There's 1 new preview, a developer diary (part 1), 2 screenshots and a new movie all of The Sims 2. Most of it comes from GameSpot, but let's first check out this preview at EuroGamer. That one's pretty much like what we've seen before. They first tell us about an old game on Commodore64, which was called "Alter Ego". Then they go on about The Sims 2. They haven't been able to play it themselves, they only got to watch a demo. That demo is a few months old now, and the review doesn't give very much news. Then there's a designer's diary, the first part of a series in which designers and developers of Maxis will tell about the progress of The Sims 2. First up is Tim LeTourneau, who talks 2 pages long about the beginning of the sequel to our favourite game...
Here's how it all started:
"First, we needed a little of the Wright stuff. Will Wright, that is. Will had some definite ideas about where we should be taking The Sims 2. We then put together a team of veteran designers, producers, engineers, and artists--people who came from the original Sims and expansion pack teams. We needed people with an in-depth knowledge of the Sims simulator and behavior systems. Those people needed to have an intimate knowledge and understanding of the history of the franchise--a real grasp of what has historically worked and what hasn't. Most importantly, they needed to have the ability to put together and interpret all of gameplay feedback from everyone around them. Everybody considers themselves an expert on human behavior and, naturally, projects their own sensibilities onto the lives of their sims."To read more of that, click right here. There are 2 pages of interesting info. Along with that article, there are 2 brand new screenshots. You can check them out at this page. One shows "The classic tale of "boy strikes out with girl, boy uses exercise machine, boy gets a second chance."", the other showing an example of 2 parents and their offspring, to show the DNA features.
For GameSpot Complete members there's also a new video interview that I missed last week (Camp EA stuff). The interview is with Lucy Bradshaw. In 2 minutes they discuss several features of the game. For instance, it'll be possible to change the sizes of an area, and their positions, in a neighborhood. There's also a decorate mode that allows you to match all your furniture with decoration etc. Personality and the social options will change while a Sim grows up. Sims will also remember things: "If mom blew up the stove, they might take a wide berth around the stove for a number of years". Your Sims will also get fit by working out, or fat because they sit in front of their TVs too much. They also talk about the great detail you can create Sims in. There will be a new website and customisations tools and a whole community again, just like with The Sims 1. People can of course also share their stories again. The interview contains some exclusive in-game material again. It's well-worth watching, unfortunately only for GameSpot complete members. You can find the video at this page.
Written at 00:28 on Sunday, 20 July 2003 by ChEeTaH.
