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711. Official site going down

Written on Wednesday 16 April 2003 at 02:58 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

The official site will be going down for some server maintenance tonight. This is something Maxis tends to do regularly, and they'll be cleaning up a lot of mess on their servers then. They should be back soon though (16 April according to the note), and a SimDay will probably follow a day later. This goes for all Maxis sites, including SimCity and probably the nearly forgotten SimGolf (although it doesn't say anything there). If the TSO site will be taken down is unknown, as that's hosted by EA Games rather than by Maxis themselves. Because of this maintenance, SimCityDay has been delayed until next week.

712. Another review of The Sims (Gamecube, X-Box)

Written on Monday 14 April 2003 at 00:39 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

The Sims has been reviewed once again. Slowly but surely more and more reviews are popping up on the net. There is now another review, at GameSpy. Like some other major gaming sites, this one has one review for both platforms, just in two slightly different editions. The introduction and the conclusions are different, but the rest is the same. Here's a snippet of it:

"All in all, getting a life isn't as fun as the normal, freeform experience -- The Sims' primary appeal is that you can play god, and doing any such thing here will break the script and end your game. However, the "Get a Life" mode does well to instruct new players on the basics, and it was wise to force players to complete a token chunk of this mode to unlock the main simulation. Unfortunately, though, the player can only unlock certain catalog items and gameplay scenarios through the "Get a Life" game. While the concept is sound, I felt like I had to slog through the mode to unlock those items, and this ultimately felt more like a chore to me than actual fun."

They're not too happy about the Get a Life mode really, but in general they're positive about the game. If you're interested in the GameCube version, go here. For the X-Box, you have to click here. For even more reviews, visit our review index.

713. Poll results and new poll: Paying for downloads?

Written on Thursday 10 April 2003 at 02:00 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

After last week's poll we found out that most of you use WinZip (or a similar program) to manually install downloads into The Sims: 67% (92 people) voted that. Far behind is the SimsFileMaid, which got 15 (11%) out of the 138 votes. Following that closely are those who don't have downloads or only use self-extracting (.exe) ones: 14 votes (10%) for that. A bit behind that is SimsZip, which received 12 votes (9%). SimsFileMaid and The Neighborhood Handler together got 5th, with just 4 votes (3%). The last vote (less than 1%) was for SimsZip in combination with The Neighborhood Handler. That leaves 0 votes for Sims Unzip. That's actually the first time an option in a poll received 0 votes in one week time (or longer).

Now we want to know if you're subscribed to any of the paysites out there. As you know, quite many sites are in bandwidth trouble, and some of them 'went pay ' because of that. We'd like to know if you subscribed to any of those or not. You can tell us by voting here or on the right.

714. More Superstar screens

Written on Thursday 10 April 2003 at 00:11 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

The german website SimsZone has spotted some new images of Superstar at the Gamers' Temple. There are several new pictures of objects, including a recording studio, getting an autograph, the oxygen bar and a photoshoot. These are all 3D renders, so no actual screenshots. Nevertheless, they are looking good. We've included the "Skydiving Simulator" in action below. For all the screenshots (including some older ones), visit this page.

715. IGN Reviews

Written on Tuesday 8 April 2003 at 00:52 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

After the release of The Sims on both the GameCube and the X-Box, IGN posted their review of this game. Although they were insider-only before, now everybody can read the review. Like GameSpot, their review comes in two flavours: one for the GameCube, one for the X-Box. That means there's basically just one review, with only small differences when the platform's name is mentioned. Here's a bit of what IGN has to say about the graphics:

"But despite the upgrades, the game still carries with it a few graphical shortcomings in general. Although character animations are smooth and realistic, they often repeat unnaturally and robotically when certain events transpire. Players will occasionally witness their characters sit down to eat, then stand up when they're finished, walk away, walk back over to their chairs, sit down, pick up their plates, and then stand back up and carry it over to the sink for washing. And while the texture resolution is definitely improved, they look fairly muddy when the camera pulls in close to the action. Perhaps the biggest eyesore is the occasionally stuttering framerate that skips a beat here and there during dramatic camera movements through a densely populated house or when the disc fires off a quick load of data."

The whole GameCube edition of the review is right here. The X-Box one is on this page and links to more reviews are in our review index.

716. New poll

Written on Thursday 3 April 2003 at 02:00 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

Opinions are divided over whether Maxis should release The Sims 2 or even more expansion packs for The Sims 1.0 after the upcoming Superstar. You voted a lot (278 people voted), and the results are tight. 78 Of you (28%) wants The Sims 2, and no more expansions. With just 5 people more (83 votes, 30%), the people who absolutely want more expansion packs are with the most out of those two. However, if we include the bits in between, The Sims 2 is actually more wanted. 53 people (19%) prefer The Sims 2, but won't mind more expansion packs either. 17 people less (36 people, 13%) prefer expansions over The Sims 2. That makes 131 people (47%) pro-The Sims 2, and 119 (43%) pro-expansions. Just 5% (14 people) won't buy either of them. The remaining 5% (also 14 votes) say their computer won't be able to handle more. For a nice list of the results, go here.

