Sims 2: Nightlife Interview by _Tom McNamara_ (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]) Rod Humble: It's really interesting--As part of my "coming up to speed" process with the franchise, I was taken aback at just how broad the player base is--from hardcore gamers to young people at home who just want to do social experimentation--and the different constituencies, the amount of thought this team puts in to serving each constituency, is pretty impressive. As you said, there are a whole bunch of people who will regard [Sims] expansion packs as, "Well, I only buy them for the objects." And they will get objects. There's also an equally large group who will only buy it for the gameplay, and an equally large group who buy it for meeting new Sims, or new locations. And I just found it interesting that it was that broad. I haven't experienced a product like that before.
Tim LeTourneau: Yeah, I would say that… One of the things that you have to think about when you think about [developing] The Sims is that it's our job to add depth, even though some players may never experience it. And the best example I can give of that is Create-A-Sim in Sims 2. It's an incredibly deep tool. And I could, as a player, spend ten hours using it to create a Sim. At the same time, I can push a button and say "Random," and just take the Sim that it makes, and be out of Create-A-Sim in ten seconds. So for us, we always have to invest that effort in ensuring that every area of the game is that deep, even with the recognition that some people will never use that particular feature. IGNPC: One other question I wanted to ask you--Is this going to be on a CD or a DVD? I've noticed that you guys are starting to gravitate more towards DVDs. Rod Humble: That's a really good question. Tim LeTourneau: With University--University is on two CDs. We didn't do it as a DVD release. It's mostly just a space thing. It depends on how much space it's going to take. The CDs are still, right now, for us, the preferred method of delivery, because it means that everybody can use it. There's still a lot of people out there who don't have DVD drives. But any premium releases, I think you're going to see them come out on both CD and DVD. And I would say, over the course of the next year to two years, you're going to see everything come out exclusively as DVD. (http://media.pc.ign.com/media/739/739565/img_2702455.html) Rod Humble: What's your feedback been like, with games? My hunch is that, for software now, the split is about 70% that want DVDs and 30% don't--would you say that's true? IGNPC: Yeah, I would say between 65 and 75 percent. Rod Humble: Because it's all I want, I agree. But there's a lot of machines out there that don't have DVD drives. Tim LeTourneau: Well, I would also say that, with The Sims, the thing that we have, is that we have a much broader demographic than a lot of the games that are coming out. Not only do we have a broader demographic, a lot of that demographic is not terribly computer-savvy. You know, they bought their system at Costco or Best Buy, and they just bought it and stuck it on a desk, and they don't really even know what their equipment is. So, what you don't want the user experience to be is that they buy something and not be able to use it. We had that with Sims 2, where there were a lot of people who bought the DVD version, got it home, and couldn't use it in their system, because they thought that it just meant it had a DVD that went on their DVD players. IGNPC: I noticed that on the new boxes, EA is printing, in very bold letters, "DVD" and "CD." Tim LeTourneau: And that partially came from The Sims 2, of us going back and going, "Wow, our users are not as educated we even thought that they were, as to what they have on their desktop." Along that line, I suspect that in a year's time, it won't be an issue. But it's still somewhat experimental. IGNPC: The sooner the better, I think. Rod Humble: I'm with you. Tim LeTourneau: The problem is that you still have to fill up that DVD with content. IGNPC: So have you guys slated a release date? Is this going to be a Fall thing? Barbara Gamlen (EA PR): It's Fall, yeah--we don't have a firm release date yet. ************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com
