It’s taken a while, but The Sims finally has a clone. Last Day of Work, a San Francisco casual game developer, has unveiled Virtual Families for the PC and Mac.
The game lets players care for and nurture a simulated family, using the same framework as the series Virtual Villagers. It has a hand-drawn map with a house and garden, sophisticated artificial intelligence, and a selection of customizable families.
Arthur Humphrey, the company’s founder, said the game has been in development since mid-2008 and will be available for download in the first quarter of 2009 for $19.95. The company launched in 2004 and has made other games, including Fish Tycoon. Its competitors include Electronic Arts’ The Sims franchise, which has sold more than 100 million units worldwide. I’m not sure why it would want to take on EA, which has The Sims 3 coming this summer.