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PC Games (Games)

Sims 2 Goes Gold 199

Posted by CmdrTaco from the begin-your-lust dept.
Dan Farina writes "The long awaited 'The Sims 2' has gone Gold, as seen on the latest posting on Maxis' The Sims 2 updates page. It appears that it will be on time after all, an unusual occurrence in this industry." I'm already having a strange obsessive twitching in my left leg. I think I might need to use up some vacation time in September.
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Sims 2 Goes Gold More

Sims 2 Goes Gold

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  • No way! (Score:5, Funny)

    by StevenHenderson ( 806391 ) <stevehenderson@NOspam.gmail.com> on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @07:48AM (#10054815)
    It appears that it will be on time after all, an unusual occurrence in this industry.

    I'm sorry what did you say? I was busy playing Half Life 2.

  • In other news... (Score:5, Funny)

    by ALeavitt ( 636946 ) * <aleavitt@gmail . c om> on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @07:49AM (#10054826)
    Wil Wright has just finished work on his Money Printer 2.0 (TM). Much like his original Money Printer, this will allow Wright access to enormous sums of money, and all he has to do is insert the monthly "expansion pack" to print even more!

    • Re:In other news... (Score:1, Insightful)

      by strictfoo ( 805322 )
      What I really enjoyed about "the Sims" was the ultra repetitive game play! Who wouldn't want a game where hardly anything changes?

      Of course, the feature that's really going to sell more copies of the Sims 2 is the feature that makes me sad for humanity: Virtual people making more virtual loving! Great... now that's excitement. Here's a tip people: the real thing is just a little bit better (or so I've heard, I obviously haven't experienced it since I post on slashdot)

      • And what kinda games do you like? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by SmallFurryCreature ( 593017 ) on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @08:23AM (#10055083) Journal
        I hate to put it to you but most games are very repetitive. I heard this comment before, usually from CS kiddies. People who will happily play the same level over and over again, walk exactly the same path to hone their "skill" to the finest.

        Oh yeah. That is fun.

        All games get old really fast. The trick is not to make the gameplay to varied. It is to make the basic gameplay so much fun that people want to do it again and again and again. Kinda like sex. Except is usually a lot easier to cheat in a maxis game.

        • >The trick is not to make the gameplay to varied. It is to make the basic gameplay so much fun that people want to do it again and again and again.

          exactly. for me, the best game ever is Virtual Pool 3. I like pool and VP3 simulates pool accurately and with simple and effective controls.

          that's why I'm still playing it 4 years after buying it, whereas many of the "greater" games are done after a month or so.

          best 20 UK pounds ever spent (except maybe 20 pounds spent on Spaced series 1 and 2 box set - bes

    • Licence to print cash (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Snaapy ( 753650 ) on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @08:06AM (#10054952)
      I hope Will Wright gets his royalties. No doubt, The Sims is the best selling game idea ever. HC players might not like The Sims, but it's something large crowds want to play.

      The Sims Franchise Celebrates Three Years at the Top (feb. 2003) [ign.com]

      The Sims franchise has shipped over 24 million units, including more than eight million units of the core product, The Sims.

      Since the launch in 2000, The Sims franchise has spawned five expansion packs and a deluxe, console, and online version. The Sims has been translated into more than 17 languages and is sold worldwide.

      According to The NPD Group, The Sims base product was the number one selling PC game in 2000, 2001, and 2002.

      The Sims franchise games held five of the top ten spots on the 2002 best-selling PC games in North America chart, released by The NPD Group.

      The game's long list of honors has included being selected "Game of the Year" for 2000 by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences and by numerous other publications in the United States and abroad. The creator of The Sims, Will Wright, was inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame in February 2002, joining such industry legends as Sid Meier and Shigeru Miyamoto. Will Wright has also been recognized by ISDA in 2002 for his extraordinary body of work and enduring legacy he has established in the interactive entertainment industry.

      • Re:Licence to print cash (Score:3, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Now theres a quote screaming to be taken out of context:

        Will Wright has also been recognized by ISDA in 2002 for his extraordinary body
      • No doubt, The Sims is the best selling game idea ever. ...

