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"Easily the best computer game of the year, "The Sims 2" will not disappoint."

Office Productivity At CNN Drops

'Sims 2' creates new worlds of play

By Marc Saltzman

Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of Marc Saltzman, a freelance technology journalist whose reviews also appear on the Gannett News Service.

It didn't take long for Jeff to develop romantic feelings for his housemate, Sara. But his hopes for something more than friendship came to a sudden halt at one of their house parties -- it seems the handsome neighbor, Orlando, also had a crush on Sara as the two spent most of the evening chatting it up in the hot tub. The next day, Jeff told Sara he was moving out.

Welcome to "The Sims 2," Electronic Arts' (EA) new life simulation.

The sequel to the best-selling PC game of all time -- a franchise that has sold more than 36 million units between all of its versions and expansion packs since it launched in January 2000 -- takes this popular series to the next level by introducing many new game-play additions and enhancements.

"The Sims" challenges players to micromanage the lives of computer-generated people known as Sims. This includes nurturing their relationships, advancing their careers and decorating their homes with items they buy.

Obsession possible

Gamers became obsessed with their custom-made Sims, and it didn't take long for hundreds of fan sites to crop up on the Net whereby players shared stories and screenshots of their Sims with others.

"The Sims 2" should enhance the relationship between the gamer and their Sims even more than its predecessor.

Players can now take control of their Sims for an entire lifetime: from baby to old age and all stages in between. While it's up to you to help shape their personalities, kid Sims' independent thinking may surprise you. For example, a 16-year-old Sim may appear like a model teen, but when his parents are asleep he sneaks out to meet with friends. He may even return home in a police car.

Speaking of offspring, each Sim now has its own DNA that can be passed down through generations, so children will resemble their parents in both look and disposition. For instance, a nasty adult will likely produce a bratty child. Over time, players also will notice their neighborhood mature as neighbors have kids that resemble them.

Life plan

Along with day-to-day tasks that range from cleaning a flooded toilet to learning to cook a good meal, "The Sims 2" introduces a "Life Score" to measure how well each individual Sim is advancing through selectable goals such as buying a house, creating a large family or owning a company.

Similar to the first game, players can take control over existing characters or create unique ones.

Players will see a major improvement in the new "Create-A-Sim" tool that lets you build any kind of Sim imaginable by selecting from thousands of clothing options, hair styles, body types and facial features. You can make your Sim look like Jessica Simpson or Marge Simpson.

Make a movie

Also new to this sequel is a feature called "Sims Movie Making" that helps gamers unleash their inner director.

Players can create a kind of television sitcom by recording and editing actions of their Sims, adding dialogue, then swapping the results over the Internet with others, if so desired.

Minor beefs exist such as relatively long load times and the odd artificial intelligence glitch.

Easily the best computer game of the year, "The Sims 2" will not disappoint.

"The Sims 2" ships on four CDs or one DVD (DVD-ROM drive required). The DVD version ships with a bonus disc with extras such as interviews, desktop wallpaper, game-play strategies, movie-making tips and examples of films made with the game.

Daar zijn ze dan! De uitslagen van de essay wedstrijden! Jullie hebben er lang op gewacht, maar nu is het dan eindelijk zover!

Voor de eerste essay hebben julie een leuk verhaal bedacht op de volgende vraag:
Je komt op een The Sims feest en jouw droomdate staat alleen in een hoekje, wat doe je?

De winnaar van deze wedstrijd is geworden: Sjilki!

Van harte gefeliciteerd! Jij hebt een xbox® met The Sims Erop Uit! gewonnen!

En dan nu, de uitslag van de tweede essay, waarbij jullie antwoord gaven op de vraag hoe jullie naar de andere kant van het land zouden reizen om zo sims 2 op te halen, zonder een cent op zak!
De winnaar van deze wedstrijd is geworden: Kars de Jong!

Van harte gefeliciteerd! Jij hebt een De Sims 2 game gewonnen!

Prijswinnaars: Gefeliciteerd!

EA neemt zo spoedig contact met jullie op, zodat jullie de prijs snel in huis hebben.

Electronic Arts heeft vandaag bekendgemaakt dat er, gebaseerd op interne gegevens, wereldwijd meer dan één miljoen exemplaren zijn verkocht van De Sims 2™ in de eerste tien dagen. Hiermee is het de meest succesvolle lancering van een PC-game in de 22-jarige geschiedenis van EA.

"De Sims zijn een cultureel fenomeen geworden en De Sims 2 is een game die de manier verandert waarop we over onze bedrijfstak denken”, aldus Gerhard Florin, directeur van Electronic Arts Europe. “In de eerste tien dagen zijn er één miljoen exemplaren van de game verkocht en meer dan vijftig procent van die games zijn hier in Europa verkocht.”

Jeff Green, eindredacteur van Computer Gaming World zei: “De Sims 2 was ongetwijfeld een van de pc-games waar dit jaar het meest naar uitgekeken werd. De game is zelfs nog beter geworden dan we hadden verwacht en verdiende daarom onze titel ‘Editor's Choice’ met de hoogste score van 5 uit 5 sterren. Het feit dat De Sims 2 nu al zo goed verkoopt is totaal geen verrassing, gezien de constante kwaliteit van deze franchise. In een tijd dat console-gaming vooroploopt qua hype en koppen in de media, is de Sims-franchise een van de reddende engelen van PC-gaming op dit moment.”

De Sims-franchise komt in november ook met een nieuwe console-game voor de trouwe fans: De Urbz™: Sims in the City™. Voor het eerst trekken de Sims naar de stad, waar het allemaal draait om het opbouwen van een reputatie. In de game kun je negen verschillende wijken vrijspelen in een stad die nooit slaapt en toegang verkrijgen tot de vetste vip-plekken. Ook kom je leden van de populaire band The Black Eyed Peas tegen. De soundtrack van de game bevat negen exclusieve, opnieuw opgenomen nummers van The Black Eyed Peas, allemaal in Simlish, het typische taaltje van de game. De Urbz™: Sims in the City™ ligt begin november in de winkel voor het PlayStation®2 computer entertainment systeem, het Xbox® Videogamesysteem van Microsoft, de Nintendo GameCube™, de Nintendo Game Boy® Advance en de Nintendo DS™.

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.