Sims News

Herinneren jullie je allemaal de Sims Awards 2003 nog?
EA reikte 3 prijzen uit in de categorieën SIMpathiekste popster, fotomodel en filmster. Kurt Rogiers is toen door jullie uitgekozen als SIMpathiekste filmster.

Als speciale prijs - voor hem maar ook zeker voor jullie! – is Kürt binnenkort te downloaden vanaf deze website als speelbaar karakter! Dansen met Kürt, schaken met Kürt, samen in het bubbelbad; straks is het allemaal mogelijk!

Kürts personage zal ontwikkeld worden door dezelfde ontwerpstudio die ook het Sims 2 spel heeft gemaakt, namelijk Maxis (een studio van Electronic Arts). Voor het spelpersonage zal het uiterlijk van Kürt perfect nagemaakt worden, dit betekend zowel gelaatskenmerken, lengte, haarkleur, kledingstijl en ga zo maar door.

Ook Julie Taton, miss België 2003 en SIMpathiekste fotomodel 2004 zal straks als download op deze website komen.

Dus loop jij straks arm in arm met Julie Taton of Kurt Rogiers? EA maakt het mogelijk!

Greetings, Sims 2 Fans,

An apology of sorts is in order. I'm totally messing with our naming scheme for these weekly community missives – first you had the Luc Mail, then simply added the letter "y" when it became the Lucy Mail. Well, now all that's right out the window, because my name's Tim. Hi, and welcome to the first ever The Sims 2 Tim-mail (or T-mail, if you're into the whole brevity thing). I'm the Senior Producer for The Sims 2 franchise, and your new source for regular info on the game we all know and adore, The Sims 2.

First, let me take a moment to thank my immediate predecessor, Lucy Bradshaw, for the absolutely phenomenal work she did getting The Sims 2 on PC screens around the globe, as well as keeping the community well informed and completely stoked to play the game – thanks, Lucy! You'll be a tough act to follow, for sure!

Next, allow me to assure you that you, dear Sims fan, remain the heart and soul of our little game. It's always rewarding to rack up awards and millions in sales, but for me, the best part comes when I download new, fan-made custom skins, or read a really rockin' story on our Story Exchange. The scope and breadth of The Sims 2 Community remains the real measure of our success, and when we see people using the game to tell stories that we would have never thought of ourselves, and pushing the envelope in terms of fan-made content, that's how we really know we've succeeded in creating the best dang game in the whole world!

Now that I've buttered you up, we must ask for your patience and understanding while we put the finishing touches on the 1st downloadable patch for The Sims 2. As you know, The Sims 2 is a bona fide global phenomenon, which means that we have a mandate to make sure that players the world over get the same top-notch experience. The Sims 2 is available in 18 different languages besides English, and before we release anything to the public, we need to make sure that each of the 19 languages we support is tended to with the same care and consideration we give to all our products. Rest assured, though, the update will be available very shortly.

Now, I hope you're yearning for some higher learning, because the word is out about the first expansion pack for The Sims 2 – The Sims 2 University, where you'll be guiding brand-new young adult Sims through the collegiate experience, and of course, much, much more along the way. This EP is chock-full of new objects and game-play for your Sims, so even if you don't think your Sims will be up for much fancy book-learnin', there'll still be plenty to do. There are band objects that Sims can use together - I can't wait to see the music videos that come from the community! And there are some surprising new ways for your Sims to earn a little extra cash, or should we say print it. As always, your options are nearly limitless. And as always, we can't wait to see the surprising directions you push your Sims in. If they don't get your mortar boards twirling in anticipation, then perhaps you're just too cool for school!

Instead of screenshots, I thought it would be cool to give you guys some behind the scenes imagery. I think it's cool to see how the ideas form in the first place. Hope you like ‘em.

Secret Sims 2 Handshake!

Tim LeTourneau

The Sims 2 Senior Producer & Dean of The Sims 2 University

There's an article on Wired about The Sims 2! Read Sims 2: Face Lift of the Original

Sims 2: Face Lift of the Original

by Lore Sjöberg

The Sims, first released in 2000, is the best-selling PC game ever. Somehow all the laser-blasting, fireball-hurling and zombie-mashing games on the shelves have failed to match the pleasant addiction of ignoring your own real-life needs to look after the needs of fictional digital people.

With The Sims 2, Maxis updates the Sims formula for a new generation of PCs. The result is more of a tuneup and a paint job than a brand-new game, but with a classic like The Sims, that's all it takes to make the old seem new again.

The key word here is "detail." The Sims 2 offers a lot more detail than the original game, both in gameplay and in graphics. To begin with, the character models are better-looking, and the character-design tool gives you an incredible amount of control over the appearance of your Sim, right down to the curve of the forehead and the tilt of the nose. The interface isn't the most intuitive, but if you're patient you should be able to create a Sim version of anyone, at least from the neck up.

Once in the game, the graphics don't disappoint. Even with the textures and curves set to medium quality and the camera pulled in fairly close, the models look nice and include some nice touches, like stray wires at the back of the smoke detector.

The gameplay is more detailed as well. For instance, where in the original game you could only read a newspaper, recycle it or use it to find a job, The Sims 2 lets you do the crossword or make a paper airplane. New choices like these are scattered liberally throughout the game.

Family life is much more involved, too. Kids in The Sims started as babies, grew into young children, then stopped aging. The Sims 2 gives your Sims a complete life span, from infancy to old age and eventual death. (The game manual, however, provides an anti-aging cheat code for those who find the idea of an inevitable trip to the Sim Cemetery too depressing.)

