The Sims Original Video Game Soundtrack is the official soundtrack to EA's 2000 strategic life-simulation game The Sims.

The songs were composed by Jerry Martin^[1], Marc Russo, Kirk R. Casey^[2], and Dix Bruce. The game disc contains 37 tracks, of which 13 are background songs (for the Neighborhood, Build and Buy modes) and 24 are radio songs (covering the genres Classical, Latin, Rock and Country). A selection of 15 of the tracks (from both the background and radio sets) were published in 2007 as an official soundtrack album. Most of the tracks contain no vocals, but some of them feature Simlish lyrics.

Track listing[link]

1. "Now Entering" (Marc Russo) – 3:44
2. "Neighborhood" (Marc Russo) – 4:13
3. "Under Construction" (Jerry Martin) – 4:48
4. "Buying Lumber" (Jerry Martin) – 5:06
5. "Mall Rat" (Jerry Martin) – 2:44
6. "Groceries" (Marc Russo) – 2:32
7. "SIMnata #4" (Jerry Martin) – 3:09
8. "SIMnata #15" (Jerry Martin) – 4:47
9. "BoSIM Nova" (Marc Russo) – 3:39
10. "Samba SIM" (Jerry Martin) – 2:57
11. "SIM Nights" (Kirk Casey) – 4:43
12. "Fishin'" (Dix Bruce) – 3:45
13. "SIM Hoe Down" (Dix Bruce) – 3:38
14. "SIM Yonder" (Dix Bruce) – 3:58
15. "SIM Hagar" (Jerry Martin) – 3:18

All tracks[link]

The tracks selected for the official release are highlighted.

Adapted versions of Yea Yai Yo and Samba SIM were used in the opening video^[1] and the loading screen, respectively.

References[link]

External links[link]

• The Sims: The Original Game Soundtrack at MusicBrainz
• The Sims (Soundtrack) at Last.fm
• Sims 1 Music Track List

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2009)

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v t e

Video game music is any of the musical pieces or soundtracks and background musics found in video games. It can range from a simple synthesizer tune to an orchestral piece, usually such that the older the game, the simpler the music. In recent times, many games have had complex soundtracks similar to those of movies, and sometimes even interactive soundtracks which change in order to create an appropriate atmosphere, based on what the player does. It is also common for video game soundtracks to be commercially sold or performed in concerts that focus on video game music.^[1] Music can also be an important gameplay element in certain types of video games (like rhythm games).

History[link]

Early video game technology and computer chip music[link]

	An original synthesized composition imitating early video game music.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

At the time video games emerged as a form of entertainment in the 1970s (the first generation), music was stored on physical medium in analog waveforms such as compact cassettes and phonograph records. Such components were expensive and prone to breakage under heavy use making them less than ideal for use in an arcade cabinet, though in rare cases, they were used (Journey). A more affordable method of having music in a video game was to use digital means, where a specific computer chip would change electrical impulses from computer code into analog sound waves on the fly for output on a speaker. Sound effects for the games were also generated in this fashion.

While this allowed for inclusion of music in early arcade video games, it was usually monophonic, looped or used sparingly between stages or at the start of a new game, such as the Namco titles Pac-Man (1980) composed by Toshio Kai or Pole Position (1982) composed by Nobuyuki Ohnogi.^[2] An early example of video game music was the opening tune in Tomohiro Nishikado's Gun Fight (1975).^[3] The first game to use a continuous background soundtrack was Tomohiro Nishikado's Space Invaders, released by Taito in 1978. It had four simple chromatic descending bass notes repeating in a loop, though it was dynamic and interacted with the player, increasing pace as the enemies descended on the player.^[4] The first video game to feature background music was Rally-X, released by Namco in 1980, featuring a simple tune that repeats continuously during gameplay.^[5] The decision to include any music into a video game meant that at some point it would have to be transcribed into computer code by a programmer, whether or not the programmer had musical experience. Some music was original, some was public domain music such as folk songs. Sound capabilities were limited; the popular Atari 2600 home system, for example, was capable of generating only two tones, or "notes", at a time.

As advances were made in silicon technology and costs fell, a definitively new generation of arcade machines and home consoles allowed for great changes in accompanying music. In arcades, machines based on the Motorola 68000 CPU and accompanying various Yamaha YM programmable sound generator sound chips allowed for several more tones or "channels" of sound, sometimes eight or more. The earliest known example of this was Sega's 1980 arcade game Carnival, which used an AY-3-8910 chip to create an electronic rendition of the classical 1889 composition "Over The Waves" by Juventino Rosas.^[6] Konami's 1981 arcade game Frogger introduced a dynamic approach to video game music, using at least eleven different gameplay tracks, in addition to level-starting and game over themes, which change according to the player's actions. This was further improved upon by Namco's 1983 arcade game Dig Dug, where the music stopped when the player stopped moving.^[7] Dig Dug was composed by Yuriko Keino, who also composed the music for other Namco games such as Xevious (1982) and Phozon (1983).^[2]

Home console systems also had a comparable upgrade in sound ability beginning with the ColecoVision in 1982 capable of four channels. However, more notable was the Japanese release of the Famicom in 1983 which was later released in the US as the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985. It was capable of five channels, one being capable of simple PCM sampled sound. The home computer Commodore 64 released in 1982 was capable of early forms of filtering effects, different types of waveforms and eventually the ability to play 4-bit samples on a fourth sound channel. Its comparatively low cost made it a popular alternative to other home computers, as well as its ability to use a TV for an affordable display monitor.

Approach to game music development in this time period usually involved using simple tone generation and/or frequency modulation synthesis to simulate instruments for melodies, and use of a "noise channel" for simulating percussive noises. Early use of PCM samples in this era was limited to short sound bites(Monopoly), or as an alternate for percussion sounds (Super Mario Bros 3). The music on home consoles often had to share the available channels with other sound effects. For example, if a laser beam was fired by a spaceship, and the laser used a 1400 Hz tone, then whichever channel was in use by music would stop playing music and start playing the sound effect.

The mid-to-late 1980s software releases for these platforms had music developed by more people with greater musical experience than before. Quality of composition improved noticeably, and evidence of the popularity of music of this time period remains even today. Composers who made a name for themselves with their software include Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy), Koji Kondo (Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda), Koichi Sugiyama (Dragon Quest),^[8] Miki Higashino (Gradius, Yie-Ar Kung Fu, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Hiroshi Miyauchi (Space Harrier, Hang-On, Out Run), Rob Hubbard (Monty On the Run, International Karate), Hirokazu Tanaka (Metroid, Kid Icarus, EarthBound), Martin Galway (Daley Thompson's Decathlon, Stryker's Run, Times of Lore), Yuzo Koshiro (Dragon Slayer, Ys, Shinobi, ActRaiser, Streets of Rage), Mieko Ishikawa (Dragon Slayer, Ys), and Ryu Umemoto (visual novels, shoot 'em ups). By the late 1980s, video game music was being sold as cassette tape soundtracks in Japan, inspiring American companies such as Sierra, Cinemaware and Interplay to give more serious attention to video game music by 1988.^[9]

Near the end of the life-cycle of the Famicom, some game producers at their own expense custom manufactured their cartridges with an additional tone generating chip. These chips added to the existing sound chip in the Famicom, but also sported extra features to modulate the additional channels.

