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Depeche Mode: Now in Simlish

Alternative band has single rerecorded in gibberish language of The Sims; "Suffer Well" with new lyrics appears in game's expansion.

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Musician David Gahan once sang "People are people," and apparently he wasn't just talking about the flesh-and-bones variety. His band, Depeche Mode, has shown its soft spot for artificial people--it has rerecorded one of its songs in simlish, the language of the titular characters in Maxis' The Sims franchise.

The band's song "Suffer Well," off the album Playing the Angel, can now be heard in the digital characters' fake language in the PC game The Sims 2: Open for Business, which was shipped earlier this week by publisher Electronic Arts. Other songs in the game include "Things Can Only Get Better" by Howard Jones, "Too Shy" by Kajagoogoo, and "Synthesized" by Epoxies.

This isn't the first time a big-name band has recorded one of its songs in the gibberish speak. Hip-hop group The Black Eyed Peas recorded several songs in simlish for the game The Urbz: Sims in the City.

Depeche Mode hails from Basildon, England, and is most well known for its albums 101 (1989) and Violator (1990), which were huge hits when Maxis' Sim City was becoming a hit on PCs. The band has since ditched its Flock of Seagulls hairdos and is still popular today. In April, Depeche Mode will headline the Coachella Festival, along with another pop star that knows a thing or two about longevity--Madonna.

Simlish isn't just gobbledygook. The language is carefully constructed by Maxis' audio engineers to ensure that it replicates familiar structure and tone. Diehard fans have even gone so far as to create online simlish dictionaries.

The Sims 2: Open for Business is rated T for Teen and retails for $34.99. For more information, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.

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