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171. Sims 2 Videos

Written on Friday 9 July 2004 at 17:17 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

There are two videos about The Sims 2 for you to enjoy. The first one has been spotted before at IGN, as it's the complete video of Don and friends, with commentary by Tim LeTourneau. This time it comes in high quality though, as a zipped file of over 130 Mb. A broadband is highly recommended. See this page at the UK Site to get it, it's called "Producer Walkthrough". You need to login to be able to download it.

In the second movie, General Manager of Maxis Neil Young tells you why you should buy The Sims 2. He starts off in Swedish, but as Neil doesn't turn out to be too great at it he continues in English. It's been posted by EA Sweden (hence the Swedish) and you can click here and scroll down to the "Videoklipp" section to get it. Click Neil's picture to download the Quicktime video (14 Mb). Currently that's the second video on the page. Enjoy.

172. New Sims 2 Details

Written on Friday 9 July 2004 at 16:26 by ChEeTaH - 1 comment.

There's more news from The Sims Creation besides the artworks. They've attended a press conference, from which they were able to get the following info:

• You won't be able to see the houses next door when playing, but instead you will be looking at a lot of grass and sky.
• There will be between 6 and 9 tools for each part of your sim’s face in Create-a-Sim (CAS)
• There will be a lot of clothes in CAS, more than 50 for the normal clothes and more than 20 for the formal clothes.
• Night starts at 7pm (19.00 in military time)
• There will be an unlimited number of neighborhoods (each identified by a name instead of number)
• Sims can follow more that one aspiration track because of the genetics. Babies will have the same aspirations as their parents.
• When you choose a sim character traits in CAS they will act like that. For example, if your Sim has many personality points on 'clean', he will actually try to keep the house clean. On the contrary, if your Sim doesn't have those points, he will stick his finger in his ear and look what has come out of it! There are also many more animations for the other traits.

There is also some new information from an interview held recently with Nancy Philippine and Tim LeTourneau. They revealed that the (monster) PC used to capture the videos we see is equipped with a Pentium 4 2GHz processor, 1 Gb of RAM, and an ATI Radeon 9800 graphics card. Nevertheless the game will run on a much lower system (600 Mhz, 256 Mb RAM and a GeForce 2/3 is the minimum). It's also said that the DVD edition will probably out later than the 4 CD version. Since this interview was taken in France, this goes for Europe only. Maxis also tells us again that more tools for creating objects etc. will be released after the game itself. The well-known Rosebud cheat is also mentioned, but the real code won't be revealed until after the game's out. Concerning time, it will be about the same speed as in The Sims 1. However, actions take less time, e.g. a shower doesn't take an hour anymore. More about the gameplay is also said, for instance that when you marry an NPC, which is possible, the NPC will lose their job. Finally, they explain the possibility of having more than one family in the same lot a bit more: "It will not be possible to let several families live on the same lot, in the same house. It will be on the other hand possible for you to simulate two families in one.".

For the complete interview in French, check the articles section at The Sims 2 Creation. For those who aren't so great at French (like me), read the interview at SnootySims, who translated the interview with permission from The Sims 2 Creation. Thanks to both sites for the info.

173. Lucy interviewed at Warcry

Written on Saturday 3 July 2004 at 20:53 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

The Warcry News Network has posted an interview with Lucy Bradshaw about the Sims 2. Besides the Fame Aspiration track now being called "Popularity", Lucy doesn't tell us anything new about the gameplay itself. She does reveal a little bit of the way the Sims are animated in the new game though:

"We have a very talented group of animators who have created every single move that you see the Sims perform. Our animators will often video themselves or actors performing the actions that we want to make. They use this as reference, and often this is a process by which they try out different styles of acting a particular scene or interaction. These videos are really pretty funny to watch. But, like I said, these are then used as reference. Again, The Sims has some unique challenges. In the Sims, we do not predict the sequence of events. We need to make sure that the player is able to direct the Sim and that the Sims respond to the players instructions, so animations need to be broken down into elemental pieces that we then blend together to make them look fluid."

The biggest part of the interview is about the aspiration tracks and genetics, of which a lot has been said already in the past. If you need a little recap, read the interview. Part 2 of it is supposed to be posted at a later date.

174. Sims 2 Scoop: New Wallpapers

Written on Friday 2 July 2004 at 14:39 by ChEeTaH - 3 comments.

The monthly Sims 2 Scoop Newsletter has been sent again, this time with some fresh items. Besides Maxis linking to old videos and tonight's chat with Maxis General Manager Neil Young, there's a broken link to four brand new Sims 2 wallpapers for on your desktop. We've been able to track it down though. All four wallpapers show the Sims 2 bunch in the background, with in the foreground one or two Sims being highlighted and the new logo. They come in four resolutions each. You can find them all at this page.

175. SimDay - Lots of Sims 1, Sims 2 and URBZ news

Written on Thursday 1 July 2004 at 13:52 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

This week's SimDay is quite big. The lots of info brings stuff for The Sims 1 (New download), The Sims 2 (Enhanced ShowCase and new trailer), and the URBZ (BBS, Screenshots and blog entry). Besides that, the chat tomorrow has been rescheduled to be at 2pm to 3pm PST, an hour earlier than normal. That means in the UK and Portugal it'll be held tomorrow at 10pm-11pm, while it's from 23.00 (11pm) to midnight in most of Europe.

There's a new bedroom set available for download this week. The "Green Bedroom Set" was originally given away in a McDonald's Promotion (probably the LidRock Promotion CD). You can download this set now from Get Cool Stuff.

According to Maxis, the features we've all been waiting for are here. You can now log in and download Sims from the Showcase, but you can also download the showcased Sims to the Body Shop now. Searching options have also been improved, all at the Body Shop Showcase. Further news is that a new The Sims 2 trailer has been posted on the video page. This is the extended version of the E3 trailer that's been released earlier. It highlights some of the main features of the game in over 2 minutes of film. Definitely worth watching if you're only slightly interested in the sequel.

Finally there's the URBZ. There are three new things to watch out for. First of all, you can now login to the site using your EA.Com account (login at the right top of the website). That enables you to view the brand new BBS which can be found on the website. Behind the Flash site, it's similar to the other BBSes, and you can access it directly at this page. It's not very active there yet at the moment, so get there and get talking. Besides this BBS, there's another load of screenshots for the URBZ as well. The 16 brand new shots and artworks should keep you gazing at the new graphics for a while. Finally Producer Scot Amos talks a bit about the progress of the game again in the latest blog entry. Biggest news from there is that Maxis has a major milestone today, the reaching of "First Playable" state. That means the game is now filled just enough to be playable. One of the major locations that's currently been done are the rooftops of 125th Street. Scot tells how amazing they look from within the game. Next week Maxis will give a little update about that, as well as some information about the next milestone. You can see it all on the URBZ Website.

176. Lucy Bradshaw Interview

Written on Tuesday 29 June 2004 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.

177. Sims 2: Complete Don Video

Written on Saturday 26 June 2004 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.

178. URBZ GBA Preview and Videos

Written on Saturday 26 June 2004 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).

179. Lucy's Mail: Custom Content

Written on Saturday 26 June 2004 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!

180. Sim- and URBZDay

Written on Thursday 24 June 2004 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).