Gaming Steve: MySims EA Site Visit

September 19, 2007

MySims EA Site Visit

MySims EA games held its first Blogger’s Day Event and I was one of the lucky 7 who got to attend. We all gathered at the headquarters in Redwood City, CA to get a preview of the new MySims game and meet the game developers ... a Sims game unlike any other.

Our day started with a tour of the EA campus and soon we found ourselves in a conference room surrounded by a new breed of Sims. Unlike other versions of The Sims, MySims was created exclusively for the Nintendo platform for release on both the Wii and the DS. With that in mind, the Sims was recreated to appeal to the Nintendo audience while holding on to the hallmark appeal of the original Sims game.

Like other Sims games you start the game playing one Sim which is customizable within the create-a-sim menu. The main head shape stays the same but you can change other unique features to make your Sim all your own. You can change their hair, skin tone, clothing, and even the voice from one of six different options. These little Sims are gender neutral so you can get really crazy with their look. And unlike other Sims games these Sims are cute ... really cute ... like a puppy sitting in a flowerbed holding a rubber toy in its mouth cute.

Of course there are options for additional personal items, such as eye glasses and facial marks. My Sim ended up in a skirt with a beard, a monocle and a spider tattoo on its cheek. There are more than enough options so that you can make your little Sim a mini-version of yourself which was a main goal of the development team (which, of course, they made several versions of themselves and their family members.)

Once your Sim is complete you begin the game within to a rundown town with your main goal to bring the town back to life and earn a "five star "status. You can improve the town by talking to other Sims and completing tasks for them, such as finding items, building things, giving them gifts, and so forth. The happier the Sims the more the town improves and more options become available to you.

As the town improves new Sims will show up (with new tasks for you, of course!). The game supports a total of 80 Sims but you can only have 27 Sims to your town at once so you need to plan your tasks accordingly as well as find and unlock the other Sims.

As for those of you out there who like to kill or torture their Sims, well, you can’t do that. They also don’t Woo Hoo or make babies but you still can mess with them and make them unhappy if you really want. You have four main interactions -- talk, be nice, be mean and give stuff. Each Sim has two likes and one dislike, so using these interactions and some creative responses you can make your Sims quite happy, or very upset. The choice is yours.

But there is so much more which you can do in this game besides making other Sims happy. You can fish, plant trees and prospect for cool new items. You can also unlock assets such clothing and blueprints by making friends with the Town Sims. Next to your house you have a workshop where you use your blueprints to build furniture and other objects. With a blueprint you can create a base object and then mix and match other pieces to create a uniquely different object. The more you play, the more building pieces you will unlock. Of course once you’ve made your creation, you can paint it with various colors and textures to truly make it your own.

There are no "simoleans" currency in version of The Sims but instead uses something called “Essenses”. There are six main Essences -- Cute, Geeky, Studious, Spooky, Tasty and Fun. All the objects are related to one of these essences and they are used to create furniture, paint walls and floors. Part of the fun is mixing and matching essences when creating new objects.

There are small differences between the Wii and DS versions, such as the DS version takes place at a seaside resort. Hence, the game plays slightly differently on each platform. At the resort you get to explore, meet and help the guests, design clothes and furniture and play mini games to earn money. One of the 10 mini games can be downloaded to a friend’s DS so they can play it without having the Sim game but it’s only playable while your DS is running.

The game was a lot of fun to play and all of us were laughing at the creations we made. Though it’s not a multiplayer game, it’s still fun to play with other people around to share the experience. It’s as much fun to watch as it is to play. The music was very pleasant and each location had its own unique tune so you could tell where you were just by listening to the song. Plus there is a ton of unlockable items, including new playable areas including a desert and a forest.

The game shipped today and although MySims is unlike other Sims creations it has enough "Sims flavor" to interest the diehard Sims fan. Hours of fun for the whole family.

My Sims EA Visit

Comments

Welcom Back Steve! Can we expect a Halo 3 Launch Podcast next week?

Posted by Kirakid at September 19, 2007 10:44 PM

Welcome Back Steve! Can we expect a Halo 3 Launch Podcast next week?

Posted by Kirakid at September 19, 2007 10:44 PM

My bad, thought it was Steve. Thanks LadyM for all the info, sounds like a Great Game!

Posted by Kirakid at September 19, 2007 10:52 PM

Nice write up Lady M.

Posted by ilikesanta at September 19, 2007 11:08 PM

O.K. cool. Finally something posted on this site. I really miss the podcasts. Why can't SOMEONE at least say what Steve is up to. I'm sorry, but "being busy" is not an answer. I know this is all free, but come on, it only takes a few minutes to post, right?

Posted by Brad at September 19, 2007 11:27 PM

Nice to hear from you again Steve. We've missed ya!

