The following is reprinted from the November 17th New York Daily News:

Maxis Sued Over Games' Effect on Workers

The New York offices of internet startup and new media conglomerate spudWorks, Inc, were struck dumbfound yesterday when a complementary review copy of Maxis' The Sims made its way through the office being installed on each worker's computer by coworkers who insisted that it must be tried.

Employees were rendered almost entirely useless, said spudWorks Office Manager Dana Barrett. "I was spared because I got a 'hand-me-down' system that wouldn't run the damn game." Enough people could however, that the company stopped working around noon.

"It's not like we're the most productive company anyway," Barrett said. "Typically the writing staff doesn't head to the bar until five." Yesterday, however, was different. "As soon as it was on everyone's computer, nothing was done. That was about a quarter to noon."

While traffic buzzed outside spudWorks' East Village headquarters, inside the office building was more akin to a movie ghost town. Staffers hovered closely to their monitors, not making a sound. Even spudWorks President & CEO Colin Ferm was stricken.

"I'm currently too engrossed to emote anything but a grunt so as acknowledge your general presence," mumbled Ferm.

The lawsuit, which alleges Maxis released the game as so much toxic warfare, asks for reparations for spudWorks company time spent playing the game as well as free updates and patches that may come out over time.

Maxis, a division of Electronic Arts, had no comment except to say that they merely made the game and sent it to the game reviewer and that were it truly on everyone's computers they expected a bulk license check.

How will this effect the company in the long term? "When the receptionist won't answer the phone to direct my call," said Vince Clortho, an analyst with Morgan Stanley," I think it's pretty damn serious. This might seriously impact their page view numbers unless they get some content up quick."

Mr. Ferm did not even attempt to remark on the comment, if he heard it to begin with.