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I can't believe this has happened! I was really looking forward to this games, but as this interview article shows, the game would just not have appealed to us:
"Maxis talks to us about yesterday's sudden cancelation of its highly anticipated game SimsVille.
Yesterday's news of SimsVille's cancelation came as a surprise to Maxis' countless SimCity and The Sims fans. After all, SimsVille promised to combine gameplay elements from those two respective series of city-building and life-simulation games, which have proven so successful to the company in recent years. We received word of the sudden cancelation from a high-level and reliable source at Maxis, who chose to remain nameless in our news story, and while that person provided us with some important details about the decision to cancel the game, we still had many unanswered questions. What were the specific reasons for SimsVille's cancelation? Who made the final decision? What will become of the game's impressive 3D technology? For answers to those questions and more, we sat down with Maxis' director of marketing, Patrick Buechner, who was able to shed some light on yesterday's unfortunate news.
GameSpot: Patrick, was it Maxis or Electronic Arts that decided to cancel the game?
Patrick Buechner: The decision definitely came from within Maxis. It was a studio decision that involved the members of the SimsVille design team as well as a number of senior [executives]. At Maxis, we constantly evaluate all of our games during different stages of development, and during the constant review process for SimsVille, we decided that the game didn't live up to our standards.
GS: What exactly didn't live up to your standards? Can you tell us specifically which parts were lacking?
PB: For the past three years, we've had an extremely high standard for our games, and our customers have come to expect a certain consistent quality of gameplay from us. And while SimsVille had certain fun elements to it, the game had other parts that simply weren't as fun. For me, specifically, the first 10 minutes of building up my town was always enjoyable, but once I got past that part, the game became less compelling. Similar issues also influenced our decision.
GS: So would you say that SimsVille's design initially looked good on paper but was poorly executed within the game?
PB: No, I wouldn't say that. Our design process at Maxis is very different from that of other studios, and that's how we've been able to create such hit products recently. The secret to our success is what we call an iterative design process, wherein we constantly reevaluate a specific game's design as we develop it. For example, The Sims changed quite dramatically from when Will Wright originally envisioned it seven years ago as a game about architecture to what the final game is about today. SimsVille also changed a lot from when we first started working on it more than a year and a half ago, and the decision to cancel its development didn't have anything to do with [its original concept].
GS: Another reason cited for the cancelation was that The Sims: Hot Date will include some of the same features that SimsVille included. Does Maxis plan to include more SimsVille features in upcoming expansion packs for The Sims?
PB: Well, the whole reason we came up with the idea for SimsVille was the feedback from The Sims players, who were asking to see the lives of their Sims outside the house. They were sick of being stuck indoors, and while that aspect of The Sims is still fun, players wanted to know what goes on in their Sims' lives outside the house. The Sims: Hot Date lets players do everything they've been asking for, like hang out at the bar, have a picnic downtown, go shopping, and so on. After a while, we found that it was simply more fun than what we had in SimsVille."
So there you have it! Oh well, The SIms: Hot Date looks good!
"Maxis talks to us about yesterday's sudden cancelation of its highly anticipated game SimsVille.
Yesterday's news of SimsVille's cancelation came as a surprise to Maxis' countless SimCity and The Sims fans. After all, SimsVille promised to combine gameplay elements from those two respective series of city-building and life-simulation games, which have proven so successful to the company in recent years. We received word of the sudden cancelation from a high-level and reliable source at Maxis, who chose to remain nameless in our news story, and while that person provided us with some important details about the decision to cancel the game, we still had many unanswered questions. What were the specific reasons for SimsVille's cancelation? Who made the final decision? What will become of the game's impressive 3D technology? For answers to those questions and more, we sat down with Maxis' director of marketing, Patrick Buechner, who was able to shed some light on yesterday's unfortunate news.
GameSpot: Patrick, was it Maxis or Electronic Arts that decided to cancel the game?
Patrick Buechner: The decision definitely came from within Maxis. It was a studio decision that involved the members of the SimsVille design team as well as a number of senior [executives]. At Maxis, we constantly evaluate all of our games during different stages of development, and during the constant review process for SimsVille, we decided that the game didn't live up to our standards.
GS: What exactly didn't live up to your standards? Can you tell us specifically which parts were lacking?
PB: For the past three years, we've had an extremely high standard for our games, and our customers have come to expect a certain consistent quality of gameplay from us. And while SimsVille had certain fun elements to it, the game had other parts that simply weren't as fun. For me, specifically, the first 10 minutes of building up my town was always enjoyable, but once I got past that part, the game became less compelling. Similar issues also influenced our decision.
GS: So would you say that SimsVille's design initially looked good on paper but was poorly executed within the game?
PB: No, I wouldn't say that. Our design process at Maxis is very different from that of other studios, and that's how we've been able to create such hit products recently. The secret to our success is what we call an iterative design process, wherein we constantly reevaluate a specific game's design as we develop it. For example, The Sims changed quite dramatically from when Will Wright originally envisioned it seven years ago as a game about architecture to what the final game is about today. SimsVille also changed a lot from when we first started working on it more than a year and a half ago, and the decision to cancel its development didn't have anything to do with [its original concept].
GS: Another reason cited for the cancelation was that The Sims: Hot Date will include some of the same features that SimsVille included. Does Maxis plan to include more SimsVille features in upcoming expansion packs for The Sims?
PB: Well, the whole reason we came up with the idea for SimsVille was the feedback from The Sims players, who were asking to see the lives of their Sims outside the house. They were sick of being stuck indoors, and while that aspect of The Sims is still fun, players wanted to know what goes on in their Sims' lives outside the house. The Sims: Hot Date lets players do everything they've been asking for, like hang out at the bar, have a picnic downtown, go shopping, and so on. After a while, we found that it was simply more fun than what we had in SimsVille."
So there you have it! Oh well, The SIms: Hot Date looks good!
No matter, I'm broke anyway seeing as I've just shelled out for a top range PC.
Damn.
Turbonutter wrote:
> Meh. This often happens. Be happy you've been told now, as opposed to it being
> released. Then, not only would you be disappointed, you'll have wasted
> £40.
Thing is, they could have made a killing with this game, even if it was a turkey.
I bet EA would still have released it had Maxis not pulled the plug.
If only more developers had more pride in their work, but I guess that it's big money, and most can't afford to simply scrap something, better to get back a little revenue by selling a naff game than getting back nothing for all the work that went into it.
> Meh. This often happens. Be happy you've been told now, as opposed to it being
> released. Then, not only would you be disappointed, you'll have wasted
> £40.
Thing is, they could have made a killing with this game, even if it was a turkey.
I bet EA would still have released it had Maxis not pulled the plug.
If only more developers had more pride in their work, but I guess that it's big money, and most can't afford to simply scrap something, better to get back a little revenue by selling a naff game than getting back nothing for all the work that went into it.
I can't believe they did that to us!!!!!
Meh. This often happens. Be happy you've been told now, as opposed to it being released. Then, not only would you be disappointed, you'll have wasted £40.
i bet they are just making the sims online better
I can't believe this has happened! I was really looking forward to this games, but as this interview article shows, the game would just not have appealed to us:
"Maxis talks to us about yesterday's sudden cancelation of its highly anticipated game SimsVille.
Yesterday's news of SimsVille's cancelation came as a surprise to Maxis' countless SimCity and The Sims fans. After all, SimsVille promised to combine gameplay elements from those two respective series of city-building and life-simulation games, which have proven so successful to the company in recent years. We received word of the sudden cancelation from a high-level and reliable source at Maxis, who chose to remain nameless in our news story, and while that person provided us with some important details about the decision to cancel the game, we still had many unanswered questions. What were the specific reasons for SimsVille's cancelation? Who made the final decision? What will become of the game's impressive 3D technology? For answers to those questions and more, we sat down with Maxis' director of marketing, Patrick Buechner, who was able to shed some light on yesterday's unfortunate news.
GameSpot: Patrick, was it Maxis or Electronic Arts that decided to cancel the game?
Patrick Buechner: The decision definitely came from within Maxis. It was a studio decision that involved the members of the SimsVille design team as well as a number of senior [executives]. At Maxis, we constantly evaluate all of our games during different stages of development, and during the constant review process for SimsVille, we decided that the game didn't live up to our standards.
GS: What exactly didn't live up to your standards? Can you tell us specifically which parts were lacking?
PB: For the past three years, we've had an extremely high standard for our games, and our customers have come to expect a certain consistent quality of gameplay from us. And while SimsVille had certain fun elements to it, the game had other parts that simply weren't as fun. For me, specifically, the first 10 minutes of building up my town was always enjoyable, but once I got past that part, the game became less compelling. Similar issues also influenced our decision.