        Really? What about, oh, the First Person Shooter? Or, oh, RPGs? The Sims isn't the most popular concept for a game in history. The reason the Sims is such a big seller is it is one of about oh... 5 games like it in the history of gaming. B/c the Sims type game is so rarely made and only done well once (The Sims) is it such a smash hit for the genre, which is now named after The Sims. Go figure.

        I remember an ol' 286 game with a virtual dude wh
    • So when are they coming out with Sims 2: UAC, Mars?
    • I thought the code for unlimited money was "ROSEBUD". Wish I had that cheat in the real world. :)

  • School (Score:3, Funny)

    by dazilla ( 647166 ) on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @07:51AM (#10054845)
    Great...just in time for the next semester. That means one of two things: either I get addicted and fail the semester, or I wait till my next work term. What a dilemma.

  • Glorified Doll House? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by alpha1125 ( 54938 ) on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @07:52AM (#10054850)
    Anyone else ever thought that the sims was a glorified doll house game?

    Probably why I never play it... dolls and doll houses don't interest me. I'm not saying it shouldn't interest you, it just doesn't interest me.

    • Re:Glorified Doll House? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by B00yah ( 213676 ) on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @07:58AM (#10054900) Homepage
      Funny, because that was actually the original name of the Sims (Doll House that is, minus the "glorified"). They decided to change it because they wanted a wider appeal for the game, and they felt that boys would have issues playing with dolls.

      But there is definite gender attraction to this...My wife's been chomping at the bit to get ahold of this since it was announced...She already has a Best Buy gift card set aside just for its purchase.

      • Re:Glorified Doll House? (Score:5, Interesting)

        by kfg ( 145172 ) on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @08:29AM (#10055140)
        It was orginally named Doll House because that actually was the genesis of the game. It wasn't a game at all, but an architechtural/interior design program with the advancement that you could populate it with people and pets so you could see a more natural rendition of your design rather than just a static image.

        After working it up they realized they had something that could be sold for entertainment.

        Frankly, I have no gender aversion to dolls or doll houses. They really are valuable tools for design and I like designing. Being able to animate them is a major plus. Call them "models" if you get all weirded out by names.

        They're also fun to play with. Sue me.

        But I have absolutely no interest whatsoever in the game.

        KFG

        • It was orginally named Doll House because that actually was the genesis of the game. It wasn't a game at all, but an architechtural/interior design program with the advancement that you could populate it with people and pets so you could see a more natural rendition of your design rather than just a static image.

          Close. The virtual people in the original design weren't just for looks. The idea was that you would have no direct control over them, but you'd indirectly control their lives via furniture place

      • She already has a Best Buy gift card set aside just for its purchase.

        Will she get the service plan from Best Buy [slashdot.org] with that?

      • But there is definite gender attraction to this..

        Which is odd, since most of the people I know who play/played The Sims were men, including myself. MY wife hates the game. She thinks it's pointless. I liked it enough I ran The Wage of Sim website (now closed) for several years. Most of the people emailing me were male.

      • Strangely enough, MY wife's a huge counter-strike fan.
        Guesss that's a pretty good reason NOT to cheat on her :)

        FPS+PMS=??

      • and they felt that boys would have issues playing with dolls.

        They're *Action Figures* !!
    • I don't know. My cousins had dolls, and they never peed on the floor. And you can't deny the appeal of the true-to-life flies buzzing around the rotten turkey on top of the dishwahser...

    • No, no-one ever thought this (Score:5, Funny)

      by SmallFurryCreature ( 593017 ) on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @08:12AM (#10054993) Journal
      The Sims is a dollhouse. Except the dolls move although they clearly took their AI from Barbie.

      It is also one of the best selling games of all time. Any game company with a brain would love to have a game like this. It is like having a money press in the basement. Just keep pumping out tiny little version improvements (the expansion packs) and reap the money. Just check the sales charts of the last few years. Not bad for a game engine wich even at launch wasn't that hot.

      The most amazing story about The Sims is that no-one seems to have tried to copy it. You got the recent "Singles" and that is it. There seems to be a market for a non-violent, non-competitive game yet all we get is more FPS with extra-gore. Don't get me wrong I LOVE GORE. Just not all the time. Sometimes I want to play a nice game where I can control a households of lesbian teenage girls and get them to pee their pants in sync. Is that really so much to ask?

      • Aren't "Monster Rancher" or "Animal Crossing" similar games? Having never played either, I'm only going off Gamespot reviews, but they both sound like they share similar, non-violent, build for no apparent reasons qualities.

