The Sims 2

The Sims 2
The Sims 2 Special Edition DVD US box cover
Developer(s)	Maxis
Publisher(s)	EA Games
Designer(s)	Will Wright
Engine	Custom
Platform(s)	Windows, Mac OS X Forthcoming: GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo DS, Game Boy Advance, Sony PSP, Mobile phones
Release	Windows: September 17 2004 Mac OS X: June 13 2005
Genre(s)	Simulation
Mode(s)	Single player

The Sims 2 is a strategy/simulation computer game from Maxis and is the sequel to the popular game The Sims. It is a vast departure from the previous version and various updates. It is fully 3D, and, unlike in the first installment, characters age and have genetic traits that can be passed on to their children. The game was officially released on September 17 2004. Customers who pre-ordered The Sims 2 received their copy on September 14 2004. A port to Mac OS X was done by Aspyr and was released on June 13 2005. Unfortunately, the DVD edition will not be available outside of America.-

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Description

Sims age through 6 unique stages: baby, toddler, child, teen, adult and elder. Family relationships are much more integral to this version of the Sims than the previous version. As Sims age, get married and have children, these relationships are recorded in an extensive family tree.

In this installment of the series, Sims can have more realistic marriages with engagements and parties. Sims are pregnant before having children (unlike in the previous version, where children just appeared). Other unique events such as deaths, funerals, and a first kiss also take place in a Sim's lifetime. Good and bad experiences are kept as memories and can affect the Sim's behaviour.

File:Sim sad.JPG

In The Sims 2, sims have facial expressions and react to situations as they unfold in the game. In the above picture a teen Sim reacts to his parents' divorce.

The graphics and house design engines have improved with more choices for houses, neighborhood design, food and clothes. The Sims Body Shop, a tool which allows a user to design a Sim's body, clothing, genetic features, etc., was available before the game's release. Modders from various sites have been designing programs to edit things from the game, such as recoloring objects which originally could not be recolored, extracting meshes of both clothing and objects, as well as changing different aspects of the game, like Teen Woohoo (Woohoo is the sims version of sexual intercourse), and the inSIMinator, which allows you to edit various things about sims, like their mood, their relationships, or even make them pregnant with any sim on the lot, including the sim that will be pregnant.

The Sims 2 introduces a new aspect into the game: Aspiration. Aspiration manifests itself in two ways: the aspiration which each Sim has, and the Aspiration Meter.

Sims will each have an aspiration which is set either when they are created by the player, generated by the game (if they are an NPC), or chosen by the player when they become a teenager. The five aspirations are: Romance, Family, Knowledge, Popularity and Fortune. A sixth aspiration, that of growing up, is possessed by all sims when they are toddlers and children.

There are six levels to the aspiration meter: The highest is platinum, beneath that is gold, followed by two levels of green and two of red (red being negative aspiration and therefore an undesirable state). The level is raised when a Sim fulfills a "Want", and is lowered when a "Fear" is realized. Wants and Fears are different for each sim depending on several factors including aspiration type, age and aspiration meter level. They may change on a daily basis, and are displayed graphically in slot-machine fashion on the toolbar. When the Aspiration Meter is high, aspiration rewards may be properly used. For example, the Elixir of Life aspiration reward allows a Sim to live longer. If this aspiration reward is used before the Aspiration Meter reaches the gold level, however, it sometimes backfires and the Sim loses life days. The Aspiration Meter also affects how long an elder will live for once they enter this phase of their life.

This also means that while the game still has no set goals, there is a new strategic level to balancing a Sim's life as you now have a limited time in which to fufill Aspirations, meet needs, progress in a career, socialize and possibly have a family.

Nintendo DS info

On the DS release, players will be able to take advantage of the DS's unique touch screen in order to draw paintings to be placed in the game.

System requirements

Many have criticized The Sims 2 for needing extremely high system requirements. A similar complaint was levied against Maxis' SimCity 4.

The system requirements for The Sims 2 (from the official The Sims 2 website) are as follows:

• 800 MHz processor for systems with a T&L-capable video card with at least 32 MB of video RAM. 2 GHz processor for systems without a T&L-capable video card with at least 32 MB of video RAM.
• 256 MB RAM
• Windows® XP, Windows ME, Windows 98 or Windows 2000 Operating System or better
• At least 3.5 GB of hard drive space

Bugs

The Sims 2 contains a number of bugs. Many of the bugs listed below have been corrected in a downloadable patch. Note:The installation of TS2: University should correct the problems below.

• "Liney" Sims: Graphical glitch with ATI Radeon 9000 GPUs. This problem has been fixed in the new version of ATI's drivers.
• "Jump Out" Bug: Time-out/scripting bug, causing characters to abort ( "jump out of" ) certain animations and interactions. Solved by the Maxis patch.
• Memory Leak: Memory leak, sometimes caused by hiring non-player characters, causing abnormal use of system resources.
• Invisible Colleagues: Graphics glitch involving colleagues visiting by helicopter, causing colleagues to be invisible. Solved by the Maxis patch.
• Unused objects designated as in use: Engine bug which makes unused objects appear as in-use, like doors that don't close. Caused by proximity to other usable objects.
• Floating Teddy: After a few uses, the object of the bear will float in the air and there will no longer be proper animation of use of the bear. Can be fixed by buying a new teddy bear.
• Carpool bug: All sims living on a lot refuse to enter cars, taxis, buses, etc, causing them to fail at their job or at school. Can be fixed by moving the family to another lot.

