 2-year old PS2, what will happen against a brand-new PS3? Everybody knows that sooner or later the PS3 will come, and just like 2-year old PC-tech can't keep up with the PS2, in 2 years PC-tech won't be able to keep up with the PS3, especially if you don't ignore costs. So even if MS releases a XBox2, it won't be able to keep up with the PS3 (and would be a bad move anyway, because XBox1 owners would be pissed. You don't want to replace your console every 2 years). The only pro-XBox argument is that (because of newer manufacturing techniques) it performs quite good and has a couple of features the PS2 lacks. If you take that away, what's left?
        • The gap widens (see above). With every month that passes, it is becoming harder and harder to convince devopers to develop for the XBox and not the PS2.

        I think MS will open their online stuff, then see that nobody is interested, quietly shut down production, sell the rest of their stock at Christmas and then just say "sorry".

        • Re:RIP XBox (Score:2, Interesting)

          by joshsisk ( 161347 )
          At release, the XBox looked attractive to PC-gamers (XBox' primary audience), it looks a bit outdated today and in half a year it will be hopelessly outdated compared to any PC-gaming system. Even after 2 years, the PS2 doesn't look outdated.

          This logic doesn't hold up, unless you are just blindly comparing specs (where it's hard to compare the PS2 to the others, as it's a different system), as opposed to actually looking at the results. The best Xbox games I've seen look nicer in terms of graphics than any of the PS2 games I own or have played.

          However, there are no games for the Xbox that makes me _want_ to buy one. Which is what will ultimately kill the console - even if I could get a Xbox for free, I can't think of a single game I'd buy that is exclusive to the system. Halo is okay, but it's no GTA3. If they can't get more marquee title games, they are dead in the water.
          • This logic doesn't hold up, unless you are just blindly comparing specs

            But this is exactly what the average PC-gamer does. In 6 months he'll say "What? A Celeron 700 with a nForce chipset and shared memory?", but a PS2 is still a PS2.

          • I know I would buy one.

            Why? cause it's cheaper than upgrading any PC i have to becoming a decent game box.

            And, hopefully someone will start hacking at it, and get it running some more fun things. On board networking, great video out, great audio capabilities, could turn into a decent home entertainment system (actually, it is a decent one right now, if you don't mind keeping everything in WMA on it, and not be able to retrieve information from it). I would hope someone could break open the box and start hacking with it, get linux on it. (I don't know if the CD ROM drive un able to read burned CDs is true or not).

            It would be a fun project box. And because I spent 3 hours playing halo on it, and I want one.

    • You might think that until you realized that the XBox is a 3rd party game developer's nightmare.

      A recent Microsoft press release tells us this:

      "As for games in the U.S., Bach said five games have sold more than 500,000 units and 20 games have sold more than 100,000 units."

      Its well known in the gaming industry that on average a game needs 200,000 units to break even on costs. So only 5 (most of which are owned by MS) of any the XBox exclusives have reached that point on the XBox.

      And considering that the GameCube (4.2 million sold) has nearly outsold the XBox (2.5 million sold) 2 to 1, then the next logical choice would be the GameCube.

      Links:
      XBox lackluster Sales [yahoo.com]

  • Almost scary what the addictiveness of online sims will be. Someone has built a huge mansion for themselves online, has a wife, kids, big car, and great job as a performing artist while IRL being a 30 year old who lives in his parent's basement :).

    Even better, mix Everquest with Sims: a 60th level homemaker!

    ---

    Got web hosting? RackNine [racknine.com]
  • Did I just not read the article right, but it doesn't seem to explicitly state that the PS2 version would be playable online, only that EA is coming out with an online version. It would truely be interesting if the PS2 version were _also_ playable online, then you could play against those who have pcs. Big deal here of course is that you will have many more people to interact with compared to a PS2 only version.
  • All the Sims in one box? I wouldn't mind buying it, but not for:
    $35 The Sims
    $25 The Sims - House Party
    $25 The Sims - Living Large
    $25 The Sims - Hot Date
    $25 The Sims - Vacation

    $135 Total. Uh No.

  • It'll be interesting to see how both the console version of the game, and the online version deal with expansion and customization- the two things that allowed The Sims to become among the most entertaining games ever.

    I wonder how harmless It'll remain. How long before you have Sim-politics, Sim-Prostitutes, Sim-Patents, Sim-War, Sim-Terrorism... or just someone hacks it. Should be entertaining reads..