        I never did understand these games. I tried The Sims for about 2 weeks, got bored, moved on. I tried the Sims Online, realized you couldn't get anywhere or really do anything, got bored, moved on. I doubt I'll try Sims 2.

        --trb
        • moster rancher is violent, although in an indirect way, (you raise monsters to fight each other in a pit), and animal crossing while non violent didn't feel like you could ever accomplish any thing and even if you did it didn't realy mater. The Sims had consequences for your actions and could have interesting results when you tried new things. Animal crossing just got dull

      • Re:No, no-one ever thought this (Score:5, Funny)

        by LiquidCoooled ( 634315 ) on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @08:47AM (#10055329) Homepage Journal
        "Non violent" it may be, but sadistic it isn't.

        I've had endless fun winding up the missus by finding new and inventive ways to kill off her people.

        From building them into rooms without doors, or even more evil intent, removing the ladders from the pool.

        Making the Goths into toast was purely accidental though ;)
      • Wasn't there "The Partners", too? I know nothing about the game except seeing the name mentioned as a "Sims clone" and IIRC a few screenshots that looked like The Sims.
        And what's up with that spinoff "The Urbz"?

    • Anyone else ever thought that the sims was a glorified doll house game?

      I played the game for a while, but it did start to feel exactly like that. It seemed I was spending all of the time performing minutia for the Sims instead of ever actually doing anything with it.

      I guess maybe that complete immersion into making sure your Sim puts away the dishes might be fun for a while, but eventually you spend your day clicking on the housework and it feels like that's all you do.

    • Re:Glorified Doll House? (Score:5, Funny)

      by NMerriam ( 15122 ) <NMerriam@artboy.org> on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @08:17AM (#10055028) Homepage
      They're not dolls! They're Action Figures!

    • Re:Glorified Doll House? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by DMadCat ( 643046 ) <dmadcat@@@moondans...com> on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @08:52AM (#10055391)
      I just find it amazing that, after all of the space games, fantasy games, action/adventure games, sports games, etc... all people really wanted was a game that attempts to simulate real life in all of its monotonous glory.
    • That's what it was - a glorified doll's house with little visible purpose to it whatsoever.

      Perhaps by expansion pack ten or whatever it was a decent game, but the original which I owned was terminally boring - design a house, put things in it, and spend the rest of the game making your sims cook, wash, sleep and go to the toilet because they were too stupid to do those things for themselves.

      After an hour of this tedium, the mind naturally gravitates towards ways to torture and generally fuck with the mi

  • SimLetMeSeeYouDoIt? (Score:5, Funny)

    by kg_o.O ( 802342 ) on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @07:53AM (#10054858)
    http://thesims2.ea.com/images/screenshots/screensh ot_91.jpg [ea.com] I hope we finally get to see some ACTION! Or at least make an adult patch..pleeeasee ;)
    • If you want to look at naked sims just go play Singles [singles-the-game.com] instead.

      It's just as crappy but it has naked people in it!

      • Don't sell Singles short, it's far, far crappier than The Sims.

      • Yeah, I've seen it. I still prefer watching Sims do it. I just like the game, and good old hard-core action is what it's always been missing ;)
      • They ought to just make the graphics better and put faces of well known porn stars on the characters. The game would be Sim Porn King ( Director's Cut ). You would 'film' the characters in movies of your own design, and be scored on how well they sold. The AI would simulate different sorts of perv that would buy the film or not depending on things like: Subject matter, Types of scene, Word of mouth, Box Cover Girl etc. He who dies with the most sextoys wins.
    • Oh man, my eyes! That picture is so WRONG. With stuff like this the Sims is moving away from being a virtual doll's house to something verging on the sinister and creepy.
      Seriously, could they not just have them retire to behind a closed door and have some bed springs creaking or something? But that.. that's just too much!

      • Re:SimLetMeSeeYouDoIt? (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Erasmus Darwin ( 183180 ) on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @08:23AM (#10055086)
        "Sims is moving away from being a virtual doll's house to something verging on the sinister and creepy."

        Given that one of the favorite past times of a number of people with the first Sims game has been killing off their Sims in a variety of ways, I think the "sinister and creepy" line was reached quite awhile ago. One of the favorite methods seems to be drowning, as Sims can't get out of a pool if there's no ladder.

