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The Sims 2

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"TS2" redirects here. For the Toy Story film abbreviated as TS2, see Toy Story 2.
This article is about the computer game. For console releases, see The Sims 2 (console video game).
The Sims 2
North American cover
Developer(s)Maxis
Publisher(s)Electronic Arts (PC)
Aspyr (Mac)
Designer(s)Patrick J. Barrett , Kacper Centowski, Jenna Chalmers, Shannon Copur, Michael Cox, Seth Olshfski, Amy Dallas, Kevin Gibson, Daniel Hiatt, Kevin Hogan, Hunter Howe, Creighton Hurt, Trevor Jalowitz, Charles London, Lyndsay McGaw, Ashley Monif, Solveig Pederson, Todd Reamon, Kana Ryan, Lauren Wheeler, Jeannie Yang, Stuart McArther, Will Wright
SeriesThe Sims
Platform(s)Windows
Mac OS X
ReleaseWindows
Mac OS X
June 13, 2005
Genre(s)Life simulation game
Mode(s)Single player

The Sims 2 is a 2004 strategic life simulation computer game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. It is the sequel to the best-selling computer game, The Sims, which debuted on February 4, 2000.[3] It was first released on September 14, 2004 for Microsoft Windows. A port to Macintosh was released on June 13, 2005. Eight expansion packs and nine stuff packs were subsequently released. In addition several console versions have been released. Though not commonly known, The Sims 2 is offered on mobile platforms. Mobile manufacturers such as Nokia offer The Sims 2 from the Ovi Store. It costs $4.99 USD.[4] A sequel, The Sims 3, was released in June 2009.[5][6]

The Sims 2 has the same concept as its predecessor. Players control their Sims in various activities and forming relationships in a manner similar to real life. The Sims 2, like its predecessor, The Sims, does not have a defined final goal; gameplay is open-ended. Sims have life goals, wants and fears, the fulfillment of which can produce both positive or negative outcomes. All Sims age, and can live over 100 Sim days depending on the degree of which their aspirations are fulfilled. The Sims 2 builds on its predecessor by allowing Sims to age through six stages of life and incorporating a 3D graphics engine. Although gameplay is not linear, story-lines exist in the game's pre-built neighbourhoods. Pleasantview is based 25 years after the town in the original The Sims. Strangetown's storyline is based on the supernatural, and is loosely connected with Pleasantview. Veronaville's characters are based on Shakespearian characters.

The Sims 2 was an instant success, selling a then-record one million copies in its first ten days.[7] As of June 2009, The Sims 2 has sold more than 14 million units worldwide and was the best-selling PC game of 2004.[8] During April 2008, The Sims 2 website announced that 100 million copies of The Sims series had been sold.[9] In addition to its commercial success, The Sims 2 was well received by critics gaining a 90% score from aggregators Metacritic and GameRankings.[10][11]

Gameplay

Buy and Build mode

From the neighborhood view, the player selects to play one lot, as in The Sims. There are residential and community lots. Sims live in residential lots, and can travel to community lots to purchase groceries, clothing and magazines as well as interact with Townies.

The player can choose between playing a pre-made inhabited lot, moving a household into a built-up lot, or constructing a building on an empty lot. One novelty from The Sims 1 is foundations.

The player switches among the "live" mode (default) to control Sims, the "buy" mode to add, move or delete furniture, or the "build" mode to rebuild the house. Buy and build mode for community lots is locked when player Sims visit the lot but are available from the neighborhood view. It is also possible to import neighborhood terrains from Sim City 4.

The game contains some time-bound social challenges that provide a reward if successful. Sims can throw parties to gain aspiration points or invite the headmaster over for dinner in order to enroll their children in private school. Some expansion packs have new mini-games, like running a Greek house in University or dating in Nightlife. In Nightlife, each day is a challenge to keep both Sims as happy as possible while accumulating aspiration points. Various other Expansion Packs introduce supernatural characters which Sims can be turned into. This includes Vampires, Werewolves, Plantsims, Zombies, and Witches.

Comparison to The Sims

Graphically, The Sims 2 is more detailed than The Sims and allows players to view its world in full 3D. This is a change from earlier Sim games, such as SimCity 2000, which used dimetric projection and fixed resolutions, as the camera was in The Sims. In The Sims, Sims are 3D meshes, but The Sims 2 introduces far more detail in mesh quality, texture quality, and animation capability. A Sim's facial features are customizable and unique, and Sims can smile, frown, and blink. The player can adjust a Sim's features in the in-game Create-a-Sim tool; for example, noses can be made to be very large or very small. Texturing is achieved through use of raster images, though it appears more lifelike.

