New Reality Show Stars The Sims

[vansau]

New Reality Show Stars The Sims

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What do you get when you combine The Sims with The Real World? The UK's newest reality show.

Have you been just dying for a new reality show to come along? One based on a videogame? Apparently there's a demand for this sort of thing, because UK broadcaster Channel 4 has started airing a new online series created entirely from content generated in The Sims 3.

The show's called SuperMe, and is based around the concept of creating four Sims ("the SuperMes") and filming the hijinks they get into. Each of these Sims was created with "detailed traits and ambitions" and the production team at Somethin' Else then places the characters into specific scenarios, records the action as it unfolds, and edits the footage together with some accompanying narration.

According to Somethin' Else CEO Paul Bennun (<a href=http://www.televisual.com/news-detail/C4-Education-launches-digital-drama-with-virtual-actors_nid-1131.html>who spoke to Televisual), "[the show's] incredibly moving and funny at times, and a true collaboration between humans and robots. We have become very attached to them."

It's really not surprising that someone is doing this, since it's probably incredibly cheap to make a program where there's no cast to hire, no sets to build, and only a few people needed to perform the filming/editing. Still, the claim that SuperMe is "moving and funny" seems a bit more like wishful thinking than actual fact at this point. What do you think?

Source: The SuperMes via <a href=http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/40023/New_Channel_4_show_set_in_the_world_of_The_Sims_3.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GamasutraNews+%28Gamasutra+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader> Gamasutra

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[Rad Party God]

I think this'll be more fun than actually playing the game. Consider me interested.

 

[Waaghpowa]

Well, it couldn't possibly be worse than current reality shows right? At least they're not from New Jersey, and, you know, don't really talk.

 

[Ilikemilkshake]

I tried watching it but i got bored. It isnt an inherently bad idea, just that there wasnt really anything interesting in the video.

 

[HavoK 09]

Well, it couldn't possibly be worse than current reality shows right? At least they're not from New Jersey, and, you know, don't really talk.

at leat this will feature some sort of pre progamed artificial inteligence

 

[vansau]

Well, it couldn't possibly be worse than current reality shows right? At least they're not from New Jersey, and, you know, don't really talk.

at leat this will feature some sort of pre progamed artificial inteligence

ZING!

Seriously. At least this isn't about a bunch of deep-fried bipedal twinkies going out and getting drunk/hooking up with each other.

 

[Kmadden2004]

Whilst I'm kind of surprised it took this long for somebody to run with this idea, I'm also kind of left wondering what the point is.

Perhaps I'm just missing something here, but they seem to be playing it straight. Surely it would have been better to get people like Adam Buxton or Greg Davies in to 'play' the Sims and actually - y'know - be funny.

 

[Formica Archonis]

Still, the claim that SuperMe is "moving and funny" seems a bit more like wishful thinking than actual fact at this point. What do you think?

I'd say it's a combination of typical reality-TV editing* and the ELIZA effect [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ELIZA_effect].

(* As someone once said, people just want the same crap they had last time. Complexity? Hell no! We want an unambiguous villain! We want a campy sidekick! We want a hostile loner! We want an innocent country kid! Take scenes where people act like people instead of poorly-written caricatures, and with some careful editing you can easily make person X "the bad guy" and person Y "the ditz" just off of a few personality flaws.)

 

[gigastar]

Being a Channel 4 reality show its either going to be incredibly boring, sterotypical or enragingly shit.

No i dont like Channel 4, and by that i mean i have a burning hatred for it.

Seriously they would be better off televising a Let's Play of a game like Devil May Cry 3.

 

[oplinger]

...Well, I liked it. Till the little friendship message at the end.

It pokes fun at The Sims more than it does actual reality type things >_>

 

[TheNaut131]

That was honestly really bad. Like, really, really bad. Like crappy Youtube video bad. Like crappy, assigning, DeviantART, stupid, Sims fanfiction bad.

 

[Beryl77]

Didn't really like it that much, I prefer The Leet World.

 

[Loop Stricken]

... this is a real thing? Little wonder I stopped watching telly a long time ago, really.

Edit: To be fair, it was actually fairly watchable.

 

[Kajin]

I say we adopt a collective "wait and see" policy on this one. Who knows? It might even be good.

 

[uzo]

Floobodaa hippledip. Flib slar, tropy nom om tak. Choree! Yetol wen puncheet - yetol wen ootle - multar ambrey cambrey micsys.

*nod*

Yup, the Simglish is about as comprehensible as most of the crap on telly.

 

[Zen Toombs]

I tried to watch it, but it got pretty boring. Sounds interesting in concept, I just wish it was better made.

 

[antipunt]

The funny thing is I think a lot of people who've played the Sims have done similar things on their own.

And considering, I think many of those people could do a lot better of a job than these guys..

 

[Jandau]

Soooo... it's a Let's Play, only on television instead of YouTube? What's next? A TV show dedicated to viral cat videos?

 

[Scarim Coral]

Please, Roosterteeth did something similar using the Sim game engine called the Strangerhood which is far more funnier than that.

Spoiler: The Strangerhood