Early digital synthesis and sampling[link]

From around 1980, some arcade games began taking steps toward digitized, or sampled, sounds. Namco's 1980 arcade game Rally-X was the first known game to use a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) to produce sampled tones instead of a tone generator.^[6] That same year, the first known video game to feature speech synthesis was also released: Sunsoft's shoot 'em up game Stratovox.^[5] Around the same time,^[10] the introduction of frequency modulation synthesis (FM synthesis), first commercially released by Yamaha for their digital synthesizers and FM sound chips, allowed the tones to be manipulated to have different sound characteristics, where before the tone generated by the chip was limited to the design of the chip itself. Konami's 1983 arcade game Gyruss utilized five synthesis sound chips along with a DAC, which were partly used to create an electronic rendition of J. S. Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor.^[11]

Beyond arcade games, significant improvements to personal computer game music were made possible with the introduction of digital FM synth boards, which Yamaha released for Japanese computers such as the NEC PC-8801 and PC-9801 in the early 1980s, and by the mid-1980s, the PC-8801 and FM-7 had built-in FM sound. This allowed computer game music to have greater complexity than the simplistic beeps from internal speakers. These FM synth boards produced a "warm and pleasant sound" that musicians such as Yuzo Koshiro and Takeshi Abo utilized to produce music that is still highly regarded within the chiptune community.^[12] The widespread adoption of FM synthesis by consoles would later be one of the major advances of the 16-bit era, by which time 16-bit arcade machines were using multiple FM synthesis chips.^[10]

One of the earliest home computers to make use of digital signal processing in the form of sampling was the Commodore Amiga in 1985. The computer's sound chip featured four independent 8-bit digital-to-analog converters. Developers could use this platform to take samples of a music performance, sometimes just a single note long, and play it back through the computer's sound chip from memory. This differed from Rally-X in that its hardware DAC was used to play back simple waveform samples, and a sampled sound allowed for a complexity and authenticity of a real instrument that an FM simulation could not offer. For its role in being one of the first and affordable, the Amiga would remain a staple tool of early sequenced music composing, especially in Europe.

The Amiga offered these features before other competing home computer platforms. The Amiga's main rival, the Atari ST, sourced the Yamaha YM2149 Programmable Sound Generator (PSG). Compared to the in-house designed Amiga sound engine, the PSG could only handle 1 channel of sampled sound, and needed the computer's CPU to process the data for it. This made it impractical for game development use until 1989 with the release of the Atari STE which used DMA techniques to play back PCM samples at up to 50 kHz. The ST however remained relevant as it was equipped with a MIDI controller and external ports. It became the choice of by many professional musicians as a MIDI programming device.

IBM PC clones in 1985 would not see any significant development in multimedia abilities for a few more years, and sampling would not become popular in other video game systems for several years. Though sampling had the potential to produce much more realistic sounds, each sample required much more data in memory. This was at a time when all memory, solid state (cartridge), magnetic (floppy disk) or otherwise was still very costly per kilobyte. Sequenced soundchip generated music on the other hand was generated with a few lines of comparatively simple code and took up far less precious memory.

Arcade systems pushed game music forward in 1984 with the introduction of FM (Frequency Modulation) synthesis, providing more realistic sounds than previous PSGs. The first such game, Marble Madness used the Yamaha YM2515 FM synthesis chip.^[13]

As home consoles moved into the fourth generation, or 16-bit era, the hybrid approach (sampled and tone) to music composing continued to be used. In 1988 the Sega Mega Drive (Sega Genesis in the US) offered advanced graphics over the NES and improved sound synthesis features (also using a Yamaha chip, the YM2612),^[14] but largely held the same approach to sound design. Ten channels in total for tone generation with one for PCM samples were available in stereo instead of the NES's five channels in mono, one for PCM. As before, it was often used for percussion samples, or "drum kits" (Sonic the Hedgehog 3). The 16-bit Sega referred to was the CPU and should not be confused with 16-bit sound samples. The Genesis did not support 16-bit sampled sounds. Despite the additional tone channels, writing music still posed a challenge to traditional composers and it forced much more imaginative use of the FM synthesizer to create an enjoyable listening experience. The composer Yuzo Koshiro utilized the Mega Drive/Genesis hardware effectively to produce "progressive, catchy, techno-style compositions far more advanced than what players were used to" for games such as The Revenge of Shinobi (1989) and the Streets of Rage series, setting a "new high watermark for what music in games could sound like."^[15] Another important FM synth composer was the late Ryu Umemoto, who composed music for many visual novels and shoot 'em ups during the 1990s.^[16]

As cost of magnetic memory declined in the form of diskettes, the evolution of video game music on the Amiga, and some years later game music development in general, shifted to sampling in some form. It took some years before Amiga game designers learned to wholly use digitized sound effects in music (an early exception case was the title music of text adventure game The Pawn, 1986). By this time, computer and game music had already begun to form its own identity, and thus many music makers intentionally tried to produce music that sounded like that heard on the Commodore 64 and NES, which resulted in the chiptune genre.

The release of a freely-distributed Amiga program named Sound Tracker by Karsten Obarski in 1987 started the era of MOD-format which made it easy for anyone to produce music based on digitized samples. MOD-files were made with programs called "trackers" after Obarski's Sound Tracker. This MOD/tracker tradition continued with PC computers in 1990s. Examples of Amiga games using digitized instrument samples include David Whittaker's soundtrack for Shadow of the Beast, Chris Hülsbeck's soundtrack for Turrican 2 and Matt Furniss's tunes for Laser Squad. Richard Joseph also composed some theme songs featuring vocals and lyrics for games by Sensible Software most famous being Cannon Fodder (1993) with a song "War Has Never Been So Much Fun" and Sensible World of Soccer (1994) with a song "Goal Scoring Superstar Hero". These songs used long vocal samples.

A similar approach to sound and music developments had become common in the arcades by this time and had been used in many arcade system boards since the mid-1980s.^[17] This was further popularized in the early 1990s by games like Street Fighter II (1991) on the CPS-1, which used voice samples extensively along with sampled sound effects and percussion. Neo Geo's MVS system also carried powerful sound development which often included surround sound.

The SNES (1990) brought digitized sound to console games.

The evolution also carried into home console video games, such as the release of the Super Famicom in 1990, and its US/EU version SNES in 1991. It sported a specialized custom Sony chip for both the sound generation and for special hardware DSP. It was capable of eight channels of sampled sounds at up to 16-bit resolution, had a wide selection of DSP effects, including a type of ADSR usually seen in high end synthesizers of the time, and full stereo sound. This allowed experimentation with applied acoustics in video games, such as musical acoustics (early games like Castlevania IV, F-Zero, Final Fantasy IV, Gradius III, and later games like Chrono Trigger), directional (Star Fox) and spatial acoustics (Dolby Pro-Logic was used in some games, like King Arthur's World and Jurassic Park), as well as environmental and architectural acoustics (Zelda III, Secret of Evermore). Many games also made heavy use of the high quality sample playback capabilities (Super Star Wars, Tales of Phantasia). The only real limitation to this powerful setup was the still-costly solid state memory. Other consoles of the generation could boast similar abilities yet did not have the same circulation levels as the SNES/SFC. The Neo-Geo home system was capable of the same powerful sample processing as its arcade counterpart, but was several times the cost of a SNES. The Mega-CD (Sega-CD in the US) hardware upgrade to the Mega Drive (Genesis in the US) offered multiple PCM channels, but they were often passed over instead to use its capabilities with the cd-rom itself.