        On a related note, one of the people working on Sims 2 posts on another message board that I'm on. He created a serial killer character who lures women back to his house and then paints their deaths, as Sims will now paint pictures of what they actually see. He did have to use a cheat though to make the painter keep painting instead of reacting to the death itself.

    • Re:SimLetMeSeeYouDoIt? (Score:5, Funny)

      by The-Bus ( 138060 ) on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @08:20AM (#10055052)
      From the looks of that picture, you can run either a bordello or some sort of opium house.

    • Re:SimLetMeSeeYouDoIt? (Score:4, Funny)

      by christor ( 663626 ) on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @09:50AM (#10056147)
      You mean so that you can see the bloody mess that results from that woman's plunging her fist into the man's chest... I guess to rip out his still-beating heart? Seriously, what's up with that. It looks a little low, though, and toward the back. Maybe she's going for a kidney. Wait - I know, he's going to wake up in a bath of ice with a note saying he should call 911. That's it - its from the next expansion pack - Sims 2 - Urban Legend.
    • handcuffs? [ea.com]

      What about her makes him think "handcuffs" ?!

      If there was ever something Sims need more of, it's action, but then, that might make the game *too* unlike the reality of it's players...

      Someday, somebody will make bank by releasing an adults-only version. Some day... when I get a little more spare time...

  • Vacation Time (Score:5, Funny)

    by Devil Ducky ( 48672 ) <slashdot@devilducky.org> on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @07:54AM (#10054862) Homepage
    You don't need to call off, you only have to go to work every other day to not get fired. I always hate when the boss calls to yell during the middle of my nap after a long morning of weight lifting, doesn't he know that's only going to make me skip work the day after tomorrow too?

    Seriously, it looks like they did a great job with this game. Don't know if I'll like having my sims age and die on me but we'll see.

    Also gamespy has a brand new interview with Will Wright [gamespy.com] about the game.

  • Variety pack? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by chrysrobyn ( 106763 ) on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @07:55AM (#10054876)

    I played The Sims when it first came out. First, I loved it. Then, I ended up realizing that I was neglecting my real life chores in order to make sure that I played the game and got my Sims to do their chores.

    I'd like to play The Sims I some more, but what I want is a way to get the base game + all the expansions in one easy box. I don't want to buy a $30 game plus 5 or 6 expansion packs at $20 a piece. If I can plop down $50 for everything, I'd do it (on my Mac, Aspyr). There is "The Sims Mega Deluxe", but that only has 3/7 of the expansion packs.

    I don't need a prettier version, I enjoyed the game play of the first one a great deal.

  • Sequels and time frames (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @07:57AM (#10054891)
    Sequels by wal-mart style developers (like EA) usually are on time when you consider the main part of the game has already been made.

    It would be far more poignant to ask how late the first one was!

    • Re:Sequels and time frames (Score:4, Interesting)

      by jfw25 ( 618692 ) on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @08:27AM (#10055122)
      However, The Sims 2 is a complete rewrite of the game engine, rather than a rehash with substantially the same engine and game assets.

      The timeliness of The Sims 2 probably has more to do with the fact that EA was able to buy enough time to develop the game properly by releasing the last couple of expansions (can anything seriously argue that The Sims Makin' Magic was anything other than a cynical attempt to milk two fads at once?) and The Sims Online. It's a lot easier to bring a project in on time if you don't have Marketing saying "Three years is too long, finish it in two years!"

      It also helps a lot that they do know how late the first one was, and more importantly, why. Remember Fred Brooks' motto, "Plan to throw one away."

  • Non Windows Version... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by oliverthered ( 187439 ) <{moc.liamtoh} {ta} {derehtrevilo}> on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @07:57AM (#10054892) Journal
    Anyone know when, if, there will be a Linux / Mac whatever version.
    They could have paied monkey boy for the year they were late to do a port and ship the binaries on the release disk.

    That's probably about a extra 10% to the market, or mabe upto 20% if you look at the minimum specs.

    Mac and Linux have less games so they get more bang for the advertising buck, so they could possibly end up shipping 25% to Linux and Mac.

