Tuesday 1 June 2004

Sims 2 Previews

Written at 14:17 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

More previews of The Sims 2 (from the E3) have popped up on the net recently. There are three new ones, from GameMarshal, GameZone and The Gamers Temple. All three don't bring any news, but the aspirations and genetics are all explained again. Without exception they're positive about the game, and are looking foward to it very much. Here's a quote from the GameZone article:

"When asked what the best game I saw was after the first day of E3, I surprised even myself by saying Battlefield 2 AND Sims 2. Sims 2? How is this game of home economics supposed to compete with the big boys? Quite easily, it turns out. Just as the original brought new life to reality games, Sims 2 brings new life to artificial intelligence. Ever see the flick The Thirteenth Floor? In it, a scientist creates a societal simulation where everyone in its existence is the result of a computer program. They walk around, talk to each other, form friendships, marry and have kids, even murder each other. The developers of The Sims 2 have done something remarkably similar. Eerily similar."

Just click the site names in the text above for the previews.

Sims 2 Images

Written at 14:28 by ChEeTaH - 1 comment.

Snooty Sims has posted some new photo's of The Sims 2. They come from the EA Booth Tour video posted at GameSpot last week. The quality isn't great and they're a bit small, but a must-see for the fans. Check them out by clicking the thumbnails.

Thursday 3 June 2004

New Poll

Written at 02:13 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

Our regular visitors know that we have a new poll (almost) every week. Last week we asked you about the aspiration tracks for The Sims 2. We know the names of 5 aspiration tracks, and we wondered which ones of those you think will be the best. Romance and Knowledge scored the best (30 and 29 - 15% each - of 199 votes). They were followed by Fame (15 votes, 7.5%), Fortune (11 votes, 5.5%) and Knowledge (9 votes, 4.5%). The rest of the votes went to them all sounding equally great (88 votes, 44%) and those who don't know what Aspiration tracks are or aren't interested in The Sims 2 (17 votes, 8.5%).

This week we're asking more about The Sims 2: Will you be making photo- and/or videoalbums to tell tales about the lives of your Sims. Let us know and vote on the right, or the Latest Poll page. Also check out our poll archive for more polls held in the past.

SimDay: Your Help Wanted

Written at 12:13 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

It's a very small SimDay this week. There's the monthly community update on the official site. More news is that Maxis is holding a focus group again on 16 June in the Sunnyvale, California area. You need to have The Sims, and you'll be discussing The Sims 2 with other fans. Check out the official site for details. Finally there's an update of The URBZ. In the new blog, Alex Hutchinson (Lead Designer) talks about the Rep again:

"Everyone wants to be the big man (or woman) around town. Or at least I did, once, long ago, before I realized I was instead destined to be a designer of videogames and borderline alcoholic. It's one of those big fat universal desires that keeps every youngster up at night. Who hasn't harbored a vision of themselves as the kind of person who skips queues at clubs, or who comes home to bulging answering machines and overflowing letterboxes?"

You can find it all on the URBZ Website.

Friday 4 June 2004

Sims 2 Website Redesigned

Written at 01:05 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

Maxis has redesigned the official site to match the new logo. That logo was introduced around the E3 and has been spotted on several movies and screenshots before. The new site has a slightly different look, though the place of all content and the content itself are still the same. A new fansite pack has also been uploaded, which you can download from the fansites page. You can start staring at the new design on the fresh Sims 2 homepage.

Saturday 5 June 2004

Lucy's Weekly Newsletter

Written at 19:29 by ChEeTaH - 4 comments.

Another e-mail from Lucy has arrived, which you can read entirely in the read more part. In the mail she describes how Maxis helps the paper industry by using lots of Post-it notes. The office is filled with them, and on every one of them there's a task for The Sims 2 that's to be done. If it's done, it will be stamped "done" in red. She also talks a bit about the new logo, which everybody is "very excited about" (like they are about everything really...). Also some slightly more details about the refreshed fansite kit have been given. It doesn't include only the new logo, but also new images and artwork, and even some desktop wallpapers. Two wallpapers have been given to us in several sizes (800x600, 1024x768 and 1680x1050) which you can put on your computer, so you'll never forget about The Sims 2. One of them is similar to what has been posted before with the launch of the UK Sims 2 website. The other one is a collage of many screenshots of The Sims 2. You can download them using the links below. Note that they're quite big (we've posted them in high quality), so it may take a while for them to load. To use them as wallpaper, right-click the image (once loaded) and choose to set it as wallpaper from the menu. To other webmasters: as usual, please do not hot-link to these images (or any other files or screenshots), but link to this article instead if you want to tell your visitors about it. Thank you.

