Cosying up with the Sims

By PETER GRIFFIN

The Sims, that addictive game of social engineering and observation, will include 3D software from Auckland developer Right Hemisphere when it hits the shelves in a few months.

If turning a happy, bustling neighbourhood into a dysfunctional ghost town wasn't enough for you, Right Hemisphere's add-on software will allow you to meld the faces of family and friends onto the bodies of 3D characters, adding that extra bit of realism for those who want it.

All you will need is a digital photo of your intended Sim.

It is the result of a deal Right Hemisphere has scored with games development house Electronic Arts. With The Sims having already sold 4.5 million copies worldwide it is possibly one of the better titles to align with.

Right Hemisphere's founder and president, Mark Thomas, said the deal was just as important for the work that it could bring as the revenue that would come from it.

"It potentially gets us into all the other games at Electronic Arts," he said.

Success in winning work at EA follows Right Hemisphere incorporating its software into the game's developer kits for Xbox, Microsoft's gaming console.

Around 2000 kits had gone out to developers working on titles for Xbox. The kits include Right Hemisphere software that allows developers to transform characters and scenery into 3D for the Xbox platform.

Right Hemisphere was also tweaking software that allows users of Microsoft PowerPoint to embed 3D moving images in PowerPoint slides.

Thomas said it was not Right Hemisphere's intention to release the software as a stand-alone product. It would be bundled into a larger package the company is working on that will aim to create "a complete 3D environment around Windows".

Speaking at last week's Trade New Zealand exporters conference in Auckland, Thomas said the US market remained the most promising for Right Hemisphere.

He described attempts to test the water in Australia as being similar to "banging your head against a brick wall until bloody".

The Americans, by contrast, had welcomed the NZ developers, aided in part by some well-positioned contacts in companies like Microsoft.