The new TSO Newsletter has arrived in the mailbox of subscribers, and the official site has also been updated. There are 5 new articles, and more about the external beta (play) test. As for the play test: it will start with 100 people, but there will be 50,000 people playing the game towards the end of the test. You can join on invitation only - i.e., Maxis has to invite you through email. You also need valid creditcard info for age verification purposes and probably the $5 it costs to ship the CDs. You can also play the first two weeks after the release of the game for free. After that, you'll have to buy the game and pay the monthly fee like everybody else. A nice reward for those who get invited. More details can be found on this page and this other page. But also new are 5 of the articles...
The articles are again about various topics. For instance, there's one about several themes in the game:
"Or maybe you didnt much care for the sand without the surf, and splurged on a piece of beachfront property on an exclusive island. Do you make: [...]Find details in 'The Sims Online is Your Oyster'.
An Alien Outpost Use signs to give enigmatic clues about when 'visitations' will occur. Use teleporters to travel between areas. The Holographic Costume Generator will allow all visitors to dress up as ensign, captain, etc."
The second article discusses how the life in a disco or bar is. They tell about three places, which are 'Sim Studio Sixam' (what a name huh?), 'Yogi PolarBear's House of Enlightenment' and 'Nighty Night Parlor'. Find out what a Sim called Starlet thinks of these places right here.
"Probably the most important difference in the online game comes from the new objects and architectural features that are now available. Doors, for instance, now come in many different flavors. One-way doors, pay doors (must pay to enter), password-protected doors, permission doors (only let certain people through) and two-person doors (takes two to use -- one to hold open and the other to enter) are now all available in the build mode."The build and buy modes will also be available in TSO, but time won't stop while you're in those modes. So you can get visitors while you're just building your place. That's what Will Wright tells us in the 'Downtown Construction 101' article. The 'From Point A to Point B' article tells more about how you start in the game, zoomed out so you see a whole city, find a place to live for your Sim, and start to play. You can also browse the Browser to find the most popular houses on the net. Of course you can also check if you're in one of the top 100s. The last of the 5 articles tells you how you can play the game in a different way, for instance by making a maze. Do whatever you want. More information is here. So far for this month. Come back in September for the next update about TSO. Come back here every day for the latest news on The Sims, and TSO of course :-)
Written at 00:53 on Wednesday, 14 August 2002 by ChEeTaH.