Popularity of the SNES and its software remained limited to regions where NTSC television was the broadcast standard. Partly because of the difference in frame rates of PAL broadcast equipment, many titles released were never redesigned to play appropriately and ran much slower than originally intended, or were never released. This showed a divergence in popular video game music between PAL and NTSC countries that still shows to this day. This divergence would be lessened as the fifth generation of home consoles launched globally, and as Commodore began to take a backseat to general purpose PCs and Macs for developing and gaming.

Though the Sega-CD/Mega-CD, and to a greater extent the PC Engine in Japan, would give gamers a preview of the direction video game music would take in streaming music, the use of both sampled and sequenced music continues in game consoles even today. The huge data storage benefit of optical media would be coupled with progressively more powerful audio generation hardware and higher quality samples in the Fifth Generation. In 1994, the CD-ROM equipped PlayStation supported 24 channels of 16-bit samples of up to 44.1 kHz sample rate, samples equal to CD audio in quality. It also sported a few hardware DSP effects like reverb. Many Square titles continued to use sequenced music, such as Final Fantasy 7, Legend of Mana, and Final Fantasy Tactics. The Sega Saturn also with a CD drive supported 32 channels of PCM at the same resolution as the PSX. In 1996, the Nintendo 64, still using a solid state cartridge, actually supported an integrated and scalable sound system that was potentially capable of 100 channels of PCM, and an improved sample rate of 48 kHz. Games for the N64, because of the cost of the solid state memory, typically had samples of lesser quality than the other two however, and music tended to be simpler in construct.

The more dominant approach for games based on CDs, however, was shifting toward streaming audio.

MIDI on the PC[link]

The first developers of IBM PC computers neglected audio capabilities (first IBM model, 1981).

In the same timeframe of late 1980s to mid 1990s, the IBM PC clones using the x86 architecture became more ubiquitous, yet had a very different path in sound design than other PCs and consoles. Early PC gaming was limited to the PC speaker, and some proprietary standards such as the IBM PCjr 3-voice chip. While sampled sound could be achieved on the PC speaker using pulse width modulation, doing so required a significant proportion of the available processor power, rendering its use in games rare.

With the increase of x86 PCs in the market, there was a vacuum in sound performance in home computing that expansion cards attempted to fill. The first two recognizable standards were the Roland MT-32, followed by the AdLib sound card. Roland's solution was driven by MIDI sequencing using advanced LA synthesizers. This made it the first choice for game developers to produce upon, but its higher cost as an end-user solution made it prohibitive. The AdLib used a low-cost FM synthesis chip from Yamaha, and many boards could operate compatibly using the MIDI standard.

The AdLib card was usurped in 1989 by Creative's Sound Blaster, which used the same Yamaha FM chip in the AdLib, for compatibility, but also added 8-bit 22.05 kHz (later 44.1 kHz) digital audio recording and playback of a single stereo channel. As an affordable end-user product, the Sound Blaster constituted the core sound technology of the early 1990s; a combination of a simple FM engine that supported midi, and a DAC engine of one or more streams. Only a minority of developers ever used Amiga-style tracker formats in commercial PC games, (Unreal) typically preferring to use the MT-32 or AdLib/SB-compatible devices. As general purpose PCs using x86 became more ubiquitous than the other PC platforms, developers drew their focus towards that platform.

The last major development before streaming music came in 1992: Roland released the first General MIDI card, the wavetable SCC-1. The comparative quality of the samples on the wavetable spurred similar offerings from Soundblaster, but costs for both products were still high. Both companies offered 'daughter board' wavetables that could be later added to a less expensive soundcard (which only had a DAC and a MIDI controller) to give it the features of a fully integrated card. (Roland had used a similar interchangeable daughterboards in its musical instrument keyboards, also widely used to develop music at the time.)

Unlike the standards of Amiga or Atari, a PC using x86 even then could be using a broad mix of hardware. Developers increasingly used MIDI sequences: instead of writing soundtrack data for each type of soundcard, they generally wrote a fully featured data set for the Roland application that would be compatible with lesser featured equipment so long as it had a MIDI controller to run the sequence. However, different products used different sounds attached to their MIDI controllers. Some tied into the Yamaha FM chip to simulate instruments, some daughterboards of samples had very different sound qualities; meaning that no single sequence performance would be accurate to every other General Midi device.

All of these considerations in the products reflected the high cost of memory storage which rapidly declined with the optical CD format.

Pre-recorded and streaming music[link]

Taking entirely pre-recorded music had many advantages over sequencing for sound quality. Music could be produced freely with any kind and number of instruments, allowing developers to simply record one track to be played back during the game. Quality was only limited by the effort put into mastering the track itself. Memory space costs that was previously a concern was somewhat addressed with optical media becoming the dominant media for software games. CD quality audio allowed for music and voice that had the potential to be truly indistinguishable from any other source or genre of music.

In fourth generation home video games and PCs this was limited to playing a Red Book audio track from a CD while the game was in play (such as Sonic CD). Some of the earliest examples of Red Book audio in video games were later titles of the Ys series, composed by Yuzo Koshiro and Mieko Ishikawa, and arranged by Ryo Yunemitsu for the TurboGrafx-CD from 1989. The Ys soundtracks are still regarded as some of the most influential video game music ever composed.^[18][19][20]

However, there were several disadvantages of regular CD-audio. Optical drive technology was still limited in spindle speed, so playing an audio track from the game CD meant that the system could not access data again until it stopped the track from playing. Looping, the most common form of game music, was also problem as when the laser reached the end of a track, it had to move itself back to the beginning to start reading again causing an audible gap in playback.

To address these drawbacks, some PC game developers designed their own container formats in house, for each application in some cases, to stream compressed audio. This would cut back on memory used for music on the CD, allowed for much lower latency and seek time when finding and starting to play music, and also allowed for much smoother looping due to being able to buffer the data. A minor drawback was that use of compressed audio meant it had to be decompressed which put load on the CPU of a system. As computing power increased, this load became minimal, and in some cases dedicated chips in a computer (such as a sound card) would actually handle all the decompressing.

Fifth generation home console systems also developed specialised streaming formats and containers for compressed audio playback. Sony would call theirs Yellow Book, and offer the standard to other companies. Games would take full advantage of this ability, sometimes with highly praised results (Castlevania: Symphony of the Night). Games ported from arcade machines, which continued to use FM synthesis, often saw superior pre-recorded music streams on their home console counterparts (Street Fighter Alpha 2). Even though the game systems were capable of "CD quality" sound, these compressed audio tracks were not true "CD quality." Many of them had lower sampling rates, but not so significant that most consumers would notice. Using a compressed stream allowed game designers to play back streamed music and still be able to access other data on the disc without interruption of the music, at the cost of CPU power used to render the audio stream. Manipulating the stream any further would require a far more significant level of CPU power available in the 5th generation.

Some games, such as the Wipeout series, continued to use full Red Book CD audio for their soundtracks.

This overall freedom offered to music composers gave video game music the equal footing with other popular music it had lacked. A musician could now, with no need to learn about programming or the game architecture itself, independently produce the music to their satisfaction. This flexibility would be exercised as popular mainstream musicians would be using their talents for video games specifically. An early example is Way of the Warrior on the 3DO, with music by White Zombie. A more well-known example is Trent Reznor's score for Quake.

