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Created by Will Wright - whose SimCity had already made him a gaming superstar - The Sims gave players an opportunity to play God and lord it over a gaggle of virtual people. But while the world The Sims created was fun to spend time in - and the developers created an intuitive set of tools to interact with its inhabitants - its biggest triumph was opening up the world of video gaming to a wider audience and attracting more female players than any other title. In fact, EA, publishers of The Sims, now reckon the audience for their game is now split 50/50.

Memorable for...
Simlish - a language used by the characters that blends Ukrainian, French and Tagalog (a major language in the Philippines). Nowadays, every self-respecting band from The Flaming Lips to the Black Eyed Peas has recorded a track sung in the imaginary dialect.

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