The Sims to go online again?

Timesonline reports: "The Sims - the best-selling computer game of all time and one of the first to experiment with the idea of virtual communities – may part with tradition and let players interact with one another using the web.

A senior executive at Electronic Arts (EA), the company which owns the Sims franchise, said that in light of the popularity of virtual worlds and other computer games which allow players to compete with each other via the web, the Sims may soon become a multi-player game.

Nancy Smith, head of the Sims Division at EA, said that the company, one of the world's largest game publishers, "would continue to invest in more and more robust community features" in the Sims. Two spin-offs from the franchise, including one called Sims on Stage, in which players compete against one another in singing and dancing contests, have incorporated online elements. "