TBS has announced a new game show with an interesting premise; it’s about expert players of popular video game The Sims. Called The Sims Spark’d, the competition show will air on Fridays and Saturdays starting on July 17.
The Sims has long been iconic in video game culture. The first version of the game was introduced in 2000, and is now in it’s fourth iteration. During quarantine, many young adults have shown renewed interest in the game. The Sims invites players to create themselves, or an entirely new character, in a virtual reality. Players take the character to work, build them a house, and give them a family and friends. Lyndsay Pearson, the GM of The Sims franchise, hopes to bring The Sims to a new audience, as Spark’d will show viewers how to play the game and do more complex tricks within it. “If shows about glass blowing and gardening can become popular, why not The Sims?” she said.
Pearson discussed the new show in an interview with The Verge. She calls the show an evolution of the game, giving the community a new way to connect. The Sims Spark’d will follow a fairly regular formula, with 12 contestants completing challenges for a panel of three judges with a $100,000 prize. The judges will be singer-songwriter Tayla Parx, YouTuber Kelsey Ipmicciche and longtime game developer David Miotke. Rayvon Owen, a former American Idol contestant, will host. The 12 contestants were chosen for their aptitude with the game and because they all have somewhat of an online presence, which Pearson is hoping will draw fans to the show. The contestants were also selected because they have different ways of creating characters and playing the game.
The main idea behind The Sims Spark’d is to introduce the fun of The Sims to new viewers. The four-episode series will show viewers the behind the scenes of playing the game, like new techniques and challenges. “It can feel daunting if you don’t know about a game like The Sims,” Pearson said, “putting it into a format that introduces you to the people behind those creations, that introduces to the smaller steps through challenges, and gives you insight into how they approach them, I think breaks down some of those assumptions and some of those barriers.”
The show will be easily accessible on TBS and online, on Buzzfeed’s “Multiplayer” YouTube channel the Monday after the episodes air. While Pearson acknowledges that The Sims Spark’d won’t have the same drama as “watching something catch fire in a kitchen,” she says that the show will not be just watching people on computers. “The creative process is still exposed in a way that feels really compelling,” she said.
The Sims Spark’d will premiere on TBS on July 17.
Source: The Verge
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