Deconstructing G4's MySims preview

Tim Letourneau of EA took a few moments to chat with G4 at E3 (it's an acronym party!) about MySims, and he had some interesting things to say about designing the game for the Wii. And by interesting, we mean both vaguely amusing and very revealing. Since we're such nice people, we thought we'd take a moment to offer a translation for some of the things you can hear in the video snippet found after the break.

First, Letourneau says, when EA began planning MySims, they needed to figure out how to give a Sims game a unique look and feel for Nintendo and the Wii. Translation: How can we make a Sims game sell well in Japan? He goes on to mention that one of their goals was accessibility -- but what we hear is: the money-printing Sims franchise can bring in a whole lot more money if we finally make a version that's great on consoles. Let's make it all-ages friendly, too! And actually, we agree that this is a fantastic idea; surely you've noticed us mooning over every aspect of the game. However, "accessibility" has become one of those Wii buzzwords that we're getting tired of.

But it's the last bit that makes us giggle. Letourneau spends a good portion of the brief segment discussing how the whole thrust of this game -- and how it's different from other Sims titles -- is to allow the player to craft an entire town, from the ground up, for that Nintendo experience. We're pretty sure he wanted to say that Animal Crossing experience ... because other than being able to build and fiddle around in the other houses in the town, what he's describing sounds essentially like that beloved title. But again, we don't mind -- we love Animal Crossing, and a similar game with expanded building and decorating options sounds like something we'll pour entire months of our lives into. Bring on MySims!