Urbz: Sims in the City Comix

Thanks to MaxoidHumanoid (a Maxis employee) who writes "The latest title of the Sims franchise, The Urbz, comes out next month, and there is a new feature on the website launched only yesterday called Urbz Comix. A new comix will be released weekly for 10 weeks. A stellar line-up of indy comix artists has been assembled. Here's part of the roster: Peter Bagge, Evan Dorkin, Jay Stephens, Jim Mahfood, R. Stevens"

Comments

Is now the best time?

[Nomihn0]

It seems that Maxis is eager to do everything they can to promote this Sims lookalike. Although they are right to pursue this branch of their franchise, The Sims having done so first puts them in troubled intellectual property waters. I even saw diamonds reminiscent of those in The Sims over the heads of charcters in Urbz screenshots. . .

Good luck Urbz, you may need it with the release of The Sims 2 not yet over the horizon.

Re:Is now the best time?

[RevAaron]

Hahah. Man. Only on /. would something so completely incorrect- even after you corrected yourself- score a +3 Interesting. Er, OK, not just /.. Do not take my comment as a rip on you, since you did at least correct yourself that I applaud- but yeah. :)

There is a reason those diamonds look just like those in the sims... ;)

Though, I have to say, this comic looks pretty ass lame. At least, the first one that was on the website. Maybe I need to play the Urbz or even the Sims regularily to see the humor. I see the attempt at humor, but I see a lot of attempts at humor that fall flat on their faces. /me shrug Here's to hoping they just get better and better... After all, it is something one would hope for any new endevour, no matter how food the first crack was. Good luck guys!

Re:Is now the best time?

[Nomihn0]

I agree with you, it's strange, but I think it is because the moderator wanted the original post to be visible to those browsing at a higher threshold. Modding up only a correction causes it to appear out of context. Therefore, corrections, if warranted and self-imposed, ought to be moderated in tandem with the parent (and vice versa). Let's be honest, moderation points aren't as powerful as the noobs think - one can "afford" to moderate two posts by the same author if it mitigates the impact of an honest mistake. It's a community after all, we share the load of moderation. As long as you don't moderate to further your own social or commercial agenda, moderation points are not golden eggs.

OOPS, still, the question stands

[Nomihn0]

EGHDADS! I did rtfa, but I overlooked something... Maxis made The Sims too *doy*. Okay, still, why mention The Urbz with The Sims 2 still being hyped?

Re:OOPS, still, the question stands

[fireduck]

it appears the the Urbz is console only, while Sims 2 is a pc based game (not sure if there's a console version yet). I think Urbz is aimed at teens who want to do cool things like go to a club or eat sushi, or strip down motorcycles, rather than have cocktail parties... (hence the console release)

kinda like the difference between an oldsmobile and an acura.

Re:OOPS, still, the question stands

[Nomihn0]

But isn't that what Sims 2 Expansions are for? Maxis has proven the first Sims that they can get a much larger population playing the original game by creating niche expansion packs.

I just see no incentive for them to promote another label just for consoles. They could even have downloadable content as a gimmick/hook with just The Sims 2 on consoles.

Re:OOPS, still, the question stands

[Babbster]

You're correct that Urbz is for consoles and Sims 2 is PC. There actually IS an argument to be made, though, that Sims 2 is something of an extension of the two console Sims games (The Sims and The Sims Bustin' Out). I say this because Sims 2 took the original PC game and added a fully 3D engine (console: check), increased character customization ability (console: check) and more goal-based gameplay (console: check). They also added Sim aging which is new for the series as a whole.

As for the idea that Urbz would compete with The Sims 2 on PC, I find that extremely improbable. First, you're talking about three very different audiences: 1) The hardcore PC gamer who got some guilty pleasure out of the original Sims and is now going diguised to the videogame store to buy the new one; 2) the very casual PC gamer who might only buy one game (and its expansions) between now and the time Sims 3 hits the stores; 3) the console gamer who probably finds the PC Sims franchise TOO open-ended.

Urbz: Sims in the City is a game entirely different from the traditional Sims games. For example, they've taken out a couple of the motivation bars (one is room/environment and the other I don't recall off hand) to focus the gameplay more. They've also made it so that you're actually working your job (it's not just waiting for the Sim to get back from work) and performing tasks logical for that occupation (such as a sushi chef keeping the restaurant clean). Besides work, the gameplay is about hanging out and getting/being popular.