The original Sims skirted controversy by having infants appear out of nowhere and limiting affection to hugs and kisses. Even so, the game made no distinction between affection between characters of the same or different sexes. The Livin' Large expansion added a vibrating love bed that allowed Sims to fool around under the covers. The Sims 2 takes things a step further by adding marriage (or "joining" for same-sex Sim couples) and making sex (euphemistically called "WooHoo") an option in any double bed (and some other places).

It also depicts pregnancy by giving the parent-to-be a growing belly and a waddling gait. Sex is always obscured by blankets or other means, however, and actual childbirth is accomplished with a pirouette and a whirl of music. Nonetheless, these additions have led some parents to post to the official Sims 2 board asking Maxis for a patch that will let them excise WooHoo from the game.

One of the most notable additions to the gameplay is the Aspiration Meter. Each Sim has four desires and three fears that change over time. Desires include activities like chatting with a friend, and goals like finding a job in the medical profession. Fears can include such things as the death of a loved one or setting the house on fire. The Aspiration Meter rises and falls as the Sim fulfills aspirations and sees fears come true. A Sim with a high Aspiration Meter can end up in a euphoric mood that helps with work performance, as well as simply making it nicer to be around. Low-aspiration Sims sulk and sob.

The Aspiration Meter is the single greatest improvement to the game. Because your Sims are much more self-sufficient than in the original -- they can generally manage to eat and go to the bathroom when they need to -- you're freed up to help them out with their aspirations, which puts you more in the role of a benevolent guardian angel than an invisible day-care teacher. Moving the focus away from bodily functions and toward hopes and dreams is a subtle but important improvement.

People who hated the original Sims won't like this one any better, and anyone expecting a brand-new game designed from the bottom up may be disappointed with the familiarity. People who loved the original game so much that they bought all the expansions might be let down as well: A lot of the material from the expansion packs didn't make it into The Sims 2. If you wanted spiral staircases, dozens of career tracks and a pet dog, you're going to have to wait (and probably shell out some cash to boot) for the inevitable expansions. For those who haven't yet given the Sims franchise a try, or those excited at the prospect of an excellent upgrade to a groundbreaking game, The Sims 2 surpasses the original.

"At the core of The Sims is balance, according to Wright."

Look Deeper Into Will's Soul

Simulating life, love and the Universe

By Jo Twist

As a boy, Will Wright liked to fiddle with models. The man behind The Sims phenomenon liked to make ships, planes, and most things mechanical.

As he grew older, his interest turned to robots and the possibilities of building them to try to mimic human characteristics.

"I like the idea of building machines but I really like them because they are a tool for understanding humans more," he told BBC News Online.

"Until you build a hand, you don't realise how difficult it actually is and we know more about almost everything than we know about the brain."

What he really wanted to do, though, was model people.

In 1985, Will Wright started work on a computer simulation game called SimCity, and co-founded games company Maxis in 1987.

When it launched in 1989, SimCity became a huge hit with gamers who wanted to do more with their games.

The Sims followed in 2000, allowing gamers to play God with virtual people.

It quickly became the best-selling PC game of all time and opened up a different understanding of what a game was and how real life itself was very much like a game.

Although there have been several successful additions to the original Sims game, The Sims 2 game, out on 17 September for PCs, is the first complete overhaul of the title.

Life as we know it

At the core of The Sims is balance, according to Wright.

It is not necessarily about playing God, he says, controlling every aspect of their virtual person's life, down to when they go to the toilet.

It is about how players decide to juggle their virtual people's lives - work, family, love - and how they decide to spend the 24 hours in a day.

The decisions they make for their little ones can kill them, or help them to rule the virtual roost.

In The Sims 2, there is an added complexity of genetics. Whole generations are created, and their success in life is determined by decisions about their aspirations that the player makes early on.

The Sims become a lot more aware of social and emotional bonds, and you can even make them look like you. Your offspring will carry on genetic traits decided by you.

Building and managing the complex social, emotional and economic well-being of people in real life is hard enough.

But, said Wright, doing it with your own computerised world can teach people some profound lessons in life.

Parents have told him how their children's perception of life and relationships changed after playing SimCity and The Sims.

"We all strike a balance differently, and every one of those decisions is subconscious: The Sims makes those decisions apparent.

"By building your life into a toy, it enters your consciousness. People start to see the juggling act.

"They wake up a bit more and see that they have been playing this game in real life, but never realised."

To him, a game like Sims, with its simple premise of living, gives people a different lens through which they can look at life.

The idea of simulation is not restricted to just everyday life lessons, however.

Shady side

After the success of SimCity, and its several spin-offs, Maxis was approached by several organisations, from the military, governments, and oil companies, to craft games that could help planners or strategists see the impacts of decision-making.

For a while, they did play with serious simulations - a Sims for the oil industry, healthcare sector and the environment protection agency.

But soon, said Wright, they found more time was being spent talking to lawyers. It was not fun to do anymore so it was spun off to another company.

"We can have a much bigger impact with millions of parents and kids playing it."

That impact, however, has worried some who fear the idea of a virtual life leads people to neglect their physical lives, or worse, gives people licence to escape real life laws and social constraints.

Last year, the darker side of Sims life was revealed by philosophy professor Peter Ludlow.

As a resident of Alphaville, the biggest city in Sims spin-off The Sims Online, he revealed the criminal elements and seedier activities that had bled into the "game", including the Sims Mafioso, prostitution, and thieves.

This shadier side of virtual life is something that concerns, but also interests Wright.

"It makes the game more interesting. It is pretty playful and harmless," he said.

"It is something our society is grappling with. There is a whole generation of kids who have real and virtual communities, which is almost alien to the generation above.

"We need to learn to live with it as a society."