Sims migrating to a new home: the PS2

Sims unpack online The wildly popular computer game sets up housekeeping on the Internet beginning Tuesday.

The Sims conquered the computer years ago, and Tuesday it moves online. But it has one more world to conquer: In January, it will show up on the Sony PlayStation 2 video game console.

The Sims is unlike any game you've ever played. In fact, it seems a stretch of sorts to call it a game at all (though the PS2 version has more traditional gaming elements than the home computer or online Sims).

You create, then control the lives and actions of the denizens of a small town, micromanaging their daily routines right down to feeding them and helping them find ways to fill their idle time.

Allow them to party too late at night and they'll start missing the morning carpool to work. Before you know it, your simulated slackers will be jobless and destitute.

The computer version of the game is completely nonlinear, meaning you're free to roam where you want when you want. The same holds true for the PS2 version, but there's also a level-based "get-a-life" mode that gives you certain objectives to accomplish before moving on to the next phase of the game.

A new graphics engine gives the PS2 version 3-D imagery and features a deeper level of character detailing than the computer version. You'll find all the characters and objects from the computer game and its four expansion packs, as well as 14 new objects. And there's an intriguing two-player mode that uses a split screen (diagonal for a change) and lets you load your Sims into a friend's game or vice versa. You decide whether you want to be a nice guy -- maybe playing tour guide for a newbie or peacefully coexisting with a buddy -- or a jerk who spends his days trying to wreak havoc on a soon-to-be-former-friend.

Fans of the computer version may question whether the keyboard-intensive Sims can make the jump to a controller-driven video game console. It can. A simple scroll-and-click interface handles most game functions effectively.

On the computer, the Sims changed the way people look at gaming. It defied the industry's typical demographic parameters by appealing equally to male and female players of all ages. Which is why it sold more than 7-million copies and became the top computer game of all time.

The same kind of thing is likely to happen with the PS2 Sims. The industry has spent years searching for a way to broaden gaming's demographic appeal. This should do it.

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