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1111. TS2 System Requirements Updated

Written on Tuesday 17 August 2004 at 14:45 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

As the release of the Sims 2 is getting closer, the system requirements are going to be closer to the real thing as well. Maxis has updated the system requirements on their site, and now they say an 800 Mhz processor is the minimum, whereas previously 'just' 600 Mhz was said to be required. As for graphics cards, a little has changed as well. It's no longer said that the Radeon 7xxx series need at least a 2.0 Ghz computer, and the Radeon VE series is now supported as well (which does require a 2.0 Ghz or faster processor). The latest Radeon cards, the X300, X600 and X800 have also been added to the list. Finally, the Intel Extreme Graphics 82915 card is now also supported, but as it doesn't have T&L that does also require a 2.0 Ghz processor. As always, the better the hardware, the better the game will run and look. That makes the entire list look as follows:

If you have a T&L capable video card with at least 32 MB of video RAM then you need at least:

• 800 MHz P3 processor or better
• 256 MB RAM if Windows XP, Windows ME, Windows 98 or Windows 2000
• At least 3.5 GB of hard drive space

If you have a non-T&L capable video card (such as Intel Extreme Graphics or Radeon VE Series) then you need at least:

• 2.0 GHz processor or better
• 256 MB RAM if Windows XP, Windows ME, Windows 98, or Windows 2000
• At least 3.5 GB of hard drive space

Supported video cards (and the more video memory the better):

• ATI Radeon™ series (7000 or better)
  • Radeon VE series (Non-T&L - requires 2.0 GHz processor)
  • 7000, 7200, 7500
  • 8500, All-In-Wonder 8500
  • 9000, 9200, 9500, 9600, 9700, 9800
• Nvidia® Quadro™ series
  • Quadro, Quadro2, Quadro4
• Nvidia® Geforce series (GeForce2 and better)
  • GeForce2
  • GeForce3, 3 Ti
  • GeForce4, 4Ti, MX 420, 440
  • GeForce FX 5200, 5600, 5700, 5800, 5900, 5950
  • GeForce 6800
• Intel® Extreme Graphics (Non-T&L - requires 2.0 GHz processor)
  • 82845, 82865, 82915

1112. Chat with Lucy Bradshaw

Written on Tuesday 17 August 2004 at 14:26 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

There hasn't been an official chat for quite a while anymore, but one is coming up again soon. next Thursday (19 August) Lucy Bradshaw, Executive Producer, will answer your questions about the Sims 2 and what it's like working on it. As usual, the chat will be held at 3pm PST (that's 11pm in the UK and Portugal, midnight in most of Europe). You can join the chat when the room opens, usually approximately 10 minutes before the start, at the chat page, where older chat transcripts can also be read.

1113. SimsZone Sims 2 Review part 7/8

Written on Monday 16 August 2004 at 19:49 by ChEeTaH - 2 comments.

Our affiliate SimsZone has posted 2 more articles about the Sims 2. This time they're discussing the collections and community lots. As usual there are some screenshots as well. For info from other parts of their review, please click the following links: Part 1/2 (Installation, First Impressions), Part 3/4 (Create a Sim, Neighborhoods), Part 5/6 (Build and Buy mode). For info about yesterday and today's articles, please read on. See the Sims 2 Review Index at SimsZone for all the original articles and the screenshots. Read More!

1114. The Sims 2 Screens and Info [Update]

Written on Sunday 15 August 2004 at 15:55 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

The past couple of days have been very busy, as news and screenshots kept flooding in. Today's no exception. First of all there are 15 new screenshots (click thumbnails below to enlarge), of which 5 from SimsZone Poland and 10 from the Spanish Terra.es, which were found by SimsExpress. As for info, our affiliate SimsZone has held a chat of over 4.5 hours yesterday. The transcript has been posted. You can read the most important highlights in the read more part of this article.

[Update 14:10] SimsZone Poland has posted a 3 Mb movie as well. It can be downloaded from their front page, in the "Film prosto z gry TheSims2" post (click the "[ Pobierz film - 3,001MB ]" link). It requires the VP6 codec to play. Thanks to SP Zone for the link.

Read More!

1115. New Sims 2 Video

Written on Saturday 14 August 2004 at 15:44 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

Besides the video Lucy sent us, another new one has popped up over at IGN. It shows the Grunts and the Smiths, and especially how General Grunt doesn't really like the other family in town. The video of 17.1 Mb can be downloaded from IGN's videos page, and Insiders can even get high quality QuickTime versions of 24.5 Mb or 62 Mb.

An article has been posted along with the video, in which IGN tells that the game is very close to Gold status now, at which point the game goes into mass production. Lucy Bradshaw, producer of the Sims 2, tells a bit about the development process. She says there is now a team of 120 people working to finish the game, while there were just about 10 at the beginning. The entire development has been fun, especially with bugs like headless Sims giving birth to a body-less baby, or toddlers doing a "Hey There" move. Lucy also tells how you can make the aging of your Sim a big happening or just something small. A few more general features which have been discussed to a great extend before are also mentioned. Read the complete article for that.

