The Sims 2 is one of the most successfull PC game franchises of all time and to celebrate the fact, we thought it about time that we take a good look at the history of one of the most successful gaming franchise ever produced. Oh and we threw in some trivia for you about those Sims too!!!
1984 Young Will Wright creates his first game, Raid on Bungeling Bay, a game in which a helicopter attacks islands. Will finds himself enjoying creating islands for the game more than piloting attack copters. The concept of SimCity is born!
1987 Wright forms a company called Maxis with “idea guy” Jeff Braun and they begin developing SimCity.
1989 SimCity releases for PC and Mac. Newsweek takes notice of the sleeper hit with a full-page story that cements the game as a pop-culture phenomenon. SimCity marks the birth of a new gaming genre, the “LifeSim.”
1993 Wright develops the first prototype of an architectural design game that will ultimately become The Sims.
Electronic Arts buys Maxis.
1999 Will Wright is named to the Entertainment Weekly “It List” of “the 100 most creative people in entertainment” and the Time Digital “Digital 50”.
2000 The Sims phenomenon begins. The game becomes one of the best-loved games in history, topping the Best-Selling PC Game Chart four years in a row.
The first expansion pack for The Sims, The Sims Livin’ Large, comes out. Virtual livin' seems just a bit larger.
2001 Wright wins a Lifetime Achievement Award” at the Game Developers Choice Awards.
The Sims is the bestselling PC game for the second year in a row.
The Sims House Party expansion pack attracts the party people. Festive Sims occasionally set the roof, the roof, the roof on fire. They don’t need no water; they simply rebuild.
The Sims Hot Date expansion pack takes Sims "Downtown.” The Sims play footsies, blow kisses, gossip about other couples, and a whole lot more.
2002 Wright is named #35 on the Entertainment Weekly Power List, and becomes the fifth person inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences’ Hall of Fame. PC Magazine honors him with a Lifetime Achievement Award while The Red Herring includes him in its Top Ten Inventors Hall of Fame.
It’s a hat-trick! For the third year in a row, The Sims tops the list of bestselling PC games.
The Sims Vacation expansion pack allows millions of Sims to head to sunnier climes, while their real-world counterparts soak up an equivalent amount of UV rays in front of computer monitors.
The Sims Unleashed expansion pack adds pets to the mix, giving Sims a whole new way to ruin their expensive rugs.
The Sims Online debuts. It’s the first and only video game to make the cover of Newsweek!
2003 The dynasty continues. For the fourth year in a row, The Sims is the top-selling PC game.
The Sims makes the successful transition to console, combining the core The Sims gameplay and trademark humor with a goal-oriented experience. People everywhere get up from their computer and walk to the couch.
Andy Warhol spins in his grave as millions get way more than fifteen minutes of fame when The Sims Superstar expansion pack is released.
All across the globe, schoolteachers, bosses, and bratty siblings are turned into toads with the new expansion pack The Sims Makin' Magic.
The Sims Bustin' Out is released for all major consoles and the Game Boy Advance. This console sequel gets your Sims out of the house to explore 16 wild new locations around town.
2004 Tragedy strikes The Sims. After holding the rank of bestselling PC game of the year from 2000-2003, it is finally unseated—by The Sims 2. The sequel debuts and becomes the biggest PC launch in EA history.
Toga party, anyone? The Sims 2 University expansion pack proves that your Sims hit the books hard, but can party even harder.
The Sims 2 Nightlife expansion pack lets Sims hit the town for an epic night out. Bring on the night!
The Sims 2 is officially everywhere! The game debuts on PlayStation2 computer entertainment system, the Xbox video game system from Microsoft, the Nintendo GameCube, the Game Boy Advance, the Nintendo DS, the Nokia N-Gage and the PSP (PlayStationPortable). It’s also available on mobile phones.
Sims decorate their houses for the holidays, enjoy festive meals, and throw wild New Year’s Eve parties in The Sims 2 Holiday Edition.
SIMS TRIVIA FACTS
A worldwide phenomenon The Sims franchise has fans around the globe with combined sales for the franchise topping a staggering 58 million (life-to-date)—that’s enough one for every single person in the UK! Not bad considering the franchise is only five years old.
A family of overachievers The original The Sims was the bestselling PC game worldwide in 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003, until it was dethroned by its own sequel The Sims 2, which was the bestselling PC game of 2004.
Chicks dig it (too!) The Sims franchise is recognized as one of the few game brands to achieve popularity across all ages and genders. More than half of The Sims 2 players are female.
Making news The Sims was the first and only video game franchise to make the cover of Newsweek!
Stamp of approval The French love The Sims so much that the country has issued an official postal stamp honoring the game. For that, we say, “Merci!”
Fun that translates The Sims 2 has been translated into more than 20 languages including Swedish, Thai and Russian! Da!
A language that doesn’t Sims speak Simlish, an emotion-filled language that defies translation. In creating Simlish, the development team experimented with fractured Ukrainian and Tagalog, the language of the Philippines. Inspired by the code talkers of WWII, Sims creator Will Wright also suggested Navajo.
Drop in for a download Imagine having the entire city of San Francisco drop by each week for a visit. That’s close to what’s happening at The Sims 2 official community site, www.thesims2.com. The site receives about 750,000 unique visitors each week. In peak summer months, that number swells to 1 million! The site has hosted more than 25M downloads of custom content, most created by Sims fans themselves.
It started with a toilet The first object ever created for The Sims was a toilet featured in the 1993 prototype. A variety of ways to interact with the toilet were introduced, from using it to cleaning it. According to the team, it was also the only object in the original game that different genders used differently—the men tended to leave the seat up!
Before there was bird flu Will Wright once introduced a mysterious virus to The Sims. As infection spread throughout the game, so did lively debate on the message boards. What was the source of the illness? Players finally traced it back to pet guinea pigs and shared tips for surviving the outbreak.
Feeling needy? Like most of us, the Sims have aspirations, fears and needs. The model used in the game was inspired by “Maslow’s Heirarchy of Needs.” According to Maslow people’s needs are based on a hierarchy and once basic needs are satisfied, people are motivated by less urgent needs.
Play it your way! The appeal of The Sims is that there is no “right way” to play. Some players spend all their time building cool houses or following the personal lives of their Sims, while others like to create chaos wherever they go. Are you one of those players? If you have ever removed the pool ladder after sending your Sim in for a dip, then the answer is probably yes!
Electronic Arts, EA, SimCity and The Sims are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. PlayStation is a registered trademark Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Microsoft and Xbox are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. Nintendo GameCube, Nintendo DS and Game Boy are trademarks of Nintendo. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
