Within recent years, people have come to expect the same type of social interaction they’d get by going outside to be available to them within their own homes over the internet or on a game consol. This trend started when internet chatting devices such as AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo! Instant Messenger, and MSN Messenger came into existence. Soon after, we were graced with web cams and other technical devices allowing for people across the world to talk to one another without creating a skyrocketing phone bill or any sort of inconvenience. While this was going on, video games were also dipping into a new trend with older games such as Harvest Moon (a farm and life simulation game) becoming more and more popular with new games being released; at least one game per year. Between the growing popularity of these styles of games and a majority of people creating an online life for themselves, it was only a matter of time until they merged together. A prime example of a life simulation game is The Sims. Even those people who aren’t a fan of The Sims knows exactly what it is. Originally a branch off of the SimCity series, The Sims has grown into a world wide phenomenon, even creating versions based on popular TV shows and movies. As mentioned in my From the Consol to the Big Screen article, The Sims’ popularity has grown so large, it’s getting a movie made based on the series, what is expected of this movie, no one really knows yet. Other games take a more child friendly and cutesy approach at the life simulation format. Games like Harvest Moon, Animal Crossing, and Viva Piñata are a simpler variety, giving the player tasks to accomplish rather then the more open ended games like The Sims, Second Life, and SimCity. All three of these more ‘cute’ games have something in common, they all follow a main character who has left home to start a life of their own, more then likely to appeal to the teen demographic. While Animal Crossing is the only one of the three that really allows for online interaction with other players (Animal Crossing: Wild World’s Wifi connection), it does open up doors for bigger and possible MMO style play for the future in this version of life simulators. Life simulators not your thing? You think The Sims or Animal Crossing are boring, yet love playing Black & White, Overlord, or Fable? Then you’re not far from home, not quite a life simulation, these games fall under the off-shoot category of “God Simulations” or “Life-Action RPG‘s”, where you as a deity/someone great power who is greatly feared/respected command the life of those around you. Fable however, is a special case in which you‘re given choices to go through the game choosing a good or bad path. These games take a more serious tone, tempting the player into an evil path, yet still promoting a good life. Overlord is a relatively new game, it is set in an unnamed fantasy world, where you, the player, takes on the role of a resurrected knight, known to the world as The Overlord. You control hordes of minions to defeat seven heroes in order to take over the world and re-establish your lordship. and establish his lordship over its inhabitants. Black & White is the epitome of a “God Simulation”, you take on the role of a god on an island populated by various tribes. You simply use a disembodied hand to command around the inhabitants of the island. The goal of each level is to gain control over every village on the island, a fairly simple concept. Sony is taking good advantage of these types of games now by creating a fully interactive digital world, known only as Home for the PS3. The release is up-and-coming, sometime in Q2 (aka Spring). Home will allow PS3 owners to create an avatar (digital persona) to live in their virtual apartment, which can be fully customized. Upon it’s release, Home is expected to be a decently sized world and will be further expanded later on, allowing for new clothes, bigger apartments, etc. Home is aimed to be a complete world of it’s own yet still safe for younger players. While this sounds like it will take up a lot of space, Sony is trying to keep the initial download under 500MB. According to it’s Wikipedia page, PS3’s Home will include many forms of advertisement: “In addition to the main public areas offered by Sony and the personal apartment area, many game developers will open their own spaces showcasing their products, developers that have created spaces for home include; EA, Activision, SEGA, Ubisoft, Rockstar Games and THQ. Individual games will also be allowed their own space. In the future areas can be developed by major companies outside of gaming, SCEE Phil Harrison stated that locations built around famous coffee companies, famous drinks companies, clothing companies, record companies, major retailers and so on could feature depending on whether these companies felt it worthwhile to create something for Home.” Will interaction in games and over the internet become even more common then normal social interaction or will these games simply provide a more wholesome world wide link, bringing people of all age, race, creed, and nationality together? My hope is for the latter. All in all these games have broken a lot of new ground and continue to do so, if you haven’t tried one of these titles yet, give them a try sometime soon!