REDWOOD CITY, California: Game maker Electronic Arts Inc. said Thursday it is entering into a partnership with Hilary Duff, the celebrity pop artist, actress and philanthropist, to make her inaugural game debut in the PC game franchise, The Sims. She will appear in The Sims 2 Pets, along with her pet dog Chihuahua Lola, the company announced.
The game will be released on 17 October in North America and 19 October across Europe for Sony PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube and as a PC expansion pack to the original PC game, The Sims 2. There will be a version for Nintendo DS, which will be available later in October.
EA said Duff and Lola will appear in different scenes on each of the game's platforms and will be fully interactive. Players will be able to dress up Duff and make her do their bidding or have their own created Sims characters mingle with her.
The highly popular The Sims involves controlling the lives of simulated people and players can choose from any existing cat and dog breeds. They can also create their own pets, having distinct body shapes, markings and personalities.
EA released The Sims 2 in September 2004, has so far sold seven million units worldwide and the game has been adjudged best PC game of 2004.
Duff, herself a Sims enthusiast, said she had logged hundreds of hours playing the game and she was encouraged by the chance to be in the next version. “I love creating Sims characters and guiding them through life, designing their houses and then blinging them out with cool furniture. Now, in The Sims 2 Pets, EA has combined two things I really enjoy — pets and The Sims!”
The Sims 2 Pets has involvement of other celebrities. It has got musical contributions from among others teen pop duo AJ & Aly, girl group Pussycat Dolls, alterna-rockers The Flaming Lips and nerdcore group Hot Chip.
Rod Humble, executive producer for the Sims division in EA said Hilary is the perfect partner for The Sims 2 Pets. She was involved in every step of the process, from creating the Hilary and Lola characters to designing some of the tricks dogs can do in the game, he added.