Our new poll is about the method of installing downloads. There are several ways you can do this: either using WinZip and do it manually, using tools like SimsZip, SimFileMaid or SimUnzip (together with The Neighborhood Handler or not), or you only download self-extracting files. Please let us know what you use by voting in this week's poll on the right or on this page. For our poll archive, click here.

717. "EA Announces Plans For The Sims PC Game Reviewer"

Written on Wednesday 2 April 2003 at 01:06 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

That's a new headline at the official site. It comes with a nice press release and a screenshot of this new expansion pack - while Superstar hasn't even been released yet!

"Players can now realize their fantasies of living out of a grey cube, eating nachos, and playing video games all day long. All new game play, new social interactions and a whole new in-game destination offer players an all access pass to the professional world of PC game reviewing. In The Sims PC Game Reviewer, The Sims are indolent co-workers in a highly politicized game of corporate ladder climbing and "reporting" for the ultimate payoff: free games and swag. (...)

"Typical of Maxis and true to the findings at PC Gamer, the new location has a set of amusing objects with unique game play, such as the Hidden Desk Flask, an Inflatable Doll, and Vending Machine Chips. In addition to the Booth Babe, new and zany NPC's include a Banal Editor, and Hapless Intern. Exciting new social interactions are also included such as "Ask to proofread," "Borrow a stapler," "Complain about games," and the hilarious new "Remind of deadline." They guarantee unlimited, open-ended fun and creativity. In The Sims PC Game Reviewer - if it's in the game reviewer, it's in the game!"

And here's the screenshot, with the typical name 'april_fools.jpg' (on the official site anyway) - which makes it all a bit too obvious doesn't it:

Another nice joke to be added to this year's list of april fool's pranks. Like our host, GTA3.Com, who pretended they were hacked - well done guys! Anyway, for the press release of "The Sims PC Game Reviewer", have a look over here - and yes, the page is called april_fools.html. The press release does have some nice (untrue) facts and (fake) quotes. Obvious: yes. But quite nice too. However, according to you many people don't want another expansion pack anymore - you can check the results of our latest poll for that. It's still running, so vote if you haven't done so already!

718. The Sims 2 Preview

Written on Wednesday 2 April 2003 at 00:01 by ChEeTaH - 1 comment.

Yes, there is a preview of The Sims 2 at The Gamers Temple. It's the first that exists, even before any official announcement from Maxis. They say it will be in 3D ("get an underwater view from inside a hot tub"), Sims will age, there will be pets and downtown, old town and vacation island will be included in the game. There will also be a couple of new pets like horses etc. And: evil Sims:

"Now for one of the really big changes – your sims will now have a good/evil character trait. Good sims will behave a lot like sims in the current game, but evil sims will be a lot different. Evil sims enjoy homes filled with trash and broken objects, and must work to keep their relationship scores down with good sims. The more good sims that they have a rotten relationship with the better. To help evil sims out, there will be plenty of new evil interactions. Some will be simple slaps and bullying interactions, but others are going to be a lot more interesting. There is a pretty tight lid on what these actions will be, but we did learn about the “spread vicious rumor” interaction (particularly effective against sims that are trying to build up a good fame score). Good sims and evil sims do not get along, but evil sims will need to build relationships with other evil sims. Evil sims can marry and make little evil families, but if they build a high enough relationship with another evil sim you can use the “leave spouse” interaction to break up the unhappy little home. Finally there will be different career options for each type of sim. For example, only evil sims will be able to become career criminals. Both evil and good sims will be able to enter politics, though."

Too bad it's only an april fool's joke... But nevertheless, you might want to read their ideas (and post your own) right here.

719. Virus in The Sims Online

Written on Tuesday 1 April 2003 at 03:04 by ChEeTaH - 1 comment.

The Sims Online has a virus on it. The virus, which automatically spread from Maxis to everybody who has played the game between 29 and 31 March. The virus wasn't detected by virusscanners, as one of the players of The Sims Online created it, and the virus was unknown so far. The virus is called W32.TSO.Worm. Maxis has apologized for this occuring:

"We are deeply sorry that this could occur. We detected the problem when the servers were sending a lot of data to our players, but we couldn't trace it back. It turned out to be this new virus. We have cleaned the servers, and so the virus won't be spread anymore. Users are now protected from getting it, but should still be aware if they have it. We'll release a clean-up patch to remove the virus from the player's computer as soon as possible."

Players will automatically be warned if they are infected when they play The Sims Online again.

The virus will block you from playing The Sims Online again, and it'll also automatically uninstall the game. However, your account won't be removed, so you keep paying for your account. This virus will trigger 14 April. Maxis is doing everything they can to prevent any damage.

The account of the creator of the virus has been traced back and is permanently blocked. For the next few weeks, Maxis will continuously monitor their servers for malicious traffic and content. An email will be sent to everybody who has played The Sims Online the past 3 days explaining the danger. The patch is expected to be finished later today or tomorrow, and is created by the programmers of Maxis together with Symantec, known of Norton Antivirus. We will keep you updated, and inform you as soon as the patch is available. For more precise details of what the virus does, click "read more". We advise everybody, including those who don't have TSO (it might also affect any other version of The Sims), to do this.