April is always a fun month to start, although preparations are often done long before that. Think up some horrible news that is too bad to be true, and hope people fall for it. And some did. "Body Shop now 'Sim Duplicator'" was our headline at 1 April, April Fool's day. The Body Shop had changed its name again, because Maxis couldn't make true all the features they promised and so disabled most of them. It was revealed by Lucy that a proper Body Shop wouldn't be released until late 2004. Of course this was all untrue and made up by us, we hope everybody had a laugh. If it was true though, this would've been the most important news of April by a mile... Maxis tried to fool everybody too by announcing Makin' Mischief, expansion 8 for the Sims 1, in which bad behaviour would be rewarded. They also said that The Sims 2 would not have any 3D graphics anymore, because "80's nostalgia is in really hot right now, and it's here to stay.". The Sims Blocky Shop would be used to create Sims. That's four names for one tool in a few weeks' time!
Besides that, April was a month in which May was mentioned more than once. First there was a post at the official UK site, which said to expect the (proper) Body Shop in May - which was no April Fool's joke. After that we also discovered that the game itself, the Sims 2, would be shipping in September. Bustin' Out was being prepared to be brought to Nokia's N-Gage platform, and it was confirmed to be released in May 2004. As May is also the month of E3, it would also be the month of EA's Pre-E3 show. Even one scoop newsletter showed a E3 artwork. At the end of the month, I also said the Add-on Handler 0.4.0b would be out in May.
On the third day of April, Maxis showed us their new offices. They also told us Luc, the former General Manager of Maxis was just one floor above Maxis. A few days later EA issued a press release in which they announced See Advertising would be taking care of the TV commercials for the Sims 2, among other EA games. Not all was positive though, and the news that TSO still was a failure revealed that despite the investments by EA in the game, it just wouldn't become the success Maxis hoped for.
Just like March, April was a month with mostly just new screenshots of the Sims 2. But on this site some new things were put online. There were some upgrades to the Knowledge base again, which would since then allow reporting of questions and answers. Andy (re)started his series of editorials, called "How do you play Yours?" In 5 episodes he discussed different ways of playing the Sims 1. But there was one thing that was hinted a month earlier...
Besides that, April was a month in which May was mentioned more than once. First there was a post at the official UK site, which said to expect the (proper) Body Shop in May - which was no April Fool's joke. After that we also discovered that the game itself, the Sims 2, would be shipping in September. Bustin' Out was being prepared to be brought to Nokia's N-Gage platform, and it was confirmed to be released in May 2004. As May is also the month of E3, it would also be the month of EA's Pre-E3 show. Even one scoop newsletter showed a E3 artwork. At the end of the month, I also said the Add-on Handler 0.4.0b would be out in May.
On the third day of April, Maxis showed us their new offices. They also told us Luc, the former General Manager of Maxis was just one floor above Maxis. A few days later EA issued a press release in which they announced See Advertising would be taking care of the TV commercials for the Sims 2, among other EA games. Not all was positive though, and the news that TSO still was a failure revealed that despite the investments by EA in the game, it just wouldn't become the success Maxis hoped for.
Just like March, April was a month with mostly just new screenshots of the Sims 2. But on this site some new things were put online. There were some upgrades to the Knowledge base again, which would since then allow reporting of questions and answers. Andy (re)started his series of editorials, called "How do you play Yours?" In 5 episodes he discussed different ways of playing the Sims 1. But there was one thing that was hinted a month earlier...
"Sims will go downtown, but we will no longer know them as Sims."Only a day before the official announcement, IGN already revealed a new title in the Sims family for the consoles: Urban Sims. But it wouldn't be called that way. When the game was announced, it had changed its name to the Urbz already. The first screenshots followed quickly, as did the first developer chat. As April was relatively quiet, the announcement is probably the most important news in April.
May. The month of E3. The month of LOTS of news. From 12 to 14 May the Electronic Entertainment Expo was held in the convention centre in Los Angeles, California. As usual this is the major annual event for game publishers to show off what they've got coming up in the next year(s). EA is no exception, and of course they showed both the Sims 2 and the Urbz. The first Sims material came in 12 May, followed by a movie, interviews, N-Gage screenshots, a Body Shop Screenshot and something else important that same day. A final release date for the Sims 2. The game many people were waiting for would be hitting the stores 17 September 2004. And that was only the first day of the E3. There was a whole lot more from the E3 the other 2 days and following, which you could see in our E3 overview. That includes a lot of awards Maxis won with the Sims 2.
