Video Games
UK: Top 20 PC Games Chart ending January 2, 2010
Jan 4th
I swear Football Manager 2010 is a beast…At this rate, the only thing that’ll bump it will be Football Manager 2011. Europeans love their soccer 
Source: Chart-Track
The Ten Most Influential Women In Games Of The Past Decade
Jan 1st
Lucy Bradshaw has to start the list with her work on the Sims beginning in the year 2000. Lucy and the Maxis team created a game that would be named the best selling PC game to date. The Sims is also credited for bringing more women into playing games. Lucy Bradshaw now leads the efforts of the Maxis team on the various Spore titles. She is an amazing speaker and is always pushing the industry forward.
Lucy had big shoes to fill for 2009 as Will Wright stepped down and she became head of Maxis. With many projects in the pipeline it’s no wonder why we haven’t heard much from her – she’s just been too dang busy! Now that 2010 has arrived, perhaps we shall hear more from her this year with the projects that Maxis is currently putting together.
EA to drop software prices for 2010?
Jan 1st
We talked to DeLong about what he thinks might happen to the video game industry in 2010 and beyond, and he told us that he thinks reduced software pricing is in the cards. “I think that we’re going to start to see – maybe not in the next year, but in the near future – games go down the route of smaller up-front experiences and lower prices at the beginning,” he told us, “and then the ability to extend the game through episodic material or future feature material. I think that’s a direction we’re probably heading in.”
Technically the above quote is referring to the software for the various consoles on the market…But I wonder if it’ll ever be considered for PC. Technically they could get away for it – seeing how World Adventures was priced for $40, they could release the next expansion at $30 and say “See, we dropped the price! Aren’t we nice!?”. Not to mention if they wanted to they could always cut back on the expansion and focus putting out more content on the Store. That wouldn’t be such a smart idea for them to pull though…
Gamasutra – Top 12 Games of the decade
Dec 30th
John Richardson speaks out about The Sims being one of Gamasutra’s top 12 games of the decade:
“The game turned tasks as simple as sleeping or meeting people into a kind of social experiment, merging the postmodern acknowledgment of fictionalizing reality with the emotional human-computer connection that most game designers strive for. It made addicting gameplay out of something simple — deceptively so, as the mechanics gained complexity as Sims progressed through their lives.
“Everything felt so carefully defined, yet chaotic; the fun came in seeing how far you could (or would) push your little denizens. Beyond the gameplay itself, The Sims ushered in a wave of new gamers into what was in the 90s still a very narrow demographic. For better or worse, it also showed us how a franchise could turn into a genre unto itself, along with a once unique and now much-imitated business model.
“Love it or hate it — and I know very few who weren’t hooked on the original Expansion-less version — The Sims is important, and has left an indelible mark on gaming.”
UK: Top 20 PC Games Chart ending December 26, 2009
Dec 29th
No matter how hard The Sims 3 tries, it cannot beat the monster that is known as Football Manager 2010! Figured it would increase for the holiday season but even then it didn’t have enough strength. Not only that, but it appeared the World Adventures even dropped a slot!
Source: Chart-Track
LA Times 2010 Prediction: Disney will buy EA
Dec 29th
We’ve heard rumblings this past year about Disney eying Electronic Arts in attempts of a purchase but nothing has happened. Can it still happen? It’s always a possibility…and to be honest I hope they would Disney has turned their image from the way they used to act…perhaps it would be for the best. To be honest, I don’t know how much will change. I suppose you’d be placing one Goofy for another (glares at EA CEO John Riccitiello).
EA Digital Download Sale – 30% off until Jan. 10, 2010
Dec 29th
Tight on cash after the holiday season and did not get the games you were looking for? If digital downloads is your thing then you might be interested in EA’s current deal in which you can take 30% off of their most popular games of 2009. Games are cut in price: The Sims 3 is $35, The Sims 3 World Adventures is $28 and Spore Galactic Adventures is $20! Grab them at the EA Store before the deal ends on January 10, 2010!
The most pirated video game of 2009…
Dec 28th
…Isn’t ‘The Sims 3′ but rather Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. Coming in at 4.1 million downloads, MW2 managed to gain that amount in only 6 weeks, beating out 3.2 million that The Sims 3 racked up during it’s 7 month lifespan. Crazy, especially over the fact that it beat out Spore’s record from last year.
Any idea what kind of DRM Modern Warfare uses? I have read it uses Steam – which to be honest I do not have any arguement against that kind of approach because…well it’s decently implemented.
Source: DownloadSquad.com
Yahoo Games – Top 10 Games of the Decade
Dec 27th
Left and right we keep seeing The Sims as one of the best games of the decade. Will we ever see a new EA/Maxis game with this kind of stamina during the next decade? I have high doubts… Thanks to ‘TheSidDog‘ for passing this along!
Move over, Barbie. When it comes to popular dolls, nothing compares to the digital denizens of this landmark simulation game. The Sims managed to do the near impossible by making the simulation genre accessible. Credited with spanning the gender gap by appealing equally to both men and women, it kept everyone up late looking after the copious needs and wants of tiny computer people. The result? It’s the best-selling PC game of all time.
Wired: The 15 Most Influential Games of the Decade
Dec 26th
It’s the most popular game franchise that debuted this decade, with more than 100 million copies sold. Yet many people don’t even consider The Sims to be a game at all. Will Wright’s people simulator so completely disrupted our beliefs about what a videogame had to be that non-gamers with no expectations had the easiest time wrapping their heads around it. Sims has had a profound influence on videogames in a dozen different ways. The simplified human models with their carefully calibrated hierarchies of needs were revolutionary. The open-ended, accessible game design was the cornerstone of what came to be known as casual games. It was a sandbox game of unprecedented flexibility, allowing every player to create his own goals and play style. It was a platform for both modular add-on packages and user-created content. It was a highly visible property that was ported to every platform in existence, and is the basis for an upcoming feature film. The Sims, to a greater extent than anything else released this decade, broadened the definition of what a game could be. –Chris Baker
I think I’ll be booting to XP in a few minutes to visit my ol’ Sims games. The original game will forever hold a part of my heart.
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