The Sims 2 characters' pass through six life stages (seven with University), with eventual death of old age, while babies in The Sims only become children before ceasing to continue aging. The aspiration system (described above) is also new to The Sims 2. Sims can become pregnant and produce babies that take on genetic characteristics of their parents, such as eye color, hair color, facial structure, and personality traits. Genetics play a major role in the game, and as such, dominant and recessive genes play a larger role than they did in the original game. A player can also aspire to have a Sim abducted by aliens. Males then have the chance to become impregnated and produce after three Sim day a half-alien child.

Some of the other additions to gameplay are career rewards, a week cycle, the cleaning skill, a variety of meals (depending on time of day), exercise clothing, body shape affected by diet and exercise, and houses built on foundations.

File:Sims2Bodyshop.jpg
The Sims 2 Bodyshop allows more customization of facial features than the Create-A-Sim feature within the game itself.

Game customization

The Sims 2 is an extremely malleable game. Modders alter the game in ways as simple as creating a new floor texture of rocks or as complicated as writing entire patches for the game code to customize its behavior. Such modifications are all loosely referred to as "custom content". Specifically, custom content can be divided into four categories: exporting (creating Sims and lots in-game or using the game's included Body Shop and exporting them to a file), recoloring (creating a new texture for an object), meshing (creating an object or modifying its shape) and hacking (writing code that manipulates game and object behaviors). There are also many cheats for The Sims 2 including pressing Ctrl, Shift, and C at the same time then typing in, motherlode, which gives you 50,000 Simoleons. The modding community for The Sims 2 is self-supporting, with more advanced modders writing tools and tutorials to help in creating custom content and modifying the game environment. The "Sims 2 Body Shop" is a program shipped with The Sims 2 that allows users to create custom clothing and body recolors, such as eyes, hair and skin tone. These custom created parts can be imported directly into the game, or can be uploaded onto the official The Sims 2 Exchange for other users to download and implement into their own games. Two elements that propagate customization are the official Sims 2 Exchange and the extensive network of fan sites that distribute custom content. More than 250,000 Sims and lots have been uploaded to the Sims 2 Exchange on the Official Site.

Development

EA Games announced on May 5, 2003 that the Maxis studio had begun development on The Sims 2.[12] The game was first shown at E3 in Los Angeles, California on May 13, 2004.[12] Will Wright admits that while most of the content of The Sims 2 are original ideas, inspiration for its own expansions and constituents spawned from the successes of the first game. The community interest in the antecedent The Sims: Unleashed and The Sims: Hot Date expansions ensured the creation of The Sims 2: Pets and The Sims 2: Nightlife expansions, respectively.[13]

After development concluded, designers from Maxis regarded The Sims 2 as very capricious during creation. Bugs would appear, and Sims would be "tweaked", or have anomalies not present in a previous run.[14] A teaser trailer was provided on the Makin' Magic CD but was later uploaded to websites all over the Internet.

Reception

The Sims 2 had a successful E3.[26][27] The game also received the Editor's Choice Award from IGN and GameSpy upon final review of the finished product.[28][29] From 71 online reviews, the average score was 90 out of 100. Seven of those sources awarded the game a 100 out of 100 score.[30] X-Play gave the game a 4/5

The Sims creator, Will Wright was recognized by being nominated at the Billboard Digital Entertainment Awards for Visionary and Game Developer.[31] The game was also nominated for two international awards in 2005.[32][33]

Controversy

The Sims 2 malleable content and open-ended customization have led to controversy on the subject of pay sites and sexual modifications. Custom content is distributed through independent websites, some of which charge for downloading materials. This is a breach of the game's EULA[34], which prohibits the commercial use of tools such as Bodyshop. The copyright to the package file (which is installed in the downloads folder so that the player can use custom content in-game) is held by Electronic Arts, making the sale of package files illegal. Some modifications, purportedly revealing sexual anatomy of the Sims, sparked legal controversy.

On July 22, 2005, former Florida attorney Jack Thompson alleged that Electronic Arts and The Sims 2 promoted nudity through the use of a mod or a cheat code. The claim was made that pubic hair, labia and other genital details were visible once the "blur" (the pixelation that occurs when a Sim is using the toilet or is naked in the game) was removed.[35] Electronic Arts issued a statement saying that when the censor was removed, Sims lack such anatomical definition, similar to Barbie and Ken dolls. Electronic Arts executive Jeff Brown said in an interview with GameSpot:[36]

This is nonsense. We've reviewed 100 percent of the content. There is no content inappropriate for a teen audience. Players never see a nude Sim. If someone with an extreme amount of expertise and time were to remove the pixels, they would see that the sims have no genitals. They appear like Ken and Barbie.

