What follows is my peek at "Nightlife" when Tim came to England.
I have tried to make my pictures clearer but I apologise for the poor quality. I was only shooting in 640x480 and snapshots from movies are even smaller. Shots from the presentation were taken in a curtained dark room.
Anyway, let us begin.
ARRIVAL AT EA
On June 30th, I was invited with other figures from the UK sims community to Electronic Art's European Headquarters in Surrey (England). After a long journey down which I will not bore you with, I arrived at about 2pm to be welcomed by Prot, Sen and Nova from the EA UK staff. While we were waiting for Tim to turn up, Prot gave us a brief tour of the EA building, which I hope you will agree is one very impressive structure.
It wasn't long before Tim Le Torneau from Maxis turned up. Tim is the Senior Producer for "The Sims 2" and has been a major figure with "The Sims" for a very long time. Tim said he was very pleased to meet us all and that he had asked specifically to come to England on this tour to meet people from the British community. Tim had a very tight schedule and the poor guy seemed drained as he neared the end of a long whistle-stop tour of Europe promoting "Nightlife" to the sims community and the different publishing houses. Nobody was able to get a private interview, but we did manage to find out some of the answers that our viewers have asked us to find out through experimentation and a time for Q&A.
Tim then went on to give us an hour-long presentation of "Nightlife", which he said was the same as the one he had given during E3. During this presentation, he showed us several different families to demonstrate the new features of "Nightlife". The first one to be played was Jesse Jones who was going dating and could be found at "The Hub", which was a club and restaurant that Tim himself had built and unless things do change, we'll see it in the final version.
Sims now have different turn-ons and turn-offs and those people who a sim is turned on by sparkle. It doesn't mean that sparkling attraction may be reciprocated, though. "Attraction is based on personality, interests and turn ons", Tim said. Jesse splashed on some cologne, which gives them a "flowery glow" to them for the duration of the cologne. Tim did say that the flowery glow may be replaced with something else by the time "Nightlife" is released in mid-September.
Jesse eyed up the talent around the dancefloor at the Hub and two people sparkled for him. The first one who he made a move on was not impressed. "Flower Power" from cologne works both ways. Some people may think you smell of roses whereas some others may think you smell like a clogged toilet. His first date was turned off by his cologne and also his hair colour. Some people can be just so picky. Nevertheless, Jesse didn't give up and the second person he saw was attracted to him so the wheels were in motion for a good date.
Cologne is something that you can find in your inventory, although it was not pointed out where you can buy it from. Logically, there must be somewhere that your sims can buy it. There was actually no real mention about what can be bought.
A date is not dissimilar to a party. You have a meter that appears in the top right of the screen showing how well it is going, not dissimilar to one of those passion meters, and how long you have left. You have a certain time limit to make a good impression and if you don't make a good impression with your date in that time, that's it. Date over. However, if you do make an impact, you get more time to do your stuff to make this date something to remember. Also, if your date is turned on by you, you are able to perform interactions that are normally associated with later on in a relationship.
Jesse tried out the Electro Dance Sphere, which is one of the new objects, but as his body skill was not very high, he fell out of it with a bit of a tumble. His date was a bit more successful, though, when she tried it.
Slow dance has made a welcome return but this time, it has a major overhaul. It isn't just a dance that lasts for a few seconds and that's it. The duration is closer in some respect to the almost never-ending slowdance that TSO players may know and love. With the slowdance in "Nightlife", you have nested interactions that you can do while dancing, for example resting your head on your date's shoulder and putting your hand on their posterior. Hoping all goes well, your date will not be offended.
Remaining on the subject of dancing, there is a new group dance called "The Smustle" which was demonstrated. The better your dance skill, the better the group is at it.
The prudish Miss Crumplebottom, however, is alive and well and is back downtown, there to intervene and berate any couple who she thinks are becoming too intimate and hit with her handbag. If her handbag weighs anything like my wife's does, any sim who she batters would probably be knocked out cold. According to Tim, Miss Crumplebottom enjoys knitting, going bowling and playing poker.
