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1161. University Chat this Thursday

Written on Monday 24 January 2005 at 23:42 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

Next Thursday, 27 January, Maxis will be holding a developer chat about the Sims 2 University. Special guests are Tim LeTourneau, Kevin Hogan, Charles London, and Hunter Howe, who will answer your questions about the first expansion pack during the chat. New items and gameplay included in the expansion will be discussed. As usual, the chat starts at 3PM PST, which is 11pm GMT or midnight CET, and the chatroom will open approximately 10 minutes before the start. A transcript will be posted after the chat, for those who can't make it.

1162. Murdoch Interested in EA

Written on Monday 24 January 2005 at 23:37 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

GamesIndustry brings a story that media tycoon Rupert Murdoch is interested in entering the games industry. Murdoch already owns a News Corporation, which owns TV networks like Fox and Sky, but also big British newspapers The Sun and the Times, as well as book publisher Harper Collins. Now Murdoch wants to set foot in the games industry, and not by starting a new small publisher. Instead he's shown interest in acquiring either Electronic Arts, publisher of the Sims and many other games, and Activision, a big Californian publisher. Costs: $19 billion for EA, or $3 billion for Activision. It's still unsure which games company - that could be either of these two, or a completely different company - Murdoch's News Corporation will buy, as no details regarding the investment the company is willing to make are mentioned. The article also says other media companies are looking into investing in the games industry. For example, Viacom chairman Summer Redstone has acquired a majority shareholding in developer Midway earlier. Read the complete article for more information. Thanks to Hikikomori for the tip.

1163. The Urbz 2: 2005/2006

Written on Sunday 23 January 2005 at 00:17 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

A few days ago EA Netherlands held a special event, announcing several games that will be released in their next fiscal year (March 2005 - March 2006). Besides titles like Batman Begins, The Godfather, SSX4, Black, Burnout 4 and other games, there is also "The Urbz 2" in the list. It's said the game will be released late 2005 or early 2006. Remarkable as well is that EA is quite certainthat the X-Box 2 will be released within this period of time. And besides developing for the PlayStation 2, GameCube and X-Box, many of the games mentioned including the Urbz 2, will be released on X-Box 2 as well. Any other details regarding the game have not yet been revealed. More confirmation might follow Tuesday, when EA in the US will release their results over the third quarter of fiscal 2005.

1164. Sims Conference in Paris

Written on Sunday 23 January 2005 at 00:09 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

There is a special conference in Paris this weekend. Tomorrow at the Centre Pompidou an art conference about the Sims will be held. At this conference psychologists, sociologists, specialists in computer science, artists and art critics (and more) will be dicussing the game as form of art, but also as a cultural phenomenon. Two short films, "Name, age, skill…" by Alain Della Negra and Kaori Kinoshita and "Enfants joueurs, l’expérience des SIMS" by Angela Romboni will be shown during the conference. Chloé Delaume will be performing as well. The conference will be held tomorrow from 3pm to 8pm local time, at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Visit this site for more (French) information. Thanks to SP Zone for the info.

1165. SimDay

Written on Thursday 20 January 2005 at 20:45 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

So far this week's SimDay is fairly small. What you might notice at first is another new intro on the official site showing the Sims 2 University. But more interesting is the news that The Sims 2 became the best simulation game of the year 2004, according to GameZone. Like many other gaming sites, they've awarded many games with several "Game of the Year" awards and in this case the Sims 2 won the award for best Simulation game. There's a small article about the award as well. And finally, so far anyway, there is a link to the second designer diary by Charles London. We already mentioned it early this year, but if you haven't read it yet you can still do so.

1166. University Artwork and Info

Written on Thursday 20 January 2005 at 20:30 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

Fansite Sims Express brings some new info about the Sims 2 University, from the official Spanish site. Tim LeTourneau has also visited Spain on his tour through Europe, and according to Sims Express there is the following to tell:

• There's just one type of university - no public or private universities.
• To get a scolarship, which will help your Sim pay for college, your Sim will need to get good grades during their child or teen stages. Good grades at University might also earn your sim a scolarship.
• When creating a young adult, it's not necessary to add an Adult to the family.
• You can create a family of young adults to play with at University.

Besides that, two artworks are also revealed. You can see them below, and by clicking the thumbnails you'll see them in their full size.

