The Spanish 9th Games & Interactive Entertainment Conference takes place June 26-28.
The renowned video game designer Will Wright, will receive the Award of Honor from the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences at the 9th Games & Interactive Entertainment Conference (Gamelab 2013). Wright has marked a milestone in interactive entertainment thanks to one of his creations, The Sims. The sequel of this videogame remains unbeatable as the best-selling computer title in history with over 150 million units sold. Will Wright, current CEO of Stupid Fun Club, a company that explores new ideas for entertainment, has always been interested in learning “how games can get people involved and make them more aware of the world around them rather than distract them from it.”
A trained architect and game designer at heart, Wright managed to shake up the world of videogames with his creation –SimCity. When he was just over 20 years old, he had the idea of creating a game based on the design and construction of cities. Based on this premise, he built up one of the most charismatics franchises, as well as a new genre in interactive entertainment: an open-ended, non-violent type of game.
It was a gamble for a society that was not used to this approach in the interactive entertainment, but Wright was finally able to move forward with the support of Jeff Braun, who later became his partner. After five years of hard work, the release of SimCity in 1989 was an instant hit. Yet a major milestone in his career was yet to come, based on this simulator to design cities: The Sims, a game about the life of the city’s inhabitants.
Will and Jeff created a company called Maxis that would launch SimCity, but they continued their growththroughout the 90s, expanding their offering with titles such as SimEarth: The Living Planet (1990), SimAnt: The Electronic Ant Colony (1991), SimCity 2000 (1993) SimCopter (1996), and SimCity 3000 (1999).
