Walking into the lobby of EA Games, visitors can’t help but be struck by the intensity of it all. Giant screens hang above the information desk, showing off the myriad of games that EA created and distributed. To the left three demo screens preview upcoming releases and highlight top-selling titles, while colored lights and lasers illuminate the floor. Large glass doors etched with the ubiquitous logo of various Electronic Arts franchises remind observers that they are standing at the gateway to a video game leader, with only Atari and Nintendo able to compete in terms of historical influence.
While employees walk hurriedly from door to door, they smile broadly as the encounter guests. Why shouldn’t they? They know they are in the enviable position of working for a company with an incredible reputation, in a job that most gamers would gladly sacrifice Isaac to get.
The history of Electronic Arts is a long and evolving story. Founded in 1982 with a scant $2 million investment by former Apple employee Trip Hawkins, EA focuses on the dominant platforms of the time: the Atari 800, Apple II and the Commodore 64. Scoring an early hit with “Dr. J and Larry Bird Go One on One,” they spring forward enabling EA to look into partnering with other emerging developers. With increasing name recognition and game sales, EA goes on to develop or distribute some of the most influential and widely played games in early gaming history, including titles like “Bard’s Tale,” “Boulderdash,” “Skate or Die,” “M.U.L.E.” and “Marble Madness.”
Even with the success of their early titles, Electronic Arts continued to be a mid-range player in the gaming market until 1989 with the release of “John Madden Football.” Through an aggressive licensing arrangement, EA eventually came to dominate the sports video game genre, attracting exclusive deals with the NFL, NHL, MLB and NBA. Wildly successful, the gradual inclusion of new sports games spawned the EA Sports franchise within Electronic Arts and eventually leading to the development of games not envisioned in the 80s – FIFA Soccer, Rugby, Boxing, Golf, Auto Racing and many more. By the mid-’90s, EA had diversified, embracing multiple platforms including Nintendo, Sega Genesis and the emerging Windows PC market. With the introduction of the Sony Playstation in September 1995, the gaming industry exploded with activity, and EA led the way with a whole host of sports titles for each of the major consoles. Throughout the console wars of the mid- to late-90s, EA supplied the major three with an impressive array of titles.
The introduction of Windows 95 and Windows 98 made a more stable platform for computer games, but many of the early offerings by EA failed to catch the attention of the majority of the PC gaming industry. Instead of developing newer titles, they chose to partner with smaller publishing houses, often financing and distributing titles made by one of the many studios contracted out by EA. This all changed with the acquisition of Maxis in 1997
The Sims
Since 1987, Maxis Studios had been publishing well-respected games for PC and Mac. It started with the classic SimCity, distributed by Broderbund, in 1989 and grew to include a whole Sim franchise: “SimEarth”, “SimAnt,” “SimFarm” revisions to the orginal “SimCity” game. Then, 10 years after the formation of Maxis, Electronic Arts acquired the studio and began the next chapter for the Sims generation.
It was an ambitious project. After allowing gamers to control cities, the development of civilization and the very Earth they lived on, Maxis turned their attention inward and started developing something totally new, totally unheard of. Allowing characters to control the everyday life of a single individual. With hard work and persistence, players could turn their middle-aged Sim into the toast of a town. Eschewing traditional scoring methods such as those used in “SimCity,” EA Games and Maxis focused on mimicking life. Players were required simply to provide for their Sim — the happier the Sim the more successful the player. Sims could work to purchase luxuries and necessities, talk, dance and flirt with other Sims to fulfill much-needed social interaction or simply give up and die.
The introduction of “The Sims” into popular culture was a milestone for EA and Maxis. It instantly became a phenomenon captured in news broadcasts and numerous primetime preferences. The phenomenon exploded in 2002 with the addition of “The Sims Online,” when hundreds of thousands of gamers lost countless hours interacting, online, with other player-controlled Sims across the country. By 2004, ” “The Sims,” “The Sims Online” and the various expansion packs released over the years had sold 36 million units, making it the #1 selling PC game of all time.
The Sims 2
Released in September 2004, “The Sims 2,” an updated version of the popular “The Sims,” swept through the nation with lightning speed. It sold more than a million units in its first 10 days. Adding a much more detailed social landscape and goal structure, “The Sims 2” built off half a decade of independent development from avid gamers across the country.
For the first time, players could control their Sim through its entire life, from infancy to old age. Sims develop aspirations, fears and memories. Strong memories, both good and bad, haunt your Sim throughout their life. With a five-year gap between the first graphics engine for “The Sims” and the improved graphics engine in “The Sims 2,” the first obvious feature is a more realistic gameplay experience.
With new features like aging, aspirations, character design and a whole host of new plot-building additions, the update kept most fans happy and casual gamers, which make up the bulk of “The Sims” players, coming back for more.
The Sims 2: University
One of the crucial misses in “The Sims 2,” however, was the gap between adolescence and adulthood. That changes with the release of “The Sims 2: University,” which ships nationwide today. With “The Sims 2: University” players can now control their Sims as the enter college, immersing themselves in college life all over again. With a new trendy Young Adult age group, Sims can finally leave the sheltered life of their home and enroll in the college of their choice.
Life in “The Sims 2: University” is much what you’d expect from college life, minus some of the more “R-rated” moments. Sims must navigate the complicated life of academia, while maintaining a respectable social life. Unless they win scholarships, individual Sims will undoubtedly live in one of the many dorms that pepper the campus. Dorm life in “The Sims 2: University” is radically different than living at home. For the first time, players live alongside computer controlled Sims, working around the schedules of their dormmates or duking it out during quiet hours. Players have the ability to influence others around and, as influence expands, to get them to perform numerous duties for them, such as doing laundry or writing papers.
If getting your dormmate to write your paper won’t get you good grades, you could try studying. Studying is the most effective way to get good grades, but not the most fun. For more attractive Sims, making out with your professor often yields the same results.
If none of those options are appealing, players can always join the campus secret society, where cheating on tests is the norm and money is no problem — with a counterfeiting machine you can always print more!
Social life is not quite as fun as real college, but the designers of “The Sims 2: University” aimed to simulate college life as accurately as possible while maintaining an “E” rating. Greek houses can throw toga parties, sororities sisters can get into pillow fights (yes, in their underwear) and there are even keg stands and hookahs, although the keg contains fruit juice and the hookah simply blows bubbles.
Personal relationships in “The Sims 2: University” are a little more complicated than earlier versions. It may be the raging hormones, the “fruit juice” or the addition of so many computer-controlled Sims, but keeping a steady relationship through the college years proves almost impossible. Random hook-ups … that’s another story.
All in all, “The Sims 2: University” is a spectacular addition to the already incredible “The Sims” franchise. Where “The Sims 2” has introduced a new game engine, “The Sims 2: University” introduces the first major storytelling change to what will, undoubtedly, become the next legendary title for Electronic Arts.
