After a long pause, the official site has published a new podcast, this time all about The Sims Stories. MaxoidDano of the web team talks to senior producer and head of the Sims studio Sam Player about the new product line. Sam explains that it's a new line of Sims games with stories in popular genres. Life Stories, the first game, has two romantic comedy stories. The stories are directed and basically consist of a series of (predefined) events that come up as you play. At the end of the story you can play the game in free form as you like it, making your own story. In the first story of Riley, Sam tells how at first the goals are fairly easy to complete, by just giving her a new dress to go out in. Later on you'll need to solve a relationship in a restaurant, an example of a more complicated goal. Custom content is disabled in the Stories products, as it's aimed at people new to the Sims. It works on lower quality computers, as well as laptops, but the exchange is too much for experienced users to fit in the Stories line. Some custom made objects (from EA) will be available through the Sims Stories site.

Sam also briefly goes through the first two stories. Riley is the first character you'll meet. She just moved to Four Corners with her Aunt after losing her job. She meets a great guy, but an old boyfriend comes back into her life. The story is all about finding her true love. Vincent, the other main character, has a successful career, he has the looks, but is unlucky in love. Several dates have to help him finding the right girl, though in the end he will have to make a choice between career and love. The reason to create Stories is that the Sims 2 is deep and intimidating. Stories is an invitation to the franchise. Sam also draws the analogy to a book store, with all the videogames you know on the shelves. They will cluster quite closely, and EA decided to "fill the rest of the store" with the genres for the stories - genres which are not touched by many games yet. The classic titles, the romantic triangle for example, are put in the first product. Although the games are laptop friendly they'll also work on PCs, of course, but with lower system specs and an easier installation. Sam also tells about his experience, and says he enjoyed the game despite coming from a hardcore gaming background. He hopes that Sims fans will recommend the game to people interested in the Sims. The podcast ends with what sounds like a radio commercial for the game. For complete details check out the podcasts page on the official site. For more information about the Stories games check out the Sims Stories website.