    • Far more important reason for linux and mac versio (Score:5, Insightful)

      by SmallFurryCreature ( 593017 ) on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @08:06AM (#10054949) Journal
      There is a far more important reason why they might want to create a linux/mac version. It requires you to know what the true appeal is of "The Sims". If you don't know it is close to what the true appeal of Quake/Half-life/Unreal is.

      Right, user created content. The expansion packs are bought less for the extra content but for the extra capabilties given to content creators. New type of chairs, new types of clothing. It may sound strange but the original game had some severe limitations on what kinda seating you could have. You could create a low seat but any sim sitting on it would float.

      So why are Mac and to a lesser extent Linux versions important? I think it is save to say that the Mac crowd has a higher percentage of people who like to create artwork. Linux has a higher percentage of coders.

      It is telling that a lot of the free content sites I visited had very clear instructions for how to use their content on the mac version.

  • Blah! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Mika_Lindman ( 571372 ) on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @08:02AM (#10054928)
    Damn Sims, people who play this sucky game are the same fancies who watch Survivors and cry when their favourite drops out. Or watch Queer Eye For Idiots to get tips on how to dress. Real men play Doom3 and Half-Life 2, when they are not training to become better ninjas.

    Only way for The Sims to become playable for us Real Men, would be to include ninjas and pirates ( also replace all relationshipstuff with killing, and "build your own house" should be changed to "destroy your neighbours house").
    I've had it with you linux-loving, Sims playing fairies, I will no longer read any other website than the best page in the universe [xmission.com]. You can keep on discussing about the latest Barbie's Pony game and when it's linux port is coming out.

    ( I don't need to include the smiley, now do I? )

    • Only way for The Sims to become playable for us Real Men, would be to include ninjas and pirates...

      Boy, do I know the game for you [atomicsockmonkey.com].

    • You never played it eh ? (Score:5, Funny)

      by thrill12 ( 711899 ) * on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @08:14AM (#10055009) Journal
      But ofcourse this is possible. In Sims 1, there were numerous ways to send you Sims to Sim-graveyard:

      - Lock them inside a room with a nice flaming fire, near some combustable furniture.
      - Make them swim, then take the ladder away.
      - Starve them in a room.
      - Give them a guinea pig for a present - guaranteed fun !

      Heck, if there ever was proper modding for the Sims 1 (creating objects yourself, it never arrived...), I bet people would even find ways to generate some attributes that would make this more 'easier'.
      But somehow I got the feeling that Sims blazing around the house with uzi's, bazooka's and the ever-so-funny boobytrap behind the new door was not the intention of the original Sims creators.

      However, now the Sims 2 is out, perhaps they put out some more of those long-promised development tools for Sims 1 ?

  • On time? NO WAY (Score:5, Insightful)

    by inflex ( 123318 ) on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @08:03AM (#10054939) Homepage Journal
    Are you freaking kidding me?

    Sims2 was due out in _MARCH_ originally.

    Not only that, it was supposed to have precursor tools/applications out in Nov 2003.

    The project in fact is about 6 months overdue.

    PLD.
  • Best part of the original Sims game. I hope they kept it.

  • I want to be a SIM person! (Score:5, Funny)

    by random_culchie ( 759439 ) on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @08:10AM (#10054982) Homepage Journal
    Are they doing the merchandise yet?

    I want to get one of those green diamond things above my head!
    • Being a sim isn't fun...

      Gotta go... must go to the bathroom, cook dinner, get the mail, use computer to find a job, watch TV then sleep now.

  • Ripoff (Score:5, Informative)

    by gammelby ( 457638 ) on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @08:13AM (#10054998) Homepage
    Pffft. Pathetic ripoff of still shining Little Computer People [retrogames.com].

    Ulrik

  • The original sims... (Score:5, Funny)

    by gUmbi ( 95629 ) on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @08:17AM (#10055024)
    I bought the original Sims when it first came out, more interested in the actual concept and implementation than the gameplay. Anyway..my girlfriend at the time tries it out and gets hooked. The creepy part - she's built a model of my apartment with me and her as characters. One day she comes into the room crying - apparently my character spontaneously combusted. We didn't last much longer after that :)

    • Re:The original sims... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by H8X55 ( 650339 ) <jason.r.thomasNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @08:38AM (#10055228) Homepage Journal
      Parent is modded 'Funny' but that hits close to home.