Prior to Thompson's statement, there was an enterable code which removed pixelation accessible from the console menu. Shortly after the statement, subsequent patches and expansion packs removed the "intProp censorGridSize" code; this code was leftover from the beta testing stage of the original game and was not intended for a public audience.

Film and TV series

The Sims live action[37] film is currently in preproduction under an eponymous working title.

On May 25, 2007, it was announced that The Sims film rights had been purchased by 20th Century Fox.[38] Not much is known yet about the upcoming film, although a rumored story involving the characters finding a way to control others through a "Sims"-like game has been reported on several movie sites. It will be written by Brian Lynch, co-writer of the Angel: After The Fall comics and writer/director of the 1999 film Big Helium Dog. The film will be produced by John Davis, responsible for films such as I, Robot and Predator.[39]

EA has officially announced[40] it and a MySims animated television series in development at Film Roman.

Editions, Compilations, and Add-ons

Many Sims games have been ported to Mac OS X by Aspyr. The Sims 2 has also been released for a number of video game consoles including the PlayStation 2 entertainment system, the Xbox console, and the Gamecube. Look in The Sims 2 (console game) for more information based on The Sims 2 editions.

Editions and Compilations with core game

Name Release date Includes
The Sims 2 [41] Windows:
Mac OS X:
June 13, 2005		 The first release of the core game on four CDs.
The Sims 2 Special DVD Edition Windows:
 The core game on one DVD, plus a bonus DVD with exclusive content.
The Sims 2 Holiday Edition (2005) Windows:
 The core game and The Sims 2 Holiday Party Pack.
The Sims 2 Holiday Edition (2006) [42] Windows:
 The core game and The Sims 2 Happy Holiday Stuff.
The Sims 2 Deluxe [43] Windows:
 The core game, The Sims 2 Nightlife, and a new bonus DVD that is different from the one included in the Special DVD Edition.
The Sims 2 Double Deluxe [44] Windows:
 The Sims 2 Deluxe, a Bonus DVD containing music, wallpapers for desktop, and promotional videos, and The Sims 2 Celebration! Stuff

Compilations without core game

Name Release date Includes
The Sims 2 University Life Collection [45] Windows:
 The Sims 2 University, The Sims 2 IKEA Home Stuff, The Sims 2 Teen Style Stuff.
The Sims 2 Best of Business Collection [46] Windows:
 The Sims 2 Open for Business, The Sims 2 H&M Fashion Stuff, The Sims 2 Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff.
The Sims 2 Fun with Pets Collection [47] Windows:
 The Sims 2 Pets, The Sims 2 Family Fun Stuff, The Sims 2 Mansion & Garden Stuff.

Expansion packs

The Sims 2 expansion packs provide additional game features and items. Eight expansion packs have been released as of 2010. There are no current plans for more expansion packs beyond The Sims 2: Apartment Life.

Name Release date Major Additions Neighborhoods New NPCs New Playable Creatures New Careers
University Windows:
Mac OS X:
December 12, 2005		 Universities, Young Adult age group, Lifetime Wants, Influence Campus:
La Fiesta Tech,
Sim State University,
Académie Le Tour		 Barista, Bartender,
Cafeteria Worker,
Cheerleader,
Coach, Evil Mascot, Mascot,
Professors, Streaker		 Zombies Natural Scientist,
Paranormal,
Show Business,
Artist (only if sim finished college)
Nightlife Windows:
Mac OS X:
March 27, 2006		 Dates, Groups system, Outings, Pleasure aspiration, New relationship states, ownable cars Downtown:
Downtown		 Gypsy Matchmaker,
Waiter, Chef,
Bartender, DJ,
Mrs. Crumplebottom		 Vampires None
Open for Business Windows:
Mac OS X:
September 4, 2006		 Businesses, talent badges Shopping District:
Bluewater Village		 Reporters,
Barbers		 Servos (Robots) Shop Employees
Pets Windows:
Mac OS X:
November 6, 2006		 Ownable Pets None Animal Control Officers,
Obedience Trainer,
Wolves, Skunks		 Werewolves Pet careers:
Security,
Showbiz,
Service
Seasons Windows:
Mac OS X:
June 11, 2007		 Weather system, Seasons, fishing, talent badges
gardening		 Main:
Riverblossom Hills		 Garden Club Members,
Penguins		 Plant Sims Adventurer,
Education,
Gamer,
Journalism,
Law, Music
Bon Voyage Windows:
Mac OS X:
December 17, 2007		 Vacations in different cultural areas Vacation:
Twikkii Island,
Three Lakes,
Takemizu Village		 Fire Dancers,
Hotel Maids,
Bellboys, Masseurs,
Wise Old Man,
Pirate, Tour Guides,
Unsavory charlatan,
Witch Doctor, Ninjas		 Bigfoot None
FreeTime Windows:
 Hobby system, lifetime aspiration system, talent badges. Main:
Desiderata Valley

