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Recommended Reading: Speaking Simlish
Recommended Reading highlights the week's best long-form writing on technology and more.
Jukebox Heroes: The Sims Online's soundtrack
The recent SimCity is by far not the only botched product that EA's launched with the Sims name on it. The truth is that The Sims Online had a great potential and franchise behind it, but it let the ball drop, big-time. It was already visually obsolete by the time it launched, and that was the least of its worries. Yet this fizzled MMO-slash-chat room had some pretty solid music backing it up. I've always been partial to the Sims series when it comes to OSTs because sometimes I just want to relax to happy, effervescent tunes. Series composer Jerry Martin produced the score to TSO in the same vein as his other projects, and it's still a delight to hear. Unfortunately, the only way you can get a copy of the soundtrack today is to find a seller who's got an otherwise-useless copy of The Sims Online: Charter Edition lying around. Otherwise, it might just be easier to forge on in this column and get a taste of the Sims soundscape!
Rise and Shiny recap: Neverdaunt:8Bit
I have a buddy who creates all types of music, and recently he decided to experiment with 8-bit. We've talked about it, and at first I think he was worried about how I would feel about it. After all, I've been playing in heavy rock bands since I was around 13 years old, so my disdain for most things electronica or artificial is pretty well-known. For the record, I do not hate all sounds that are created by a computer -- I just haven't found much that I like. So, as I watched 8-bit become a slightly hipper and hipper form of music, my tolerance has had time to adjust. True 8-bit art and design is about reduction, if you ask me -- it's about breaking down everything into single blocks of color or sound, and then rearranging those bits in an attempt to recreate something beautiful. When done well, 8-bit can be fun and exciting. Neverdaunt:8Bit is done well, for sure. While it is still only in "early" testing, it shows a ton of promise -- even if it is only made up of a few basic blocks of noise and color.
The Game Archaeologist and the Legend of the Sims: The history
The Sims Online was one of the odder entrants into the MMO genre this past decade, an online iteration of an immensely popular game franchise that promised deeper social interaction. With EA at its back and the Will Wright name affixed to the front, TSO (not to be confused with Cryptic's STO) had a solid shot at cracking the big time. It did not. It went over as well as a fish flopping out of water to make a go for it on dry land, eventually realizing that it was both going nowhere and dying slowly. The end result? It stunk. And yet it was an interesting failed experiment in MMO gaming, especially considering that the concept wasn't as off-base as we once thought. With social "dress up" games booming -- Second Life, Habbo Hotel, Club Penguin, Hello Kitty Online, even elements of LEGO Universe -- The Sims Online could be seen as a prophet of the future, mistreated in its own time. Return with us to the days of pixelated 2-D isometric glory, as the Game Archaeologist interprets the Simlish of ancient tomes for your benefit.
LeAnn Rimes sings in 'Simlish' for The Sims 3: World Adventures, creeps out loved ones
Okay, okay, we're not 100% sure that Ms. Rimes will be creeping out her loved ones by adding her to-be-released track "You've Ruined Me" to The Sims 3's next expansion, World Adventures, but we'll call it an educated guess. Rimes headlines a list of artists found after the break, including a group named Natalie Portman's Shaved Head, who will appear in the expansion singing original songs in the game's fictional language -- "Simlish." The country/pop singer will be offering a rendition of an unreleased track said to be the lead on her upcoming album. Unfortunately, given the nature of "Simlish" (it's untranslatable), fans hoping for the chance to hear the unreleased track early when the expansion launches this November will be out of luck. Unless they're into gibberish languages, that is. %Gallery-70339%
New nonsensical music announced for The Sims 3 World Adventures
EA just announced a few details of the soundtrack for the upcoming Sims 3 expansion The Sims 3 World Adventures. In keeping with the theme, the company will include artists from around the world -- well, sort of. The confirmed artists include Canadian Nelly Furtado, German Stefanie Heinzmann, Americans Matt & Kim, and Young Punx and the previously announced Pixie Lott from the UK. In keeping with Sims tradition, those artists are all re-recording their songs in Simlish. "I think it's really cool to have a song in The Sims 3 World Adventures," Pixie Lott said. "You can go over to a radio in the game, play the Simlish version of "Mama Do," and take that radio with you anywhere you go inside the game!" Yes, you can do that. The list of currently confirmed songs is after the break -- with titles and artists in English for your convenience. %Gallery-70339%
Re-recording music in Simlish is easier than it sounds
Though the "Simlish" language that permeates The Sims (as well as a few other Will Wright-crafted franchises) is largely improvised by the series' voice actors, the musicians that provide the games' soundtracks have a bit more work to do than that. This translation process was recently explained by UK recording artist Pixie Lott in a video diary we've posted after the break.Lott, (who is only 18, you creepy creepster) guides us through the steps required to Sim-ify her current chart-topper, "Mama Do," which sounds suspiciously like "Marmaduke" to our un-indoctrinated American ears. Man, if only!
Asphinctersayswhat?
Look, we consider ourselves experts around here. Bungie tries to put one past us? Heck nah! Case closed. But then this little ditty hits our inbox and we're totally stumped. What is this? A game? Is this supposed to get us excited about something? You ever get the feeling, like, there's this whole other planet of other people who play other games...? Yeah, we got that feeling right now.
See MySims in their natural habitat
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/See_MySims_in_Their_Natural_Habitat'; If you're already a Sims fan and interested in the unique look of the new Wii iteration, you will be pleased. We finally have some detailed video of the My Sims gameplay, and it looks quite similar to its predecessors, with some significant tweaks made in the "community" and "general cuteness" categories. The first video shows the main gameplay-- setting up furniture, wandering about the little town, listening to music, and being a huge jerk to neighboring Sims. The second video details the character creation process, wherein your Sim waits very patiently for you to finish deciding what skin color to paint him or her. You can change your Sims' voices in this mode as well, and they provide voice samples by chatting in Simlish on their little cell phones while you adjust the voice with sliders. How novel! Of course, along with the return of Simlish comes another only-in-Sims kind of event: Simlish music, or the even darker side of EA Trax. Unlike Sims, we can't turn your free will off, so we can only ask you to check out the two videos. We think they're worth your time anyway.