      I used to date a highly intelligent, but emotionally needy software designer. She bought the first Sims when it came out, and played it daily. I did notice many nights where the television wouldn't get turned on, meals went uncooked. Laundry remained dirty and friends and family didn't get phone calls. I could care less about all these things, but I did notice her obsession with the game.

      One day out of sheer curiosity I fired up her PC, logged in as her, and loaded up her saved game. Sure enough, there was our place, right on the monitor. She had gone to painstaking detail to make sure everything was as close the reality as possible - nevermind the fact she'd been ignoring reality for a month solid.

      I think folks with control issues get a kick out of this game, as they can do whatever they want to the charcters, their enviornment,etc.

      • Pots and Kettles (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward

        One day out of sheer curiosity I fired up her PC, logged in as her, and loaded up her saved game.

        This act in and of itself speaks volumes about the disconnect in your relationship and the disconnect you have about judging control-freaks and seeing the same behavior in yourself.

        • Re:Pots and Kettles (Score:3, Insightful)

          by Reapy ( 688651 )
          Good call Mr. AC. If they were living together, you would think that he would walk over to the room where she was playing and watch her for a bit and perhaps chat with her while she was playing. That would seem to be the best way to get to know how she was playing her game besides going behind her back to snoop.

          I usually name one of my rpg party characters after myself and my fionce because it's pretty funny to watch ourselves kill things and do silly stuff. Even when playing top spin, I made myself as a m
        • actually, no. i was invited to check it out whenever i wanted. i just was bored one day and wanted to see what all the fuse was about.

  • Ahhh the Sims (Score:5, Funny)

    by therealfitzman ( 807672 ) on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @08:20AM (#10055053) Homepage
    My favorite thing to do in the first Sims was to get my Sims addicted to Linux. Then I would switch them all to Windows and watch them slowly die. Good times.

  • Proxy Passions (Score:2, Insightful)

    by pickapeppa ( 731249 )
    Sigh, guess I'll be sacrificing my own health, hygeine, career, love life, and 'round the house duties in the coming weeks in favor of the same for a set of pixilated poppets. Why would I do this? SIMS express a greater range of emotions and reward me better than my girlfriend, family, co-workers, and neighborhood police tend to do. I like rewards. Ring the bell Pavlov, its salivating time!

  • Feels just like they're walking on broken glass (Score:5, Insightful)

    by vorpal22 ( 114901 ) on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @08:24AM (#10055096) Homepage Journal
    My biggest hope for Sims 2 is that it won't take my Sim 15 in-game minutes to walk from the bedroom through the living room to the bathroom. I mean, I have my sluggish days, and my house is big, but...

  • Makes for an interesting discussion. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Backdraft32 ( 806196 ) on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @08:26AM (#10055112)
    We talked alot about the Sims and TS-Online in my philosophy class. We were having a discussion about human nature and virtual reality, and whether it would eventually lead us to a more enlightened era or if we would sink further into the dregs of humanity. I used The Sims to show that if there were no repercussions, people are generally going to do bad things - TSO is a haven for prostitution, crime and just all around deviance. Hence, we pretty much came to the conclusion that human nature is to do as much as you can get away with... So aside from spending hours on end playing the sims, you are also taking part in a really cool psychology and philosophy experiment. Check out the Second Life (formerly Alphaville) Herald for some more insight. http://www.alphavilleherald.com/ [alphavilleherald.com]
    • Im curious though..
      could it not be that these games a serve as a safe fantisy reality for people who would never in real life be prostiutes or drug lords.

      i think reality, where real people are involed, and virtual charachters in a game make for a bad comparison

    • Re:Makes for an interesting discussion. (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Reapy ( 688651 ) on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @10:49AM (#10056992)
      I would argue that some of the things you list, such as prostition, are not bad things. In fact I'm really against the fact that victimless crimes are illegal. I guess it just seems odd to me that a woman or man could sleep around by picking up a different person at a bar or though online personals every night, and this is legal, yet the moment they accept cash for favors, it is illegal.

      Also, when looking at tso, you have to rememember that it was a game where there was nothing to do. I played in beta, and it took me about three days to relize that there was no game behind tso besides crappy mini games you would get for free on yahoo and watching your character hit a pinatta for 8 hours.