Secret:
Hobby 		Hobby Members,
Rod Humble,
Hobby Leaders,
Food Judge,
Genie		 None Oceanography,
Intelligence,
Entertainment,
Dance,
Architecture
Apartment Life Windows:
 Rentable apartments, reputation system, witchcraft system Main:
Belladonna Cove [48]

Secret:
The Magical World		 Butler, Landlord,
Roomies,
Breakdancers,
Street Performers,
Social Group Sims,
High Witch of Light/Darkness,
Spectral assistant, Human statues[48]		 Witches, Warlocks None

Stuff packs

Main article: The Sims 2 Stuff packs

Stuff packs are add-ons that intend to add only new items (usually in the amount of 60) to the base game. However, some releases include certain gameplay elements introduced in previous expansion packs. There are nine stuff packs so far. The Sims 2: Holiday Party Pack served as the pilot release for this line of products, which were called "booster packs". After the success of the pilot release, EA named the releases "stuff packs" and launched the line with The Sims 2: Family Fun Stuff. The Sims 2: Mansion & Garden Stuff is the The Sims 2's final stuff pack in the series.

Name Release date Includes
Holiday Party Pack Windows:
 Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year themed stuff, plus new NPCs: Santa Claus, Father Time, and Baby New Year.
Family Fun Stuff Windows:
Mac OS X:
April 30, 2007		 Family-oriented Fairy tale and nautical themed items mainly for children's bedrooms.
Glamour Life Stuff Windows:
Mac OS X:
June 1, 2007		 Luxury, couture and glamour themed objects, floors and walls.
Happy Holiday Stuff Windows:
Mac OS X:
September 4, 2007		 All items from Holiday Party Pack plus added Asian and European holiday themed stuff.
Celebration! Stuff Windows:
 All Dressed up, Hairstyles & Accessories, Event Gear, Furniture, and Other Party Enhancers.
H&M Fashion Stuff Windows:
 Fashion collections from H&M and H&M branded build objects.
Teen Style Stuff Windows:
 Goth, Thrasher and Socialite themed stuff for teenagers' bedrooms, teenage haircuts and new teenage clothes
Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff Windows:
 Kitchen and bathroom objects, floors and walls. Also, kitchen and bathroom clothing: cooking apron etc.
IKEA Home Stuff Windows:
 Fashionable furniture, floors and walls from the styles of IKEA.
Mansion & Garden Stuff Windows:
 Items featuring three new decorative themes (Moroccan, Art Deco and Second Empire).

The Sims 2 Store

The Sims 2 Store is an online store where players of The Sims & The Sims 2 for PC can purchase and download content for their game online for additional fees. It offers objects, clothing, skins, and hairstyles that are both exclusive to the store and also come from earlier expansion and shoe packs.

It also has featured seven exclusive item collections that can only be found in the store. The store uses a point system that players can purchase. It was launched in July 2008 as a beta version limited to the United States and Canada. To download, players must install The Sims 2 Store Edition and the EA Download Manager. The exclusive collections are "Cubic", "Art Deco", "Spooky", "Castle", "Asian Fusion", "Art Nouveaulicious" and "Oh Baby", including a total of 471 items.

