We have just received the news that "The Sims 2 Body Shop", the tool to create Sims for The Sims 2 with formerly known as CaSIE, has gone through another name change. It's now called the "Sim Duplicator". Maxis has decided to change the name again, because the features simply wouldn't live up to the name. "The Body Shop was plagued by bugs and simply wouldn't work together with The Sims 2. We've tried our best, but can't do any better now. We've disabled most of the features of the tool now, unfortunately," says Lucy Bradshaw, Executive Producer of The Sims 2. The only feature the Sim Duplicator has now, is copying Sims. "It's still pretty good. You can mix heads with different bodies, and so still make very unique Sims". The reactions from the community about this news aren't very positive. Many people are complaining Maxis has promised a great tool to create Sims, and that even after delays of months (admittedly caused also by the move to a new location of Maxis), all they can release is a "crappy" tool with hardly any features. The team that worked on the former "Body Shop" has been cut down and is now only half as big as before. They are still working on fixing all the bugs that occured before, and hope to be able to release a proper Body Shop in the last quarter of 2004, so after the expected release of The Sims 2. However, sceptics are already saying that this will cause even more delays to both the game and the real Body Shop. We'll keep you updated. For now, make sure you read the "Read More" part for the complete e-mail from Lucy, because it contains quite a bit of extra (and important) info.
"Hello everybody,"I regret to be the bearer of bad news, but the Sims 2 Body Shop, formerly known as CaSIE, again got a new name. That's mainly because the feedback we received from a selective group of testers was not very positive. Internal tests also proved that the tool simply couldn't live up to its name. Most Sims created with the tool didn't work at all with the game.
"Since the start The Body Shop was plagued by bugs and simply wouldn't work together with The Sims 2. We've tried our best, but can't do any better now. We've disabled most of the features of the tool now, unfortunately.
"The new name for the program is the "Sim Duplicator". Although it may sound like it, it's not useless at all. In fact, it's still pretty good. You can mix heads with different bodies, and so still make very unique Sims for your game. However, that's all that can be done with it at the moment.
"The project has already cost a lot of money, and so General Manager Neil Young has decided, together with the team working on the Sim Duplicator, to move half of the team over to The Sims 2, to make sure that doesn't get delayed too much anymore. The other half will still be working on fixing the nasty bugs, but don't expect a quick release of a fully working Body Shop.
"I thought I'd let you know this first since all of you have in the past proven to make great custom content. We realise you're now limited in that, because you just can't make as many great skins. That's why Maxis keeps working on it, but the Body Shop, as it will be named again once it's ready, probably won't be released until the fourth quarter of 2004. Until then we'll of course keep you tuned. Even though this program has been delayed, this does not mean anything for the release date of the game. With the bigger team it will still be finished in the second half of 2004.
"I hope to have some better news next week.
Lucy"
April Fool!
You fell for it didn't you? Yes, this is an April Fool's joke, we hope you enjoyed it. Absolutely NOTHING in this news post is true - even the quotations are fake. Today is April 1st, the day to pull some pranks on your parents, children, friends, whoever. Enjoy the rest of your day, after you stopped laughing at yourself for falling for this one.
Written at 03:04 on Thursday, 1 April 2004 by ChEeTaH.