      Playing EQ as a newbie, most everybody I interacted with was really helpful, taking an hour or two out of their time to help me get a corpse or guide me through a new area when I was lost. The nature of the game is what shapes people's behavior and the type of people you get in the game. The game doesn't prove a point about humanity besides showing that similar people will play similar games.

  • The gaming demographic (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @08:29AM (#10055144)
    I think the success of games like the Sims and the near-inevitable success of its sequel point to the increasingly fragmented nature of the gaming demographic.

    In the past, it was simple. You had PC gamers and console gamers. The former mainly played simulatorss, strategy games, fpses, "Western" RPGs and the more "highbrow" sports games. The latter had platform games, beat-em-ups, "Japanese" RPGs and the "arcade" sports games. There was a bit of crossover and plenty of people owned both a PC and a console.

    These days, I follow what would once have been the "mainstream" games for both PC and consoles. The games I've been excited about include Doom 3, Half-Life 2, the next installment of the Final Fantasy series and pretty much anything from Bioware. However, in terms of games sales, I represent an increasingly insignificant force. The Sims and its expansions represent an entirely different gaming demographic all on their own, reaching out to a group which would never have been marketed to in the past, but who have brought a whole new level of purchasing power. Similarly, we've seen much-ridiculed genres such as the "deer hunter" games spring up and be largely ignored by the classic "mainstream" gamers, but go on to huge commercial success.

    I don't think this is a bad thing; it's just an inevitable part of gaming moving further into mainstream society.

  • No duh it's on time (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Jonny_eh ( 765306 ) on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @08:30AM (#10055150)
    Development of a game like this just requires the adding of features. i.e. if they are behind schedule, they can release the game with 200 characters instead of 250. Half-Life 2 on the other hand, if the last level isn't working, then they have no choice but to delay the game. For The Sims they can always release cut off content in the inevitable expansion packs.

  • Wow! (Score:5, Funny)

    by sammy baby ( 14909 ) on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @08:31AM (#10055151) Journal
    That news is freydushey!

    (When my wife and I purchased The Sims, we found the language they were speaking, "Simlish [ea.com]" to be really funny. Every time one of the characters got excited about something, she'd use that word. Then we started using it. "Honey, this pie is freydushey!")

  • What's the Catch? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Mean_Nishka ( 543399 ) on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @08:41AM (#10055253) Homepage Journal
    Am I missing something? I bought The Sims like everyone else when it first came out a few years ago. I played it for an evening or two but just couldn't get into it. I don't know, but instructing an onscreen avatar to piss and shit constantly is rather annoying. Add to that I couldn't get him to wake up to go to work, clean up his house, etc. etc.

    I don't want to knock it, and I probably will pick up a copy of the Sims 2 with the hope that the micromanagement tasks are optional.

    • Re:What's the Catch? (Score:3, Insightful)

      by fejikso ( 567395 )
      ... Sims 2 with the hope that the micromanagement tasks are optional.

      That's why this game sucks. It's micromanagement at the stupidest level. Gosh, I bet there's more in a human being's life than cooking, mopping, sweeping, unclogging toilets...

      I found The Sims to be a very addictive, horrible game.

  • The Sims is the very best example I got... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Kjella ( 173770 ) on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @08:45AM (#10055308) Homepage
    ...that you're NOT supposed to judge the market by yourself. If I was an exec presented with this game, I would have sent them packing. [Insert que of music exec turning down Beatles here] I tried it for a little while, and I must say I simply didn't get it. I still don't get it. I probably never will get it. It feels like a crappy DIY reality show. Then again, people play solitaire too. If I do, my mind goes "boring. Boring! BORING! B O R I N G ! ! !" Ah well, wouldn't be any fun if we were all alike anyway.

    Kjella

    • Re:The Sims is the very best example I got... (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      >If I was an exec presented with this game, I would have sent them packing.

      Actually, that's exactly what happened. The Sims was turned down by multiple (don't remember how many) publishers. It was MIA for years, and Wil Wright had to fight for it. And after a while no one watching the development really expected it to succede (I'm a Simcity fan, so I was kinda half-interested). Funny, cos' I remember thinking "man, this looks like Batttlecruiser 3000AD all over again" (for the three people who don't

    • You bring up a good point, though. I find myself wondering if a no-name developer was presenting this idea, instead of Wil Wright, if it would have ever been produced.

