Electronic Arts has completely lost it this time. The company is planning on launching not one but two sequels to the highly successful The Sims game. For some reason they have taken out the concept that makes The Sims such a wonderful and unique game and totally trashed it for the sake of branding. The heart and sole of The Sims is relationship and time management experimentation. The player can guide people through lives they themselves cannot live and learn. Also there is the added enjoyment of sadistic manipulation. Electronic Arts seems to thing The Sims is all about �look Ma, I�m on the compuder� (misspelling intended).
The first game, Sims Live is basically a chat/email program where you can design an animated avatar to look like yourself. That�s it. Sounds exciting eh? Ok, well the second game, Sims Online, has the same functions as Sims Live except it operates in The Sims engine connected to a massive multiplayer environment. No experimenting, no time management. Just you wondering around in a virtual world doing real world stuff and any sadistic pleasure come at the expense of real people for the cost of $10 a month. Isn�t that Grand?

When I think of a sequel of The Sims, I�m thinking of a more detailed simulation. More AI, more independence, real world events such as weekends, holidays and season, and possibly more places to go. While I�m not bitter about not getting the game I think should be made, the games that are being made are the worst possible concept. Making Sims Quake would be preferable.

What really chaffs my behind is that these are the games that Sim Mars was killed off to make. This is a travesty. Oh well, hopefully I will soon be drowning my sorrows in Tropico and Black & White.

This little rant was originally posted on www.moonbasetycho.com

The Sims Online may be ok, though. You'll still have a house or apartment that you decorate, and you'll get some kind of status points for getting more players to visit your home, so there's an element of competition there that may drive the game.

When EA gets a hit game, expect them to wring everything they can out of it.

I assume this is all in addition to SimsVille, the "sorta fits at the level between Sims and SimCity" game.

Who knows, people love their ICQ, maybe this'll just be a glorified chat tool.

The SIMS is a trippy game though. Have you guys browsed the music folder on the CD? The country-western song in SIMS gibberish is one of the funniest things I've ever heard.

In fact, that gibberish talk is kinda disturbing now that I think about it.

wumpus http://www.gamebasement.com

What is Simsville? I can't keep all of these straight?

My wife loves the Sims. That to me speaks volumes. She doesn't like computer games, but she likes this one.

The Sims gibberish is pretty funny. There was a Drew Carey episode where they talked like that for a minute.

Simville. Remember Sim Town? Imagine a sequel to that and you have Simville. Its being geared for a slightly more advance audience with a bit more detail and control. Sim Town was made for kids and about as exciting as watching paint dry. No wait, I think watch paint drying was more fun. BTW I was a beta tester for Sim Town.

Rob Merritt -- www.moonbasetycho.com

Yeah, Mark, I know what you mean -- my wife is the same way. When she started getting so involved with the Sims, I knew just how great it must have been. My wife hates computer games. But not the Sims. (Interestingly enough, she also likes Caesar III. Go figure!)

Simsville looks pretty cool. You're controlling a neighborhood, rather than a house, but you don't get to go inside people's homes. It's still more people-oriented than SimCity, though. It looks to be pretty cool.

"The first game, Sims Live is basically a chat/email program where you can design an animated avatar to look like yourself."

Isn't there a Microsoft program that ships with recent Windows versions and does exactly that? It's called MS Chat I think -- basically an online chatting program but you can have little animated people representing you to others.