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311. Sims 2 or Nightlife for Consoles?

Written on Saturday 7 May 2005 at 00:23 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

Although EA only announced the regular "The Sims 2" for the consoles, handhelds and mobiles, online shop GameStop is now listing The Sims 2 Nightlife for those platforms. This is reported by GameFront.de. The specific items can be found by searching Gamestop on The Sims 2 Nightlife. However, as the recently announced the Sims 2 is not listed at all, and the release date for both is set to fall 2005, it's unlikely it's actually Nightlife will be out for the consoles. Instead, it's probably a placement error by GameStop.

312. Sims Franchise still strong in Fiscal 2005

Written on Friday 6 May 2005 at 23:58 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

Last week EA revealed their results of the fiscal year 2005, which ran from April 2004 until March 2005. The Sims franchise brought more than 1 billion dollars into EA's bank account, by selling more than 16 million copies. The Sims 2 University has also reached platinum in the past quarter. During the conference call, EA also mentioned the new platforms, like the PSP and mobile phones, that EA will start publishing games on, including the Sims 2.

EA's revenue has for the first time ever surpassed $3 billion, of which $1.7 billion came from the US and $1.3 billion from Europe. EA thinks the fiscal 2006 game lineup is stronger than ever before, with titles like Burnout 4, Black, Battlefield 2, The Sims 2 on consoles, and the usual sports titles including Madden and Fifa Football. The company is ready to start operating on the next generation consoles, which will be shown on the E3 which starts in just over a week. All in all it's been a successful year for Electronic Arts, and we should have a nice E3 coming ahead of us if we should believe them. For more information, also see the press release.

313. Sim Brother 4 - Day 26 - Recrimination, Romance and Racks of Balls

Written on Thursday 5 May 2005 at 02:00 by Andy - 1 comment.

There is a reaction to the revelation of who is up for eviction this week. Romance is still in the air and Sim Brother has a contest for the housemates to help them unwind. It's right here!

314. Sims 2 Mac Update

Written on Saturday 30 April 2005 at 22:40 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

Yesterday Aspyr, creator of the Sims 2 on Mac, has posted a new developer journal entry at Inside Mac Games. This time it's all about the music in the game, which gets stuck in your head easily. Karen Halloran talks about Mark Mothersbaugh's music, and his band DEVO. Two screenshots are included, you can see them below.

Other than that, Aspyr has issued a press release in which it talks about features of Mac OS X Tiger, the latest release of Mac OS, that the Sims 2 will support. The game will make use of the improved OpenGL libraries, and the new .Mac services will also be supported. Families can be shared over the .Mac iDisk as well. The game is expected in June.

315. Belated Simday

Written on Saturday 30 April 2005 at 22:27 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

A slightly late report about last Thursday, as usual Simday on the official site. Maxis has improved their site a little bit again, by improving the search possibilities for lots. You can search on lots whether they have Custom Content, on Lot Size, Number of Floors, and Lot Value now, giving you a bigger chance of getting what you want. Other than that, there are some links we mentioned earlier, namely the GameSpot articles about The Sims 2 on console and mobile phones. New is also the intro, which now promoted the recently launched movie contest.

As for the Sims 2 on consoles, handhelds and mobile phones, Maxis has posted new information pages. There are pages for all platforms the game will be out on later this year: Playstation 2, XBox, GameCube, GBA, DS, PSP and Phones. There is just one bit of information from these pages so far, which is about the GBA version:

"Between episodes participate in all new unique mini-games such as car and soda commercials. How well you do helps determine how good your ratings are."

Other than that, the following small artworks were posted:

316. Nightlife T-Mail

Written on Thursday 28 April 2005 at 15:22 by ChEeTaH - 1 comment.

Tim LeTourneau, producer of the Sims 2 expansion packs, has sent out another e-mail with an update on The Sims 2 Nightlife, the second expansion pack that's due this fall. This time he tells that the team is gearing up for E3, where the expansion will be shown to visitors. He also says how much the team thinks about the community when developing an expansion pack, implementing features that may not be in for a mainstream announcement, but that fans do want. For instance, there will be half-height walls, and new counter-island corners. Animated lights are "pretty amazing too", as you can rotate them and create different patterns. Besides that, the game will now allow diagonal and L-shaped pools without using cheats. All can be seen on the included screenshots, for which you'll have to click the thumbnails for larger versions. Read on for Tim's exact words.

Read More!

