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1981. The Sims 2 News

Written on Tuesday 20 May 2003 at 02:14 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

A while ago, a Spanish site called SimsExpress showed some new Bustin' Out screenshots earlier than others. And they did it again: they posted 10 brand new screenshots of The Sims 2, all very nice ones. You can get to see a sim being electrocuted in the hot tub, some Sims selection screens, and much more. These are probably all from the E3 movie Maxis showed there. I'm sure you want to see them, go here to check it out. Another site, Gamers Pulse, has posted a preview from the E3 of The Sims 2. It doesn't give any news really, so I'll just give you this link to read it. Besides all that, Maxis is getting www.thesims2.com ready, and that official site will probably launch soon. We'll keep you updated.

1982. The Sims 2 Interview

Written on Monday 19 May 2003 at 00:20 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

There's still some stuff appearing from the E3 last week. There was already a 20-minute interview with Will Wright at GameSpy earlier, and now GameSpot has posted another interview with Will Wright. Although it's much shorter (just about 97 seconds) and less interesting, this interview has a nice thing for the fans: it's a video. So if you've always wanted to know what Will really looks like (instead of as a Sim), it's worth to check it out from this page. In the interview Will talks briefly about The Sims 2 and its new features, like this: "If they have a screwed up childhood, they'll be a screwed up adult. They might have to go to therapy". Sims will be much more responsive and aware of the environment around them, according to Will (we'll take his word for it). Although the simulation will be more complicated, they want to keep the interface as simple as The Sims 1. Will also says the console verison is somewhere in between The Sims 1 and The Sims 2. There isn't anything real news in the interview, unfortunately.

1983. 18 months and 1000 times News

Written on Sunday 18 May 2003 at 17:58 by ChEeTaH - 3 comments.

If you read this post you'll know we have posted over 1000 news posts here at The Sims Zone now. We reached that milestone exactly on the day The Sims Zone turned 1 and a half years old (that was pure coincidence). Because you probably don't remember everything that's happened the past 18 months anymore, I've been browsing through the news archive here at The Sims Zone, and wrote an article with the most important and the biggest events that we posted some news about. So if you're ready to go back into time a bit, click here to read the article.

1984. Some Bustin' Impressions

Written on Sunday 18 May 2003 at 02:20 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

The E3 is over now, but sites are still posting articles of several games. One site is GameSpot, which has now posted an article with their impressions of Bustin' Out:

"The Sims: Bustin' out will also put more emphasis on multiplayer play. The original game let you play through the live mode cooperatively with another player, or compete with another player in a series of simple minigames. Bustin' Out will expand on the multiplayer game by letting you play through the entire "get a life" single-player mission mode cooperatively. The game will be released early next year."

There are a few other things in it too, but nothing that's really too new. Except perhaps the fact that Sims will have gain popularity (and get some money) to get that limousine with hot tub in the back rather than that motorbike they start off with. Although it's not too interesting to read, I guess you can't read enough about the game to get enough (and the most accurate) info. So, to read this article too - it isn't very long - go here.

1985. GameSpy E3: Sims 2 Preview and Audio interview

Written on Saturday 17 May 2003 at 20:48 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

GameSpy has been quite busy at the E3 (which is now over) as well. On the last day they visited Maxis to check out their latest games: The Sims 2 and Bustin' Out. We already told you about Bustin' Out yesterday, but The Sims 2 was posted a bit later. And yet again, this preview reveals a new feature of The Sims 2: weather. Here's a bit:

"During the demo, we witnessed another new effect. It started to rain. The lighting of the scene changed as the dreary clouds moved in, and the Sims themselves all reacted with dismay as the raindrops came down. (The unfortunate Sim who opted to remain in the hot tub was in for a shock when the lightning struck...)"

Poor sim. They also discuss the building in the new game, in which will be able to curve stairs. As you could also see in the background of one of the screenshots (the one with the family on the couch, which you can see right here), doors and windows can now also be placed on diagonal walls. GameSpy also reveals that Maxis plans to release tools to create new items even before the game will be released. The conclusion is that "If it all comes together, Sims 2 should be ten times as addictive as the first. And that scares me". Along with the preview they also posted an audio interview with the god of gods Will Wright. Fargo, the writer of the preview, told us some of the audio is garbled but there are still quite some interesting things in it. Unfortunately I can't check that myself yet (there's a 45 minute wait at FilePlanet), but for those who just want to listen: click here (it's a 20Mb file!). As soon as I've been able to get the interview I'll update this newspost. Anyway, for those who want to read the interesting preview: click here. It's worth your time!

