On Jan. 31 2000 Electronic Arts open the floodgates to another one of Will Wright's off-kilter, but strangely addictive games.
Over the next ten years the Sims franchise sold more than 100 million copies and became the best selling PC franchise of all time.
You may not have been around when the first game hit, or maybe you haven't stuck around through to The Sims 3 and expansion packs due for the title later this month, but chances are you've at least tried one of the games in the franchise.
Here are a few fun facts for you Sim addicts and those new to the franchise.
While creating Simlish, the fictional language spoken by Sims, the development team played around with using bits of Ukrainian and Tagalog. Wright suggested using Navajo.
The currency of the Sims, Simoleans, were named after the slang term for the Sixpence (Simon) and a French gold coin called a Napolean.
The Sims 3 official community site hosts 300 content downloads every minute on average. The most popular download over the years has been hair.
The first object created for The Sims was the toilet. Satisfying one of Maslow's most basic needs.
In 2004, a Dutch family was selected by EA to live in a glass house for four days to promote The Sims 2.
Will Wright, not content to sit back and let the Simoleans roll in, once introduced a nasty virus to the world of the Sims. The plague quickly spread throughout the virtual world before players finally tracked it back to pet guinea pigs.
The French love The Sims almost as much as they love Jerry Lewis. They even created a postage stamp honoring the game.
Make sure to swing by our podcast later today if you'd like to chat with some of the people behind the game live.


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