With less than 4 weeks to the release, the hype of the Sims 2 has really broken loose. (P)reviews, screenshots and media are popping up all over the place - on both the internet and written press - and GameSpy is no exception. They've posted two articles about the game - a Preview and a humour story - so far, but that's not all. There will be an interview with Will Wright tomorrow as well. For all the links see their Sims 2 landing site.

The preview is pretty in-depth with its 5 pages, and it does contain some spoilers as well. The editor is very impressed with the immense level of detail in the game. Imagine some Sim has left the cordless phone lying around somewhere, while another one wants to make a call. They'd press a button on the base station, and walk to the room where the phone was making a noise. Other samples of detail are that you can actually see the Sims play their chess (they move their pieces) or video games. The cutscenes, highlighting special moments in your Sims' lives, bring you really up close and personal with your Sims as well:

"Special moments in your Sims' lives are highlighted with (for lack of a better term) "cutscenes," where the camera swivels around to capture the magic - such as in my childbirth example above. All of these moments are appropriately big and bold, as if you're seeing it through your Sims' eyes. When one of my teenage Sims had her first kiss, she floated up in the air surrounded by hearts and twittering birds."

Furthermore the preview mentions "Woo Hoo" and fights. You should read the entire preview for more. In the other article, called "Spy Eyes for the Sim Guys", we meet Eugene Marfit, a "cheese-guzzling cellulisaurous" (or just a Sim in bad shape). Read and see how his life is changed by GameSpy, in the complete article.

[Update 15:45] The GameSpy homepage has a mention saying that the game has apparantly gone gold. This has not been officially confirmed yet, but of course we'll keep you updated.