800x600 1024x768 1680x1050

800x600 1024x768 1680x1050

Read More!

Monday 7 June 2004

The Sims - How do you play yours? (Part 2)

Written at 01:32 by Andy - 0 comments.

Tired of waiting for the car pool and making money from a job you never see?
Wishing there were other ways to make money?
Do you want to play the game differently?

The second part of the HDYPY series might give you a few ideas.

Read it right here!

Tuesday 8 June 2004

New E3 Booth Picture

Written at 00:41 by ChEeTaH - 1 comment.

The German website Krawall has posted an E3 summary recently. Included was one picture of the Sims 2 booth. Click the thumbnail below to see it. See our E3 round-up for all the E3 2004 news. Thanks to our affiliate SimsZone.de for this one.

Sims 2 Best Simulation of E3

Written at 22:58 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

As we mentioned 2 weeks ago, the Game Critics Awards winners would be announced today. They have, and out of the 3 nominations (2 for The Sims 2, one for The URBZ) Maxis has won one. The Sims 2 has won the Best Simulation award of the E3 2004. The URBZ was also nominated for Best Simulation, while Splinter Cell 3 beat The Sims 2 for Best PC game. You can find all the winners on the winners page.

Maxis/Origin Moves cost 117 jobs

Written at 23:08 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

Back in March Maxis has moved into their new office at the EA headquarters in Redwood City, California. Another EA studio, Origin, has also moved to those headquarters from Austin, Texas. Combined, this has cost an estimated 117 jobs. There have been rumours of people being laid off before the move already. Some more explanation about htis has been fiven by EA:

"We contacted Jeff Brown at Electronic Arts, who clarified the situation. Brown explained that the "lion's share" of employees at Maxis and Origin were offered jobs at the Redwood Shores location. Some employees, of course, are not accepting the new positions. It turns out the "117" figure was reported in the securities filing based on an estimate of how many employees would not be taking the new jobs."

Meanwhile, EA is still hiring more people than those who are leaving the company. It's not known exactly how many people from each office separately have left them. For more information, read the full article at IGN.

Thursday 10 June 2004

New Poll

Written at 09:58 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

We have another new poll on this site, like every week. With a new Deluxe version being out since recently, Mega Deluxe, and probably another one coming out in Europe later this month (Triple Deluxe), we want to know what you think of all these Deluxe versions (Deluxe, Double Deluxe, and the new ones). Tell us and vote on the right, or on the latest poll page. As for last week, when we asked you if you'll be making videos and photo albums for The Sims, the results are in. Most people said they will make both (62%), while 23% won't make either. Tied on third place are those making either just photo albums or videos (5% each), closely followed by the 8 of 180 (4%) who aren't interested in The Sims at all. A nice list of the results is on this results page.

SimDay: New Video and Goodies

Written at 10:13 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

Today is another SimDay. This week Maxis brings us two new Sims 2 things. The first one of these is a "Flirting Video". It's a video which shows several lessons in flirting. Watch lessons 101 to 106 in flirting. You can get it from the Sims 2 videos page. There's also a new goodies page, from which you can download several (new) wallpapers. Finally, Scot Amos, Senior Producer on The URBZ, has posted another blog on the URBZ Website. He talks about the Sims 2 winning the E3 award for Best Simulation, sprinting towards Alpha stage, and new camera modes in the URBZ. Enjoy reading it!

Friday 11 June 2004

URBZ Preview

Written at 22:58 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

GameSpot has posted a new preview of The URBZ. After going back in time a little bit, the new features, graphics and sound are discussed. Nothing really new is told though. As we've heard before, the game will be based around your Urb's rep (reputation) in the city. The basic needs, like hygiene, sleep and the toilet are still in the game, but much less prominently. GameSpot also talks about the nine districts that will come in the game, of which each has their own style citizens and culture. The EyeToy support is also mentioned shortly. As seen in an earlier GameSpot movie preview (the EA Booth report), you'll be able to see yourself on bulletin boards and other places in the city as your rep grows. As expected, the graphics and audio will be better than before too:

"The audio will feature a unique collection of voice and music that will be geared toward creating a distinctly different world for you to explore. You'll hear unique forms of Simlish, your virtual avatar's mother tongue, from the various characters you'll encounter on your travels. While the version of the game we saw was still a work in progress, we were able to get a good sense of the audio on hand."