Expansions

Maxis released the first expansion pack, called The Sims 2: University, on March 2 2005. In it, sims can be sent to college in a new neighborhood type called University. A "Teen" sim sent to the university will become a "Young Adult," a new age group introduced with this expansion, and that sim will become an "Adult" when it graduates or flunks out. Sims that don't attend the university will skip Young Adult and become Adults, as in the original version of the game. A more minor introduction in University is the addition of "influence points" that can be used to influence others to do a certain thing.

The second expansion, The Sims 2: Nightlife, is slated for release on September 13 2005. Based loosely on the original Sims expansion Hot Date, it will include entertainment options like nightclubs, restaurants for romantic dinners, and bowling alleys, in a new neighboorhood type called Downtown (much like the University Town in the first expansion pack). A new attraction system will introduce turn ons and turn offs that cause Sims to be attracted to or disgusted by other Sims. Maxis has also added vampires that will bite sims, making them vampires as well. Players will now be able to see other lots in the neighborhood from inside a lot. In addition, players can now own cars instead of taking the carpool. Vampires can be entirely avoided if the player does not want to use play with them.

It is expected that the preliminary details of the third expansion pack will be revealed upon the launch of Nightlife. BigWilliam 14:34, 5 September 2005 (UTC)

Humour and in-jokes

Veronaville

The neighborhood Veronaville is supposed to be a spoof of Verona (the Italian city in which Romeo and Juliet, a play by William Shakespeare, takes place). In this neighborhood, there are two families who are supposedly conflicting with each other: the Capp family and the Monty family (obviously reflecting the Montague and Capulet families in the play). Supposedly (according to the story of the neighborhood) the conflict started when the leader of the Capp household broke a promise to the leader of the Monty household. Just like in the play, there are two lovers from each family: Romeo and Juliet. The other teens of the either household are named after actual characters in Romeo and Juliet, except one teen, Hermia. Her character (as well as a third family, the Summerdream family) was pulled from A Midsummer Night's Dream, another Shakespearean play. Characters from other Shakespearean plays can be found in the family trees in Veronaville. Although these spoofs are supposed to parallel the plays they parody, the Romeo and Juliet parody is significantly less tragic than the actual play.

Llamas

Llamas are the trademark animal of The Sims (as well as other Maxis games). Speculation suggests that this is an in-joke due to one of the producer's love of Monty Python movies (specifically, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, where its opening credits credited llamas for the movie's production). Cows are also seen in "University".

Michael Bachelor

Should one take a look at the Goth family's family tree, they can find out more about Bella's branch of the tree. As it turns out, a Michael Bachelor is her brother (now deceased). The Bachelor family was one of the pre-packaged families that came with the original The Sims. Only one person was in that family... a man named Michael.

Mary-Sue Pleasant

One of the characters living in Pleasantview is named Mary-Sue Pleasant. This is probably a reference to the term "Mary Sue," which is used to describe an idealized character in a work of fan fiction.

Console/handheld ports

The Sims 2 has been confirmed to be released on the following consoles and handhelds:

• GameCube
• PlayStation 2
• Xbox
• Nintendo DS
• Game Boy Advance
• Sony PSP
• Mobile/cell phones

It is expected to make its debut to the console/handheld market during Q4, 2005 (source). At the moment it is still unknown whether The Sims 2 will be ported to Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and/or Nintendo Revolution.

As with the port of the original The Sims to consoles, the game will most likely feature greatly different mechanics and goals as compared to the original computer version. The Nintendo DS version is thought to most likely contain extra features to make use of the touch screen.

Controversy

Florida Attorney Jack Thompson attacked Electronic Arts and The Sims 2 soon after Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas' Hot Coffee scandal. Jack Thompson claimed that The Sims 2 was "worse than Hot Coffee", because it featured nude Sims which were blurred out, yet the blur could be removed by a mod. Thompson claimed that "pubic hair", "labia", and other genital details were visible if the blur was removed.

Electronic Arts issued a statement correcting Thompson and pointing out out that without the blur, there are no private parts, but that Sims are lacking in anatomical definition, like a child's dolls.

In an Internet radio show interview that aired at ChatterBox Game Show, Thompson retracted his previous misstatements about "pubic hair" and other details about which he was misinformed. However, he defended his position on The Sims 2 and expressed his opinion that because EA does not protect its copyright by stopping the mod community from making adult-oriented changes to the game, that they "lose their right to defend their copyright" in any way.

See also

• Legacy Challenge (The Sims 2)
• The Strangerhood
• Bella Goth
• Simlish

External links

Official sites

• The official Sims 2 website
• Electronic Arts' The Sims 2 update page containing the latest patches

Producer journals

• Sims 2: Nightlife producer journal, Tim LeTourneau
• An update on the journal

Community and fan sites

• No Eye Deer Productions A Sims 2 Machinima Production Company. See Sims 2 Films, from comedy to horror.
• EliteSims2
• Sim Choice Creations in numerous categories including fashion, cosmetics & genetics for The Sims 2
• WorldSims
• Mod The Sims 2, home to a thriving community for mods
• SimStuff.com
• Listing of Sims 2 Console and Cheat Commands, from tech-recipes.com
• The Sims Resource, a site catering for Sims 1 and 2
• SimSational
• Kaermie
• Planet The Sims
• The Sims Zone
• WorldSims Forums
• The Sims 2 Info
• The Sims 2 Downloads and addons
• Simplicity
• Sims 2 Talk
• ATI's Driver Download Page
• DataGen, an editor that can (sort of) edit The Sims 2 files.
• SimPE, "Simple Package Editor" a program that is able to edit Sims 2 characters and objects. The program is working, but many features are still in development.
• The Sims 2 LiveJournal Community, one of the largest LiveJournal Communities for The Sims 2
• About.com Guide