Welcome to The Sims 2! Part 22

Hello Everybody:

They say sometimes the journey is its own reward, and if that's the case, then my predecessor, Luc Barthelet, got enough metaphorical rewards these past few years to last a lifetime (and let's face it, the games he's helped breathe life into have received enough *actual* awards to last a lifetime, too!). I've had the honor and good fortune to have worked with Luc through the launch of the SimCity 3000™ website, through the entire amazing roller-coaster ride of unbridled success that was The Sims™, and most recently, on the soon-to-be-unbridled-success that is The Sims™ 2. It was an incredible time for all involved, and I'd like to take this opportunity to wish him well in his new role of VP, Technology Fellow for EA, and to thank him for the years of hard work and dedication.

Now, to address all those naysayers out there who have ambivalent feelings about the addition of the letter "y" to the closing salutation of their Sims Community letter, let me say to you that you can rest assured that the flame of community passion and the dedication to create wonderful games and powerful sets of tools to support and add extensibility to them has been passed on to someone (me!) with the same fervent belief about what makes a product rise above the competition and achieve greatness. And fear not, die-hard Luc fans - he's just one floor up from the rest of Maxis, and is almost certain to put in a cameo appearance every now and then!

The other big news this week - the Llama has landed! We've settled into EA's Redwood Shores HQ and we've already begun pushing our secret agenda to make EA just a little more like Maxis. Decorations and artwork are popping up throughout our floor, and rhinos have been hung from the ceiling (not real rhinos, mind you) and we're quickly acquiring that lived-in look that only dozens of skilled workers working long, hard hours and not showering enough can bring. The interruption of our work on The Sims 2 proved to be no more than a blip of an annoyance, and we're now back to working full-time (and then some) on making The Sims 2 the incredible experience you all know it will be.

We'll have more information of the game in next week's email, but in the meantime, take a gander at the concept art of our posh new entry way that leads to our new digs:

Luc + y = Lucy

Lucy Bradshaw

Executive Producer, The Sims 2