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Sims 2 Goes Gold
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.
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.
Money cannot buy happiness, but can buy something soo darn close, that you can't really tell the difference
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.
...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
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings