SimCity News

Hi Everyone!

The coming week is a major milestone for The Sims 2, and things have hotted up here in the Maxis office! The entire Sims 2 team is focused with a laser-like clarity on making sure that The Sims 2 demo that the public sees at next week's vast landscape of video gaming bliss, The Electronic Entertainment Expo, stands heads, shoulders, and plumb-bob's above the competition! Stay tuned for more information on interviews with yours truly on IGN, and a live interview with The Man Behind The Curtain, Will Wright, on Gamespot

But wait - there's more! You've been waiting for this one with baited breath for some time, and the day is almost here. That's right, the release of The Sims 2 Body Shop is well-nigh, and we couldn't be more thrilled to offer the public the opening salvo in our Sims 2 arsenal. With The Sims 2 Body Shop, you can build and customize Sims 'til your heart's content, with the comfort of knowing that your creations will soon be playable in The Sims 2.

Oh, and the customizability! Build the face and body of your dreams, with an incredible degree of control. Want a slightly longer nose? No problem! Firmer tummy? Piece of cake (without the calories)! What about day-glo lizard skin and a t-shirt emblazoned with your smilin' visage? That's right - all these things are possible with The Sims 2 Body Shop. We can't wait til you get your hands on it, and we sure hope you can't wait either!

So, like I said, next week is a big one for Maxis. We hope you enjoy it as much as we will.

Signing Off,

Lucy Bradshaw

The Very Tired Sims 2 Executive Producer

Hello Everybody:

They say sometimes the journey is its own reward, and if that's the case, then my predecessor, Luc Barthelet, got enough metaphorical rewards these past few years to last a lifetime (and let's face it, the games he's helped breathe life into have received enough *actual* awards to last a lifetime, too!). I've had the honor and good fortune to have worked with Luc through the launch of the SimCity 3000™ website, through the entire amazing roller-coaster ride of unbridled success that was The Sims™, and most recently, on the soon-to-be-unbridled-success that is The Sims™ 2. It was an incredible time for all involved, and I'd like to take this opportunity to wish him well in his new role of VP, Technology Fellow for EA, and to thank him for the years of hard work and dedication.

Now, to address all those naysayers out there who have ambivalent feelings about the addition of the letter "y" to the closing salutation of their Sims Community letter, let me say to you that you can rest assured that the flame of community passion and the dedication to create wonderful games and powerful sets of tools to support and add extensibility to them has been passed on to someone (me!) with the same fervent belief about what makes a product rise above the competition and achieve greatness. And fear not, die-hard Luc fans - he's just one floor up from the rest of Maxis, and is almost certain to put in a cameo appearance every now and then!

The other big news this week - the Llama has landed! We've settled into EA's Redwood Shores HQ and we've already begun pushing our secret agenda to make EA just a little more like Maxis. Decorations and artwork are popping up throughout our floor, and rhinos have been hung from the ceiling (not real rhinos, mind you) and we're quickly acquiring that lived-in look that only dozens of skilled workers working long, hard hours and not showering enough can bring. The interruption of our work on The Sims 2 proved to be no more than a blip of an annoyance, and we're now back to working full-time (and then some) on making The Sims 2 the incredible experience you all know it will be.

We'll have more information of the game in next week's email, but in the meantime, take a gander at the concept art of our posh new entry way that leads to our new digs:

Luc + y = Lucy

Lucy Bradshaw

Executive Producer, The Sims 2

Vanaf morgen, 1 april, om twee uur 's middags is het zover. Dan begint het echte feest op de grootste The Sims community van de Benelux!

Houd de website dus goed in de gaten!

Maxis is moving this week from Walnut Creek to Redwood Shores, and as it happens I am also personally moving to new endeavors. Since I have kept all of you in the loop on everything that happens at Maxis, I wanted to make sure you knew it first before any public announcement in the next few weeks.

My time at Maxis as been the most wonderful time of my life for I love the games we make and the individuals who make them. Everyone is so creative, smart and willing to do what it takes to make the best, that I will leave Maxis with unforgettable memories. Maxis is also the place where I learned to connect with you, the key leaders of a vibrant community that helps us make better games and an overall better experience inclusive of creators and leaders outside of Maxis.

Timing is always a challenge in succession planning, but I leave with the knowledge that Sims2 is in great shape and will be the most exciting game of 2004. I cannot wait to see all of you play "The Sims 2 Body Shop" in the next few weeks and see the deluge of content that will come from your talented artists. I am also excited that you will be able to play the game at E3 in Los Angeles in May and experience for yourselves The Sims 2 as well as see our new Sims offering for Console for the fall.

My next play is within EA and is a secret right now, all I can say is that it will take a few years to come out and it will probably involve the Sims and other EA properties in a completely new way. Ooops I am already saying too much.

Replacing me in my role of "General Manager, Maxis" is my friend of many years Neil Young. Over the past few years, Neil managed Ultima Online, Majestic and Lord of the rings among other things at EA. Lucy Bradshaw continues to be the Exec Producer of The Sims 2 and she will replace my weekly emails by her own prose about the details of the game and with new pictures of the game.

Thank you again for so many incredible years,

Love you all,

Luc Barthelet

"Forever Maxoid"