NEW ‘SIMS’ DEEMED X-RATED, DRAWS ASHCROFT’S IRE

By Bill Mackinaw

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02:00 AM Apr. 30, 2004 PT

Electronic Arts announced the release date for its much anticipated followed up to The Sims, despite a recent move by the Bush Administration and Christian groups to block the game from store shelves.

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The Sims 2, which is scheduled to hit stores this summer, is drawing harsh criticism for its realistic depiction of sex and adulthood themes like abortion, gambling, sexual disease, and drug use.

The sequel to the best-selling PC game of all time lets you create and control your own virtual people and influence the outcome of their lives. It contains all of the features and challenges of the original Sims, but with better artificial intelligence and more mature subject matter.

The latter is drawing the ire of US Attorney General John Ashcroft, who labeled the upcoming game “obscene by anyone’s standards,” in a speech to the Christian Coalition of America on Thursday.

From infancy to childhood, and from teenage life to adulthood, you can guide your virtual character through any of the following situations:

Two virtual characters can have sex (in any number of positions). You can even have sex with multiple partners.

If you choose not to wear a condom, you can produce a baby that looks like you and your virtual partner. If you decide that you don’t want the baby, you can give it up for adoption. The Sims virtual world also has any number of abortion clinics to choose from if you decide that an abortion is best for you and your partner.

If your character has sex with multiple partners, you can run the risk of getting STDs like herpes, gonorrhea, and HIV. The Sims virtual world will contain support groups for full-blown AIDs patients.

If a drug dealer approaches your character you can purchase drugs. You can even choose to smoke (or shoot) the drugs alone or with the dealer in a back alley or crack house.

If your character quits smoking, it may develop physical side effects like shaking and sweating. You can counter these effects and make your character “happy” by picking up another habit like gambling, drinking and, ironically, video gaming.

In his speech Thursday, Ashcroft blamed an “immoral and money hungry” video game industry for trying corrupt teenagers with graphic depictions of sex and violence. He also went on to blame parents for not keeping a proper eye on their children.

“This administration will do everything it can to make sure this garbage does not get into the hands of our children,” said Ashcroft. “And we won’t stop until the last drop of immorality is drained from our movies, our music, our television, our radios, and yes, even our video games.”

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NEW ‘SIMS’ DEEMED X-RATED, DRAWS ASHCROFT’S IRE

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