No-one knows how long an MMO will last and even as new generations of them appear in their shiny new suits of armour, the old games still manage to survive. It’s easy to see why when you see just how much content is swilling around inside the likes of Ultima Online, EverQuest and, yes, EVE. (Hard to believe it’s almost five years old.)

The elders among the MMO fraternity are like the wise old wizards, with the newcomers the brave knights on their fresh steeds, keen to find favour in the imaginations of the great unwashed. Some will fall early in the battle, others will ascend to command vast armies, and yet, the old ones hidden amongst towers of books seem not to care. With so many games surviving to a ripe old age and new ones arriving almost every month, we have to wonder where all the players are coming from… EA-Land, perhaps?

It’s hard to imagine EVE Online ever disappearing. It’s five year mission thus far has been singularly unique and having enjoyed sustained growth throughout that time, and with such impressive investment in the game’s infrastructure (Christ, I sound like an accountant), the next five years promise to continue along the same trajectory. I do wonder where it will end though. In an interview that completely missed my eye, CCP’s co-founder Reynir Hardarson said “MMOs do not have to age. The nature of a game like EVE is that there is no need for sequels – why shouldn’t it run for fifty years?”

Indeed, why shouldn’t it? Whether there’ll be anyone left alive in 50 years is neither here nor there, but if we humans do happen to survive the great surge of methane that’s apparently simmering under the polar ice caps, EVE is probably the best-placed MMO to ride out the wave of obsolescence that will surely engulf Ultima Online and EverQuest and certain other old wizards. EVE may be nearing its fifth birthday, but Trinity gave it a new suit of armour, one that though perhaps not needed, will stand it in good stead for a good while. Wizards in shiny plate may not be standard issue in MMO Land, but when was EVE ever a standard game?

Después de haber anunciado en febrero pasado con bombo y platillo que The Sims Online sería gratuito mediante el sitio EA Land, EA ha decidido dejar por las buenas que The Sims Online muriera. The Sims Online dejará de funconar en Agosto 1 de este año.

Desde el principio se supo que los Sims en Línea había sido un gran fracaso, no logrando llevar el éxito de la franquicia al internet. Además de no contar con las opciones de personalización características del juego, EA cobró por el servicio.

Y aunque EA decidió darle una segunda oportunidad, con el nombre de EA Land y gratuitamente, al parecer esta versión no saldrá al mercado. Si eres usuario de The Sims Online, se te ofrecerá un cupón con valor de $15 USD y tres meses de acceso premium a Pogo.

In this day of raising gas prices which in turn rise the price of darn near everything else, EA (Electronic Arts) will kill off ‘The Sims Online’ as of August 1st, 2008.

According to the (official?) EA blog, [EA LAND],  EA is to shut down EA LAND will in turn will kill off the Sims Online.    EA is trying to be ‘nice’ about it by offering paying subscribers with a ‘We’re sorry your ass hurts’ rebate, Either $15 off any game at the EA Store, or 3 months of Pogo.  

(if you are into casual gaming, Pogo would be your best bet.. and no, I’m not a Pogo player..I’ve had the handle of ‘PogoWolf’ LONG before pogo.com was even a glint in someone’s eye.)
 

On a more personal note.. HA HA HA HA HA
Should have kept the money/resources in Earth and Beyond!  Killing my game for this one..  *grrr*

The Sims Hits 100-million Mark
The Sims, a PC game offered by Electronic Arts (EA), has recorded sales of 100 million units yesterday since its introduction way back in 2000. The game is available in 22 languages and 60 countries around the world.

According to EA, The Sims franchise has attracted millions of players to tell stories, create characters, explore relationships, live through generations, design fashions, and build homes and design home interiors for their Sims.

TheSims2.com, an online community of players of The Sims, has over 4 million unique visitors per month, who have downloaded more than 70 million user-generated creations, says the company. Players are also using video-sharing sites like YouTube, where nearly 100,000 videos and movies of The Sims have been shared, with about 200 million views.