1986. TSZ 1.5 years old, newspost #1000

Written on Saturday 17 May 2003 at 20:37 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

It's taken us a long time, but this is exactly number thousand of all the newsposts we've written during the existence of The Sims Zone (exactly 18 months today too!). Although not all of them are available anymore (some were deleted, some were to test our software - there are still 925 articles in our database), we have actually written 1000 posts now (including this one) - that does not include the old articles from TheSimsFusion, which we were known as until April 2001. It's a nice milestone to achieve. We're ready for the next 1000 newsposts, and the next 18 months... And after that? We'll try to double it again then :-) Oh, and if you're wondering what our first newspost over here was: follow this link.

1987. Search functionality improved

Written on Saturday 17 May 2003 at 02:20 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

I've just improved the searching facilities here at The Sims Zone. If you look at the left, you'll see 3 places where you can enter some text (under News, Community News, and Files). To search the specific section of this site for something, simply enter the text and press enter (or click the >> link). You will immediately see the items matching your query. Another improvement is that it no longer will look for the entire word, but you can now also enter parts of a words. For instance, if you want to search the news for Superstar, you can type 'Supersta' and it will find everything matching that, which includes 'Superstar'. Besides that, from now on the authors of the item will be included in the search, so you can find everything from me by typing ChEeTaH somewhere. For files, the name of the filesection will be included as well, so searching for skins will display all files in the Skins file section, as well as the other sections matching 'Skins'. We hope these improvements will make it easier for you to find what you're looking for here at TSZ. Don't leave it unused!

1988. E3: Bustin' Out Preview @ GameSpy

Written on Saturday 17 May 2003 at 00:14 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

Like so many other sites, GameSpy is at the E3 and they've also visited Maxis' The Sims stand. Along with some screenshots we found days ago, which are from the trailer, they also posted a preview of the Bustin' Out Expansion pack for the consoles. Apparantly the graphics engine will be updated a bit too:

"Graphically the game is shaping up to be pretty cool, but on the show floor, there were some significant framerate hits. This will certainly be addressed and ironed out as the project progresses. New lighting techniques lit up The Sims Bustin' Out to a very satisfactory level, and with a few more graphical bells and whistles still to be added, I expect something pretty special from the final version of the game."

You can read the whole preview right here. To check out those screenshots again, click here.

1989. Sims 2 Preview

Written on Friday 16 May 2003 at 16:07 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

GameMarshal has been at the E3 watching The Sims 2 as well, and they got to see the movie - apparantly in extended form as they see a few things not seen in the GameSpot clip. Perhaps IGN Insiders are able to see everything, but I can't tell that for sure. As it's an official trailer, the whole thing will probably be made available as download by Maxis or EA themselves. Besides telling about watching the video, GameMarshal also went to talk with Charles London, creative director of Maxis. The main feature talked about is the DNA, which is quite life-like: "Dominant and recessive features such as eye or skin color are also decided based on the DNA of the parents and passed onto the baby". They also talk a bit about how much you can change the looks of your Sim. They also mention a thing that's new to us:

"The Sims 2 will include new animation styles, facial expression based on the situation along with mouth movements when Sims talk. There will be weekdays and weekends, and your Sims will establish a work schedule. So while mom or dad could be working on Saturday or Sunday, the kids will stay home since there is no school on the weekend."

Finally parents can take some days off without the danger of being sacked, and kids can stay at home to play with their friends, without being sent to military school. Nice indeed. You can check the whole preview out right here.

1990. Sims 2 and Bustin' Out movies

Written on Friday 16 May 2003 at 15:59 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

I already briefly mentioned the movie of The Sims 2 yesterday, but now I've been able to check it out myself too. IGN Insiders can also enjoy a movie, most likely the same one, but split up in one The Sims 2 clip, and another Bustin' Out trailer. Basically, the whole gamespot thing are those two trailers joined together. To be honest, these official trailers are pretty neat. The Sims 2 trailer, GameSpot starts with this one, you can first see a few Sims dancing to some music, while two others are at the couch playing a video game (on a console). It follows with the first steps of a baby, with the dancing Sims in the background. As Sims like to eat, you can also see two of them grabbing a slice of pizza, followed by some chatting. After some playing in the hot tub and some working out, it's the end of this trailer. It all looks somewhat similar to The Sims 1.0, only much smoother and nice in 3D. The Bustin' Out trailer starts off with making a Sim with a green Afro haircut. Two Sims on a motorbike show us some climbing in a hall. Then there's some swimming and working out going on. Time for a party then, and we can see a disco with DJ, a dance floor with some Sims on it, and a complete light show going on. That's the end of it all. In total there's over 3 minutes of footage: 80 seconds of The Sims 2, and 2 minutes of Bustin' Out. For those who want to check it out: you need at least a free GameSpot Basic account. You can then find the videos (two-in-one) at this page. GameSpot Complete members can download the clip in high-res QuickTime (40 Mb) or low-res MPEG (26 Mb) formats. If you're not so lucky and don't have GameSpot complete, then just sign up as GameSpot Basic member and watch it using streaming video (Windows Media Player or Real required).