Last week I talked at length about the sexualization of women in video games, and a commenter suggested that I might want to consider just giving up and play The Sims. While I’ll try not to be insulted by the remark (um, yeah, that didn’t work), up until yesterday I really had no desire to play The Sims to speak of. While I recall, dimly, playing Sim City at a point during the 90s, it’s never really held much appeal to me. Too much nothing happening, you know? I need swords and fights and…

What? Now they’ve gone and added swords? Well played, good sirs, well played.

Yes, indeed. EA has announced The Sims Medieval, which ensures that I will lose at least a few months of my life in 2011 to questing, fighting dragons, forging swords, and keeping my little village happy.

From their release, via G4:

Everything in The Sims Medieval is crafted to create an immersive medieval world, from the quest-based gameplay, to the medieval objects such as swords and stocks and thrones, right down to the warm look of the characters, and the painterly approach to the world itself. Players can choose to customize every new Hero that comes to the kingdom, including selecting their traits and their fatal flaw. Players get close to their characters, not only sending them on epic quests, but also making sure they carry out their daily responsibilities such as healing the sick, trading for exotic goods, or forging armor. From having a baby to competing in a royal tournament, what happens to their Sims is up to the player. The time of romance and chivalry is back with The Sims Medieval.

Well, if it’s even half as good as that I’ll play it. Okay, so I don’t know what “warm look of the characters” means. From my studies of the period, I was thinking, you know, more full of boils and wallowing in filth, i.e. Monty Python and the Holy Grail. But I suppose you can’t get away with too much boom and doom in a video game. A fatal flaw also sounds a little odd, since consigning your characters to deal from the get-go feels a bit masochistic, but well, let’s hope they know well what they’re doing. I mean, if every detail has been attended to, medieval snobs like myself won’t have any issues.

And let’s hope the game is engaging, too. I agree with G4 that, for the most part, the Sims oeuvre has really tapped out. There’s only so much you can get out of the structure. But moving backward in time, well, that’s quite clever! I know it’s piqued my interest.

How about you guys? Desperate attempt to keep afloat, or perhaps a ticket to new popularity?

Tags: the sims, the sims medieval