Indeed, The Sims 2 with its embedded movie maker (you can export Sims gameplay as .avi at television quality) is also likely to see a whole new machinima culture expanding across the gaming/new media spectrum. I'm quite amused by the idea of Sims "reality TV" (or a reality game? or simulated SimReality?); check out the upcoming Artemis Sim-Ply Reality for the first reality game//show (at least, first I'm aware of). For a more detailed look at the machinima potential of The Sims 2 check out out the discussion threat at Machinima.com. If you're not sure what machinima actually is, check out an archive here, watch Red Vs Blue, and then join in the countdown until the 2004 Machinima Film Festival in New York.

Update [29 Sept 2004, 2:40pm]: It's annoying to find a post elswhere that says exactly what you've just said, except better; regardless, Rex Sorgatz at Filmoculous basically said what I just said but eariler, more eloquently and with more context here. It's also amusing to note that one of my (blogging) friends, Ren, seems to have become a Sims 2 addict about a day after the game's release (and her Sims seem, how shall we shall, frisky). I've even been sent a link to show that one of my students (in a course which includes an analysis of The Sims) has already been modeled as an Anli-Sim in The Sims 2, here!