The people who thought that EverQuest was the most addicting game out their can prepare to be proven wrong. The Sims franchise owned by Electronic Arts is the best selling game franchise ever and the games still sell like hot cakes. Another piece of stunning information is that the game has never had a true sequel. Instead, there have been over five expansion packs that add a plethora of new items into the game while keeping the basic fundamentals of gameplay intact. To be perfectly honest, the game has no point. It never has and never will. You basically sit for eight hours at a time and take care of a bunch of polygons. The oddest part about that is, it still draws you in. Maybe it is because of the endless design possibilities or the thousands of user created Sims found online. No matter what it is though, the game has an effect on people. Any person who has ever played a video game is likely to know what The Sims is and not many will say that they hated it. If you look on the web, there are hundreds of fan sites that are dedicated to specific things. Some websites focus on paintings alone while others are filled with different types of television sets. Unfortunately for Electronic Arts, The Sims franchise has begun to show its age. From the poor reception of The Sims Online to limited coverage of its upcoming Superstars expansion pack, the series has not pumped out anything truly innovative in awhile. The one recent injection of freshness into the franchise came in the form of The Sims on the Playstation 2 console system, and soon on the GameCube and X-box. This new version of the game places the series into a fully three-dimensional universe and adds many new elements into the game. Hopefully this will be done for the PC sequel which still has not been given an exact release date or even a solid confirmation that it is even in the works. If Electronic Arts can wipe the dust off and add some new features, then The Sims saga will continue to reign supreme for many years to come. Luckily for them, their throne has not received much in the way of competition worthy of their presence. Until a new game comes out, we will have to settle watching our friends waste away their lives on an outdated game.

    Yes, scenario 2 looks really ugly, but there is no denying that the hype for both movies is justified. The Matrix which was released in 1999 was a ground breaking science fiction film that took visual effects and wire stunts to a brand new level. It also created and perfected the much cloned slow motion bullet time. X-Men released in 2000 began the new tradition of having super hero movies become fun to watch again. After the appalling Batman and Robin in 1998, super hero movies fell into darkness. Now while no one can predict the actual outcome of the box office war, we can at least speculate on the war that Fox and Warner Brothers are fighting in the video game realm. Both companied have decided to cash in on the science fiction based storylines of their movies and bring them into the game world. X2: Wolverine’s Revenge which has been released on the GameCube, Playstation 2, X-Box and Pc takes a deep look at the shrouded past of Wolverine. It’s a topic that was touched on in the first X-Men movie and even more in the sequel. The game delves deeper than both of them do and while it had ties to the movie, it relies on the comic books lore to keep it going. Patrick Stewart lends his voice to portray Professor Xavier and Mark Hamil (aka Luke Skywalker) voices the raspy Wolverine. Action elements mixed with exploration will help carry the story along and it suits the movie well. Now for Warner Brothers, they have placed all of their advertising powers in showing off The Matrix movies but aside from a few magazine ads, not much has been done to advertise the game to its full potential. Enter The Matrix, developed by a company with a notorious reputation, a lot of risks are being taken to mix a ton of gameplay types into one game. This doesn’t even include the storyline. The creators of The Matrix movies have created an entirely new script that takes place during the two new movies but focuses on two of the characters that weren’t as exploited in the movie as they could have. Motion capture digital effects were used and many of the movie’s stars say that the game was like filming an entirely new movie. The entire cast is lending their voiced and the game will come out on all major consoles this month. Luckily for the people at Warner Brothers, X2: Wolverine’s Revenge has received mainly mediocre reviews. So now they have a lead in, but will their game fare any better. Well I sure hope so. I’m really in the mood to kick some digital behinds in slow-motion. Who wouldn’t?

    Every year, all the major magazine editors and website guru’s go on over to E3 one of the largest gaming expos in the world. This is where all the summer and holiday season hype is built and this year the anticipation is hotter than ever before. From hints of Metal Gear Solid 3 by Hideo Kojima to a remake of Metal Gear Solid 1 on the Gamecube, Konami is one of the front runners of this year’s event. As always you can expect Nintendo to come in full force to deliver shots and footage of Super Mario Kart for the GameCube and even Pikmin 2. Capcom is set to release several new Mega Man installments for various consoles and the rumors are high for a possible sneak peak into the mind of Leon Kennedy for the upcoming Resident Evil 4 on the GameCube. Sega is expected to show off Sonic Adventure DX: The Director’s Cut for the GameCube. It is essentially a remixed version of the original game with a higher resolution and some nifty extras. We at least hope it turns out better than Sonic Adventure 2: Battle did. You can also expect some last minute glimpses of Enter the Matrix and .hack Infection Part 2 before they are placed on store shelves. Not much has been said about what Microsoft plans to unveil at E3 but sometimes silence results in a good surprise. More talk of the next generation of consoles is expected to arise and there is always the possibility of a console price cut here and there. E3 has never ceased to surprise anyone and as long as they don’t spend the whole time talking about that freakishly crappy looking Pitfall Harry game, then we can expect it to be grand. You can expect me to roll out a special edition of the Banter for some E3 afterthoughts. Now where did my season ticket pass go, uh oh, I must remind myself never to lend my keys to my cat.