Games developer viewing life outside virtual world

Will Wright, the creator behind top-selling videogame The Sims, is eyeing life outside the virtual world.

Since leaving Electronic Arts in April to run entertainment think tank Stupid Fun Club, Wright said he views himself as an entertainment designer rather than game maker and wants to create worlds crossing every spectrum of media.

Following on from his bestsellers like The Sims 3 and Spore, Wright is working on new franchises that can go beyond games to the Web, mobile devices, and traditional Hollywood outlets like television and film.

Wright, 49, said he was fascinated by watching gamers using the editing tools provided with Spore to make over 100 million user-generated alien species, space ships and even design games.

“We’re taking the idea that you can have a million people engaged not just in entertainment, but also have them creating huge amounts of content for other people to experience,” said Wright.

“The question is how can you transfer that to other fields besides games,” he added, while refusing to divulge the details of the project he is working on.

In an industry that has more failures than successes, Wright has distinguished himself in the game world by attracting mainstream audiences to his creations.

The Sims franchise has sold over 100 million copies worldwide and it’s relationship-focused, non-violent gameplay has attracted an unprecedented female gaming audience — half of Sims players are female.

EA has already sold over 817,000 copies of The Sims 3 in the U. S. since June, while Spore has sold over 1.7 million copies in the U. S. alone since last year, according to the NPD Group.

“The Sims was always an experiment,” said Wright. “We never thought it’d be a mainstream thing. We simply did a game and started adding expansion packs and did a sequel and added more expansion packs.”

Wright said good examples of “cross-media” companies were George Lucas’ empire, which runs the gamut from special effects house Industrial Light & Magic to LucasArts and LucasFilm, and the Walt Disney Company.

Speaking last week at SIGGRAPH, the annual gathering of computer graphics professionals, Wright pointed to J. J. Abrams’ Lost television show, which has used the Internet, as well as games, to build a story expanding beyond the serialized content.

Wright, in his first public appearance since parting ways with Electronic Arts in April, said the fusion of technology will enable future entertainment to be more than interactive.

“Games and stories are generative with one leading to the other,” said Wright, who added that games allow people to build models in a virtual world to apply back to the real world.

“People can learn lessons about the past, present and future in an entertaining way.”

Greatest hits albums have long been a staple of the recording industry, and it seems only fitting that one of the most popular music-based video games ever created is getting the same treatment.

Guitar Hero: Smash Hits is the latest installment of the highly popular Guitar Hero series of games. It’s available now for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 2 and 3 and Wii.

True to its title, Smash Hits does an admirable job culling memorable songs from previous releases, particularly the first two titles in the series. The songs have been remastered, using original versions instead of covers and adding vocal and drum tracks so a full band can play.

While most of the songs rock and game play is as fun as ever, price continues to be an issue for the Guitar Hero franchise. This game would have been a stellar collection at a discount, but Smash Hits carries the same price tag as other new releases. It may be hard for fans of the series to justify paying full price for something they’ve already seen before, and rightfully so.

Smash Hits allows a full band to play the most popular songs from previous installments for the first time. The songs on offer include some of the most challenging and enjoyable tracks, focusing largely on hard rock and heavy metal selections.

Blister-inducing favourites like Pantera’s Cowboys From Hell and Ozzy Osbourne’s Bark at the Moon and endurance tests like Lynyrd Skynyrd’s nine-minute opus Free Bird will challenge even the most accomplished shredder.

While publisher Activision is still capable of putting out excellent titles like Guitar Hero: Metallica, it has also coughed up the lacklustre Rocks the ’80s and Aerosmith entries.

Smash Hits is more like the latter in that there is nothing worthwhile here that couldn’t have been offered as downloadable content.

The game has a flimsy attempt at a story arc and some unlockable costumes, but these are not nearly enough to justify a full price tag.

The concept behind Guitar Hero: Smash Hits is a good one. The set list reads as a bona-fide compilation of the best songs from the series’ early days.

If not for the inflated price tag, this would have been an easy recommendation.

[Posted By JOHN GAUDIOSI SPECIAL TO SUN MEDIA]