An alternate approach, as with the TMNT arcade, was to take pre-existing music not written exclusively for the game and use it in the game. The game Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter and subsequent Star Wars games took music composed by John Williams for the Star Wars films of the 1970s and 1980s and used it for the game soundtracks.

Both using new music streams made specifically for the game, and using previously released/recorded music streams are common approaches for developing sound tracks to this day. It is common for X-games sports-based video games to come with some popular artists recent releases (SSX, Tony Hawk, Initial D), as well as any game with heavy cultural demographic theme that has tie-in to music (Need For Speed: Underground, Gran Turismo, and Grand Theft Auto). Sometimes a hybrid of the two are used, such as in Dance Dance Revolution.

Sequencing samples continue to be used in modern gaming for many uses, mostly RPGs. Sometimes a cross between sequencing samples, and streaming music is used. Games such as Republic: The Revolution (music composed by James Hannigan^[21]) and Command & Conquer: Generals (music composed by Bill Brown) have utilised sophisticated systems governing the flow of incidental music by stringing together short phrases based on the action on screen and the player's most recent choices (see dynamic music). Other games dynamically mixed the sound on the game based on cues of the game environment.

As processing power increased dramatically in the 6th generation of home consoles, it became possible to apply special effects in realtime to streamed audio. In SSX, a recent video game series, if a snowboarder takes to the air after jumping from a ramp, the music softens or muffles a bit, and the ambient noise of wind and air blowing becomes louder to emphasize being airborne. When the snowboarder lands, the music resumes regular playback until its next "cue". The LucasArts company pioneered this interactive music technique with their iMUSE system, used in their early adventure games and the Star Wars flight simulators Star Wars: X-Wing and Star Wars: TIE Fighter. Action games such as these will change dynamically to match the amount of danger. Stealth-based games will sometimes rely on such music, either by handling streams differently, or dynamically changing the composition of a sequenced soundtrack.

Personalized soundtracks[link]

Being able to play one's own music during a game in the past usually meant turning down the game audio and using an alternative music player. Some early exceptions were possible on PC/Windows gaming in which it was possible to independently adjust game audio while playing music with a separate program running in the background. Some PC games, such as Quake, play music from the CD while retrieving game data exclusively from the hard disk, thereby allowing the game CD to be swapped for any music CD.

Some PlayStation games supported this by swapping the game CD with a music CD, although when the game needed data, players had to swap the CDs again. One of the earliest games, Ridge Racer, was loaded entirely into RAM, letting the player insert a music CD to provide a soundtrack throughout the entirety of the gameplay. In Vib Ribbon, this became a gameplay feature, with the game generating levels based entirely on the music on whatever CD the player inserted.

Microsoft's Xbox, a competitor in the sixth generation of home consoles opened new possibilities. Its ability to copy music from a CD onto its internal hard drive allowed gamers to use their own music more seamlessly with gameplay than ever before. The feature, called Custom Soundtrack, had to be enabled by the game developer. The feature carried over into the seventh generation with the Xbox 360 except it is now supported by the system software and enabled at any point.

The Wii is also able to play custom soundtracks if it is enabled by the game (Excite Truck,^[22] Endless Ocean^[23]).

The PlayStation Portable can, in games like Need for Speed Carbon: Own the City and FIFA 08, play music from a Memory Stick.

The PlayStation 3 has the ability to utilize custom soundtracks in games using music saved on the hard drive, however few game developers have used this function so far. MLB 08: The Show, released in North America on March 4, 2008, has a My MLB sound track feature which allows the user to play music tracks of their choice saved on the hard drive of their PS3, rather than the preprogrammed tracks incorporated into the game by the developer. An update to Wipeout HD, released on the PlayStation Network, was made to also incorporate this feature.^{[citation needed]}

In Audiosurf, custom soundtracks are the main aspect of the game. Users have to pick a music file to be analyzed. The game will generate a race track based on tempo, pitch and complexity of the sound. The user will then race on this track, synchronized with the music.

Current application and future developments[link]

	A track of ambient music from The Battle for Wesnoth.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

	An example of fanfare music in video games, also from The Battle for Wesnoth.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

The Xbox 360 supports Dolby Digital software, sampling and playback rate of 16-bit @ 48 kHz (internal; with 24-bit hardware D/A converters), hardware codec streaming, and potential of 256 audio simultaneous channels. While powerful and flexible, none of these features represent any major change in how game music is made from the last generation of console systems. PCs continue to rely on third-party devices for in-game sound reproduction, and SoundBlaster, despite being largely the only major player in the entertainment audio expansion card business, continues to advance its product development at a significant pace.^{[citation needed]}

The PlayStation 3 handles multiple types of surround sound technology, including Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD, with up to 7.1 channels, and with sampling rates of up to 192 kHz.

Nintendo's Wii console shares many audio components with the Nintendo GameCube from the previous generation, including Dolby Pro Logic II. These features are extensions of technology already currently in use.

The game developer of today has many choices on how to develop music. More likely, changes in video game music creation will have very little to do with technology and more to do with other factors of game development as a business whole. As sales of video game music separate from the game itself became marketable in the west (compared to Japan where game music CDs had been selling for years), business elements also wield a level of influence that it had little before. Music from outside the game developer's immediate employment, such as music composers and pop artists, have been contracted to produce game music just as they would for a theatrical movie. Many other factors have growing influence, such as editing for content, politics on some level of the development, executive input and other elements.

Game music as a genre[link]

This section may contain original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding references. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. More details may be available on the talk page. (June 2009)

Many games for the Nintendo Entertainment System and other early game consoles feature a similar style of musical composition that is sometimes described as the "video game genre." Some aspects of this style continue to influence certain music today, though gamers do not associate many modern game soundtracks with the older style. The genre's compositional elements largely developed due to technological restraints, while also being influenced by electronic music bands, particularly Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO), who were popular during the late 1970s to 1980s.^[24] YMO sampled sounds from several classic arcade games in their early albums, most notably Space Invaders in the 1978 hit song "Computer Game".^[25] In turn, the band would have a major influence on much of the video game music produced during the 8-bit and 16-bit eras.^[24]

Features of the video game music genre include:

• Pieces designed to repeat indefinitely, rather than having an arranged ending or fading out.
• Pieces lacking lyrics and playing over gameplay sounds.
• Limited polyphony. Only three notes can be played simultaneously on the Nintendo Entertainment System. A great deal of effort was put into composition to create the illusion of more notes playing at once.
• Music that changes dynamically while the game is played, for example the volume or tempo.
• Use of Sting (musical phrase)
• Bemani (rhythm games).
• Mock Radio Stations.
• Noise
• Randomly generated music by a computer as in Portal 2.
• Dynamically remixed music during gameplay, including custom soundtracks as in SSX 2012

Although the tones featured in NES music can be thought of emulating a traditional four-piece rock band (triangle wave used as a bass, two pulse waves analogous to two guitars, and a white noise channel used for drums), composers would often go out of their way to compose complex and rapid sequences of notes, in part because of the restrictions mentioned above. This is similar to music composition during the Baroque period, when composers, particularly when creating solo pieces, focused on musical embellishments to compensate for instruments such as the harpsichord that do not allow for expressive dynamics. For the same reason, many early compositions also feature a distinct jazz influence. These would overlap with later influences from heavy metal and j-pop music, resulting in an equally distinct compositional style in the 16-bit era.

