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161. Sims 2 Requirements updated

Written on Friday 6 August 2004 at 21:41 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

Maxis has updated the system requirements for the Sims 2. For people without a T&L graphics card, a 2.0 Ghz processor is now the minimum (instead of the previously stated 1.5 Ghz). There's also an exact list of supported graphics cards. The fresh specification can be found on this page or below:

If you have a T&L capable video card with at least 32 MB of video RAM then you need at least:

600 MHz P3 processor or better
256 MB RAM if Windows XP, Windows ME, Windows 98 or Windows 2000
At least 3.5 GB of hard drive space
If you have a non-T&L capable video card (such as Intel Extreme Graphics or Radeon 7xxx Series) then you need at least:

2.0 GHz processor or better
256 MB RAM if Windows XP, Windows ME, Windows 98, or Windows 2000
At least 3.5 GB of hard drive space
Supported video cards (and the more video memory the better):

ATI Radeon™ series (7000 or better)

7000, 7200, 7500 (requires 2.0 GHz processor)
8500, All-In-Wonder 8500
9000, 9200, 9500, 9600, 9700, 9800

Nvidia® Quadro™ series

Quadro, Quadro2, Quadro4

Nvidia® Geforce series (GeForce2 and better)

GeForce2
GeForce3, 3 Ti
GeForce4, 4Ti, MX 420, 440
GeForce FX 5200, 5600, 5700, 5800, 5900, 5950
GeForce 6800

Intel® Extreme Graphics (requires 2.0 GHz processor)

82845, 82865

162. Giga Games Screen captures [Update 3: 22:45 - and videos]

Written on Friday 6 August 2004 at 14:44 by ChEeTaH - 1 comment.

The Sims 2 was shown at Giga Games yesterday, and quite a bit of in-game material was found. Unfortunately the live stream wasn't of too great quality and it wasn't possible to record it from that properly. However, I do have 11 in-game shots for you though, from the first bits they showed. They are from selecting a neighborhood, a view of Veronaville, a family selected in the neighborhood (the green lines indicate where friends of the family live), a loading screen, and some in-game shots showing different panels at the bottom (personality, career, relationships and aspiration rewards). Another site, TheSims.de (unofficial), has also posted 12 shots from the same show, but all taken slightly later onwards. On those you can see a few general in-game shots, including the 'menu', but also the PIP (Picture-In-Picture), the "Online Job Finder", and more. The quality of all the shots isn't very high, but it's all there is (for now anyway). You can see all shots in the "Read More" bit (either shown below or follow the link to it), click the thumbnails for larger versions. Please do not leech (hot-link) to these pictures, but copy them to your own server or link to this article instead.

[Update 13:05] Affiliate SimsZone has also ust posted a bunch of shots from the same show. They're somewhat similar to the others, but slightly bigger. New from those shots are the descriptions of some of the Aspiration Reward objects. They screenshots have been added below as well. Another thing they tell about is about two of the aspiration rewards: the first one is a "Noodle Shooter" which will get your Sim in a good mood when they put this cap on. The "Thinking Cap" is another object, though it's not said what it does exactly.

[Update 2: 19:30] Spanish site SimsExpress has been able to capture the livestream properly. In two segments (one of 7 Mb, another of 14 Mb in .asf format). You can find them in the "Reportaje de Los Sims 2 en Giga Games" news post at their front page. The talking is in German, but the in-game images might be worth a look for everybody. Besides watching the images, there's also some in-game music to listen to.

[Update 3: 22:45] Another German site, inSims.de, has posted a video of 3 minutes and a half, containing a compilation of in-game pictures from the Giga Games broadcast. It's in DivX format, and it can be downloaded from its details page (26 Mb). Thanks to TCAM for the tip.

Read More!

163. Sims 2 Website Frontpage and Screenshots [Update]

Written on Saturday 31 July 2004 at 21:16 by ChEeTaH - 3 comments.

