"The Sims" Online, and on the PS2

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.

Comments

If EQ is any guage

[Kraegar]

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

[mkaltner]

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

[Kraegar]

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

[Phil Wilkins]

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!

[inkfox]

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!

Robert the Bemused

[rde]

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

[mosch]

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

[CaseyG]

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.

Re:Robert the Bemused

[Te1waz]

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

[mattbelcher]

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

[Rupert]

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.

Re:Robert the Bemused

[eam]

I was trying to think of why I had no interest in trying the Sims. Then I remembered:

Nick: age 3
Alex: 18 months

Why raise a simulation when you have the real thing .

Re:Robert the Bemused

[swankypimp]

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.

Re:Robert the Bemused

[Martin Spamer]

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.

Re:Robert the Bemused

[BoBaBrain]

I spent numerous hours maintaining my Sims' social lives, cleaning their homes, and keeping them fed and rested

How very good of you. The rest of us sold all their Sims' furniture, walls and toilet and invested the money in a coffee machine. After that, the game practically plays itself.

Re:Robert the Bemused

[dswensen]

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 :)

Re:Robert the Bemused

[Phil Wilkins]

> 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).

Re:Robert the Bemused

[Gibbys Box of Trix]

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?

Re:Sims Website

[Anonymous Coward]

It's harder to turn your housemates into lesbians in real life than it is in the Sims.

Sims PS2 and Online are separate products

[vtown_mike]

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.

Oh really now that's just silly.

[TRACK-YOUR-POSITION]

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.

Re:Sims Website

[jgerman]

Cheaper, takes less time, and is more rewarding.

Popular attitude on /. lately, though gladly many have debunked it in the past. So here I go again:

Cheaper: Who cares. Those that can afford it do, those that can't can find other entertainment. No inherent quality here.

Takes less time: Not sure why this is listed as some sort of benefit, what are you going to use the extra time for? Laying around, doing more of the same? Why not do something that takes a long time rather than a few short ones, depending on your personality type, completing one long activity may be more rewarding than multiple short ones which leads me to:

More Rewarding: This is just a crock of shit, which leads me to believe that you are an immature, shallow thinker. The value of a reward is a function of the rewardee, (and to a lesser extent the rewarder), not some arbitrary designation placed by those who feel forced to judge other.

So why don't you live your life, and the people who want to spend time playing the Sims (or anything else) will live theirs and you can keep your meanigless value judgements to yourself.

It's for people who don't like Video Games...

[JohnDenver]

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.

player killing in sims :)

[Black_Logic]

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. :)

Re:Bad idea

[Gibbys Box of Trix]

You need to compare something like Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 on the PS2 and the PC. Everyone, even Sony fanbois like you who have seen and played the two games running side by side admit that the PC version kicks seven shades out of the PS2. It even adds to the console version, a more complex online environment accessible through a standard 56k modem, skinnable characters, the ability to change the music, downloadable parks, etc. etc. I'd bet good money that the Sims games are better on the PC too for more reasons than just the graphics.

Noone who got motion sickness from PC gaming would go out and spend £250 on a graphics card anyway, because they wouldn't be playing the games that warrant it in the first place.

Oh! Look Score 0... you're a troll! Silly me.