In an unrelated but parallel course in the European and North American developer scene, similar limitations were driving the musical style of home computer games. Module file format music, particularly MOD, used similar techniques but was more heavily influenced from the electronic music scene as it developed, and resulted in another very distinct subgenre. Demos and the developing demoscene played a big part in the early years, and still influence video game music today.

As technological limitations gradually lifted, composers were given more freedom and with the advent of CD-ROM pre-recorded soundtracks came to dominate, resulting in a noticeable shift in composition and voicing style.^[26]

As the divisions between movies and video games has blurred, so have divisions between film scores and video game scores. Adventure and fantasy movies have similar needs to adventure and fantasy games, i.e. fanfare, traveling, hero's theme and so on. Some composers have written scores in both genres. One noted example is U.S. composer Michael Giacchino who composed the soundtrack for the game Medal of Honor and later composed for the television series Lost and wrote scores for movies such as The Incredibles (2004) and Star Trek (2009).

Video game music outside video games[link]

Appreciation for video game music, particularly music from the third and fourth generations of home video game console and sometimes newer generations, continues today in very strong representation in both fans and composers alike, even out of the context of a video game. Melodies and themes from 20 years ago continue to be re-used in newer generations of video games. Themes from the original Metroid by Hirokazu Tanaka can still be heard in Metroid games from today as arranged by Kenji Yamamoto.

Video game music soundtracks were sold separately on CD in Japan well before the practice spread to other countries. Interpretive albums, remixes and live performances were also common variations to original soundtracks (OSTs). Koichi Sugiyama was an early figure in this practice sub-genres, and following the release of the first Dragon Quest game in 1986, a live performance CD of his compositions was released and performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra (then later by other groups including the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, and NHK Symphony). Yuzo Koshiro, another early figure, released a live performance of the Actraiser soundtrack. Both Koshiro's and fellow Falcom composer Mieko Ishikawa's contributions to Ys music would have such long lasting impact that there were more albums released of Ys music than of almost all other game-type music.

Like anime soundtracks, these soundtracks and even sheet music books were usually marketed exclusively in Japan. Therefore, interested non-Japanese gamers have to import the soundtracks and/or sheet music books through on or offline firms specifically dedicated to video game soundtrack imports. This has been somewhat less of an issue more recently as domestic publishers of anime and video games have been producing western equivalent versions of the OSTs for sale in UK and US, but only for the most popular titles in most cases.

Other original composers of the lasting themes from this time have gone on to manage symphonic concert performances to the public exhibiting their work in the games. Koichi Sugiyama was once again the first in this practice in 1987 with his "Family Classic Concert" and has continued concert performances almost annually. In 1991, he also formed a series called Orchestral Game Concerts, notable for featuring other talented game composers such as Yoko Kanno (Nobunaga's Ambition, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Uncharted Waters), Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy), Keiichi Suzuki (Mother/Earthbound), and Kentaro Haneda (Wizardry).

Following suit, compositions by Nobuo Uematsu on Final Fantasy IV were arranged into Final Fantasy IV: Celtic Moon, a live performance by string musicians with strong celtic influence recorded in Ireland. The Love Theme from the same game has been used as an instructional piece of music in Japanese schools.

Global popularity of video game music would begin to surge with Square's 1990s successes, particularly with Final Fantasy VI, Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII by Nobuo Uematsu and with Chrono Trigger, Xenogears and Chrono Cross by Yasunori Mitsuda. On August 20, 2003, for the first time outside Japan, music written for video games such as Final Fantasy and The Legend of Zelda was performed by a live orchestra, the Czech National Symphony Orchestra in a Symphonic Game Music Concert in Leipzig, Germany at the Gewandhaus concert hall. This event was held as the official opening ceremony of Europe's biggest trading fair for video games, the GC Games Convention and repeated in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. On November 17, 2003, Square Enix launched the Final Fantasy Radio on America Online. The radio station has initially featured complete tracks from Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XI: Rise of Zilart and samplings from Final Fantasy VII through Final Fantasy X. The first officially sanctioned Final Fantasy concert in the United States was performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, California, on May 10, 2004. All seats at the concert were sold out in a single day. "Dear Friends: Music from Final Fantasy" followed and was performed at various cities across the United States.

On July 6, 2005, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra also held a Video Games Live concert, which was founded by video game music composers Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall at the Hollywood Bowl. This concert featured a variety of video game music, ranging from Pong to Halo 2. It also incorporated real-time video feeds that were in sync with the music, as well as laser and light special effects. Video Games Live has been touring worldwide since. On August 20, 2006, the Malmö Symphonic Orchestra with host Orvar Säfström performed an outdoor concert of game music in Malmö, Sweden before an audience of 17,000, currently the attendance record for a game music concert. From April 20–27, 2007, Eminence Symphony Orchestra, an orchestra dedicated to video game and anime music, performed the first part of their annual tour, the "A Night in Fantasia" concert series in Australia. Whilst Eminence had performed video game music as part of their concerts since their inception, the 2007 concert marked the first time ever that the entire setlist was pieces from video games. Up to seven of the world's most famous game composers were also in attendance as special guests.

On March 16th, 2012 the Smithsonian American Art Museum's "The Art of Video Games" exhibit opened featuring a chipmusic soundtrack at the entrance by artists 8 Bit Weapon & ComputeHer.8 Bit Weapon also created a track called "The art of Video Games Anthem" for the exhibit as well.^[27]

Popular music[link]

In the popular music industry, video game music and sounds have appeared in songs by various popular artists,^[28] with arcade game sounds having had a particularly strong influence on the hip hop,^[29] pop music (particularly synthpop)^[30] and electro music^[31] genres during the golden age of arcade video games in the early 1980s. Arcade game sounds had an influence on synthpop pioneers Yellow Magic Orchestra,^[32] who sampled Space Invaders sounds in their influential 1978 debut album, particularly the hit song "Computer Game".^[25] In turn, the band would have a major influence on much of the video game music produced during the 8-bit and 16-bit eras.^[24]

Other pop songs based on Space Invaders soon followed, including "Disco Space Invaders" (1979) by Funny Stuff,^[33] "Space Invaders" (1980) by Playback,^[34] and the hit songs "Space Invader" (1980) by The Pretenders^[33] and "Space Invaders" (1980) by Uncle Vic.^[35] Buckner & Garcia produced a successful album dedicated to video game music in 1982, Pac-Man Fever.^[36] Former YMO member Haruomi Hosono also released a 1984 album produced entirely from Namco arcade game samples entitled Video Game Music, an early example of a chiptune record^[37] and the first video game music album.^[38] Warp's record "Testone" (1990) by Sweet Exorcist (Richard H. Kirk and Richard Barratt) sampled video game sounds from YMO's "Computer Game" and defined Sheffield's bleep techno scene in the early 1990s.^[39]

In more recent times, "video game beats" have appeared in popular songs such as Kesha's "Tik Tok",^[28] the best-selling single of 2010,^[40] as well as "U Should Know Better" by Robyn featuring Snoop Dogg,^[28] and "Hellbound" by Eminem. The influence of video game music can also be seen in contemporary electronica music by artists such as Dizzee Rascal and Kieran Hebden.^[32] Grime music in particular samples sawtooth wave sounds from video games which were popular in East London.^[41]