A new subsite of the official Sims 2 one has been found which looks like a new frontpage for the website. It's a flash site with links to the pre-order page, screenshots, videos and the showcase. The main thing on the page are 5 Sims, one for each aspiration track. You can see their thoughts when hovering the mouse over them. Although it's not mentioned at the ESRB Website yet, the rating is already said to be T for Teen (13+). So have a look at The Sims 2 DLand (as it's called) if you want to know more.

Furthermore there are some new screenshots. One comes from the Danish site, and looks similar to an old one. It's a shot of a garden, but this time in a different angle. Then there are two from this month's Scoop newsletter. Although I haven't received it yet, SimsZone says there's nothing really new in it except those screenshots. It's said that Johnny's love Ophelia causes problems with him playing video games. The last two are from The Sims 2 Creation. The first is a scan from a magazine, the other is an artwork created by them from the official Sims 2 website intro. Click the thumbnails below to see them. Thanks to SimsZone, SnootySims and The Sims 2 Creation for all the news and screenshots.

[Update 2 August 21:00] With thanks to Fabian from SimsZone, I can clear up the bit about the Smiths in the newsletter a bit. This is what is said about the screenshots exactly:

"Johnny Smith's life aspiration is popularity, but he is faced with one of his fears when rejected by his heartthrob Ophelia. See if Johnny Smith is able to overcome his fear and unlock love- so long as his desire to play videogames doesn't get in the way. Will Johnny ultimately get what he wants?"

Another slightly new thing that is on the side of the newsletter, is a tip from Prima (they make the 'official' strategy guides for the Sims games):

"Popularity and Romance Aspiration Sims make great roommates because of their different but similarly-met goals. A popularity Sim wants friends, a Romance Sim wants lovers. One third-party Sim can, with no jealousy, be Romance's lover and Popularity's friend."

164. Sims 2 Videos

Written on Saturday 31 July 2004 at 01:59 by ChEeTaH - 2 comments.

Two new videos of The Sims 2 have appeared on the net. The first one is a Japanese one, and is a trailer of the game - in Japanese. And although it's hard to understand what's said, it contains a bit of new gameplay material (as well as some old trailer images). You can find that video, 23 Mb for 4 minutes of video from here, or get the low quality version (6 Mb) right here.

The other video is not entirely new. Part of it was published earlier at ITavisen.no. This time however, it's the original video (2 minutes). It goes through the different aspiration tracks. If you want to see it, just go here. It's about 3 Mb big, QuickTime required.

165. New Poll

Written on Thursday 29 July 2004 at 15:31 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

Last week we asked you to help us make a top-ten of how you spend your time until the Sims 2 release in September. The results are in, and here they are:

10. "I play with real-life dolls. Gotta love Barbie and Ken!"
9. "Nothing at all. I just sit and wait for the game to arrive."
8. "Something other than the options mentioned above."
7. "I'm asleep most of the time, I just wake up once every few days to get the latest news and a bit of food."
6. "I go to work/school every single day and just fill up my schedule with things to do."
5. "I hit the refresh button on this or other fansites all the time, to see if there's any news."
4. "I talk about it on forums, in real life, and just can't stop thinking about it. It drives me (and my family) mad!"
3. "I mess around with the Body Shop, creating Sims which will become alive 17 September."
2. "I stare at the screenshots, videos and other stuff over and over and over again. I can't get enough of it!"
1. "I play The Sims 1."

The other 2 options (Waiting for the URBZ or not having a clue what The Sims 2 is about) got a minor amount of votes, just 1% and 4%. See the results page for exact details of the results. This week we have a question about your game again. We're wondering what's your favourite colour for decorating rooms in. Vote on the right or on the latest poll page.

166. Sims 2 in Magazines

Written on Wednesday 28 July 2004 at 22:43 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

Several gaming magazines have a preview of The Sims 2 this month. Three of them are the German PC Games and GameStar, and the French PC Jeux. Some news comes from these magazines. The info has been summarised in the Read More part. Click below for some screenshots from the magazines, as well as an advert featuring some real people. Thanks to our affiliates SimsZone and the French The Sims 2 Creation for the info and pictures.

