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Well boys and girls, the inteenimater is finally released for public consumption! Download your copy from the inteenimater site!
The long-awaited patch for bodyshop has been released by Maxis today. A nice little surprise especially this close to Christmas.
This patch allows the Body Shop that came with The Sims 2 Pets Expansion Pack to be compatible with previous Expansion Packs.
Yesterday, the next EP was officially announced on the Sims2.com along with a very colourful seasons ad on the front page!
Experiencing all four seasons for the first time - from seasonal activities to all-new outerwear for unpredictable weather - is guaranteed to provide a whole new level of excitement for your Sims! Not only will your Sims experience the seasons changing in winter, spring, summer and fall, but each season will deliver unique benefits, impacting your Sims relationships, mood, skills, careers and more. And be sure to dress your Sims appropriately for the weather — freezing, sunburn and other unexpected weather effects can occur!
While the article is fairly short and doesn’t cover much that we didn’t already know, it’s worth a mention.
New activities such as building snowmen, ice skating, and playing games like Marco Polo in the pool have been added, and a fresh new wardrobe including summer dresses and ear muffs will keep Sims looking sharp.
IGN has done an article on the Top 25 Videogame Franchises. It rankes the sims franchise as #9 on this list.
Brainchild of Will Wright, the Sim franchise has proven one of the most influential in gaming history. It began in 1989 with the release of SimCity. The Sim games challenged players intellectual, rather than testing their dexterity. These were rare games that could not be won or lost, merely experienced. Eventually, Sim left the realm of the inorganic and tackled simulating normal life. When EA released The Sims in 2000, it became an instant hit and became the best-selling PC title of all time. Wright’s design ingenuity created a powerful franchise that continues to be among the most popular in gaming.
As was announced with the release of Pets, the next EP for Sims 2 is Seasons. I got a sneak peek at Maxis and actually got to play the game. After the tour, we went to a large room that had computers along the walls, and a central seating area with two large screens in the front. We were treated to an introduction of the expansion on the big screens. And then we got to play!
Seasons gives the Sims more fun and varied interactions at home; unlike many of the other EPs, your Sims don’t have to go to a different location for most of the new activities. Each season brings new outdoor options, and I had a great time exploring, there was a lot to see.
There are additions to the summer activities our Sims already enjoy – including new rounded pool edges and pool walls, a slide, and a game to play in the pool. Have fun playing catch, throwing water balloons, or chasing fireflies. Beware of sunburn!
Now Sims can garden – year round with a greenhouse, if you wish. There are plots where various vegetables can be grown, and then put into the refrigerator for future consumption. Plant fruit trees, and then create energy drinks and other potions with the fruits of your labors.
Sims can also head over to the lake and go fishing, and bring some tasty fish back to add to the food choices in the fridge. The more they fish, the better they’ll get at it, earning fishing badges. Mmmmm, fresh grilled fish.
Enough of the fair-weather activities, winter brings it’s own fun with snowmen, snowball fights, snow angels, ice skating, and if you’re lucky, a visit from a new npc. The Sims will automatically bundle up in their new outdoor wear as they go in and out of their homes. When snow falls, it slowly accumulates in layers on things – not just on the ground (where you Sims might find themselves up to their knees in snow), but also on fence posts and other surfaces. This behavior will work for both Maxis content and custom content, with no changes required! Thanks to the team for thinking about our custom content!
This EP also includes 6 new careers, so if your Sims are looking for some new jobs, they’ll be very happy. The careers are: Journalism, Education, Gamer, Adventure, Music, and Law. Each career also has its own career reward item, so go for the gold.
(The Seasons EP is expected to ship Feb 27, 2007.)
Discuss this on our forums
See Our Gallery for More Screenshots and Info from Seasons
Read Part 2 below for more gameplay details
This is part 2 of our article on the Seasons Expansion Pack.
For those of you who want even more details about the gameplay, here you go!
The pattern for the seasons can be set for a particular neighborhood, so if you want to create a constant winter wonderland, or mimic the weather of California with spring, summer, summer, fall, or have a tropical island where it’s only spring and summer, it’s your choice. Not all the weather is nice – while the Sims will love jumping in puddles, there’s also the danger of lightening strikes, and I have heard that there’s also hail.
Your lots can end up with different seasons on them because of gameplay timing, but when you go to your lot, the lots around it will look correct for the season that is current to that lot. So if it’s winter, all around you will see winter, etc. In addition to changing trees, the game uses overall color of the sky and lighting to create the mood the season; spring has more of a bright green to it, fall is more orange in tone.