May was also the month of some more announcements. The Sims Deluxe was released in 2002, and Double Deluxe in 2003. Now it was 2004 for almost 5 months already, and of course this year could not be without another Deluxe release. So instead of one, Maxis came with two of them. One for the Europe, Triple Deluxe, and Mega Deluxe for the US. The American version was shipped later in May, without official announcement. Besides that release, The Sims Zone released The Add-on Handler 0.4.0b with several new features when it comes to managing your downloads for the Sims 1.
So we've had the E3 and some Deluxe versions of the Sims. But that's far from all that was done by EA. They also launched an official Sims 2 site for the UK, and they confirmed the 17 September release date. Although it was set a week later in Europe at first, this was fairly quickly corrected. But not all plans Maxis had would be continued. The fansite hosting was cancelled in May as well. But most of all, May was the month of one program...
May was also the month of some more announcements. The Sims Deluxe was released in 2002, and Double Deluxe in 2003. Now it was 2004 for almost 5 months already, and of course this year could not be without another Deluxe release. So instead of one, Maxis came with two of them. One for the Europe, Triple Deluxe, and Mega Deluxe for the US. The American version was shipped later in May, without official announcement. Besides that release, The Sims Zone released The Add-on Handler 0.4.0b with several new features when it comes to managing your downloads for the Sims 1.
So we've had the E3 and some Deluxe versions of the Sims. But that's far from all that was done by EA. They also launched an official Sims 2 site for the UK, and they confirmed the 17 September release date. Although it was set a week later in Europe at first, this was fairly quickly corrected. But not all plans Maxis had would be continued. The fansite hosting was cancelled in May as well. But most of all, May was the month of one program...
"The official site is struggling to stay online, and even the GameSpot download servers have been down for some time as well."After an initial delay, it was released at 11 May. The Body Shop, formerly known as CaSIE, was out as a 200 Mb download. The sites distributing the program could hardly keep up with the demand for a few days, and downtime was the result. The first clothes and Sims would follow quickly. It didn't stay with just a release, but also some hidden stuff and even a first tool. And what do you think of it that we even reviewed it? It was late May when Sumit posted his first skin online at The Sims Zone, which was the first of many. The release of the Body Shop is the clear winner when it comes to importance of Sims news in May 2004.
June was a month without too much special news. Previews and screenshots of mostly the Sims 2 came out at an almost daily basis. Lucy Bradshaw sent out her weekly mail to the community, along with some wallpapers, an interview, a movie or just some information. But there were only a few news items that really stood out...
One of them was Part 2 of "How do you play Yours," Andy's series of articles, this time all about the homeworker style. There was also a new designer diary at GameSpot. Furthermore there was some special news that the Sims 2 would be out on DVD, quickly followed by some box shots. Before the release of the Sims 2 Maxis would re-release some old games though: The Sims Triple Deluxe was released, as well as a new trial of The Sims Online. That trial was taken offline for a while though, but put online again a few days later.
Besides the ton of screenshots, some sites went through a few changes. The Sims 1 site got a flash intro, and the Sims 2 site was redesigned. Since the redesign it used the new Sims 2 logo which was used since the E3 in May. The Sims Zone also made a minor change, in that pop-up banners would by default be enabled for members (with the option to disable them, all for free). All to keep the site up and running - which as you can now read has succeeded. And it's been a hard choice, but what was the most important news of June then?
One of them was Part 2 of "How do you play Yours," Andy's series of articles, this time all about the homeworker style. There was also a new designer diary at GameSpot. Furthermore there was some special news that the Sims 2 would be out on DVD, quickly followed by some box shots. Before the release of the Sims 2 Maxis would re-release some old games though: The Sims Triple Deluxe was released, as well as a new trial of The Sims Online. That trial was taken offline for a while though, but put online again a few days later.
Besides the ton of screenshots, some sites went through a few changes. The Sims 1 site got a flash intro, and the Sims 2 site was redesigned. Since the redesign it used the new Sims 2 logo which was used since the E3 in May. The Sims Zone also made a minor change, in that pop-up banners would by default be enabled for members (with the option to disable them, all for free). All to keep the site up and running - which as you can now read has succeeded. And it's been a hard choice, but what was the most important news of June then?
"It turns out the "117" figure was reported in the securities filing based on an estimate of how many employees would not be taking the new jobs."It was said that the move of Maxis a few months earlier, as well as that of Origin, both of which moved to the Redwood Shores studio, meant that 117 employees of both companies would lose their job. It turned out these people did not accept their new position, at least so stated Jeff Brown from Electronic Arts. It was already rumoured in February several Maxis employees would be laid off, including a lead designer for The Sims 2. This was never confirmed though. As I said it's a tough pick, but this is my choice for most important news of June.
Written at 01:00 on Thursday 23 December 2004 by
ChEeTaH.
