Welcome to The Sims 2! Final Edition :)

Greetings Sim Fans,

Are you actually reading this? Shouldn't you be playing The Sims 2?

Well, if you insist on continuing to read this missive, I suppose I'll continue.

It's always hard when a project that's demanded so much of you both physically and mentally draws to a close. It's incredibly rewarding to see the countless person-hours put in by yourself and scores of others pay off in the form an amazing game like The Sims 2 (I'd be more modest, but have you played the game? It seriously rocks), but there's a bittersweet element to it as well. Suddenly, there's this big, Sim-shaped hole in your life. The pace of your existence slows down (if only briefly) to manageable levels. You have time for little things like laundry, right on up to the big things like spending time with family. The return to normalcy is incredibly welcome, but something feels off, like the phantom pains of a missing limb.

It has been great fun sharing stories about the development process with you all, and teasing you with all the exciting new features found in The Sims 2, but now that the game is on shelves (and hopefully in your Sims-lovin' mitts as well), it's time for all of us here at Maxis to listen to what you have to say about the game. The secret to our success has always been the support, the love, and even the criticism we receive from you, our biggest, best and most knowledgeable fans. Believe me when I say that we'll be looking to you all to help us make The Sims 2, and the successive Expansion Packs, every bit as successful as the original The Sims games.

So, it is with no small amount of sadness that I report to you that this is the final Lucy Mail. Sure, there will probably be additional communications from members of the Maxis team in a few months, when we have more exciting news to share, but now is the time for all of us to go live our own lives, as well as the virtual lives of our simulated pals in The Sims 2. It's time build the perfect Sim-family, and help them realize their dreams and aspirations. It's time to upload your stories and movies to The Sims 2 Exchange. In short, the work is done – it's time to play!

And you can sense that sense of play here in the office. The team has a brief respite right now, and there's a real sense of pride among us all, and a feeling of victory and a job well done. We've made a little movie that shows how we feel:
http://thesims.simbeta.com/us/sims2/images/local/special/the_sism2_140.mov

At the office, we all worked with one another so closely for such a long time, it's kind of like everybody melded together to form some kind of crazy super-organism. We even started to dress and coif ourselves similarly. If you don't believe me, we've got pictures to prove it. It's a bit frightening, actually:

And if you want your Sims to look like authentic Maxoids (I can't imagine why – I mean, you saw the photos, right?), well, we're only too happy to oblige:
http://thesims.ea.com/us/sims2/images/local/special/ATFemale_hairpgchopp...

Farewell, Sims Fans!

Lucy Bradshaw

The Sims 2 Executive Producer/Brain of the Super-Organism

P.S. When the site launches, please go to the Fansite page in the Community Section to re-submit your site (http://thesims2.ea.com/community/fansites.php). Use this as an opportunity to update your information and polish your description.

We're really looking forward to seeing all the new things The Sims 2 fansites do with The Sims 2. Thanks for being such an important part of our community! We're all hanging out on the boards as much as we can realistically afford to right now, so keep a close eye out for people with official “Maxoid” names (e.g. I'm MaxoidLucy) if you have any questions.