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111. MySims Preview at GameSpot
Written on Sunday 25 March 2007 at 01:00 by
ChEeTaH -
0 comments.
Information around MySims isn't coming in constantly, but there's a little bit of news around the upcoming Sims game for Nintendo Wii again. This time it comes from
GameSpot, which has made a preview. They start off with the character creation, noting that the Sims look like a cross-breeding of anime figures, Lego models and the Wii's own Miis. There's plenty to choose from when creating your character, from huge Afros to pageboy haircuts and hippie outfits to the latest hip-hop threads. The number of possible combinations is high - and the number of possibilities is still being increased by the developers. The biggest new element is probably the building creator, which allows you to build one or two story homes using the Wii-remote. It may be a little tricky getting things exactly as you want them using the remote, so details may take a little patience but much is possible. The preview also mentions the "create-a-thing" option, used to build objects. You can opt to help the nice Sims in town, or the darker characters from the Volcano area. Completing enough tasks improves your town's star level, and with each improvement your character gets a new tool to develop and house new neighbours. An example is a crowbar, with which you can unseal a boarded-off path to a new forest area. The
full preview has more details, but we recommend checking out earlier
magazine scans (and
here) for even more information. Besides the preview GameSpot also has new
screenshots as well as a
video interview with "Tim Laterno" (that's supposed to be Tim LeTourneau of course).
In the interview Tim introduces the original Sims briefly, and how the game is mostly about creating and creativity of the player. First of all the team came up with the new characters, after making the decision to make MySims. They are still little people, incredibly animated, that works best for the platform but still are Sims. Thanks to the new controller EA can offer new options to create items and make the world their own. Then he goes into the Create-a-Sim mode, in which you can change any aspect of the Sim, just by clicking things. Next is the build mode, in which you stack things together to create the building. Create-a-Thing allows you to create items and the final demo set up at the night GameSpot made the interview and preview shows the town. The
media page has the video on it, which can be viewed by anybody who is registered for free.
112. New Official Sims Desktop Theme
Written on Sunday 25 March 2007 at 01:00 by
ChEeTaH -
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If you want to change the look of your computer's desktop to be more Sims-like, then EA Germany has a little something for you. Over on the
German official site you can download a desktop theme. This theme contains a screensaver, wallpaper, icons and a matching colour selection to make your computer look more like that of a real Sims fan.
Download the theme to pimp your desktop.
113. Sims in the Hands of Artists Exhibitions
Written on Sunday 25 March 2007 at 00:59 by
ChEeTaH -
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After a Life Stories
exhibition in London, UK, Electronic Arts is organising three more exhibitions in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Together with art and design schools (
Parsons The New School for Design, New York,
Academy of Art University, San Francisco and the
Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles) in these cities competitions and exhibitions will be organised. The art will be made by students, and needs to feature the Sims. Any form of art will be accepted, from machinima, paintings, illustrations and sculptural work to fashion designs, cinematography and interactive displays. Juries from the schools and EA will judge the displayed art, with the machinima and and traditional art being judged in separate categories. In total there will be $12,000 worth of prize money per school. The exhibition dates are as follows:
- 19 April - 12 May: Chelsea Museum of Art, New York
- 26 June - 19 July: 79 Gallery, Academy of Art University, San Francisco
- 14 July - 11 August: Maltz Gallery, Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles
More details are in the
press release as well as on the
Hands of Artists mini-site. There you can also find contest guidelines for all the competitions, but remember only students of the respective schools are eligible for entry.
114. Celebration Pre-order Chandelier
Written on Sunday 25 March 2007 at 00:59 by
ChEeTaH -
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As usual there's a bonus download you can get if you pre-order the upcoming Celebration! Stuff pack before it's released. This time there's a chandelier you may receive through the
EA Store or
Amazon (currently US only). As reported
earlier you can get an exclusive blue dress at
GameStop. See a little picture of the chandelier, that you can also receive through
our shop, below.
115. Celebration! Stuff Box Backside
Written on Sunday 25 March 2007 at 00:58 by
ChEeTaH -
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The Polish Sims fansite
Sims Rewolucja has
discovered the pack of the Celebration! Stuff pack, which is to be released early next month. As you can expect from us, you can view the image below - it's not that large, but the best that's around yet.
116. New Prima Guide Previews
Written on Sunday 25 March 2007 at 00:58 by
ChEeTaH -
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Besides Prima's own
preview of their Seasons strategy guide published earlier, EA has made two more previews available. Each of them shows nine pages of content from the guide, with information about weather and temperature, gardening and new careers in the first file. The second PDF file contains details about new and changed objects, setting the hair per outfit, the stackable inventory, new socials and the new neighborhood, Riverblossom Hills. Both files are PDF files of around 2 Mb, and can be downloaded from the official
Help page. To purchase the guide, check out our
online shop.
117. Current TV Contest - New Seasons Renders
Written on Sunday 25 March 2007 at 00:58 by
ChEeTaH -
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To promote the release of the Seasons expansion pack for the Sims 2, website and TV channel in the USA, UK and Ireland
Current is organising a contest around the pack. Until the end of next month you can make a V-CAM ("
Viewer Created Ad Message", a commercial of 15 to 60 seconds) using either the game or material given on the website and anything else you have. If you promote the game well enough and your V-Cam is aired on Current, then you'll be paid Current's V-CAM flat fee of $1,000. You have until 30 April to submit your video, after that the assignment will close. Check the
assignment page for more information and details. The page also has a toolkit with artworks and movies you can use, including some new artworks you can also see below - although the quality here is lower than the original photoshop files that are available.
118. Seasons Review at IGN
Written on Sunday 25 March 2007 at 00:56 by
ChEeTaH -
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Following earlier
reviews of Seasons, gaming network
IGN has picked up the game and played it. The first they remark about its contents is that it's a true expansion pack, really expanding the game as it originally was. The passing of time is improved with the new seasons, and weather "
finally" part of the game. Gardening is a deep topic according to IGN, as your Sims can join the new Garden club. Small additions, including the new careers but also the leftovers deepen the Sims experience. In their closing comments the expansion is called a must-have for the Sims 2, and it's a pack you'll be playing with as long as you play the Sims 2 itself, whereas the others wore off their novelty fairly quickly. The only downside, says IGN, is that there's no new area like Downtown or a Shopping centre as introduced by Nightlife and Open for Business. That the pack doesn't have a large number of new objects is mentioned, but not considered a bad thing. All in all the expansion receives a score of 8.9 out of 10, along with an Editors' Choice award. The
full review has all the details.
119. Sims Tech Support Separated
Written on Saturday 24 March 2007 at 22:21 by
ChEeTaH -
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To make things easier to find for Sims fans, EA has separated the tech support section for the Sims 2 from the other EA games. At
Support.TheSims.com you can now find help for all the Sims titles. Other Sim games (including Sim Theme Park and Sim Coaster, not by Maxis) are also in the same support section. Currently the knowledge base contains 829 questions for all games up until Seasons and Life Stories. Go to the
Customer Help site for all the help you need.
120. Maxoid Blog Updates
Written on Saturday 24 March 2007 at 22:08 by
ChEeTaH -
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Some Maxoids have been blogging again in the last and this month, although not too many. We've compiled a list of the blogging that's happened recently, so read on for details about what various Maxoids had to say and share - including several downloads for Seasons.
Read More!