GS: So would you say that SimsVille's design initially looked good on paper but was poorly executed within the game?
PB: No, I wouldn't say that. Our design process at Maxis is very different from that of other studios, and that's how we've been able to create such hit products recently. The secret to our success is what we call an iterative design process, wherein we constantly reevaluate a specific game's design as we develop it. For example, The Sims changed quite dramatically from when Will Wright originally envisioned it seven years ago as a game about architecture to what the final game is about today. SimsVille also changed a lot from when we first started working on it more than a year and a half ago, and the decision to cancel its development didn't have anything to do with [its original concept].
GS: Another reason cited for the cancelation was that The Sims: Hot Date will include some of the same features that SimsVille included. Does Maxis plan to include more SimsVille features in upcoming expansion packs for The Sims?
PB: Well, the whole reason we came up with the idea for SimsVille was the feedback from The Sims players, who were asking to see the lives of their Sims outside the house. They were sick of being stuck indoors, and while that aspect of The Sims is still fun, players wanted to know what goes on in their Sims' lives outside the house. The Sims: Hot Date lets players do everything they've been asking for, like hang out at the bar, have a picnic downtown, go shopping, and so on. After a while, we found that it was simply more fun than what we had in SimsVille."
So there you have it! Oh well, The SIms: Hot Date looks good!
"Maxis talks to us about yesterday's sudden cancelation of its highly anticipated game SimsVille.
Yesterday's news of SimsVille's cancelation came as a surprise to Maxis' countless SimCity and The Sims fans. After all, SimsVille promised to combine gameplay elements from those two respective series of city-building and life-simulation games, which have proven so successful to the company in recent years. We received word of the sudden cancelation from a high-level and reliable source at Maxis, who chose to remain nameless in our news story, and while that person provided us with some important details about the decision to cancel the game, we still had many unanswered questions. What were the specific reasons for SimsVille's cancelation? Who made the final decision? What will become of the game's impressive 3D technology? For answers to those questions and more, we sat down with Maxis' director of marketing, Patrick Buechner, who was able to shed some light on yesterday's unfortunate news.
GameSpot: Patrick, was it Maxis or Electronic Arts that decided to cancel the game?
Patrick Buechner: The decision definitely came from within Maxis. It was a studio decision that involved the members of the SimsVille design team as well as a number of senior [executives]. At Maxis, we constantly evaluate all of our games during different stages of development, and during the constant review process for SimsVille, we decided that the game didn't live up to our standards.
GS: What exactly didn't live up to your standards? Can you tell us specifically which parts were lacking?
PB: For the past three years, we've had an extremely high standard for our games, and our customers have come to expect a certain consistent quality of gameplay from us. And while SimsVille had certain fun elements to it, the game had other parts that simply weren't as fun. For me, specifically, the first 10 minutes of building up my town was always enjoyable, but once I got past that part, the game became less compelling. Similar issues also influenced our decision.
GS: So would you say that SimsVille's design initially looked good on paper but was poorly executed within the game?
PB: No, I wouldn't say that. Our design process at Maxis is very different from that of other studios, and that's how we've been able to create such hit products recently. The secret to our success is what we call an iterative design process, wherein we constantly reevaluate a specific game's design as we develop it. For example, The Sims changed quite dramatically from when Will Wright originally envisioned it seven years ago as a game about architecture to what the final game is about today. SimsVille also changed a lot from when we first started working on it more than a year and a half ago, and the decision to cancel its development didn't have anything to do with [its original concept].
GS: Another reason cited for the cancelation was that The Sims: Hot Date will include some of the same features that SimsVille included. Does Maxis plan to include more SimsVille features in upcoming expansion packs for The Sims?
PB: Well, the whole reason we came up with the idea for SimsVille was the feedback from The Sims players, who were asking to see the lives of their Sims outside the house. They were sick of being stuck indoors, and while that aspect of The Sims is still fun, players wanted to know what goes on in their Sims' lives outside the house. The Sims: Hot Date lets players do everything they've been asking for, like hang out at the bar, have a picnic downtown, go shopping, and so on. After a while, we found that it was simply more fun than what we had in SimsVille."
So there you have it! Oh well, The SIms: Hot Date looks good!