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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!
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.
EA "thinking about" online features for The Sims, even as EA-Land dies
A recent article in The Times Online offers a few choice phrases from Nancy Smith, the executive in charge of the Sims Division at Electronic Arts, regarding a possible future direction the franchise could take. It begins with Smith saying that the Sims " ... may soon become a multi-player game." Apparently the popularity of virtual worlds and MMOs like Second Life and World of Warcraft is something EA wants a part of, so their idea is to provide " ... more and more robust community features." Aside from the ability to interact with one another, what are these community features? The article doesn't reveal anything concrete, and Smith is very careful not to commit to specifics. In fact, the entirety of Smith's comments seem to indicate both an ambivalence toward the power of online gaming and a desire to be seen as being focused on moving the franchise forward by incorporating aspects of that same power. Add to this the strange lack of understanding of how the online space works for many MMOs, and you've got a conflicted EA on your hands -- the same company that canceled EA-Land, which might have been the perfect test bed for any online distribution/content model EA wanted to experiment with.What's going on here? We'll take a shot at understanding this after the jump.
EA-Land to refund in-game ATM transactions
Despite what the bitter naysayers have been claiming about the addition of ATMs to EA-Land just before its complete closure, it appears that Electronic Arts won't be claiming all those last-minute Simoleons after all. In a recent announcement, EA-Land Community Manager Parizad Parav has said that every transaction completed through an in-game ATM will be completely refunded by the company. Remember that these transactions were the conversion from real dollars to virtual.It's nice to see a big company doing right by its former constituents, when they have no real obligation to do so. Of course, it's no skin off of EA's nose either, as their pockets are plenty deep enough to cover this amount. Still, it's a sad affair all around -- at least this will be one less point of angst among the formerly faithful.[Thanks, Sean!]
EA-Land to be shut down in August
Yeesh, that was quick. Just around two months after it was put before the public, EA announced via a blog post that EA-Land (which was The Sims Online rebranded) would be closing up shop on August 1. Current subscribers can get $15 off a game at the EA Store or a three-month membership to Pogo. Unsurprisingly, that hasn't satisfied most fans, who were able to spend real-world money to improve their EA-Land experience. Threads (here and here) were flooded with comments from users like:"Well. I'm SO freaking glad that I put so much REAL LIFE money into this game. Thank you for letting us ALL down.""Did I mention I just payed $150 last night for the founders account I've always dreamed of. Way to go... Perhaps you could have told someone sooner.""I really just can't believe it's going to be over.....and I really can't believe they think a few months of POGO can make up what we're losing here."Some of the comments were more conciliatory, some even began plans to buy the game outright. But it was clear that even if the world itself may be dying it leaves behind an impassioned, angry populace.[Via Eurogamer]
EA-Land shutting down
Electronic Arts' new baby, EA-Land, is apparently not going ahead, with news coming down a few hours ago that this replacement for The Sims Online is going to be closing. The Sims Online closed and merged into the new EA-Land world in February this year, but it appears that whatever targets EA management might have set for the project weren't met, and it is now going to go away, closing around Midnight on the last day of July, this year.
The Sims Online closes, relaunches as EA-Land
The Sims might have been a huge hit with casual gamers worldwide. The virtual world built on the same property, The Sims Online, was unfortunately rather less so. Last year, three employees led by Luc Barthelet convinced EA that the whole TSO concept could be revitalized under a new platform and model. Development ensued, apace until on Thursday, February 21 the last of The Sims Online cities shut down, and were bundled off. Say hello to EA-Land. It appears that some or all of the downed cities have been merged into the new EA-Land mixed-pay model.
