Episode 248 – The Sims (2000)

Episode 248 – The Sims (2000)
This week in Your Parents Basement, we are experiencing a deep, story-driven SIMULATION of life! From 2000, we’re playing The Sims, developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts, for the PC. We’re joined by Amanda, a Friend of the Show and someone who has sunk her 10,000 hours into the franchise for expertise.
You can manually download this week’s podcast here or subscribe to the show via the iTunes store. To manually subscribe, use this link in the device / podcast player of choice. You can also follow us on Twitter, or ‘like’ us on Facebook.
And now, there is a Discord channel for all the sweet baby boy and girl fans of YPB! Check it out here, and rub elbows with your favorite co-hosts. Are you yearning and craving a clayyyssiiiccc YPB episode? Well, they are now collected here for you! Find episodes #1 to #52 right there, in Volume I!
As always, if you like the show, support us by buying from Amazon! You can use this link to go to Amazon, and any purchase you make will kick a couple bucks to the show, with no extra cost to you. It’s a win-win!
Want to have an email or comment read on the air? Want to have your voicemail played? Send all mails and audio files to parentsbasementpodcast@gmail.com.
TIMESTAMPS
- 0:00 – Intro, which features one of the dynamite commercials from the original game. You can see a compilation of them here.
- 34:00 – Todd has reasons why this is… The Most Best Game of All-Time! Followed by our regular, fun features, like grading manuals and DuckTales.
- 57:30 – Emails!
- 1:01:45 – We help some people in… Ask the Sweet Boys.
- 1:06:00 – Snifferoo. Next week, we’re playing a puzzler that some people LOVE.
Vidya Game News – September 6, 2018
Another week, another roundup of news links!
- Attack of the Fan has a neat article on Micro Mages, a new game for the NES. It actually looks kind of neat! You can read more here.
- Ryan Smith of Chicago Reader has an article on Josh Tsui, one of the developers behind mid-1990s Midway games and Insert Coin, an upcoming documentary about the company.
- Mashable and The A.V. Club have a good bit of trivia about Bill & Ted – namely, that the first movie had Hitler in the first draft. We covered that bodacious game in, what else, Episode 69.
- Gizmodo reviews a conversion kit to make your SNES controllers wireless.
- Sony is finally ending support for the Playstation 2, per Kotaku.
ON THIS DAY (OR CLOSE TO IT!) IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
- Final Fantasy Tactics Advance came out 15 years ago. Some people love it, whereas others recognize it for the bizarre, subpar offshoot of a classic game that it really is. We reviewed the original game on Episode 144. Also, Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty’s Revenge came out the same week for the GBA. Check out our show on the proper game here.
- Spore came out for the PC 10 years ago. While it was a fun little lark, it wasn’t quite the gaming revolution that game designer Will Wright had billed it up to be. We covered SimCity in Episode 55.
Video game history information comes from GameFAQs and Moby Games. When possible, we attempt to link to original sources for all reporting, and we don’t typically link to stupid multi-page galleries. And as always, if you’d like to support the show, do so via our Amazon link.
Episode 055 – SimCity (1989)

Episode 055 – SimCity (1989)
This week in Your Parents Basement, we are building and bulldozing through municipalities! From 1989 and 1991, we’re playing SimCity by Maxis for the PC and SNES. Joining us is special guest Ryan Gibbs from The Young Folks!
You can manually download this week’s growth-focused podcast here or subscribe to the show via the iTunes store. To manually subscribe, use this link in the device / podcast player of choice. You can also follow us on Twitter, or ‘like’ us on Facebook.
As always, if you like the show, support us by buying from Amazon! You can use this link to go to Amazon, and any purchase you make will kick a couple bucks to the show, with no extra cost to you. It’s a win-win!
Want to have an email or comment read on the air? Send us a message on the ole Twitter or Facebook, or, shoot that mail to parentsbasementpodcast@gmail.com.
TIMESTAMPS
- 0:00 – Intro, which has the nifty menu music from the SNES version of the game! For a full music playlist, check out the YouTube playlist here.
- 55:30 – Emails! Cosmo writes in to apologize, and Brisket writes in about himself.
- 1:19:15 – Snifferoo. Next week, we’re play TWO classic vidya games for the ole Atari 2600!
SHOW NOTES
– According to Price Charting, most of the SimCity games available are affordable. The SNES version goes for $7.80 for the loose cart, $24.95 for box and manual, and $102 new. The PC versions are widely available on the Internet, typically for less than $10.
– Doug Bierend of Medium’s Reform had a long interview with developer Will Wright on the thought process going into SimCity.
– Will Wright’s daughter Cassidy was involved in BattleBots, running the rowebuts Chiabot and Misty the WonderBot.
– For more info on SimSafari, check out Wikipedia. And be sure to check out Gibbs’ work on The Young Folks!