What the Sims are wearing will matter; the classification is simplified so as to be compatible with all the custom clothing we’ve created. For instance, swimwear and underwear are assumed to not offer much protection from the cold. There is a new category of clothing – outerwear, and the Sims will automatically change as they go in and out of their homes during cool weather. (this option can be turned off). One of the effects of this change is that a Sim can go out in the snow under-dressed and freeze and need to be revived.
With the clothing change comes an option many have been wishing for: Hairstyles can be individually customized based on the outfit the Sim is wearing – so they can have their hair up for formal occasions, wear a warm hat with their outerwear, and have bed-hair in their pajamas, and so on.
To allow your Sims more time in the great outdoors, their needs decay more slowly while they are outside. This means less bathroom runs in the middle of play. They will also get special boosts during certain seasons – friendship in the summer, skill building in the fall, family in winter, and romance in spring.
There are more features that players have been wishing for: Click on the mailbox to pay all the bills. You will also find new furniture, including a new country kitchen set with sweet accessories. Leftovers can be stored in the fridge and taken out by all ages, and then further leftovers can be put back into the fridge. How nice to be able to prepare a big meal and then have the leftovers to quickly access at another time.
There are other surprises that await you in the Seasons EP, including a new breed of Sim, which you’ll find snapshots of in our gallery. I will admit when I first heard about Seasons, I was not sure how much “weather” would have to offer. Everyone had fun playing with the game, and even though I tried, I was not able to fully explore every season that day. Seasons is simply fun. The Seasons EP is expected to ship Feb 27, 2007.
Discuss this on our forums
See Our Gallery for More Screenshots and Info from Seasons
And this is what the box of the next expansion is going to look like! As you can see here the image comes from the EA Store itself.
Also worth noting - Maxis has said they are working hard on Pets patches. They hope to have one addressing the bodyshop compatibility issue out by the end of the year and one addressing the plethora of gameplay issues out in the new year.
Life Stories has been officially announced by Maxis! It seems that there’s going to be three titles with the first coming out January 2007. They will be Life Stories, Pet Stories and Castaway Stories.
Are you new to The Sims or know anyone who is? This is the game for them. The Sims Life Stories is the first release in an all-new, standalone product line called The Sims™ Stories. Play through all the great moments of your Sim’s life in this easy-to-play, laptop-friendly version of The Sims. In the new and engaging directed Story mode, you take your Sims through a unique and entertaining storyline full of romance, conflict and dramatic twists. In open-ended Classic mode, you create Sims and then choose how they’ll fulfill their dreams through life’s biggest moments. Stay connected by using your own IM and email while playing.
Read the entire article and FAQs here!
And finally, you can enjoy some official Pets bloopers
Last night, Will Wright appeared on the Colbert Report to talk about his games. He was there in regards to Spore but they spent a lot of time talking about the sims games (both 1 and 2). If you didn’t get the chance to see it, you can watch it on youtube.
As always, feel free to discuss this on our forums
Well, it’s not the sims you’re used to. They remind me of a combination of the fisher price “little people” toys and polly pocket (circa early 1990s) with a dash of japanese influence. This definitely will not be something that interests all simmers - but it just may capture a new and possibly untapped audience.
You can see pictures at boku-sim.jp, gamekult.com and dengekionline.com
Feel free to talk about it on our forums
I was very excited to get to make a trip last week to Electronic Arts, home of Maxis and The Sims. People from select fan sites and EA locations from the United States and Europe were invited for a special event. Things began with a meet and greet in the hotel lounge on Thursday night. Various members from the Sims 2 team stopped by during that time; many of them then went back to work readying things for the next day’s events, promising us a great time.
During this time I was able to discuss the Pets EP with some of the team, and indeed they are hard at work on a patch for the ep to resolve the bodyshop behavior and other items.
Friday morning we made our way over to the main building. In the lobby were some big screens showing commercials and other videos for various EA games, and then up on a balcony I spotted a sign for The Sims. We all got our badges and signed paperwork, and the day began.
The tour began in the corporate building, which included displays of key points in Electronic Art’s history. It was interesting seeing screenshots of their first games which were created about 20 years ago, and how with every 5 year interval how much computing had changed. Then we got a whirlwind tour of some of the facilities, including the cafeteria, gym, basketball court, and central lawn where they hold soccer games and launch parties. In the lobbies and public spaces bright banners featuring various EA products could be seen.
Then it was time for the special meetings… which I’ll be able to tell you about in a few days. Meantime enjoy the photos here!
