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danielr02's avatar
5 years ago

Releasing Cancelled Game Prototypes

Noticed that SEGA, on Steam, is planning to release (for free) a prototype of a game they cancelled a few years back, which got me thinking about a few games over the years that EA had cancelled from The Sims series:

- SimMars, which appears to have been a planet-building game. This was indefinitely put on hold on 12/05/2000, but the website was redirected by November.
- SimsVille, a game combining the main ideas of SimCity and The Sims (running a neighbourhood instead of just a family). The game was supposed to be released in 2001, then 2002, then it was cancelled on 21/09/2001. Looked brilliant going by the trailers, and looking at videos on YouTube, there was some sort of demo for press that was released.
- The Urbz 2, a sequel to The Urbz: Sims in the City intended to be released in 2007. Apparently cancelled due to declining usage of TSO, Bustin' Out, and a few game engine issues.

Is there anyone else who would love for EA to release either prototypes, or what was completed, on the games? Looking at trailers and such, SimsVille looked the most exciting!

7 Replies

  • I'm relatively new to the sims (TS3,2013), but I would be very interested in playing these prototypes, even just for the development aspect of it.
    I wonder if it ever will happen.
  • i read somewhere that in the sims 2 console if someone finds a copy of the urbz they will throw it out of disgust! i played sims 2 console for so long and never noticed!
    also it says the game sold really bad. can confirm, i never bought it, my friend used to borrow it from the video rental shop hahah but i still remember it was a fun game, wasn't it?
    https://sims.fandom.com/wiki/The_Urbz:_Sims_in_the_City here it says that many of the urbz 2 content was just added to the sims 2 for console, some premades too. other games that maxis cancelled got some of its features put into the sims games.
  • I don't see the usefulness unless you're a developer and want to develop them further. Finished games are sometimes not as fun as they look and some have lots of bugs, unfinished games even more so.
  • I'd love it. I wouldn't hope for it though as they don't even provide ways to obtain TS1/2 properly. Mildly related I know for sure that there're people who would be very interested in beta and alpha versions of TS2.
  • Sims 4 is slowly turning into SimsVille as from Eco Lifestyle. SimSocieties/Destinations probably was the result of SimsVille but that didn't do very well. It reminds me a bit of Cities-Skylines putting buildings down rather than Sims in buildings. I tried to play it again recently but wasn't impressed much.
  • "crocobaura;c-17689925" wrote:
    I don't see the usefulness unless you're a developer and want to develop them further. Finished games are sometimes not as fun as they look and some have lots of bugs, unfinished games even more so.


    I guess not so much 'usefulness', but more curiosity. The premise of the game sounds fun (sounds like SimTown, which I love(d)). To me, it feels like a bit of a waste, seeing far production got. Even IGN said: "...has met an untimely end as it wasn't meeting Maxis' standards. Strange, considering when last we saw the game, it was actually shaping up fairly well." (https://ign.com/articles/2001/09/20/simsville-canned)

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