  • more family fun (Score:5, Funny)

    by mono_indy ( 203761 ) on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @09:02AM (#10055504) Homepage
    i used to start my wives sims game and put heavy metal music and horror movies on and let it run all night. she hated that. the simes would have lost almost everything and were crazy as hell the next day. i can't wait to see what i can do with the new sims. lol.

  • Delayed (Score:5, Informative)

    by sangreal66 ( 740295 ) on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @09:19AM (#10055727)
    Why do people keep saying that The Sims 2 is being released on time? It was delayed AT LEAST once from its scheduled March release, and I think possibly once before then.

  • me neither.... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by HarveyBirdman ( 627248 ) on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @09:54AM (#10056185) Journal
    I got a copy free from Apple for something or other. I didn't understand the popularity of The Sims, either

    It was an interesting idea, and the execution was pretty brilliant, but it just wasn't fun for me. By the time I got the character done eating, shitting, cleaning up (usually in that order), it was time to go to bed again and go to work.

    In other words, it was TOO MUCH like real life.

    When I turn on a video game, I want powers beyond those of mortal men, epic struggles against a worthy foe or I want to see sexy dark elf babes in magical lingerie.

    Sometimes I want to BE the sexy dark elf babe in magical lingerie, but that's a different thread.

  • The Simzzz (Score:3, Informative)

    by payndz ( 589033 ) on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @10:24AM (#10056611)
    I finally thought I should get around to trying The Sims, since it seems half the world's played it and loved it.

    I found it utterly tedious and a complete waste of my time. Watch them sleep! Watch them eat! Watch them... walk around! I'm just glad I got it second-hand, as I would have been very pissed off if I'd paid full price for it. I gave it a fair shot to see if it got any better as it went on. It didn't so I haven't touched it since.

    I just can't see the appeal. Then again, I can't see the appeal of shows like Big Brother either

  • Nice OO designed game (Score:5, Interesting)

    by samsmithnz ( 702471 ) on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @10:49AM (#10056987) Homepage
    I wish I could find the article to link here, but I can't, I thought it was on gamesutra but I can't find it there either.

    Anyway, I just wanted to comment that I read an article about how the game was designed a couple of months ago and I thought it was very interesting. Basically the objects have all the code, and the sims have minimal coding. The expansion packs (for the most part), just contained new objects with new code that the sims reacted too. I thought this was a really neat and insightful way to code the game.

  • Of course it will be on time. (Score:3, Funny)

    by Gannoc ( 210256 ) on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @10:56AM (#10057124)
    It appears that it will be on time after all, an unusual occurrence in this industry.

    You're used to anxiously awaiting software by Blizzard, etc. EA will cheerfully release incredibly buggy software "on time".

  • And here's a little geek perk (Score:4, Informative)

    by GMFTatsujin ( 239569 ) on Tuesday August 24, 2004 @10:58AM (#10057144) Homepage
    DEVO front man Mark Mothersbaugh is signed [ea.com] to do the in-game music.

    If nothing else, perhaps the game will move away from the Leave It To Beaver sitcom earmunge. Duty now for the future!
    • DEVO front man Mark Mothersbaugh is signed to do the in-game music.

      If nothing else, perhaps the game will move away from the Leave It To Beaver sitcom earmunge. Duty now for the future!
      Nah. Mark sold out years ago and now makes whatever music he's paid to. (Among other things, he makes the music for Rugrats. No Duty there.)
  • This story has been filed under 'games'.
  • I'm already having a strange obsessive twitching in my left leg. I think I might need to use up some vacation time in September.

    it's probably because the fungus growing in your REAL garbage needs to be taken outside. Why play a game that is the same as everyday life? Give me particle guns or a pirate ship or a fast car and a machine gun. and please don't buy your sims a video game so after work you can be playing a video game in which you make a person live a life in which they play video games when they
  • Maybe... this is not a guy oriented game!

    Which leaves, guess what... that other deeply mysterious human gender, Women. Huh, who woulda thunk it, a game popular with the ladies..., Gosh!, maybe they even deliberately designed it that way. Which is probably why, statistically speaking, most slashdotters don't get it.

    My daughter (age 16), and freinds, loves the original Sims+Pack+++ and is eagerly awaiting the new game.

    The Sims is a beautifully crafted and delivered fantasy AI world where players pret

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