    "When Israel has prostitutes and thieves we'll be a state just like any other." -- David Ben Gurion

    • Re:Taking It to the Next-Next Level? (Score:5, Funny)

      by binaryDigit ( 557647 ) on Tuesday May 21, 2002 @11:55AM (#3559343)
      The sims could develop the Simternet. The male sims would then spend all their time downloading simPorn and posting on SlashSim (SimKarma would be greatly coveted) and the female sims would spend all their time in chat rooms being woo'ed away from their boring sim husbands/boyfriends by fat slovenly male sims (who are downloading porn while they type in the chat rooms) pretending to be sensitive intellectual types with the body of Fabio.
  • I don't see how the expansion packs would work without using a hard drive for storage. Maybe the XBox would be a better platform for the Sims?

  • player killers (Score:5, Funny)

    by swankypimp ( 542486 ) on Tuesday May 21, 2002 @11:56AM (#3559346) Homepage
    Having tired quickly of the losers PKs in Diablo,Diablo 2, Everquest, etc., I can just imagine how fun Sims Online will be... not.

    me: hiya, how's it going?
    ryan (my buddy): ok. you?
    me: cool party. Thanks for inviting the whole neighborhood
    l33tboy (wearing a Xena Warrior Princess skin): a/s/l? a/s/l? a/s/l?
    me: um, please go away.
    l33tboy: c'mon, lets cyber.
    ryan: no thanks. Please leave us alone.
    l33tboy (changes to a Matrix skin): Yuo are a fuckin looser! Ph34r my 3l33t pk skillz!!!

    (four walls suddenly surround Ryan and me. Wicker furniture is near one wall, next to a fireplace. We all catch fire and die.)

    l33tboy: HAHAHAHAHA!!!!
    me: well that was fun. And I only spent thirty hours making that character.
    ryan: the fire was kinda cool, though.

  • 1.Attempting to marry everyone on your block. 2.Inviting other sims to your house then trapping them till they expire. 3.Taking the career path of computer geek to try and rule the sim world as the next Gates.
  • I wonder how celebritysims.com [celebritysims.com] will offer more custom skins for this game?

  • Sims != SimsOnline (Score:3, Interesting)

    by voncheesebiscuit ( 10243 ) on Tuesday May 21, 2002 @12:04PM (#3559407)
    The article states that EA is bringing The Sims to the PS2, doesn't say anything about SimsOnline coming to the PS2. In other console/online news [ign.com], the XBox and PS2 are getting Star Wars Galaxies.
  • Xbox sales continued to fall as gamers realized that not only does the Xbox not have the popular EA Sports titles, it will lack other hot EA games as well. When asked for comment, EA execs stated "Microsoft forgot that their monopoly has limits- so we showed them :)"
  • Well, will there? The Sims seem to be awfully popular with this Linux-savvy crowd, so it would logically follow that they'll release a Linux version for everyone, right?
  • Could somebody please explain *why* The Sims is such a popular game? I've played the game, and found it to be completely boring and even slightly confusing. Whats the appeal?

  • Joy of the sims (Score:2, Interesting)

    by billatq ( 544019 )
    I think some people are missing the point. While the sims is a mediocre at best simulation of life, the fun part about it is that you have the ability to control whatever you want. You don't get that chance with life. You build up their little lives and completely wreck it to where it's worse than your own. I'm not sure how popular this will become on console though, but most everything can be done with pointing and clicking on the game.
  • This may be a little off topic, but..
    I've never actually played sims but my younger sister has every expansion pack and plays the crap out of that game. One day I was asking her about it the game, I wondered if you were able to kill/fight anyone in the game. Her answer was a hesitant no, she said, "Well, I did kill my maid, she wasn't very good at her job." "How'd you do it, if you're not allowed to kill anyone?", I asked. Here's how she did it.
    1. Build a small empty room next to your house.
    2. Put a fishtank or something that a maid would want to fiddle with in there.
    3. Ask maid to clean fishtank.
    4. Close the door by building a wall.
    5. She'll starve in there. :)
    6. Optionally, turn the room she's in into a pool, that'll cut her lifespan down to about 2 days. :)

    My little sister freaks me out sometimes. :)

  • There are a wide number of games which are high selling and I think most gamers can agree _aren't_ fun (cough, Who Wants To be a Millionare cough). This is probably another one of thoses cases where your average RTS/FPS/et cetera fan won't be interested. I know I'm not interested, but then, you'd need a *real* Linux port to get me to play.

    As in, something that's not a very slightly modified windows binary with a wine wrapper (and to play even the 'transgamers' have to purchase the distro).

    This is _really_ silly when the codebase has been ported, twice. The first time without the polygonal parts, and the second without graphics whatsoever (if I recall correctly).

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