Beloved game creator and Maxis co-founder Will Wright (The Sims, SimCity, Spore) today revealed that he is leaving Electronic Arts and Maxis to pursue one of his old side projects.

Dubbed Stupid Fun Club, the company is described as "an entertainment think tank developing new Intellectual Properties to be deployed across multiple fronts including video games, movies, television, the internet, and toys."

Stupid Fun Club was initally formed around 2001, to explore Wright's love of robots.

Though Wright is for all intents and purposes leaving Electronic Arts, he will continue to work with the publisher, as Wright and EA now own equal percentages of Stupid Fun Club. Maxis VP Lucy Bradshaw will keep running Maxis, bought by EA in 1997.

In addition, Electronic Arts holds the right to develop any game concepts... Read more

Action-packed video games can improve your eyesight, according to a recent study at the University of Rochester funded in part by the US Navy's Office of Naval Research.

Researchers set one test group playing first-person shooters Unreal Tournament 2004 and Call of Duty 2, and the other The Sims 2. After 50 hours over 9 weeks, FPS players were found to have a 43% improvement in their contrast sensitivity--the ability to spot slight differences in shades of grey--while Sims 2 players saw none.

"If you are driving at dusk with light fog it could make the difference between seeing the car in front of you or not seeing it," explained study leader Daphne Bevelier. After six months of gaming, a 58% improvement was seen over non-gamers.

Improving contrast sensitivity--a crucial factor in how well we see--was thought to take glasses or surgery. Previous research by Bevelier into video games' ocular benefits discovered they can improve our ability to see objects accurately in a cluttered space.

Electronic Arts is the recipient of two additional lawsuits related to SecuROM DRM technology, this time in relation to Spore Creature Creator and The Sims 2 expansion pack Bon Voyage.

Richard Eldridge of Pennsylvania is suing the publisher over the undisclosed installation of SecuROM software on his computer after installing the demo version of Spore Creature Creator, reports GamePolitics. According to Eldridge's suit:

The inclusion of undisclosed, secretly installed DRM protection measures with a program that was freely distributed constitutes a major violation of computer owners' absolute right to control what does and what does not get loaded onto their computers, and how their computers shall be used...

Meanwhile, "avid Sims player" Dianna Cortez of Missouri cites EA for "immoral, unethical, oppressive [and] unscrupulous" conduct after including SecuROM in The Sims 2: Bon Voyage, which allegedly caused a host of problems on Cortez's computer.

The suits follow the trail blazed by Melissa Thomas, who in September sparked a $5 million class action suit against EA for its use of SecuROM in Spore.

GamePolitics noted that the same law firm that represents Thomas is also representing the new plaintiffs, Eldridge and Cortez.

Electronic Arts is responding to the ridiculous allegations by attorney Jack Thompson, who said the other day that the game contains "full frontal nudity, including nipples, penises, labia, and pubic hair". Very exciting, but not true.

"This is nonsense," said Jeff Brown, spokesman for EA. "Reasonable people understand there is nothing improper in the game." He added, ""Reasonable people recognize what mods are. A consumer who chooses to use a mod does so without any kind of agreement with the company. There is no nudity. There is nothing improper or vulgar in 'The Sims 2.' " [...] "Reasonable people understand the San Jose Mercury News is not responsible for vulgar things that people doodle into the margins of the paper,"" Brown said.

Thompson now acknowledges the Sims 2 nudity does not come with the game, but says EA still needs to prevent these kind of mods.

I actually had a discussion with a couple of friends about this just the other day about how long it would take for Sims 2 to end up in court after the recent GTA crazyness. Looks like not long at all. There is a nude patch for Sims 2!

In a manifesto sent today to press outlets, Thompson focuses on dismantling the Entertainment Software Ratings Board and exposing what he calls the industry's "latest dirty little secret." The secret's out now, and it involves nude sims. In the statement, Thompson says, "Sims 2, the latest version of the Sims video game franchise ... contains, according to video game news sites, full frontal nudity, including nipples, penises, labia, and pubic hair."

Everyone can relax, because The Sims 2 is indeed planned for release next year. The sequel to the #1 PC game of all time will be all 3D and stuff. It's going to be showing at E3 in just over a week:

An entirely new 3-D engine makes the world of The Sims 2 more life-like and dynamic. The Sims 2 will also introduce an all-new "Create-A-Sim" feature. This allows you to customize the facial features of your Sim with a few simple clicks, to a level of detail never realized before. In The Sims 2, players are now able to build dwellings over two stories and have the ability to coordinate and customize the homes of their Sims to a new degree of design with all-new furniture, lighting and objects.