Saturday 6 May 2006

Survey Revealed EP ideas

Written at 00:06 by ChEeTaH - 1 comment.

Last week the official site briefly had a survey online, most of which was about the last expansion pack, Open for Business. The first half of the questions was about how you heard about OfB, what you like most about it, etc., but after that a couple of possible expansion pack concepts where given. Whether Maxis is planning to make one of these, or perhaps already making one, is unsure, but it's very well possible that one of the ideas will actually be made into an official expansion pack. Of course pets are mentioned again, as well as the returning vacation idea which has appeared in previous surveys as well, albeit a little different, and this time mentioning weather as well. Other ideas are about taking Sims back in time, a new hospital in town, expanding on the youth years of the Sims, seasons (including neighborhood changes and weather), and castaway Sims on a tropical island. Finally there's also a somewhat different idea, which is much like an adventure game as seen on handhelds before: something strange has happened in the neighborhood, and by socialising you need to figure out details of the puzzle to solve the mystery.

Besides the concepts, several new features were given of which a couple could be picked as favourite which should appear in a future expansion pack for the Sims 2. Plans for the Next Generation consoles - XBox 360, Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii (known as Revolution earlier) - also seem to exist, as one question asked about interest in a game on one of those consoles. So far no details of new console games have been announced though. The eight expansion concepts and 27 features are all in the read more bit of this newspost. Read More!

New Avatar Items on Official site

Written at 00:17 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

The official site has a MySim feature, with which registered users can make a Sim-avatar using several outfits. Since January this year Maxis has twice improved the create-an-avatar tool adding content for Nightlife and Open for Business respectively. Now it's time for Family Fun to get some of its content being used in avatars. Maxis has indeed added some new content in Family Fun style to use when you edit your avatar.

No Sims at E3

Written at 00:26 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

Electronic Arts, publisher of the Sims franchise and owner of Maxis, the creating studio, has announced its E3 line-up today. The E3 expo is the world's biggest expo where publishers and developers show their upcoming games to the press, and is traditionally the show where a lot of news regarding games comes from. During the past couple of years the Sims was there every year, with console games as well as a PC game (either the Sims 2 itself or an expansion pack). This year however, there's no Sims title in the (announced) line-up. Although a PC expansion pack is still not unlikely for later this year, as well as one or more other Stuff packs, it makes a console/handheld title less likely for this year. There's one Maxis title on the show floor though, Spore, which we'll be reporting on from the E3 through our sister site The Spore Zone. For more details see the entire EA E3 Line-up.

Monday 8 May 2006

Children replace Dolls for Sims

Written at 14:03 by ChEeTaH - 4 comments.

The New York Times has today published an article about children replacing the classic dolls for videogames, of which the Sims is probably played the most. Children use the toys to play variations of their own lives, or lives they observe or imagine. It's those children, especially the middle-class schoolchildren in the USA according to the paper, who made the Sims the success it was - it sold 60 million copies globally since its release. Experts say that girls seem to like making a friend, whereas boys like to take on a pretend identity. Will Wright is also quoted saying that girls want a more creative, complex experience than boys for entertainment, and that the Sims gives them that. Also, girls tend to stop playing the game when they're going to high-school and start getting more interested in boys, at about the same time when they lose their interest in science or math. If this continues, Education Professor James Paul Gee says the gender imbalance in those areas will continue to exist. In the article several young fans of the Sims also talk about the game and their experience with it. For all the details read the entire article, which covers three pages.

Little Bit of Sims on E3 After All

Written at 23:29 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

Despite earlier reports that there would be no Sims game on the E3 this week at all, SnootySims reports that there will be a trailer of the new expansion pack showing what it will be about. Mmmyrs2, a member on their forums, heard this by e-mail from Tiffany Spencer, PR Manager for EA. The announcement of the pack itself will happen in the weeks after the E3. There won't be many details or reports about the expansion pack though, which will make it a relatively quiet E3 for the Sims this year.

Wednesday 10 May 2006

Expansion 4: Pets

Written at 23:58 by ChEeTaH - 18 comments.

Live from the E3 in Los Angeles comes the news that the next Sims 2 expansion pack will be all about pets. One of the most requested features will be put in the fourth expansion pack for the game, with the title "The Sims 2 Pets." The trailer is being shown at EA's 360 booth in the South Hall at the LA Convention Center, where the E3 is being held. We'll have pictures and more up later, so stay tuned for the first graphics of this new expansion!

Friday 12 May 2006

The Sims 2: Pets: Pictures and Videos

Written at 04:09 by ChEeTaH - 19 comments.

