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The Sims Overtake Myst
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.
It's weird that the top games are these non-violent, non-gorey games. But, the violent games far outnumber the non-violent ones.
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.
Such is the infinite Grace of Popeye.
MS Solitaire? It's come with every version of PC based Windows I've ever seen.
- 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.
It's weird that the top games are these non-violent, non-gorey games. But, the violent games far outnumber the non-violent ones.
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.
What does it say about our society today that the Sims games are so popular? Video games were always a pretty antisocial pursuit, but at least we didn't fool ourselves into thinking they weren't. The Sims becomes a replacement for living our own lives, and we don't even mind it.
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!
Of the top two best selling PC games of all time, with a total combined sales of approximately ELEVEN MILLION UNITS, one was an adventure game and the other was a simulation.
Hmmm.. maybe the MARKET IS TRYING TO TELL THE GAME INDUSTRY SOMETHING, YOU THINK????
ahem...