Recently, EA has introduced the game’s online version, hitherto called The Sims Online, under a new label: EA Land, which will exist in the 3-D virtual space.

Related Article: Enter the digital playground

In sorta big gaming news, The Sims is becoming EA Land, an online virtual world ala SecondLife and There.com.

One of the main reasons I find myself emersed in new media today is due to my love of cyberpunk as a kid.  The idea of a full virtual reality that we could plug into was just completely enthralling to me at the time.

However, though I was a very early internet adopter and user I never got excited by things like SecondLife or There.com largely because they just seemed like toy – there is nothing that one needs to do in SL and most of the possible activities are pretty much things I do in my real life.  That’s all fine as a temporary escape but it doesn’t emerse one in  a useful alternative world.

It is still quicker and easier to navigate the 2D web via links and scrollbars than it is to wander a Virtual town looking for the “library.”

As a social alternative there is some real potential in these virtual worlds but the idea i had as a kid that we would be living part of our lives inside the machine seems silly to me now.

However, the notion of a “filter” that puts the web over the real world, like explored in Gibson’s last book, Spook Country, is potentially REALLY exciting.

Desde luego que la serie de simulación de vidas, The Sims, ha sido más que un hitazo para Maxis con más de 70 millones de copias y expanciones vendidas, pero The Sims Online quizá no fue lo más adecuado para los seguidores que querían seguir viviendo la vida que nunca tendrían sin estar conectado a internet.

EA decidió traer de vuelta todo lo que The Sims Online ofrecían de forma gratuita en EA Land. Maxis incorporará en este nuevo juego objetos y contenido creado por los jugadores, utilizará un nuevo tipo de economía y utilizará nuevos servicios web y herramentas de redes sociales en lína, como los widgets y programas de Facebook.

In tandem with the recent launch of EA Land, the Sims Carnival is now up and running. But a post on Giga Omni Media’s news reader points to the burgeoning battle between the EA platforms and other high profile platforms like Metaplace and Whirled.

Underlying the development of all these gaming platforms are the issues of content ownership, which will be one of the defining features of the virtual economy as well. If games increasingly become a co-creation of users and developers, revenue sharing, distribution rights, and publishing rights all need to be worked out.

Metaplace and Whirled have revenue-sharing plans built into their business models. And so will Sims Carnival, according to the EA spokesperson quoted on the Giga blog:

“[W]e will be rolling out incentives for developers as we move out of private beta…no details to provide now but our goal is to create a developer-friendly community… A player owns whatever original content he or she contributes. EA owns what it contributes. Other players own what they contribute. When you upload your game onto the site, you give EA the right to distribute it, publish it, etc. You also give EA and other players the right to modify it (if it’s a game created using the Carnival Game Creation Suite), and upload it again using all the tools we provide.”

Source.

Using the Sims Online architecture, a development team has launched EA-Land, a revised version of the game that the team says, “has made this game fun again.”

Every Wednesday, the game will be stopped for a few hours, new features will be added, and the game will be restarted, a revolutionary tact. Not only will users have to keep up with the weekly changes to the game, but it also keeps developers in closer contact with community and can respond quickly to its wants and needs.

This newer version of The Sims Online also includes:
- All 12 cities housed into EA-Land
- A Wiki for users can provide input to improve the game
- Customizable content
- A fixed economy
- Web service and social network functions.

Prok had nice coverage of his own return and impressions of the “new and improved Sims” (along with, oh, one or two other thoughts).

Sims Online reappears as EA Land.

In EA-Land players can play for free for as long as they want, in TSO Players were limited to a one-time 14-day trial period. That trial period, however, enabled all game features, while in EA-Land free players do not have access to all features.

In EA-Land users can upload custom content, including bitmaps, and at this stage chairs and scultptures. Users can also ’skin’ objects by applying the uploaded bitmap to change the appearances of objects.

Another point of interest is almost casually dropped in the free-to-play FAQ:

Because we intend to let user sell their Simoleans for real money, we cannot have the game give money to free players.

Plus, this game has quite possibly the coolest name ever. LETSPLAY IN EA LAND!