Top PC Game The Sims Had Hollywood Screenwriters Help

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., April 26, 2000-The Sims(TM), the computer game that today marks its 12th consecutive week as the top grossing PC game in North America, isn't your usual gaming fare. It's not about slaying dragons, fighting aliens or scoring touchdowns. Rather, it's about controlling the domestic lives of supposedly regular people.

With over one million copies of The Sims shipped worldwide, the game is a critical as well as financial success. But during the game's long seven-year development, skeptics said a game about domestic life just wouldn't be fun to the core of computer gaming enthusiasts. So the game's developer, Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: ERTS), turned to the industry that has been making domestic life entertaining for over 50 years-the world of motion pictures and television.

Enter Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo, two long time passionate gamers, who most recently created the television series "The Sentinel" and "Viper". The rare combination of storytelling talent and experience, plus their gaming expertise brought Electronic Arts (EA) a fresh perspective. Over a period of several months, The Sims' game designers worked with Bilson and De Meo whose Pet Fly Productions was also responsible for bringing the comic book classic "The Flash" to television, and Disney's "The Rocketeer" to the motion picture screen.

In the game, players create a cast of simulated characters (called Sims) assigning them personalities, appearances and names. Then they control their lives, helping them pursue careers, friendships and romance.

The Pet Fly team using their storytelling abilities helped the game designers at EA to think about what makes domestic life and the family unit entertaining. "Every time we met with Danny and Paul, they really helped us move our thinking forward," said Luc Barthelet, the EA General Manager who oversaw development of The Sims. "They forced us to think about the fact that the family concept was valuable. One critical decision that Pet Fly helped us make was to include children in the game. Having kids had been discussed among the team members, but somehow they pushed the idea so that everyone agreed."

Pet Fly also worked with the game developers to think about the careers that players would want their characters to have. Instead of focusing exclusively on real-world jobs, Bilson and De Meo encouraged the game designers to include some unusual career tracks. The final choice of careers in The Sims, therefore included law enforcement, politics, extreme sports, show business and the life of crime.

"Will Wright (who designed the game) is one of the visionaries of the game industry," says Bilson. "Paul and I were honored to be asked to assist him in adding this new human dimension to what is already a classic".

Interestingly, many players of The Sims are now playing the role of screenwriters themselves. Using subtitled still screenshots from the game, something that looks like a detailed storyboard, players have created and publish over 5000 of their own TV-style comedies and dramas. These include everything from the adventures of superhero Lama Man to the rise and fall of politician Juan Vasquez to a tragic alien-human love story. The stories are posted on the game's official Web site, http://www.TheSims.com.

The Sims requires Windows® 95 or greater and a 233Mhz or faster processor. The Sims is available in stores now for a suggested retail price of $49.99. It may be ordered directly from the EA Store(SM) at http://www.store.ea.com or by calling 800-245-4525.

Electronic Arts, headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world's leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, Electronic Arts posted revenues of more than $1.2 billion for fiscal 1999. The company develops, publishes and distributes software worldwide for personal computers and video game systems. Electronic Arts markets its products under eight brand names: Electronic Arts(TM), EA SPORTS(TM), Maxis(TM), ORIGIN(TM), Bullfrog(TM) Productions, Westwood Studios(TM), Gonzo Games(TM) and Jane's® Combat Simulations. More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://www.ea.com.

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Electronic Arts, EA Store, EA SPORTS, Maxis, Origin, Bullfrog, Westwood Studios, The Sims and Gonzo Games are trademarks, registered trademarks or service marks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Jane's is a registered trademark of Jane's Information Group, Ltd. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Press Contacts:

Patrick Buechner Joe Lauer

Electronic Arts Pet Fly Productions

(925) 927-3782 (818) 843-3594

pbuechner@ea.com lordflys@ix.netcom.com