317. GameSpot on TS2 Mobile

Written on Thursday 28 April 2005 at 15:12 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

After the announcement games site GameSpot has had a first look at the Sims 2 on mobiles. It mentions some features, like the SimQ, a meter which shows how well you are doing in the game. You have to complete mini-goals to improve your SimQ. The game will be mobile-oriented, allowing short sessions of 3-5 minutes, rather than having to take hours to accomplish something. It will feature a complete Create-A-Sim mode, and it even allows you to import a character from the PC version by uploading a Sim to a special WAP site. Copying Sims over through SMS is another possibility, but you'll also be able to just get into your phone's phonebook at any time in the game, and send your friends short messages. Of course there is also some decoration to be done. The game will be released in three versions, a 64Kb one for lightweight phones, and two heavier 128Kb and 178Kb versions. The latter will feature a bigger and richer world. For more information see the preview. The two screenshots below are new as well (do click the thumbnails to see slightly larger versions in this case).

318. Will Wright to speak at E3

Written on Sunday 24 April 2005 at 14:57 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

The Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) is starting again in about three weeks, at 17 May. The biggest exposition of computer and video games will be a good one for Maxis fans this year, with The Sims 2 for consoles and handhelds, The Sims 2 Nightlife for the PC and Spore for PC and possibly Xbox 2 being shown. Besides that, Will Wright, designer of the original Sims game and now Spore, will be speaking at the "The path to creating AAA games: How successful designers learn from experience, or decide to break from it" workshop. The panel will discuss if developers learn from previously made games, and if they get inspired by them. Learning from mistakes will also be a topic. The moderator will ask the guests, including Wright, how the previous game influenced the game they've most recently completed or are working on now. To quote the exact description:

"In what ways do designers draw on their previous games for lessons and inspiration? Is the muse that contributes to the game design process wholly new for each game or does it tap a well of ever-increasing knowledge and experience? And what's to be learned from mistakes and games that underwhelmed and sold poorly? This session will ask a panel of experienced developers how they learn and build on their game design experience. We'll ask them to specifically address how their most-recently completed project (or one they are working on now) was influenced by the game that preceded it. If there are rules and conventions to follow in creating games, where do they come from? Is past experience a viable resource or is it best to start new projects with a clean slate?"

Carly Staehlin will host the workshop, and other guests are Mark Firor (Mythic Entertainment), Todd Howard (Bethesda Softworks: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion), Tetsuya Mizuguchi (Q Entertainment: Meteos, Lumines) and Tim Willits (ID Software: Doom 3). It's quite likely Wright will be speaking about Spore, although that is not specifically mentioned. For more information also see the E3 workshop list. Thanks to WorldSims for the tip.

319. Sim Brother 4 - Day 14 - Of Asterisms, Galaxies and Constellations

Written on Friday 22 April 2005 at 05:00 by Andy - 0 comments.

Today is the weekly task. The housemates have been working all week towards it but have they worked hard enough to pass this astronomical task? The answers are in the stars and can be found right here!!

320. First Look at The Sims 2 GBA/DS [Update]

Written on Thursday 21 April 2005 at 14:20 by ChEeTaH - 1 comment.

Virginia McArthur, producer of the handheld versions of the Sims 2, has sat down with GameSpot and given a video interview which the gaming site has now posted. In it, some information regarding the GameBoy Advance (GBA) and Dual Screen (DS) versions is given. Both games will be set in Strangetown, although at different places there. The GBA version plays at the set of a TV show, where you have to complete 20 episodes. The player is the star of the show, and by fulfilling your needs and satisfying the aspiration (which can change in every episode) you can get high ratings from the Goths. If the rating is high enough, you can unlock new objects and episodes. The game is less linear than its predecessors as you can complete the levels in any order you like. You can also trade unlocked items with other players using GBA-GBA connectivity, so you don't have to uinlock everything yourself.

The DS version is very different, in that it's completely 3D and instead of at a TV show set, it's located in a two-room hotel. Your goal is to manage that hotel, and to make all visitors happy. There will also be three bosses refusing to leave the hotel, until they are completely satisfied. You are given a lot of freedom, and thus you can expand the hotel with new rooms including lounges and art galleries. Paintings for the art gallery can be played in the touch screen, whereas music that plays in the lounges can be recorded using the built-in microphone of the DS. You can also play that music in any other hotel room, and so drive your residents mad. As with the GBA versions, items can be traded.

Both titles will not be as linear as previous versions. There is an underlying storyline, but you're totally free as to whether you follow it, or just go out and socialise. Gamespot has promised some more information regarding the version for the big consoles for later this week. For now you can check out the preview, to which a video is attached. That video can be watched for free with a GameSpot Basic account. The screens below were also posted, one for the GBA and three (quite low quality ones) for the DS.

[Update 22 April, 22:40] As you can see below, the DS images have been reuploaded by Gamespot and now they're in good quality. We've replaced them here too. Thanks to Fabian for the tip.