Pre-E3 roundup

This week will be full of news from E3 and the big pre-E3 presentations, but here's a few interesting things from the past couple days.

-- Seth Schiesel has a story in the New York Times about the success of The Sims -- specifically how it's replaced dolls/action figures for some kids. He talks to kids who play it, dads who don't get it, and professors who actually have some relevant stuff to say. And we get this brilliant quote from Sims creator Will Wright: "Men will do the same stupid thing over and over again and be happy. Women tend to want a more complex, creative experience."

-- Another New York Times story, by Matt Richtel, looks at EA's attempts to create new game franchises. The article doesn't actually give many details about Army of Two, but it seems like it'll be a first-person shooter with the twist of co-op (not just online multiplayer) play. It may be a new game, but this seems like EA's "feature innovation" strategy at work. Still, original games are original games.

-- It seems that Time got the first look at the Nintendo Wii. The story's not online yet, but GameSpot has some details. The guy seems smitten, and that's smart of Nintendo to start with Time and not 1up or some other video game website.

-- There's video of Will Wright's Spore up at YouTube, and 1up has a preview of the game.