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The Sims 2 Announced

Posted by simoniker on from the really-big-computer-people dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Electronic Arts today announced that The Sims 2, the next generation of the #1 PC game of all time, is in development." Seems like the new 'unique selling point' for the sequel is "the.. addition of genetics, with the DNA of Sims passed down through generations", but there's a whole heap of other new bells and whistles. The game will be previewed properly at E3, and the franchise has now sold over 24 million units as a whole.

3 of 55 comments (clear)

  1. could be something to look forward to.. by snillfisk · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I played the first one for a couple of days straight when it was just hot and fresh and were really impressed. It was fun in a strange way and I enjoyed creatinge and setting up this little family .. but after a while things just got boring and you kinda could anticipate what was going to happen .. I hope they make each experience more unique and probably a bit more evolving than the first edition, but sure, the "simplicity" (i'm not calling it a simple game, that would be plain wrong) may have been the reason why it has sold so well and attracted so many non-regular gamers.

    There's a good chance that this DNA-feature will make the sims a better, lasting game which kinda never stops and still evolves.. we'll see.

    Looking forward to the E3, at least. :-)

    --
    mats
    One man's ceiling is another man's floor.
  2. strange that people find this appealing... by Danse · · Score: 1, Insightful

    I'd think it would suck to realize that the virtual people on your computer lead more interesting lives than you do. I'm all for escapism and stuff, but the seemingly addictive nature of this game for a lot of people is kind of creepy.

    --
    It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
  3. DNA? Not impressed! by fm6 · · Score: 2, Insightful
    I found The Sims fascinating for a while. But it soon became obvious to me that the "free will" behavior was very limited, not to mention poorly thought out. There are all these intriguing behavior parameters -- but in the end it mostly doesn't matter whether your Sim is "outgoing" or "playful" or whatever, because they never get anywhere if you don't micromanage their behavior. Not even romance is spontaneous. (!!!) And they can't even figure out who's turn it is to use the bathroom without your help!

    (Related issue: Sims have no ability to negotiate for shared resources. You can have major deadlock just from two Sims trying to cross each others paths. Never mind the major problems you have when a bunch of hungry Sims all try to grab a plate and find a seat at once. ("There's an empty chair! Wait, now it's occupied. There's an empty chair! Wait, now it's occupied. There's an empty chair...") Which is kind of disturbing in a real-time game! It's probably not a coincidence that the software itself seems to have a lot of race conditions. Has anybody at Maxis heard of the Dining Philosophers?)

    So why is the game so popular? I think people just enjoy creating imaginary people and building houses for them. If you're artistically inclined (I'm not) that must be a lot of fun. But as a simulation, the game is a total failure. Which leaves me with low expectations for "DNA".