Read More!

167. More from EA's Hot Summer Nights [Update]

Written on Saturday 17 July 2004 at 02:13 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

Information from EA's Hot Summer Nights event (previously known as Camp EA) is popping up all over the internet. First of all there's a Sims 2 gameplay movie posted on both IGN and GameSpot. It shows stuff like a carpool (either a cool sports car or the helicopter), but also some romance, cooking, Don growing up, a fire (one of the first times that's visible), a Sim being abducted, and even a beggar and a teenager being brought home by the cops. There's a lot more in it too, and a must-see. GameSpot has also posted a 3 minute developer interview with Lucy Bradshaw who talks about the game. You see snippets of the other video during the interview too. She tells the game went Alpha (feature-complete) shortly after the E3, the event at which Maxis focussed on the Aspirations. After that they started really polishing the game, adding content and neighborhoods, etc. She also tells more about what has been mentioned in the previews again. As for the Movie making, she repeats movies will be saved as uncompressed AVI files, which will get big very quickly. She also mentioned the DVD version again. You can download it from this page.

As for the URBZ, one more preview has popped up at GameInformer.com. It doesn't mention much news when you've read the other previews though. Nevertheless, for those who want to see it, just read the GameInformer Preview. More interesting are the new gameplay movie and developer interview with Executive Producer Sinjin Bain (this time about the console version). Most noticable is probably the new logo on the right bottom corner in the gameplay movie. It's unsure whether this will be the new logo of the game or not. The gameplay movie shows a lot of fighting and urban life. The interview shows, just like the Sims 2 one, clips from the gameplay movie. Sinjin also repeats a lot of what's been said in the previews. For example, he mentions the different cultures and how your clothing affects the rep in a district. Jobs will also unlock the power social interactions. For that, and some urban rooftop Golf, dancing in front of a musical truck, and a lot more in-game material, check out the GameSpot Media Page.

[Update 17 July 1:55] A bunch of other gameplay movies of The Sims 2 have appeared. Besides the movie mentioned above, there are 8 new short movies, all showing Sims 2 gameplay. The movies are titled "The Mothership returns", "Tubbing it", "Picking fights", "Starting to lose it", "Alien loving", "Going to work", "Meet the neighbors" and "Stargazing, course-running". They all come in low quality Windows Media (around 3Mb each) and QuickTime (about 6 Mb each), and in high quality Quicktime (about 15-17Mb each) format. The QuickTime formats are available to Insiders only though. You can view them from this page (click the "Next" button for the last set and older videos).

168. 12 New Sims 2 Wallpapers

Written on Friday 16 July 2004 at 01:33 by ChEeTaH - 4 comments.

The bonus cd, that comes with pre-orders from several shops in the US, is already being sold for $10 at some stores (with a $10 rebate when you buy the game). On this CD there is material like some videos and interviews (with some webmasters from The Sims 2 University, professional testers, Will Wright, Lucy Bradshaw and other Maxoids), two mini-games (Family Tree, which already came with a McDonald's CD in January, and the Hot Lips game, in which you have to select a Sim, three Sims from the opposite gender, and then see how well the Sim kisses), a bunch of old screenshots, a timeline of the Maxis history, and also 12 new wallpapers. For those who have the CD: only 6 of them, with the new logo, show up in the menu, the other 6 can only be accessed through Windows Explorer (My Computer). The probable reason the second set was 'hidden', is that they have the old logo. Hence it may seem there are some doubles between them, but they have a different logo, so you can pick your favourite. Unfortunately we can't post any of the other things as they are locked in one huge file (we can't afford the bandwidth that would generate), and there's nothing saying it's permitted to post the files. However, the wallpapers can be posted freely on fansites, so they're here. Click the Read More bit (or just scroll down a bit) to see the wallpapers, and click your favourite resolution to download them (either 800x600 or 1024x768, other sizes aren't available).

Thanks go out to our own Sumit for providing the wallpapers.