References

  1. ^ "Mac OS X system requirements". Aspyr Media. Retrieved 2006-08-29.
  2. ^ "Windows system requirements". EA Games. Retrieved 2006-08-29.
  3. ^ Walker, Trey (2002-03-22). "The Sims overtakes Myst". GameSpot. Retrieved 2007-04-04.
  4. ^ http://store.ovi.com/content/6A794C0B6BD59278E040050A87323A73?clickSource=related%2Bcontent
  5. ^ Thorsen, Tor (2006-11-02). "Sims 3, next-gen Black, new SimCity & LOTR coming". GameSpot. Retrieved 2007-04-04.
  6. ^ Orry, James (2006-03-11). "Three new Sims games in development". Pro-G Media, UK. Retrieved 2007-04-04.
  7. ^ Fahey, Rob (2004-09-27). "The Sims 2 sells a million, smashes EA records". Retrieved 2007-02-08.
  8. ^ "Sims Fans Embark on Exotic Travels as EA Announces The Sims 2 Bon Voyage" (Press release). Electronic Arts. 2007-07-26. Retrieved 2008-10-12. The Sims 2 shipped in September 2004 with sales already topping 13M units worldwide, it was the best selling PC game of 2004.
  9. ^ "The Sims 2.com - 100 Million Sold". EA. 2008-04-15.
  10. ^ "The Sims 2 Reviews". Game Rankings. Retrieved 2008-01-21.
  11. ^ a b c The Sims 2 Reviews from Metacritic
  12. ^ a b "EA Announces Plans For The Sims 2". The Sims 2 Press Release. 2003-05-05. Retrieved 2007-04-04.
  13. ^ "Will Wright Speaks Simlish". GameSpy. 2005-02-27. Retrieved 2007-04-07.
  14. ^ Bradshaw, Lucy (2004-08-31). "Zany Outtakes from the Cutting Room Floor". Maxis, mirrored at GameSpot. Retrieved 2007-04-04.
  15. ^ http://www.gamepro.com/article/reviews/38729/the-sims-2/
  16. ^ http://au.pc.gamespy.com/pc/the-sims-2/546697p1.html
  17. ^ http://pc.gamezone.com/gzreviews/r22138.htm
  18. ^ http://au.pc.ign.com/articles/546/546893p3.html
  19. ^ http://www.gamesradar.com/pc/review/the-sims-2/a-20060414114451537085/p-2
  20. ^ http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3134620&did=1
  21. ^ http://au.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/thesims2/review.html
  22. ^ http://www.actiontrip.com/reviews/thesims2.phtml
  23. ^ http://www.gamerevolution.com/review/pc/sims_2
  24. ^ http://www.gamerankings.com/itemrankings/launchreview.asp?reviewid=425529
  25. ^ http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/914811.asp?q=The%20Sims%202
  26. ^ "The Annual GameSpy E3 Awards!". GameSpy. Retrieved 2007-04-04.
  27. ^ "PC Best of E3 2004". IGN. Retrieved 2007-04-04.
  28. ^ "The Sims 2 Review". IGN. Retrieved 2007-04-04.
  29. ^ "The Sims 2 Review". GameSpy. Retrieved 2007-04-04.
  30. ^ "Main Reviews Breakdown". Gamerankings.com. Retrieved 2007-04-07.
  31. ^ "Billboard 2004 Digital Entertainment Conference & Awards". Billboard. Retrieved 2007-04-04.
  32. ^ "Latest Winners and Nominees". British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Retrieved 2007-04-04.
  33. ^ "10th Annual SATELLITE Awards" (.doc). International Press Academy. Retrieved 2007-04-04.
  34. ^ EA Games (2005-07-28). "EA's End User License Agreement". support.ea.com. Retrieved 9-10-2008. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  35. ^ CNN (2005-07-28). "'Sims' content criticized". money.cnn.com. Retrieved 2007-03-01. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  36. ^ Surette, Tim (2005-07-02). "Sims 2 content "worse than Hot Coffee"". GameSpot. Retrieved 2007-03-01.
  37. ^ ""The Sims Coming to the Big Screen"". ComingSoon. 2007-05-25. Retrieved 2007-10-31.
  38. ^ ""The Sims" to move from PC screen to silver screen". Reuters. 2007-05-28. Retrieved 2007-10-31.
  39. ^ Gilstrap, Peter (2007-05-24). "Fox brings 'SIMS' to bigscreen". Variety. Retrieved 2007-10-31.
  40. ^ ""The Sims" the movie / "MySims" TV series announecment".
  41. ^ "Official The Sims 2 page". 2008-07-22. Retrieved 2008-07-22.
  42. ^ "Official The Sims 2 Holiday Edition page". 2008-07-22. Retrieved 2008-07-22.
  43. ^ "Official The Sims 2 Deluxe page". 2007-04-12. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
  44. ^ "Official The Sims 2 Double Deluxe page". 2008-03-06. Retrieved 2008-03-07.
  45. ^ "Official The Sims 2 University Life Collection page". 2009-08-01. Retrieved 2009-08-01.
  46. ^ "Official The Sims 2 Best of Business Collection page". 2009-10-25. Retrieved 2009-10-25.
  47. ^ "Gamestop The Sims 2 Fun with Pets Collection page". 2008-10-20. Retrieved 2008-10-20.
  48. ^ a b "Edenstyle.it".


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