In short, Urbz and Sims 2 cater to different playstyles. It remains to be seen whether Urbz will be any good, of course.

Final note: EA/Maxis has had "competing" Sims products between console and PC before and certainly the PC expansions didn't suffer against the console games.

Re:OOPS, still, the question stands

[marktaw.com]

I'm a console gamer that's vowed never to buy another PC game again, yet I bought The Sims 2. I buy maybe 5 or 6 games a year, and I usually only buy the ones I know are going to be good, and I don't buy them if they're more than $20 unless I really want them. For example, I'm still workin on GTA3 and just bought Vice City a couple of days ago. But, I broke all of my rules and bought The Sims 2 for PC for $45 or $50 or whatever it was (well, I had an Amazon gift certificate, so it was really free).

Why? Because I'm a fan of the series, and so is my girlfriend, and we'll both get lots of use out of it. I don't know if I'll get Urbz when it comes out, but as long as it doesn't get trashed by the fans, I'll get it when it hits the $20-25 mark, which could be a very long time if it remains popular.

Urbz, I think, is an answer to the question "Why should I get The Sims for my Console if I already have it for my PC?" There's probably the perception - and rightly so - that there's too much overlap between the two, especially now that the PC version has a 3D engine, goal oriented play (though still more open ended than the console version), and a high level of customization. Urbz, then, might not be about capturing a different demographic, but about differentiating enough to get their existing customers to buy in to something they might otherwise see as redundant.

"This isn't the Sims, it's the Urbz, and you have to buy it because it's not the same, it's different." Ever since Maxis was acquired by EA, they've been dedicated to one thing, and one thing only: Sucking the life blood out of their existing customer base by creating add on after add on, and even requiring that you bought all the 99 prevoious ones before you could use the one you wanted. No more variety (sim life, sim ant, sim far, sim tower, sim earth, etc.), just The Sims and The Sims expansion packs.

So think of the Urbz not as a different game aimed at getting a different audience. Think of the Urbz as an expansion pack you can only get on consoles.

Re:OOPS, still, the question stands

[Anonymous Coward]

I am the great-grandparent poster and I endorse this message. Mod parent up! Thank you.

And the news here is?

[AJ_Levy]

Video game companies, right back to Atari, have used comics to try to move copies of video games. Acclaim, before going under, at one point owned a comic book division. So my question is, what is so noteworthy about Maxis marketing The Urbz with an online comic?

Re:And the news here is?

[YOU LIKEWISE FAIL IT]

Video game companies, right back to Atari, have used comics to try to move copies of video games.

They were pretty good, too. The one for Yars Revenge in particular is loaded with images that I'll one day tear out to use in a new media project or flier.

YLFI

Re:And the news here is?

[Babbster]

Nothing, except perhaps to the person who submitted the story. I'll admit the names are solid (I particularly like Evan Dorkin's Milk & Cheese, something I'm sure I'm not alone in) but you're right that marrying videogames and comics is nothing new. For example, Scott Kurtz (of PVP Online fame) will have a comic included in the upcoming City of Heroes reissue, and the boys at Penny Arcade have done several online comics for video games (most notably, for Ubisoft.

Personally, I'll always have a soft spot for Atari Force.

Re:And the news here is?

[Syncdata]

A very surprising choice in artists for these ads though.

Evan Dorkin, Jay Stephens, and the inimitable R Stevens are hardly easy sells to represent a marketing campaign for such a cornerstone franchise as the sims (whatever version it be), for such a large company as EA. I'm most familiar with Mahfood and Dorkin, but I would have loved to see the following scene play out.

Executive #1:So we're cool on this slate of artists right? Johnson, didn't you object to Franks suggestion to include Dorkin?

Johnson tosses a copy of Milk and Cheese on the boardroom table. Executive #2 looks at an open page and drops her jaw.

Frank: No really, this will come of family friendly with an edge the younger generation can...uh...identify with.

However he sold it, I know Frank's sweating this. That said, EA has possibly the most ruthlessly efficient marketing machine mankind has ever seen, so they probably already focus grouped me as a positive, without my even knowing it.

Re:And the news here is?

[marktaw.com]

The game is supposed to be hip and "underground" (or at least urban). Therefore, the artists they chose are hip and "underground" (or at least urban).

Juts look at the cartoon on the homepage today, and that about sums it up:

"Oh look, a hipster, this is an opportunity to improve my hipster cred."

Re:damn this game is porn

[bhima]

It's game???