Along with the preview, a couple of screenshots have been posted. You can see and read it all from the preview page.

Saturday 12 June 2004

Sims 2 Designer Diary [Update]

Written at 11:03 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

A new designer diary has arrived at GameSpot. Although it's been Lucy Bradshaw talking about the game in those diaries before, this time it's producer Jonathan Knight. The article is all about the aspirations (wants and fears) of the Sims in the sequel. Here's a little bit of the article:

"You might not think that potty training the sims sounds like a real job, but in a strange way, that's exactly what our team has been up to for the last several months as we put the finishing touches on the new gameplay innovation in The Sims 2. With a new interface, a new simulator, and the same old Maxis humor, we've had a blast taking "that people game" to the next level. Here's a sneak peek into how we arrived at our revolutionary new game design..."

It comes with several new screenshots, including a couple of the in-game Create-A-Sim. The interface for that has been improved a lot since November. Finally four little movies of a begging sim, sims looking at sims of the other sex (twice), and a scientific experiment, of which 2 screenshots have also been posted. For all the juicy details, go to the GameSpot article, screenshots page or the movies page (the "Official Movies" 2, 3, 4 and 5 are new).

[Update 20:30] The Sims 2 GameCentrum has posted snapshots of the 4 movies. See this page for those. Thanks to Laku for this tip.

Interview with Jonathan Knight

Written at 11:20 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

Lucy's weekly mail has arrived again, this time with an interview. Lucy has relatively little to say herself:

"Week after week, I provide you with the scoop on The Sims 2, which means that, week after week, you're only getting my perspective on a project that requires the constant attention and dedication of literally hundreds of individuals.

"This week, I thought it would be nice to shine the spotlight at one of the other heavy hitters behind The Sims 2, and let him talk about the game from his perspective. I immediately sought out Producer Jonathan Knight, who both literally and figuratively wears many hats, and asked him to provide a little background about himself and talk about his contributions to The Sims 2."

We've posted the interview with Jonathan Knight here. Just read the interview for details about the development of The Sims 2, and hats.

Thursday 17 June 2004

New Poll

Written at 12:34 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

Recently there has been some discussion about the limit of Sims per household again. Our new poll is about that limit: we're wondering what you think should be the limit. You can vote on the right or at the latest poll page. Last week we asked you about the series of Deluxe editions for The Sims. The results can be found on the results page:

• 16.18% (33) - I've bought them all!
• 19.61% (40) - They're alright, but I've bought just one of them.
• 7.35% (15) - I got one just for the Sims Creator and the extras.
• 42.65% (87) - Nice for people new to the game, but I don't need it.
• 7.35% (15) - I hate them, EA never should've released them.
• 6.86% (14) - Deluxe? Double Deluxe? Mega Deluxe? Triple Deluxe? Never heard of 'em...

For all our previous polls, visit the poll archive.

Sims 2 on DVD

Written at 12:39 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

Fansite Snooty Sims has discovered that The Sims 2 will probably also be released on DVD. Rumours have been circulating recently already on several forums, as EA was asking the visitors of the official Sims sites if they have a DVD drive in their computers. A DVD edition can be pre-ordered from EB-Games. It hasn't been found on European websites yet, though we'll keep you updated as always.

SimDay

Written at 12:47 by ChEeTaH - 1 comment.

This week has a not-so-very-interesting SimDay. The interview with Jonathan Knight and the earlier designer diary are mentioned again. Besides that there is a new community update. On the Sims 2 Website you can also find links to a new contest at The Sims Resource, and a BodyShop hair tutorial by LintphishX. Also new is a poll running on the official site. They're asking you about your favourite expansion pack. Finally there's a new blog by Mike Perry on the URBZ Site, about how they get their ideas for the game:

"We started by holding brainstorming sessions. Everybody on the development team was invited to a meeting room where they could shout out any game idea they had. We wrote down every idea, good or bad, on a big whiteboard. We filled up the whiteboard so fast that we typed up the notes and erased the whiteboard 4 or 5 times in every brainstorming session."

Read the complete blog on the official URBZ Site.

Friday 18 June 2004

Sims 2 Boxshots

Written at 22:58 by ChEeTaH - 2 comments.

