Edge writes: "Will Wright's idea for a virtual dolls house was laughed out of the office in 1993. 15 years and 100 million sales later, EA has an entire studio dedicated to bettering the best selling franchise in videogame history.
Success on the scale achieved by The Sims is something of a poisoned chalice. If a game does something so right, for so many people, then any change to the formula could be viewed as a catastrophe. But if this prospect terrifies the folk behind the upcoming sequel, then it is not apparent.
"There's definitely a risk," says executive producer Ben Bell coolly. "I mean, we're doing it again, we could screw it up. But people do crave innovation. When we searched our own hearts or talked to our fans, people wanted their Sims to be able to go anywhere, anytime in a seamless neighborhood, be a part of a bigger community and have this new dimension for their stories and a new strategic dimension for the game. Just about everyone on the team is a big fan, and most have worked on The Sims and The Sims 2. We love the games and we know what isn't there and what we would like to add to the experience, change or simplify."
A voice actor for The Sims spoke about his experiences doing voice work for the game's fictional Simlish language, and how there was no dictionary for them
The Sims franchise has been a part of my life ever since the first game came out. It was one of two games I camped outside of a store for, the other one being Black & White.
Maybe you've got a favorite game from the olden days you never get rid of. Maybe you're a scrupulous uninstaller and you don't have anything from before 2013 on your pristine PC. Maybe you've got something from the 1990s taking up several whole megabytes you completely forgot about.
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis.
I did have Loom but I didn't like it.
I've been replaying a bunch of old adventure games, lately. I had been playing a bunch of text adventures, but those are uninstalled now. At the moment, the oldest thing I have installed is Sierra's Police Quest Collection. When I'm done with that, I'll be moving on to Space Quest, Quest for Glory, and finishing with the best: King's Quest.
