That The Sims 1 isn't dead yet is proved by the questions for help with the game we still get quite often. EA knows it, and re-released the Sims 1. It didn't come alone, but for $39.99 the base game and all 7 expansion packs were packed together in one box. This Complete Collection had been available in parts of Europe already since earlier in 2005, but became available in other parts as of November too. The announcement of this collection was made in October, followed by the showing of the Expansion Three-Packs for the Sims 1. Two packs, each containing three expansion packs, could get you the complete collection if you already have the Sims Deluxe.

The first Shopping Pack (formerly known as Booster Pack) would be in a Holiday theme. Although it was never officially called that, the idea was very similar though: 40 objects for a price of $15. Besides just that pack, you could also get a special edition of the Sims 2, which contains the base game and the Christmas kit. In the end the pack didn't please everybody though - 12 of the objects were given away on the official site during their Holiday Giveaway, and several objects were already available on the site from last year. Only the future will tell if this will be the same for all shopping packs, if they are ever made, or not.

Although it wasn't brought in a big way, and it didn't raise a lot of discussion, this item was a conclusion of big news last year. In 2004 we already covered a topic of former Maxis/EA employees filing a lawsuit against EA. There was at least one member of the Sims 2 team that filed the lawsuit, but there was also a blog from a developer of the Urbz in which he complained about the overtime that he had to work, and weren't compensated. In October 2005 the overtime class action lawsuit was settled, as EA revealed through a press release. EA paid them $15.6 million to cover the claims. Anything left unclaimed was given to the Jackie Robinson Foundation, which awards college scholarships to minority students, with a preference to those interested in studying interactive entertainment.

There's one thing that happens every year, but remains special: our birthday. The Sims Zone turned 4 this year, and we gave a very small party on the site. In those 4 years we got over 7.5 million visitors (well over 10,000 almost every day at the moment), over 800 downloads, mostly created by staff members of the site, 4 series of Sim Brother, more than 80 editorials and extras to help you out, as well as a well-filled knowledge base with almost 4,000 questions and over 10,000 answers. With over 20,000 registered members the Sims Zone is a very active site, and it will be for quite a while if it's up to us.

In November EA also announced a few new things. One thing that stood out for the Sims, was that MP3s and Ringtones of songs from EA games would be released through the "EA Recordings" label. Of course Mark Motherbaugh's music that he made for the Sims 2, as well as some remixes of those tunes, wasn't left out. Many online stores started selling the music as soon as they were released, including Apple iTunes, MSN Music, Yahoo Music, AOL Music and Rhapsody. This bit of news shows that Electronic Arts continually tries to enter new markets, shown as well by their recent purchase of Jamdat (not covered by TSZ), a developer of games for mobile phones.

Another thing that's fairly new in the games industry, is purchasing games by download. Valve did it before with Half Life, and EA started doing the same in November. EA Downloader lets you purchase a game online, for the normal retail price, and then you can download the game before it's released. It won't be activated until the day of the release, but once that happened you can play it right away. The Sims 2 Holiday Party Pack was one of the first products to be sold this way, along with BattleField 2: Special Forces. So far those are the only titles available through EA Downloader as well, and it seems it'll be used only for expansion packs. EA hasn't yet announced that future Sims expansion packs will be released through the same platform, but it's not unlikely.

Most games are released well before Christmas, which makes December a fairly quiet month when it comes to news. The only thing that was constantly somewhat active this month, Sims-wise, is the news about Open for Business. Tim LeTourneau sent the first of his T-Mails, and there were some artworks as usual too. But the gift that comes with pre-orders was also shown by some shops already: an exclusive Sims mascot and a life-size sculpture to promote that your shop is the best in town. Something quite different than a small bonus CD, some music, etc, that's usually given away...

That the PSP is feature-rich is a known fact. In 2005 it got a web-browser on it, so you can surf the web using the PSP's WiFi features. It has resulted in many sites getting ready for the PSP, and making their own narrowed down version with the most basic content, all aimed at the handheld. The official site did the same, and created a website with some news, the podcast, wallpapers, screenshots, movies and more, all for the PSP.

The virtual Sims also entered the real world in December. You can taste them now, if you order a set of stamps of the "Heroes of Videogames" collection at the french postal service, La Poste. There are 10 stamps in total, and one of them has two Sims on them. The game is very popular in France, as it's ranked right after the novel "The Da Vinci Code" in the top 10 of most popular entertainment products. That puts the game at the 8th place in that top 10. 3 Million units of the stamp are available.

That was another year of news, with the most important things highlighted. Naturally you can always go through our archive, to see all news items posted in the past year. It's safe to say 2005 was an active and exciting year for Sims fans, with many new things and try-outs by EA, but also several milestones. Apart from Open for Business, our fifth birthday and our 10 millionth visitor, it's not yet entirely sure what 2006 will have in store for us. So keep visiting us in the new year, as we keep you completely up-to-date with all the latest news and bits regarding the Sims, on whatever platform it's on.

Happy New Year!