After posting a Sims 2 DVD edition for pre-ordering, EB-Games has now also posted some box shots for the game (one for the CD version, the other for the DVD version). It's not 100% sure if these are the official box shots, though they probably are. Of course we'll keep you updated if bigger or higher quality versions appear too. Thanks to SiMan for the tip.

New TSO trial

Written at 23:04 by ChEeTaH - 4 comments.

There once again is a new trial of The Sims Online, at least it seems like it. You can download it for free and it'll run for 14 days, so you can get the taste of TSO. It's a huge download (over 1 Gb!) so a broadband connection is highly recommended. This trial follows the previous FilePlanet one, which isn't available anymore. You can get the new trial from the TSO Website.

Saturday 19 June 2004

New Sims 2 Movie

Written at 06:02 by ChEeTaH - 1 comment.

We've received Lucy's weekly e-mail again, and this time it contains something different than the usual batch of screenshots. There's a new movie of Don, the Romantic Sim. He's the star in this new movie, which tells his love life in one minute. Some things you can see for the first time in it is a sim (Don) growing up from teen to adult. Also noticable is the "Created with The Sims 2 Movie Maker", which might mean there will be a tool to edit your home-videos with. You can download the movie using one of the links below. To webmasters: please do not hot-link to these files directly, but copy them to your own servers instead if you want to have them on your own website. Now off to download the clip:

• High Quality (7.4 Mb)
• Low Quality (1.9 Mb)

You need QuickTime to view it. Read more for Lucy's e-mail in its completeness, in which she talks about the end of spring, and romance for your Sims. Read More!

Tuesday 22 June 2004

Triple Deluxe released

Written at 00:36 by ChEeTaH - 2 comments.

Although it was expected this week, it turns out The Sims Triple Deluxe has already been released in the UK. This pack contains The Sims, Livin' Large, House Party and Vacation, as well as the Sims creator and a couple of extras. Triple Deluxe is the European package similar to the American Mega Deluxe released a month ago. Mega Deluxe contains Hot Date instead of Vacation. See the official UK site for more information. It's unsure when this pack will be released in the rest of Europe, though it's said to be later this week.

Thursday 24 June 2004

New Poll

Written at 15:01 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

We have one every week, and this week is no exception. There is another poll for you to vote in, and it's the biggest ever. We want to know what your favourite NPC in The Sims and expansion packs is. We have 24 options for you to vote for, so take your pick on the right or on the latest poll page. The results for last week's poll are also in, and most people (134 of 387, 35%) want the amount of Sims per household in The Sims 2 to be unlimited. Second comes 12, with 24% of the votes, followed by 8 Sims per household (21%). 16 Sims got 11% of the votes, 24 got 19 votes (5%), and last but not least (literally) was 20 Sims with just 15 votes (4%). The results are also on the results page.

Sim- and URBZDay

Written at 15:34 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

Maxis has delivered another SimDay this week, this time with most news coming from the URBZ. But first the Sims: after a couple of weeks of absence, there will be a chat event again. Maxis General Manger Neil Young will be joining in friday 2 July (and not 2 June as stated on the site). That's next week friday, and it'll be held 30 minutes later than usual. That means it's 3.30pm-4.30pm PST, or 11.30pm-12.30am in the UK/Portugal, and 0.30-1.30 (am) in the rest of Europe. Join Neil from the official site. As for The Sims 2, there is one update, namely a 'new' movie. We've posted it last saturday already, but you can now get it from the official videos page as well. That's all for this SimDay.

As for the URBZ, there are two new things. First of all, there's a small change in navigation on the website. To go to the different sections on the site, you have to turn the dial. One section is new: the "Buzz" section. It contains links and quotes from articles in the press about the game. MaxisShorty, from the Maxis web team, explains the change in the new weekly blog:

"You see, the Web Team has a mission, and that is to develop a website that borrows as much as we can from the game itself (naturally, we'd want the site to be as fun as the game too, but that's an awful lot of fun to cram onto a website!). The XAM figures prominently in the game, and so we made it a mainstay of the site."

The complete blog, and the rest, can be found on the URBZ Website. Previously unspotted articles are also found in the new Buzz section. There's an interview with Will.I.Am from the Black Eyed Peas, who will do some music for the game, at IGN Music. There is also a preview and list of E3 nominations, both from 1Up.com. The URBZ and The Sims 2 both got nominated for best simulation (but didn't win).

