E3 06: Sims 2 bringing home Pets?

The official story: See below.

What we heard: The Sims franchise has proved to be a monumental success. The life simulator has been a dominant force on the PC gaming charts since it took the leap from the mind of Maxis Studios head Will Wright onto retail shelves in 2000.

Though Wright wasn't at E3 pimping out some Sims-related gear, Electronic Arts was. Near the area housing Wright's PC game Spore, EA built a 360-degree trailer theater that showed a plethora of games from the publisher, including the lineup from Superman Returns: The Videogame, Battlefield 2142, and Medal of Honor: Airborne.

It wasn't all bullets and fighting, though. Stuck in the middle of the trailer were some cute and cuddly animals--and not the one-eyed freaks of nature of Spore. The familiar cybercitizens of The Sims 2 were shown hanging around in parks and playing with something they haven't been able to since the original The Sims game--pets.

The Sims: Unleashed was released in 2002 and gave Sims the ability to adopt and train pets. But since The Sims 2 was released in 2004, man's best friend hasn't even bothered to show up.

It looks like that's about to change, though. At the end of the trailer, a logo appeared that read "The Sims 2 Pets." No platforms, release date, details, or gameplay was revealed during the segment. It was also unclear whether Pets would be an expansion, one of the smaller add-on packs, or a new spin-off franchise, a la Nintendogs.

In fact, it seems that the E3 clip, approximately 30-seconds long, is the only information on the game. On EA's Web site, a trailer of its E3 lineup shows the same montage that's showing at the E3 booth--minus any mention of The Sims 2 Pets.

When asked about Pets, an EA rep would only say,"We haven't announced anything yet."

Bogus or not bogus?: Not Bogus that it's coming--it was at the E3 booth. But will it be a spin-off? Will it hit consoles? Will it be a full expansion? Will it be a content pack? We say (in order) Bogus (but it's a great idea), Bogus (Sims and consoles just don't get along), Not Bogus (Unleashed: Part II), Bogus (pets are people too! Not just objects!) What do you think?

http://www.gamespot.com/pages/news/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=24614065