Anyone else think that it's sad that this needs to be written on the box?

Surely this game should be able to float, naye it should be able to soar on it's own merrits.

I think that's more of a right of passage.  Sims is a huge-mega-whopper-sale of a video game, being allowed to put that on the box is a marketing strategy to sell the game to people who don't follow video games like us, but play the Sims religiously.

That's my opinion, but I'd say its a good move to try to sell to a wider audience.

Theres plenty of people out there who haven't heared of the game, and will walk into a store, pick up the box and say "Hey, I like The Sims games, I should check this out"

Now what really bugs me is the adverts shown a while back for Zelda Phantom Hourglass in the UK, it said "From the makers of Animal Crossing"
Sureley, it should be the other way round. I guess Zelda isnt as relevant as it used to be.

I don't think it's "sad" that it needs to be written on the box. It feels the same with movie, movie trailers, "from the director of blah blah". I don't think it's a big deal at all, myself. Every medium pretty much refers to something else a creator has done before. 

When they have that kind of name backing it, why wouldnt they put it on the box? Soccer moms probably dont know what Spore is...yet.

"Anyone else think that it's sad that this needs to be written on the box?"

It will definitely sell more copies because of it.

Well Will said today at the press event that I was at that the creativity side of the game draws in the larger crowd, so whilst monsters aren't as popular as humans with some people the games own merits will draw a large audience. I don't think that it would hurt to write that on the box though.

Yeah I don't have a problem with it. Not everyone associates Maxis with the sims. If more people see that and buy the game because of it then that's good regardless.

"BinaryDragon said:

"Anyone else think that it's sad that this needs to be written on the box?"

By sad, I sure hope you mean it's sad on the people's part for not knowing about the game, and not the company's part."

Honestly, I think this game could soar even if Maxis hadn't made a name for itself nearly two decades ago. Even if Maxis was still independent, just the word of mouth for this game would still put it on top of the charts for weeks.

Um . . . what? How is that sad? They want everyone who looks at the box to know "hey you know the dudes what made the most successful game of all time? Yeah, they made this one too"

I know everyone wants to live in a magical fairyland where everyone knows all about every single video game in the world, but you know what? Not everyone follows this stuff. They don't know, so put it on the box so you'll get people to buy it.

No company with a game as successful as The Sims is ever gonna say "Hmm, do you think we should say "from the makers of" on the box? Or should turn down free sales and leave the box blank? Hmm . . . yeah, I think we already have enough money, don't put it on the box."

I don't think it's sad, I mean it's not just a marketting strategy, surely people who liked the casual style and creativity of The Sims are likely to read that, pick the game up and have a genuinely good experience with it.

"Anyone else think that it's sad that this needs to be written on the box?

Surely this game should be able to float, naye it should be able to soar on it's own merrits."

I just realised that its on the pre release sleeve that I got signed, not sure about the actual retail version though.

It's like seeing "Sid Meier's" or "From the Creator's of Baldur's Gate" or "Next chapter in the epic story" or "Final piece to the puzzle", just another way to grab people's attention and make a sale, alot of gamers forget that the game industry is a business and the developers and publishers of games are in this industry to make money. Any way to grab that extra sale, they'll do.