Video game music education[link]

Video game music has become part of the curriculum of traditional schools and universities.^[42] Berklee College of Music, Yale University, New York University and the New England Conservatory all feature or are adding game music to their curricula. Game sound & music design has also been part of the curriculum since 2003 at the Utrecht School of the Arts (Faculty of Art, Media and Technology). Training seminars such as GameSoundCon also feature classes in how to compose video game music.^[43]

Extracurricular organizations devoted to the performance of video game music are being established in tandem to these additions to the curriculum. The University of Maryland Gamer Symphony Orchestra performs self-arranged video game music and the Video Game Orchestra is a semiprofessional outgrowth of students from the Berklee College of Music and other Boston-area schools. The establishment of these groups is also occurring at the secondary level.^[44]

Awards[link]

Since 2010, the Ivor Novello Awards has included a category for best original video game score. The 2010 award winner was Killzone 2 (Composed by Joris de Man), and in 2011, Napoleon: Total War (Composers: Richard Beddow, Richard Birdsall, Ian Livingstone)

Spike Video Game Awards includes awards for Best Soundtrack, Best Song in a Game, and Best Original Score.

From 2012, the Grammy Awards will explicitly name "video game music" as part of its "Visual Media (Motion, Television, Video Game Music, or Other Visual Media)" awards. The four Visual Media awards are: Best Music for Visual Media, Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media, Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media, Best Song Written for Visual Media. In 2011, Baba Yetu, a song from Civilization IV, won the 53rd annual music awards' Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists, the first video game music to be nominated for (or to win) a Grammy.

The International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) has a Best Original Score for Interactive Media award.

Hollywood Music In Media Awards includes a Best Original Video Game Score award.

Machinima.com's Inside Gaming Awards include Best Original Score and Best Sound Design.

The MTV Video Music Award for Best Video Game Soundtrack ran from 2004 to 2006. Additionally an award for Best Video Game Score was awarded only in 2006.

Fan culture[link]

In addition to these professional deviations, a huge network of English speaking fans has sprung up with the help of emulators and the Internet in recent years.^{[citation needed]}

See also[link]

• Circuit bending
• Game rip (audio)
• List of video game musicians
• MAGFest
• Music video game
• OverClocked ReMix
• VGMusic.com
• Video Games Live
• IEZA Framework

References[link]

External links[link]

• GamesSound.com Academic articles on video game sound and music
• Early Video Game Soundtracks 2001 article on video game music, orig. published in In Magazine
• High Score: The New Era of Video Game Music at Tracksounds
• "The Evolution of Video Game Music", All Things Considered, April 12, 2008
• List of games with non-original music at uvlist.net
• Pretty Ugly Gamesound Study Website studying pretty and ugly game music and sound.
• CaptivatingSound.com Resources for design of game sound and music.
• Audio and Immersion PhD thesis about game audio and immersion.

The Sims is a strategic life-simulation video game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. Its development was led by game designer Will Wright, also known for developing SimCity. It is a simulation of the daily activities of one or more virtual persons ("Sims") in a suburban household near SimCity.

Gameplay[link]

The Sims uses a combination of 3D and 2D graphics techniques. The Sims themselves are rendered as 3D objects, but the house, and all its objects, are pre-rendered, and displayed dimetrically.

Neighborhood screen, Build and Buy modes[link]

While gameplay occurs in the game's Live mode, the player may enter Build mode or Buy mode to pause time and renovate the house or lot.

When the game begins, each family will start off with §20,000 Simoleons (regardless of its number of members). These funds can be used to purchase a small house or vacant lot on the Neighborhood screen. Once a lot is purchased, a house can be built or remodeled in Build mode, and/or purchase or move furniture in the Buy mode. All architectural features and furnishings customizable in the Build and Buy modes follow a square tile system in which items must be placed on a tile. Walls and fences go on the edge of a tile and can follow the edge of the tile or cross it, but furniture items cannot be placed on either side of a crossed tile. The base game contains over 150 items including furniture and architectural elements.

Sims' Lives[link]

Sims are instructed by the player to interact with objects, such as a television set, or other Sims. Sims may receive guests, invited or not, from other playable lots or from a pool of unhoused NPC Sims. If enabled in the game's options, Sims can have a certain amount of free will, allowing them to autonomously interact with their world. However, the player can override most autonomous actions, by cancelling them out in the action queue at the top of the screen. Unlike the simulated environments in games such as SimCity, SimEarth, or SimLife, the Sims are not fully autonomous. They are unable to take certain actions without specific commands from the player, such as paying their bills, finding a job, working out, and conceiving children.

The player can make decisions about time spent in skill development, such as exercise, reading, creativity, and logic, by adding activities to the daily agenda of the Sims. Daily needs such as hygiene maintenance and eating can and must also be scheduled. Although Sims can autonomously perform these actions, they may not prioritize them effectively. Much like real humans, Sims can suffer consequences for neglecting their own needs. For example, Sims can die from starvation if they do not eat for prolonged periods of time. Needs govern the overall moods of the Sims. The Sim will complain to the player in most cases when they are suffering from neglect. If the needs are not fulfilled, the Sims can become grumpy and unwilling to obey certain player-directed commands, particularly ones that further deplete the needs in question. This system follows the Maslow's hierarchy of needs, in which physiological needs must be satisfied before other needs can be attended to.

In addition to fulfilling their needs, Sims need to maintain balanced budgets. The most conventional method of generating an income is to obtain a job. The game presents various career tracks with ten jobs (levels of promotion) in each. The original careers include Business, Entertainment, Law Enforcement, Crime, Medicine, Military, Politics, and Science. Sims may earn promotions by fulfilling skill and friendship requirements of each level. These promotions lead to new job titles, increased wages, and different work hours. The Sims: Livin' Large and The Sims: Unleashed introduced additional career tracks including those of Paranormal, Cooking, and Education. Other means of generating an income include creating and selling various items such as artworks and gnomes at home, or growing produce at home and selling them at a nearby farmers' market. The latter option is introduced in The Sims: Unleashed.

The inner structure of the game is actually an agent based artificial life program. The presentation of the game's artificial intelligence is advanced, and the Sims will respond to outside conditions by themselves, although often the player/controller's intervention is necessary to keep them on the right track. The Sims technically has unlimited replay value, in that there is no way to win the game, and the player can play on indefinitely. It has been described as more like a toy than a game.

In addition, the game includes a very advanced architecture system. The game was originally designed as an architecture simulation alone, with the Sims there only to evaluate the houses, but during development it was decided that the Sims were more interesting than originally anticipated and their once limited role in the game was developed further.^[1]

The first game of The Sims series has several limitations, most notably that children never grow up to become adults, though babies do eventually become children. Also, adult Sims never age (or die of old age), and there is no concept of weekends. For example, adults and children are expected to go to work and attend school respectively, every day. In particular, adults receive a warning if they miss one day of work, but they are fired if they miss work for two consecutive days. Children can study at home to keep their school grades up. If they miss too many days of school or fail, they are transported away to a military academy indefinitely. Because children cannot prepare food or earn money, nor room with another adult Sim, they cannot sustain life on their own if their adult guardians die.