My sims looks interesting, but I havent a Wii yet to play it on so I guess I'm SoL. I think I still prefer the PC versions of the sims anyway with all the customizability and not so cartoony. To each their own I guess.

Anyway, nice to see you're still in the thick of things gaming wise. Hope the families doing well. Catcha latah!

Thanks!

Posted by Verkinix at September 20, 2007 12:15 AM

All the amazing games and interesting industry news thats been going on since the last post and we get an infomercial on the sims?

sad.

Posted by swerv at September 20, 2007 06:39 AM

All the amazing games and interesting industry news thats been going on since the last post and we get an infomercial on the sims?

sad.

Posted by swerv at September 20, 2007 06:41 AM

Hey hey, don't be that way.
LadyM, a forum moderator, took time out of her own schedule to attend EA's Blogger's Day thingamajig (in Steve's stead).
Besides attending, she took pictures, and wrote an article.

Steve's a bit busy with something or other; I thought I heard he was making a game, but I can't remember anymore.
I know few of you out there seem to care, and that you tire of the excuses, but hopefully you'll survive. ::)

In the meantime, y'all can kindly give thanks to LadyM for doing this.
You know... for us.

Posted by Gauphastus at September 20, 2007 07:18 AM

STEVE!!!

Ahahaha, you're back!

Posted by Paroxysm at September 20, 2007 08:52 AM

Oh, wait, it's LadyM. Nevermind, I thought it was someone important.

Posted by Paroxysm at September 20, 2007 09:01 AM

Wow, has GamingSteve moved from 'industry insider' to 'shameless promoter'? I don't see any details on how the game was made, anything about the challenges the developers had coding for the Wii, how design had to change to support the platform, etc.

Posted by Phred at September 20, 2007 10:05 AM

I'm starting to think this "Steve" character was just part of an elaborate ARG which generated interest in Spore... Notice how the site really only started around the time Will Wright announced Spore at GDC, and the podcasts went away around the time he ran out of Spore news? I love bees, indeed... ;)

Posted by Jaleho at September 20, 2007 12:15 PM

Very well done, hopefully this will kick off more user-submitted work. If everyone wrote up something of this caliber we'd be set!

Posted by PatMan33 at September 20, 2007 01:56 PM

Jaleho, go have two kids in an apartment and get a job at somewhere other than Burger King. Then come back here and say Steve was not a real person.

There's pictures of him on the site.

Posted by Paroxysm at September 20, 2007 06:57 PM

Corrections to my previous post. I hadnt realized LadyM wrote this post until just now.

Awesome job with this gaming news. It's quite nice to see something new posted on the site. I do hope you continue in Steve's stead to post gaming news of your interest. The length of the article is about perfect. I wouldnt go too much longer if you do post in the future unless it contains multiple games or topics.

Anyway, nice job and thanks for giving us something to read from the insider view. I do hope you decide to write more in the near future :)

Thanks again!

Posted by Verkinix at September 20, 2007 07:03 PM

Corrections to my previous post. I hadnt realized LadyM wrote this post until just now.

Anyway, nice job and thanks for giving us something to read from the insider view. I do hope you decide to write more in the near future :)

Thanks again!

Posted by Verkinix at September 20, 2007 07:03 PM

Paroxysm: I have two kids, the same ages as Steve's, actually. I've had them in both an apartment and a duplex, and I recently switched from being the lead programmer and artist at an educational software company to doing web design and 3d modeling. I've seen more photos of him than most while I was working on a new mascot image that he didn't go with.

I'm not asking for a podcast. A single monthly paragraph would suffice. Supposedly we were going to hear about the process to make a new game, too. A nice journal on what he's up to would be very informative and entertaining. Dictating his thoughts in a voicemail to LadyM while he's on the crapper would work.

At this point, it doesn't even have to be news. "Hey, did you hear about this game called Bioshock? I bet it will be popular. Ok, seeya next month! Enjoy the forums! -Steve"

Posted by Jaleho at September 21, 2007 12:47 AM

Thanks for taking the time to put this up, LadyM.

Posted by Ben at September 21, 2007 07:24 AM

Thanks for taking the time to put this up, LadyM.

Posted by Ben at September 21, 2007 07:28 AM

This seems very Animal Crossing; is any of that development team working on this or is it just a coincidence? -leeman

Posted by leeman at September 23, 2007 01:06 AM

This seems very Animal Crossing; is any of that development team working on this or is it just a coincidence? -leeman

Posted by leeman at September 23, 2007 01:07 AM

Welcome back! :)

Posted by John Porcaro at September 24, 2007 01:08 PM

Looks pretty cool. Nice preview!

Posted by Gungnir at September 25, 2007 09:39 PM