10 New Sims 2 Artworks

Written at 16:05 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

The spanish fansite Sims Express has posted 10 new Sims 2 artworks on their site. There may not be much to really say about them, just watch and enjoy them:

Please do NOT hot-link to these images! Link to this article instead, thank you.

Friday 25 June 2004

28 New Sims 2 Images

Written at 12:50 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

After 10 artworks yesterday, Spanish fansite Sims Express has posted 8 other new artworks. As if that's not enough yet, Snooty Sims has posted 20 pictures from a Dutch game show 'GameKings'. They've taken some footage of The Sims 2 on the E3, and SnootySims has taken 20 images from that. Most of them (if not all) are from the extended trailer shown on the E3. You can find them all here as well, in the "Read More" bit (or below if you're already there). Read More!

Two articles mention Sims

Written at 20:57 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

Our affiliate WorldSims has recently posted 2 articles from the regular press. The Sims is just mentioned very briefly in both articles, but it might be interesting after all. The first one is titled "Women are players, too" and comes from the Chicago Sun-Times. As the title says, it's about women who play games. The other one, "The New Face of Gaming" is about how recent games are pushing towards more realism by improving the graphics. Will Wright has a big deal in it, and is quoted several times. This article comes from Mercury News. As said, these articles are not focused purely on The Sims, but on gaming in general. Nevertheless The Sims is mentioned as example. Enjoy the reading.

Graphics: Then and Now

Written at 21:07 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

Probably related to the previously mentioned article "The New Face of Gaming", GameSpot has posted a video a week ago featuring Will Wright and other speakers. They had a discussion about "Graphics: Then & Now". A 50-minute feed of this event is available for download at GameSpot. You can stream it for free (with a GameSpot Basic account), but if you have a GameSpot Complete account you can also download the file in high quality (1.2 Gb!). Although I haven't seen it myself yet I suppose it's worth checking out, especially for Will Wright fans.

Official Site gets Flash Intro

Written at 21:13 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

Maxis has quietly changed the front page of TheSims.com. It now features a little flash intro, which shows a piece of information about The Sims 1, The Sims 2, Bustin' Out and The URBZ. You can go through to the actual sites by clicking the bit at the top again. Of course you can always go straight through to The Sims 1, The Sims 2, Bustin' Out or The URBZ directly to skip this new page.

URBZ Focus Group

Written at 21:16 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

If you live in the Sunnyvale, California area in the US, you might be interested in joining another Focus Group that will be held there 8 July. EA is trying to get the opinions of Sims fans this way. This time the discussion will be about The Sims (Get A Life) and Bustin' Out on the consoles, so most likely it'll be for the URBZ. For more information about this, click here.

Saturday 26 June 2004

Lucy's Mail: Custom Content

Written at 04:49 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

This week no screenshots or videos from Lucy. Instead she's taken some time apart with Dave Gregor, Director of Software Development for The Sims 2. He tells about how custom content will be handled by the game. Some highlights are that you can install and uninstall custom right from within the game itself. Also, the download times will be minimal, so if a Sim requires clothes you already have in your game, the game won't redownload it. Furthermore new custom content will be detected as soon as you load the game, while such content only increases the loading time by a minimum. The Sims 2 is a lot better prepared for lots of content than The Sims 1, according to Dave. That can also be noticed with the conflicts that used to occur in The Sims 1. They're taken care of in the download process now, so you won't have objects or anything blocking each other. Read the entire text in the Read more bit (or below). Read More!

URBZ GBA Preview and Videos

Written at 16:26 by ChEeTaH - 2 comments.

Besides lots of Sims 2 news, there is of course also the other sequel from Maxis in the making: the URBZ. GameSpot has posted a preview of the GBA version of the game, along with some screenshots and videos. In the preview GameSpot calls the handheld edition a "tiny version" of the console version. The game starts where Bustin' Out left off, namely with the rocket that sent you to better places - the city. There you can explore the five new neighborhoods, Sim quarter, urbania, bayou, carnival, and glass town, good for 25 areas. When you start the game you have to answer a couple of questions to assign your urb to one of the four groups: arties, nerdies, streeties, and richies. Of course all of these neighborhoods and groups have their own uniqueness. New is also that you can earn special new motives, including insomnia, which means your Urb can go almost without any sleep. Furthermore GameSpot mentions some of the mini games and connectivity features of the game. You will still be able to link up the game with other GBA's and share items, but GameCube connectivity like in Bustin' Out will not be provided. Finally there's a little mention of the new (darker) graphics the game has.