Just to remind you once again. Although you may have seen some similarities, "Nightlife" is not a "Hot Date" revamped for "The Sims 2". There are some major differences.
Cars
There are four types of cars ranging from the clapped-out old hatchback to the sports car. You have a choice of colour for all of them. The flashy sports car comes in red, yellow, white and black but I didn't have time to check the colour options for the others. Also, from what I was led to believe, you are only limited as to how many cars you have by the size of your lot and the money in your account. Yes, my sim was able to get a flashy black sports car for ยง250. This may be some speculation on my part but I somehow get the feeling that the price of cars will go up before this expansion is released in September. I am yet to find any sports car in the real world, even on the second-hand market, that is cheaper to buy than a television.
Cars can be allocated to individual sims so in principle, assuming the frontage of your lot is big enough for the driveways (6 tiles wide per driveway) if you have a family of eight that are teen and over, you could have eight cars. According to the size of the lot, though, you would only be limited to be the frontage of your lot for driveways and garages. On a garage on a residential lot downtown, I did see a burglar alarm so that indicates cars could be stolen.
When Jesse's date was coming to an end, he took his date to his car that he had left parked outside "The Hub". When you go somewhere, your car stays by the kerb. Unfortunately, there did not appear to be any parking spaces and there wasn't NPC valet to take your car and park it. On the bright side, Jesse's car had not been wheel clamped and had not got a parking ticket.
As already mentioned in ChEeTaH's article, you can listen to music in your car, make out in it and even woo-hoo. The car rocks a bit and the windows steam up.
Vampires
The original game gave us aliens, "University" gave us zombies and "Nightlife" is giving us vampires. Theoretically, it will be possible to have alien vampire zombies. "Vampires mainly show up downtown", Tim said and to become a vampire yourself, your sim has to be bitten by one. Vampires can sleep in coffins and during the night, their motive bars do not decay. However ... let your vampire out in the sunlight and he starts to smoulder and unless he gets inside, he turns into dust. Vampires can turn into bats and flying over objects that would otherwise be in a sim's way and turn back into human form just as quickly. Also, when they look in a mirror, you cannot see their reflection. When Tim was asked about the mortality of vampires, he said it had not been decided but the current train of thought was that vampires could age but would not die of old age.
The Pleasure Aspiration
Jesse was a sim with the new aspiration and his main wants were to have fun, enjoy himself and have plenty of variety to spice up his life. There is no specific job that will appeal to someone with that aspiration. Instead of having a want to get a certain job, they are more likely to get the want to change their job. There is a rumour of an aspiration reward that allows a sim to change their aspiration when they choose, but nothing was made clear or confirmed about it. When there is an answer, we'll let you know.
Bowling
Yes, your sims can now go ten pin bowling. You don't just have to go downtown to go bowling, you can even have your own bowling alley at home. To avoid your bowling balls ending up in the gutter, work on your body skill. Bowlers have their own uniforms that they can buy from clothing stores or even choose to have as their everyday dress when they are created. I wonder if the "Below Average Bowlers League" from SimCity 3000 will make a return.
Poker Tables
Four people can be seated around a poker table. It wasn't mentioned whether there was a skill to improve your poker playing. Tim again showed how the poker table and chairs can be moved in one go. He then said that this will be a feature that is hopefully going to be implemented for all tables and chairs in a future EP.
Of Neighbours & Neighbourhoods
There is now the option to show the neighborhood from the lot that you are on. The shots to both sides should illustrate the difference. This shot was taken from a rather basic area of housing during playtesting where the houses didn't even have windows. View distance can be set as an option so if your lot is near the ocean or river, you should be able to see it. It depends upon how well your machine performs.
In the neighborhood view, there are more props that are suitable for a downtown area including props of tall buildings, manholes, overhead roadsigns. The birds appear to be more detailed than the vague blue or red birds. Also, in the completed version, Tim says that the neighborhood will show the appropriate time of day on the lot when you are travelling via the neighborhood view.
