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 Trey Walker
News Editor, PC Games
Recent Favorites: Civilization III, Monopoly Tycoon, Return to Castle Wolfenstein

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The Sims: Moon Colony 7

While rumors had been flying since before the holidays, Maxis recently confirmed that it is working on a new expansion pack for The Sims, its unnervingly popular virtual-life game. The expansion is reportedly The Sims: Vacation, and if the reports are correct, it will let players take their little computer people on vacation to the mountains, the beach, or the wilderness. In fact, there may very well be more information available about the expansion by the time this article is posted.

The news about this new expansion leads me to wonder how long this eerie winning streak will continue. Maxis struck gold when it created The Sims, which has remained almost continuously among the best-selling PC games since its release in early 2000. Electronic Arts has skillfully kept the game alive by releasing a series--three so far, soon to be four--of expansion packs that give Sims players more of what they crave.

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Diablo II was a best-seller too, but it spawned a measly one expansion.
There is no real parallel to The Sims in terms of gameplay, but in terms of popularity, one can look to other successful games like Diablo II or Age of Empires II to see how other publishers have leveraged the popularity of their games. Both games sold extremely well, and both spawned successful expansion packs. But can you imagine either game getting three more expansions?

You can't blame EA--new Sims expansions are money in the bank. Each new expansion boosts sales of the original game, which in turn builds the potential market for new expansions. At this point, it seems like the game can't possibly keep selling so well, since everyone who plays PC games must already have it. And yet there it is, week after week, placing in the top five best-selling games. Could people who don't play games be buying it? If so, what do they use it for?

 
 How many Sims expansions do you think there will be?

Four.
Five.
Six.
More than six.

 
Since The Sims itself appeals to a broader, less hard-core audience than that of many other popular games, Sims fans don't demand huge performance improvements that would probably require a new game engine--and therefore, a full sequel. Instead, they're content with just getting more game content. Parties and dates are fun, but I hope that Maxis gets a little more adventurous with its expansions--The Sims: Medieval Dungeon? The Sims: Alien Invasion? The possibilities are endless.

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Hot Date, Sims expansion number three, lets players take their Sims outside.
When will Simsmania die down? Probably only when something better, and with a similarly broad appeal, comes along. One thing is for sure, though--EA will continue to produce expansion packs for the game as long as they continue to sell. I'm all for it. Every superhit like The Sims: Hot Date helps fund the development and distribution not only of future Sims expansions, but also of unrelated games that may appeal to players not even interested in The Sims. And unlike terrible games that sell well, or even mediocre games that sell well, The Sims is a superb game that deserves to sell as well as it has. Sims-related sales are healthy not only for EA, but also for the industry as a whole, since the game's widespread appeal shows once again that computer games aren't just for computer gamers anymore, but also for "normal" people. And with any luck, The Sims Online will show that online games are for normal people too.
 
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