1116. Lucy's Mail: New Video

Written on Saturday 14 August 2004 at 15:21 by ChEeTaH - 1 comment.

Yesterday was Friday the 13th, and that's what this week's e-mail from Lucy is all about. Her advice for the next Friday the 13th is to sit at your computer, and let your Sims have it - for the sake of fun. She explains you can do whatever you like with the Sims 2 to give them a bad day, and it's shown through a new gameplay movie.

"There are nearly unlimited ways for you to engineer, or simply suffer through, a terrifically horrible day for your Sims, from a series of minor inconveniences to indulging in their fears. Your bad day can involve minor offenses, like an embarrassing body odor problem at a dignified social gathering, or major bummers the like of which you can see in today's special link."

The movie is about 90 seconds long, and can be downloaded from the following links:

• High Quality (10.9 Mb)
• Low Quality (2.8 Mb)

Read on for the entire e-mail from Lucy. Read More!

1117. Urbz Screens

Written on Saturday 14 August 2004 at 00:08 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

Games site WorthPlaying has published a bunch of new screenshots (of both the handheld and Console versions) and artworks of the Urbz. The artworks show a family of punks, namely a Dorky guy, a Goth, the group together, "HellaScary", a Leader and the Ugly. The 4 GBA shots show some spooky stuff, and the 2 console shots just show some more in-game stuff. You can see them all below (click the thumbnails to enlarge).

1118. New Sims 2 Info

Written on Friday 13 August 2004 at 22:38 by ChEeTaH - 1 comment.

The information flood of the Sims 2 continues to flow. First of all, there is SimsZone Poland, which has posted a major load of new screenshots of The Sims 2. They have over 110 screenshots on their screenshots page. Those screenshots aren't taken with extremely high quality settings, which is why they might not look as good as Maxis screenshots. Depending on your hardware, it may look somewhat like that instead of what Maxis shows us all the time. A good graphics card will always help.

Our German colleagues at SimsZone have posted a new part of their huge review. This time they explain the build and buy modes. News is that instead of just 3 floors, it apparantly is possible to have up to 5 floors for a house, plus an attic. You have to keep in mind that the foundation does count as a floor though, so usually you'll end up with a maximum of 4 floors plus attic (which Sims can get on to as well). Put in another way: there are 6 levels on which you can build. A roof is one of them, and the foundation also counts as one floor (and thus occupies one level). You can even make a special roof-top with objects on it, by putting the roof below the highest level, and then adding a floor on top of the roof.

But not everything is as great as it may seem to be. SimsZone has said to be disappointed with the amount of content in the game. They've mentioned it before for Skins. There are some hideous ones, but the amount is not too high either. Custom skins can solve that problem, and with the Body Shop being out there's quite a lot of them already. However, something similar goes for walls, floors and roofs. A lot of the content seems to come straight from the Sims 1, and hasn't been altered much. From the screenshots, you can also see just 8 roof textures - which is all there is. As there's no tool similar to HomeCrafter available yet, nor something to create objects, fans might be disappointed by the lack of (decoration) options.

To read most highlights on the building and buying options (in English of course), click Read More (or read on below). To read the German article about the build or buy modes, or to see the screenshots for it, please visit SimsZone. English translations (without the screenshots) can be found in the official BBS (here, here and here). In the article of the buy mode there are also two sample movies made with The Sims 2. They require the VP6 Codec to be played (see also earlier news). Read More!

1119. Psychology and The Sims

Written on Friday 13 August 2004 at 17:27 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

There have been several articles in the past about the Sims and its relationship with psychology. There's another one that's been found recently. "Suburban Rhapsody" talks about how people use the Sims to simulate their own lives, or to express themselves. The Sims is very much like real life, and certain elements of the simulation are made after real life. The article also tells some bits of Will Wright, and where he got his ideas for the Sims from. Wright has used several books about psychology to make the simulation. "His games may be mass-market hits, but they're based on some very brainy theories about behavior, economics, and human psychology." If you're interested in reading all of it, then visit this page at the San Antonio Current. Thanks to WorldSims for the tip.

1120. Alan Yu to fill A&R position at Maxis

Written on Friday 13 August 2004 at 17:14 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

WorldSims reports that Alan Yu will become director A&R (Arts & Repertoire) at Maxis. It's the first position of its kind within EA and even the gaming industry, but if successfull other EA studios will get a similar position. Yu's task will be to bring in talent from other studios or industries, like the movie or music industry, to Maxis, so new technology can be incorporated in the simulation games.

"Whether you're a musician or a filmmaker or a fiction or screenwriter, even if you don't realize it, you might be good for the video game industry," Yu said. "Today's games use Hollywood lighting techniques, camera angles and story elements to enhance the interactive entertainment experience," he said, "but people with those types of skills might not be aware of that fact."

The entire article comes from HollywoodReporter bus is available to subscribers only. You can read it right here on WorldSims as well.