Sectional Sofas
It has been mentioned before that there is now a range of sections that you can add together to create large snakelike sofas in any pattern you choose. Also, you can choose to end your modular sofas with arms or not. There is no simple dining booth in two designs like there was in "Hot Date". Tim said "Booths work the same way but you add a table"
Half Walls
There are many different styles of half walls - I saw at least six - that are now available and you can choose what wall covering you want on them. This will allow a lot more options for the sims builder.
Karaoke
There is a karaoke machine for your sims to use. They can sing alone or they can sing a duet. Their success depends upon their creativity level and if they cannot get the right note or rhythm, you certainly know about it as it will come through loud and clear.
Theming
Some complaints from the community have been about theming and the difficulty in coordinating what we have. "[They] don't go unheard", replied TIm. If you want a wall covering that matches a rug you've got, you can click on the rug and it will come up with the appropriate texture for your wallpaper.
In the build mode, there are more wall and floor coverings, some following a similar pattern to before of a lot of walls being one colour but with minor modifications. There are also more topiaries for your urban gardens. Unfortunately, at this stage, there do not appear to be any more roofs. Hopefully there may be some more in the game by the time it is released.
Lighting
Lighting in the game is already quite good but there are now disco lights that have different colours and patterns. You now have the option of choosing the colour of light emitted from various wall lamps. Used in the right amount, these can add a lot of character to your nightclub or home.
During and after the presentation, Tim was able to answer quite a few other questions about what might be next.
The Third Expansion
Despite rumours about it being an expansion on creating things, Tim would not comment and claimed it was too early to say what it would be. When I asked him if we would find out about it in the same way that we did about "Nightlife" by it being an insert in the box or on the back of the jewel case, he said he did not know even if they would know at that stage. They were looking at animals in the game but Tim could not say when they would appear.
Community & Utilities
He did point out quite clearly how appreciative he was of what the community are doing.
"I love the movies, I love the lots that people make. What is really amazing is the stuff that people make. We absolutely love the stuff that you're doing."
He then talked for a little while about the tools that are available for community members to use. About why the existing utilities - Bodyshop, Homecrafter Plus - are quite basic, "If they go into a novice's hands, at least they will be able to do something".
In the scheme of things, a design tool to help the community and players import our own textures will be released before an object tool is released that allows the community developers to work on their own meshes and create their own objects.
In the Know
We were left in no doubt that we were getting as much information about "Nightlife" as the magazines and media were.
"I want you guys to know that you're getting [to know] as much as I want to let the press know".
Tim the Sim
When asked if there was a sim of him, Tim replied that he didn't think there was. He pointed out that the Maxoids didn't really think they were celebrities as such and were just people involved with bringing a game to the public.
"Will [Wright] is as humble about the game as anyone who works on the sims."
Nevertheless, one of the other sites has set up a petition to have a "Tim the Sim". Honestly, we are not thinking of "the hundred ways to kill Tim". Personally, I can only think of four. Just joking!!
Getting to Play
When asked if he was able to play the game much, he replied "I get very little time to play myself. It is one of the realities of development."
All good things must come to an end and the guys at EA UK sent us on our way with goodie bags and memories of an afternoon well spent. They really made us feel welcome and I thank them all. As I said at the beginning, there were several sites represented at Electronic Arts. At TSZ, we will soon be coming up with a list and links to all sites who have articles covering the different presentations around Europe during Tim's tour.
Although this was only an Alpha version that we saw and were able to test, "Nightlife" has the makings of being a very good expansion pack to "The Sims 2". The producers and developers seemed to be listening to what the community want and are putting some of it in place and this seems to be the trend of the way it is going to be.
I will end this report with another of Tim's quotes that doesn't just apply to the developers and producers but also to all of those who work for the community and enjoy what we do and those of us who enjoy playing the game.