Included with this preview are 13 new screenshots and 3 Gameplay Movies (31 Mb in total for download, GameSpot Basic account required to stream them for free).

Sims 2: Complete Don Video

Written at 16:35 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

Entertainment network IGN has posted a new video of The Sims 2. It's not completely new, as it has again the life of Don, the 'romantic' Sim, in it. This time it's the complete E3 presentation though, with commentary by Tim LeTourneau, producer of the game. He walks through the interface of the game a bit, including showing the aspiration items, entering a home, showing the family tree, and more. You can also see Alex, Don's and Sarah's child, grow up. It's about 8 minutes and thirty seconds to watch, so IGN has split it up in four parts. That way you can download smaller files and watch one part while downloading the other. It's also available as one complete (58 Mb) video. Windows Media Player 9 or QuickTime is required to watch the video. Go to the article about it, or just skip directly to the videos page to see it. It's a must see if you're looking forward to this game, even if it's only a tiny bit.

TSO Trial Available Again

Written at 18:53 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

The TSO trial that recently became available is put back. It was taken offline earlier, causing "server errors" when you were trying to download the trial. That's now been fixed. However, you now need a credit card to be able to play the trial. It won't be charged for the first 14 days, but you have to cancel the subscription within that period to prevent it getting charged. The reason Maxis has done this is because the trial was abused in some ways. People could easily get multiple trial serial numbers, resulting in neighborhoods ran by one or just a few people. That disturbed many players. It seems that now the credit card is verified so that there's no more than one trial account per credit card. Go right here to sign up and download the free trial. Note that it's a massive 1.2 Gb download, so broadband is highly recommended.

Tuesday 29 June 2004

Lucy Bradshaw Interview

Written at 01:27 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

The Gamers Temple has posted an interview about The Sims 2 with Producer Lucy Bradshaw. Although in general not much new information is given - they talk about some of the features like the aspirations and creating movies - something interesting is mentioned about celebrities. When asked if there will be celebs in the game, Lucy responded that "there have been no announcements at this time." As it's not a definite no, it is possible some celebrities will be in the game coming out September. Furthermore some characters, the imaginary bunny for instance, are mentioned again. New to the collection is the shrink. The way you can add community areas to your neighborhood is also referred to:

"You can build community lots in the neighborhoods, in fact you can even select between several neighborhoods and landscape them further too. I tend to like to make community pools and the video game store or clothing stores are good to have for teens and growing Sims. You can even build grocery stores."

Finally, Lucy tells Gamers Temple that Maxis will release more tools to create custom content with, e.g. objects, as they go along. So far only the Body Shop has been released, but expect more in the future. The complete interview is spread over 4 pages, but that sounds longer than it really is. Enjoy reading it.

Wednesday 30 June 2004

Pop-ups for Members

Written at 00:00 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

Due to disappointing results from the advertising campaigns at The Sims Zone, we've decided to enable pop-ups by default for members. Until now pop-ups wouldn't show up while you were logged in, but as we need more income to pay the bills, they now will. Members still have the option to turn them off, but of course we encourage you to keep them showing. It's no more than one pop-up per pageload. And even due to the lack of new donation files, we hope you can make a donation. Without donations and advertising income, we simply won't be able to pay our hosting bills. So please keep those pop-ups enabled, and make a donation to help us out! We appreciate it.

Console URBZ Preview

Written at 00:52 by ChEeTaH - 1 comment.

GameSpy has checked out The URBZ on the PlayStation 2, and posted a preview about it. Just like the game, the preview is mostly about the rep of your urb. For instance, they describe the start of the game:

"As you start the game, you're introduced to Darius, the self-styled "King of the City", who will give you tips and information throughout the game via updates on your XAM, or Exchange Access Messaging system. The XAM works a lot like a PDA phone, in that it allows you to send and receive text messages, store inventory, and take in-game photographs."

New is also the information that you rep might increase when you let your urb break the law, e.g. by mugging other urbz on the street. By doing so your reputation among the punks will grow, but it isn't good around other folks like the rich ones. This time, you will also have to actually pay for clothes, tattoos and piercings you dress your urb up with when creating it. In the previous version, Bustin' Out, you just had to unlock the items. Finally, the jobs and mini-games are mentioned, but also the taking a rest and the general look and feel of the game. Make sure to read the entire preview if you're looking forward to this game.