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Sims2 info
by: randy_cooper2000 (39/M/Atlanta)
Long-Term Sentiment: Buy 08/24/04 01:29 pm
Msg: 84719 of 84724

Hello all,

I try to keep up on the board, but not sure if someone might have already found this or not. To date, I haven't seen anyone with a straight answer about what On2 is doing inside the Sims 2 specifically.

An earlier post by Kevin70 regarding Sims 2 going Gold. I checked out the link and was intrigued by the section about filming Sims movies in the game (cut here):

"The Sims 2 also opens up endless new creative possibilities. Make your own Sim films with the new movie making feature. Create the cast, set the stage, take control of the camera and capture your own screenplay in action. Zoom in close with the new camera to see every last detail."

That caught my attention as a critical function that looked like something On2 could be involved in. So I did a search on Sim2 and VP6 and found the following:

http://www.simsstop.co.uk/content/view/11166/2/

excerpt:

"Codec News
Written by Barry (S ADMIN)

It appears that The Sims 2 will not save uncompressed AVI video files when creating a movie, it has turns out that EA has licensed On2's VP6.2 codec for use in The Sims 2. That means movies created from The Sims 2 will need that codec. On2 claims that their codec provides better video quality than Windows Media 9, Real 9, or H.264. You can find the trailer of The Sims 2 on the VP6 samples page. It's very likely that the necessary files will be included with the Sims 2 when you install it."

So this is very interesting. It brings up a real question for me. It sounds like in Sims 2, the player can create movie of his Sims to share with anyone else in the Sims world - sitcoms, movies, whatever. Then there would obviously be a place where other Sims users could look at all of the available movies and watch what they want - kind of like a Kazaa type place.

So here is the strange part that has me scratching my head. It's easy enough to see the VP6 codec packaged with each Sims game for decoding movies, but how do the movies get in VP6 format to start with? That would imply each game would also include a "movie producer" component that would have the VP Encoder embedded in it.

Now, did On2 give EA an open license to their encoder and decoders for one flat license fee? I sure hope not. Guess we won't know that until sales of Sims2 get moving and we see if there is a residual royalty stream that starts coming in.

Regards,

R