MySims dev praises Wii

Maxis Game Designer, Robin Hunicke, has spoke out about her enthusiasm for Wii and the thought behind the reinvention of the Sims series for the console.

"The Wii is so cool ... Almost everyone on my team is a Nintendo fan. Almost all game developers are Nintendo fans," commented Hunicke. An appropriate choice of words after fellow Maxis developer, Chris Hecker, last week cited the Wii as "a piece of shit".

"It's not clear to me that Nintendo gives a s**t about games as an art form," said Hecker, who has since appologised.

Now it seems Maxis are only too pleased to express please with Nintendo's console, with Hunicke pointing to its clean design and family-orientated approach to gaming as the key factors in the new direction MySims has taken.

Despite the radically changed controller, Hunicke stressed the importance of sticking to the fundamentals of a franchise on a new console. "We wanted to bring The Sims to the Wii in a way that we could say we were at home on the Wii."

Unlike many other Wii games out there, Hunicke also wanted to avoid using flailing arm movements in MySims.

MySims comes with a radically re-invented cartoony style, and a new emphasis on community as players seek to rejuvenate a run-down town to attract new residents.

MySims is due out on Wii and DS later this year.

via cvg