1167. TS2U High-Res Logos

Written on Thursday 20 January 2005 at 20:03 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

EA has made the high-resolution logos for the Sims 2 University available. Although these have been seen before, this makes it very likely the logos are final. You can see them below, by clicking the thumbnails, in one third of the size - the originals are a bit too big to view properly on a screen. It's unsure if there will be a fansite pack from Maxis in the future containing these logos.

1168. New Poll

Written on Thursday 20 January 2005 at 19:53 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

As you may have seen already, we've added a new poll again last night. This time, we ask you about the (in)famous cowplant, that will join sim-students in the Sims 2 University. If you have an opinion about it, let us know on the right or the latest poll page.

Last week we asked you about the second Sims 2 patch, and the results are in. The biggest group of the 165 people who voted are those who hadn't heard about it or at least didn't give it a go. They were with 44% of everybody. With less than half of that, are the options "It's good they fixed things, but I don't see too many changes" (31 votes, 19%) and "I don't see any difference really" (30 votes, 18%). 15% said the patch makes things work even better, and the final 4% hate the patch, because it just breaks the game. See the exact results for more precise percentages, and our archive for more polls.

1169. Pets and Weather in TS2 Information

Written on Tuesday 18 January 2005 at 23:30 by ChEeTaH - 2 comments.

Although not in University, it has been confirmed that pets will definitively make a return in the Sims 2. Weather however, has caused technical problems in the past, and while Maxis still tries to get the problems solved, they can't promise anything. So while that too might appear in one of the future expansion packs, there are no final plans yet until Maxis has tackled the problems. This is stated by the official German site, which has answered user's questions on their forums when Tim LeTourneau paid a visit to Germany last week. To read the thread (in German), click here (log in with your EA.com account).

1170. TSR Talks to Tim

Written on Tuesday 18 January 2005 at 23:26 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

TheSimsResource, one of the biggest Sims fansites, has met Tim LeTourneau last Sunday and spoke to him about the Sims 2 University. Some new information is given, including the reason to pick University as first EP. This was done with future packs in mind. It would be harder to add the "Young Adult" age group afterwards, and blend it in well enough with other expansions. Besides that, expansions bring new objects, like the music objects and the pool table, that add more general gameplay rather than - in this case - the typical university life. Besides that information, there are of course also some old and new details regarding the first expansion:

• It's again confirmed there will be a cheat to make buildings as high as you want, where the sky is the limit. It's said though, that a Sim on the 19th floor, may take 5 real-time minutes to walk down missing his carpool.
• There will be a cheat to redecorate dorms, in case you're desperate. Normally though, build mode is disabled there.
• Sims can move out of one family, and into another. This also allows multiple families to live in one household, as it was during the development of the Sims 2 (see our Sims 2 University special, which despite the name has nothing to do with this expansion).
• The US terms for things, like majors, GPs, etc., are also discussed, and specifically localization of these names. In the end the idea is simple: Sims learn, get grades, and passes or fails. That's it.
• Contrary to what was said before, each Semester lasts 3 simdays.
• Failing 2 semesters in a row means the Sim's booted off university, back to the family they came from.
• You can feed NPCs and even teachers to the famous Cow plant.
• What I previously translated as "DIY Plastic Surgery Set" is actually called the "Home Plastic Surgery Kit."
• The object to resurrect Sims with (by bribing the Grim Reaper), is called the "Resurrect-anamonotron." Spelling may be incorrect.
• There's a new radio station, the "College Rock" station. Songs on it are recorded by real-life "up and coming" bands, that helped Maxis by making Simlish versions of their songs.
• Maxis will release a new tool to create new swatches, i.e. object textures. A tool to edit their shapes will most likely not be released though.
• Maxis is already developing expansion 2, and the details will be revealed sooner rather than later. Nevertheless it's still a close guarded secret.
• A full-time butler or maid will not be in "this expansion pack."
• Sims in college can visit their parents at home, and then also go to the regular community lots.
• The police can bust up frat parties.
• Sims cannot enter a dorm room without the owner of the room present.
• No cheating at university!
• Togas aren't fireproof... Watch out with those bonfires!
• There won't be too many new food types in University, though there probably will be in future expansions.
• The basketball hoop might return in a future expansion pack.

Read the entire article for the rest.