While there is no eventual objective to the game, states of failure do exist in The Sims. One is that Sims may die, either by starvation, drowning, perishing in a fire, electrocution or by virus (contracted from a pet guinea pig, which can happen when its cage is left dirty). When a Sim dies, a tombstone or an urn will appear in , the ghost of the deceased Sim may haunt the building where it died. In addition, Sims can leave a household (and game) for good and never return, if fed up with another Sim; two adult Sims with a bad relationship may brawl, eventually resulting in one of them moving out. Children will be sent away for good if they fail their classes. Sims can also be deliberately killed by the player by various means, such as removing the steps to a pool they are in, removing the doors to a room they are in, or surrounding them by objects. They can also be locked into an "undead" state, by blocking them from exiting a hot tub or bed, where they will remain to interact with other players, despite having few or none of their requirements left.

Life Stages[link]

There are three life stages in The Sims: infant, child and adult. While babies spawn into children, children and adults never age. This means children and adults remain in their life stage indefinitely. All Sims, however, can die from various causes (e.g. burning to death in a fire, drowning in a pool, starving, or dying from disease). If the player owns the Livin' Large expansion pack, the Grim Reaper will appear after the death of a Sim. If a relative of the dead Sim wins against him in Rock, paper, scissors, the dead Sim will be revived. If the relative loses, the dead Sim will remain dead and his/her tombstone will appear. The tombstone will appear where the Sim died, unless the player decides to move it to another place, or just delete it. The Sims Makin' Magic allowed children to turn into adults with a spell.

Music[link]

The game music was composed by Jerry Martin,^[2] Marc Russo , Kirk R. Casey,^[3] and Dix Bruce. The game disc contains 37 tracks, of which 15 were published in 2007 as an official soundtrack album.^[4] Most of the tracks contain no vocals, but some of them feature Simlish lyrics.

Simlish language[link]

Simlish is a fictional language appearing in Maxis' Sim series of games. Inspired by the code talkers of World War II, the Maxis development team created the Simlish language by experimenting with fractured Ukrainian, French, and Tagalog; Sims creator Will Wright also suggested experimenting with Navajo.^[5] Debuting in 1996's SimCopter, the constructed language is prominently featured in The Sims series, and, albeit less frequently, in SimCity 4 and Firaxis' Sid Meier's SimGolf. Conscious of the need for in-game dialogue, designer Will Wright dismissed using a modern language due to repetition during gameplay and financial costs for international translation. Currently, on both The Sims 3 and all of the MySims games, the startup screens feature a clip of a Plumbob and the EA logo, along with a voice speaking in Simlish, which are the same "words" that a Sim uses to greet another.

Expansion packs[link]

The Sims is one of the most heavily expanded computer game franchises ever. In all, a total of seven expansion packs were produced for The Sims (listed in chronological order):

[edit] The Sims: Livin' Large

Release date: August 31, 2000 (North America)

The Sims: Livin' Large (known as The Sims: Livin' It Up in the United Kingdom) is the first expansion pack released for The Sims. This expansion pack focuses on adding new characters, careers, items, and features that allow for more obscure and extreme gameplay. Many of the games new additions may seem a bit out of place. For example, Sims can transform into Frankenstein-esque monsters by ingesting certain potions made from the chemistry set.

[edit] The Sims: House Party

Release date: April 2, 2001 (North America)

The Sims: House Party is the second expansion pack for The Sims. House Party gives players the ability and facilities to hold elaborate parties and gatherings in their Sims' homes. For example, sims can purchase dance floors, costume trunks, and buffet tables complete with hired caterers. Interestingly, if a Sim throws a really good party with a lot of guests, Drew Carey will make a guest appearance and mingle with the guests at the party. Conversely, if the guests at the party become bored, a mime will show up to entertain them with his act, only making them more angry.

House Party was reissued in October 2002, not only to mark the release of The Sims Deluxe Edition, but also to match the box covers of the Hot Date and Vacation expansion packs.

[edit] The Sims: Hot Date

Main article: The Sims: Hot Date

Release date: November 12, 2001 (North America)

The Sims: Hot Date is the third expansion pack released for The Sims. Hot Date adds a significant new feature not present in previous versions of the game: the ability for Sims to leave their homes and travel to new destinations. In this expansion pack, the new destination is composed of ten new lots and is called "Downtown". This new feature sets a new legacy for the franchise as all of the following expansion packs for The Sims add new destinations as well. At this city, Sims can enjoy various activities such as eating at a restaurant, shopping at a store, and going out on dates. Hot Date introduces other new features such as a revamped relationship system involving daily (short term) relationship and lifetime (long term) relationship scores. Sims can also carry inventory and give gifts to other Sims. As with other expansion packs, Hot Date also adds a variety of items such as the heart-shaped hot tub, cuddle swings, and items used to build eateries and shops. New characters such as the blonde bombshell, the matchmaker, and lounge lizards are introduced.

[edit] The Sims: Vacation

Release date: March 28, 2002 (North America)

The Sims: Vacation (called The Sims: On Holiday in the Republic of Ireland, the UK, China and Scandinavia) is the fourth expansion pack for The Sims. Vacation introduces a new destination called "Vacation Island" where Sims can take vacations with family members or with other Sims. This marks the first time Sims can stay on lots away from home. In other words, the game can be saved while a Sim is on Vacation Island. Vacation Island is split into three distinct environments: beach, forest, and snow-capped mountain. Sims can stay at a hotel or rent a tent/igloo to rough it in the wild. They can also purchase or find souvenirs. As with other expansion packs, Vacation introduces new items, characters, and features pertaining to the theme of vacations.

[edit] The Sims: Unleashed

Release date: November 7, 2002 (North America)

The Sims: Unleashed is the fifth expansion pack developed for The Sims. Unleashed introduces pets into the game. While dogs and cats are treated as Sims, other pets are treated as objects. However, dogs and cats cannot be controlled directly like human Sims are, and can only be directed to move around by the player. Small pets introduced by the expansion pack include scarlet macaws, Greater sulphur-crested cockatoos, iguanas, box turtles, Fischer's lovebirds, and budgerigars. Furthermore, Unleashed introduced gardening, allowing Sims to grow and nurture plants that could later be harvested and consumed. In Unleashed, the original ten-lot neighborhood that was featured in all previous games was expanded to over forty, and also provided an option to re-zone lots into residential or commercial. In commercial lots, one can build shops and cafes which Sims can visit by calling the Old Town trolley to take them there. The theme of the game is considered to be Cajun or Zydeco. One could compare it to New Orleans' French Quarter with voodoo shops and jazz musicians appearing on commercial lots. With the addition of The Sims Makin' Magic, users could cast spells on pets and turn them into humans.

[edit] The Sims: Superstar

Release date: May 13, 2003 (North America)

The Sims: Superstar is the sixth expansion pack of the seven released for The Sims. This expansion allows the player's Sims to become entertainment figures and includes representations of several famous personalities. A number of celebrities make cameo appearances but cannot be controlled by the player, and include Andy Warhol, Marilyn Monroe, Jon Bon Jovi, Christina Aguilera, Freddie Prinze, Jr., Sarah McLachlan, Richie Sambora, and Avril Lavigne. Along with new work items such as the runway and leisure items such as the mud bath tub, Superstar includes a new destination called "Studio Town" in which celebrity Sims can utilize these work items to generate simoleons and fame.