As announced here earlier, the next expansion pack for the Sims 2 on PC is going to be all about pets. Due to the Internet connection not working at the hotel yesterday, the pictures here are a little later than expected... but they're here. Just click the thumbnails below to see the big versions of the pictures. Although the quality isn't too great, it does show the theme and the logo. More images and a video can be found on TheSidDog.com, and in an E3 line-up video of Electronic Arts at their media center you can see short clip showing artwork of the expansion pack.

Tuesday 16 May 2006

The Sims 2 Open For Business - Open All Hours or Closing Down? - Part 6

Written at 15:14 by Andy - 0 comments.

In this sixth and penultimate part of our almost never-ending review of "Open For Business", we look in depth at the robot-making industry, especially looking at the hard work involved in training yourself up in order to make this old friend on the left one of your family.

We also look at the different toys, from the exciting brick to the Wet'N'Wild Water Wiggler, giving warnings for what evil creations your sim toymakers can fabricate.

You can find it right here.

Friday 19 May 2006

Turtle Home and Hamster Cage

Written at 20:18 by MissWendy - 0 comments.

Although only decorative, this turtle home and hamster cage will look ideal in any of your sim homes and your businesses and community lots.

To find out more about them, click on the pictures or click here to see more of my creations. I hope you like them.

Monday 22 May 2006

The Sims 2 Open For Business - Open All Hours or Closing Down? - Part 7

Written at 08:07 by Andy - 0 comments.

We finish our in-depth review of Open for Business with a look at Beauty Salons, Car Sales, Points-of-Purchase and Sale, explain the new cheats, list a few bugs and bring you our conclusion.

Jump to our concluding part right here.

"Petey" Bird Cage sculpture

Written at 23:19 by MissWendy - 2 comments.

Continuing with my animal theme, this decorative bird cage will look ideal in any of your sim homes, businesses or other community lots.

Click here to find out more about it or click here to see more of my creations. I hope you like him.

Tuesday 23 May 2006

Will Wright on the BBC

Written at 02:39 by Andy - 0 comments.

Will Wright was recently video-interviewed by Spencer Kelly of the BBC's "Click" technology news program doing a special at E3. The article here looks specifically at how the future of software development may be focussed on user-creation. With comments from many major players in both the online and offline worlds, including Lucy Bradshaw from EA, the main feature is Spencer's extended interview with Will where he discusses almost everything from Sims to Spore to Soyuz in about 10 minutes. Check out the full article for all the details.

Wednesday 24 May 2006

Sims 2 Pets: Rumours and new Video

Written at 23:18 by ChEeTaH - 2 comments.

With the appearing of the Sims 2 Pets at E3, rumours about the game have sprung up as well. Gaming shop EB Games had the title in their database for several platforms; first PSP, later on several alternative platforms (PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, GameCube and the GBA), but by now all product pages for the Sims 2: Pets have been removed. Although it's not unthinkable that a Sims title for consoles and handhelds is currently in the make, the Sims 2: Pets is more than likely the fourth expansion pack for the PC, considering the full E3 trailer (see TheSidDog.com for a new video, near the bottom of the page) has PC-like graphics, and a message from EA just before the E3 saying that the next EP would be shown at the E3. Naturally we'll keep you up-to-date with all the latest news about upcoming Sims games, but until then it's safest to assume that the Sims 2: Pets is primarily the next PC expansion pack.

Free Mini Soccer Expansion this Week [Update]

Written at 23:44 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

The Fifa World Cup in Germany is just around the corner, and to celebrate the official German site will post a mini content pack next Friday, 26 May. The download of roughly 10 Mb will be made available for free, and it'll contain several decorational items as well as shirts of the national teams participating in the tournament. It's not yet clear whether the items will appear on other official sites internationally as well. For more details, read the German article at Giga.de.

[Update 30 May, 14:40] The download is now available through pretty much any official Sims 2 website. There's an Ultimate Soccer Kit (7.68 Mb) and a Game Day Guidon (0.12 Mb). For more details check out the WorldCup Downloads page on the official site.

Thursday 25 May 2006

Fun Stuff at EA Downloader

Written at 00:05 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

The EA Downloader service was introduced with the Sims 2 Christmas Party Pack last winter, as a new service from EA to buy games online, download them and being able to play them immediately. The Party Pack was the latest download for the Sims 2 on that service, but soon the Family Fun Stuff pack will also be made available. This is reported by the recently overhauled UK website, which says the pack will be available through EA Downloader starting at the end of this month, at 31 March. The definite price for the pack as download has not yet been announced, although it'll probably be the regular retail price of around $20.