[edit] The Sims: Makin' Magic

Release date: October 29, 2003 (North America)

The Sims: Makin' Magic is the seventh and final expansion pack released for The Sims. It introduces magic to the game and allows Sims to cast spells, forge charms, and buy alchemical ingredients. Dragons are also made available as pets to hatch from eggs, and can destroy a Sim's home and garden as well as provide spell ingredients. Makin' Magic introduces the Magic Town lots, which house vendors of magical ingredients and items and a number of magic-related mini-games. Additionally, Sims with enough MagiCoins (the newly-introduced currency) can buy lots to build houses in Magic Town, which provide special magical benefits and abilities. In addition, it introduces baking and nectar-making. This expansion pack includes a disc containing a preview of The Sims 2.

The theme of the game is Mediterranean and Eastern European/gypsy carnival.

Compilations[link]

Core game with expansions[link]

The Sims has been repackaged in numerous editions. These are not expansions in themselves, but compilations of the basic game plus pre-existing expansion packs and additional game content.

Expansions only[link]

There have also been compilations of expansion packs without the core game released in only North America, and some parts of the UK.

Reception[link]

In 2002, The Sims became the top-selling PC game in history, displacing the game Myst, by selling more than 6.3 million copies worldwide.^[6] As of February 7, 2005, the game has shipped 16 million copies worldwide.^[7] Critics praised it with positive reviews. It has been a success in many ways—attracting casual gamers and female gamers (the latter making up almost 60% of players).^[8] Open-ended gameplay has been done before in games, such as the farming-based simulation series Harvest Moon, but The Sims has certainly gained popularity for this particular style of gameplay. In March 2009, Electronic Arts announced that The Sims, as a franchise, has sold more than 100 million copies.

Legacy[link]

The Sims was first released on February 4, 2000.^[9] By March 22, 2002, The Sims had sold more than 6.3 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling PC game in history;^[6] the game has shipped 16 million copies worldwide as of February 7, 2005.^[7] Since its initial release, seven expansion packs and sequels The Sims 2 and The Sims 3 have been released. The Sims has won numerous awards, including GameSpot's "Game of the Year Award" for 2000.

Sequels and spinoffs[link]

• The Sims Online — Online version of The Sims, where players can interact with other players in real-time
• The Sims 2 — Sequel to The Sims; second generation of the main series; set 25 years after The Sims
• The Sims Stories — Spinoff series featuring goal-directed Story Mode
• MySims — A Wii spinoff focused more on building objects
• The Sims 3 — Prequel to The Sims; third generation of the main series; set 25 years before The Sims
• The Sims Medieval — First title in a line of spinoff products set in medieval times.
• The Sims Social — Facebook spinoff.
• The Sims Freeplay — A freemium version of The Sims for smartphones, iPod Touch, and iPad.

Other versions[link]

Ports[link]

• The Sims and all its expansion packs were ported to the Mac by Aspyr Media, Inc..
• The Sims was ported to Linux using Transgaming's WineX technology (now known as Cedega) and was bundled with Mandrake Linux Gaming Edition. However, the WineX engine is unable to run the Windows version of the game. Transgaming also acknowledges that the original port will no longer run on modern Linux distributions as is. It is important to note that a guide is available to get the game working with Cedega 4.4. The Linux port is unable to accept the various add-on packs intended for the Windows version.^{[citation needed]} It was released on March 12, 2003.

Console versions[link]

The Sims was ported to the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Nintendo GameCube in 2003. (It was originally for the Nintendo 64 and the PlayStation but was moved to later consoles) Gameplay is similar to that of the PC versions and retains many of the core elements. Notable changes include a full 3D camera perspective (instead of the original 2D isometric viewpoint), more detailed appearances of Sims, and the introduction of a "Get A Life" goals-based story mode. However, a number of limits are placed on the simulation to keep within the more restrictive system requirements on a video game console.^[10] The ports enjoyed a generally favorable reception, with Metacritic scores ranging from 83-85 as of August 2009.^[11][12][13]

The console ports were each followed by a sequel, The Sims: Bustin' Out, and a spin-off game, The Urbz: Sims in the City. These versions incorporate some features of later PC expansion packs, and add a multiplayer mode supporting two simultaneous players.

Film[link]

The Sims (working title) is a live action, drama film currently in preproduction.^[14]

On May 25, 2007, it was announced that The Sims film rights had been purchased by 20th Century Fox.^[15] It will be written by Brian Lynch, the writer of Angel: After The Fall. The film will be produced by John Davis, who has worked on films such as Norbit and Eragon.

Website[link]

The website made by Maxis for The Sims, is now disconnected after 11 years. It has now been replaced with just The Sims 2 and The Sims 3.

References[link]

Inline[link]

General[link]

• Nakamura, Rika; Wirman, Hanna (2005-10). "Girlish Counter-Playing Tactics". Game Studies 5 (1). http://www.gamestudies.org/0501/nakamura_wirman. 
• Pearce, Celia (2002-07). "Sims, BattleBots, Cellular Automata God and Go". Game Studies 2 (1). http://www.gamestudies.org/0102/pearce. 
• Paulk, Charles (2006-12). "Signifying Play: The Sims and the Sociology of Interior Design". Game Studies 6 (1). http://gamestudies.org/0601/articles/paulk. 
• Atkins, Barry. More than a game: the computer Game as fictional form Manchester: Manchester Univ. Press, 2003.

External links[link]

• Official Website
• The Sims Wiki

This article uses bare URLs for citations. Please consider adding full citations so that the article remains verifiable. Several templates and the Reflinks tool are available to assist in formatting. (Reflinks documentation) (August 2011)

John C. Debney (born August 18, 1956) is an American film composer. He received an Academy Award nomination for his score for Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. He also composed the score for Cutthroat Island, which has been celebrated by music critics as a notable example of swashbuckling film music.^[1][2][3][4]

Life and career[link]

The son of Disney Studios producer Louis Debney (Zorro, The Mickey Mouse Club), John was born and raised in nearby Glendale, California, where he began guitar lessons at age six and played in rock bands in college. Debney earned his B.A. degree in Music Composition from the California Institute of Arts in 1979. Two weeks after graduating from CalArts, he got a job at copying department at Disney. One day, Buddy Baker saw him and had him arrange music that would later be used for different pavilions and rides at epcot (at Disney World in Florida).^[5] After three years at Disney, he freelanced for television composer Mike Post. Debney furthered his hands-on training by working with Hanna-Barbera composer Hoyt Curtin. After this, Debney went on to score television projects as diverse as Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, seaQuest DSV, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, The Further Adventures of SuperTed, Doctor Who (film) and Dink, the Little Dinosaur for which he won an Emmy for Best Main Title. In the early 1990s, Debney began to score indie films and Disneyland attractions. In 1991, Debney composed the music for Phantom Manor in Disneyland Paris. In 1993, he scored his first studio feature, the Disney comedy Hocus Pocus starring Bette Midler.

Debney has since gone on to have a career composing scores for many films including: Iron Man 2, The Passion of the Christ, Bruce Almighty, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Elf, Sin City, Chicken Little, Liar Liar, Spy Kids, The Emperor's New Groove, The Scorpion King, The Princess Diaries^[6] and Predators.^[7]

Debney has also recorded scores for the video games Lair and The Sims Medieval. In 2010, he composed the theme music for the Nickelodeon television series Supah Ninjas.

Filmography[link]

Awards[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• John Debney at the Internet Movie Database
• John Debney's Official Website
• John Debney Tribute at Filmtracks.com
• John Debney at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)