The Sims 2

The Sims 2 is a 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. Mark Mothersbaugh composed the music for the game.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 2 has 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 (although some items can extend a Sim's lifespan further).The Sims 2 builds on its predecessor by allowing Sims to age through six stages of life and incorporating a more powerful 3D graphics engine. It was first released on September 14, 2004 and became an instant success, selling a then-record one million copies in its first ten days. In addition to its commercial success, The Sims 2 was well received by critics. As of July 26, 2007, The Sims 2 has sold more than 13 million units worldwide and was the best-selling PC game of 2004. A sequel, The Sims 3, was announced by EA in November 2006 and is scheduled for release in 2009.As of April 2008, The Sims 2 website celebrated 100 million copies of The Sims series sold.

Developer(s):EA Games (Maxis)
Publisher(s) :Electronic Arts (PC), Aspyr (Mac)
Designer(s) :Patrick J. Barrett III, Matthew L. Brown, Cooper Buckingham, Kacper Centowski, Jenna Chalmers, Shannon Copur, Michael Cox, Seth Olshfski, Amy Dallas, Kevin Gibson, Daniel Hiatt, Kevin Hogan, Hunter Howe, Creighton Hurt, Trevor Jalowitz, Lyndsay McGaw, Ashley Monif, Solveig Pederson, Todd Reamon, Kana Ryan, Lauren Wheeler, Jeannie Yang, Stuart McArther
Series :The Sims
Version:1.0.0.1022 / 1.0 Rev C
Platform(s):Windows, Mac OS X
Release date(s): Windows -NA September 14, 2004, EU September 16, 2004, Mac OS X-June 13, 2005
Genre(s) :Life simulation game
Mode(s) :Single player
Rating(s) :ESRB: T, OFLC: M, PEGI: 12+
Media:CD (4), DVD (1),Direct Download
System requirements: Mac OS X, OS: Mac OS X 10.3.8+, CPU: 1.2 GHz PowerPC G4/G5, RAM: 256 MB, Disc Drive: DVD drive

Gameplay

Player Sims

Sims work, marry, attend school, learn new skills, engage in relationships and so on.Sims may also experience more fantasy like events, such as seeing ghosts; being abducted by aliens, which will cause male pregnancy; or being visited by the Grim Reaper, who appears after a Sim passes away.

Life stages

Sims can progress through six life stages of development: baby, toddler, child, teen, adult, elder (the expansion pack The Sims 2: University adds an additional life stage, Young Adult, for Sims who choose to attend college). Sims die naturally after a certain number of days in the elder life stage, determined by how high their Aspiration Score was when they first became Elders. They can only die by unnatural causes after the toddler stage, although children are typically taken away by social workers before their needs decrease to a low level. The different life stages present different challenges, such as the reduced mobility of elders, children not being able to cook, the managing of the unpredictable toddlers, and the constant care of infants. Although after a Sim gives birth, the child is at the baby stage, you cannot choose that life stage when creating a family. You must have a sim birth one in gameplay.

Characters

There are three pre-made neighborhoods in The Sims 2, Pleasantview, Strangetown and Veronaville. Other ones come with various expansion packs. Many pre-made characters have their own storylines and history. The main neighborhood that has run through The Sims, The Sims 2, and soon The Sims 3 is Pleasantview. It contains the canon story lines for the games and are a prominent element in the gameplay. There are a long list of various characters, eg. Cassandra Goth, Daniel Pleasant and Jennifer Burb, just to name a few.

Needs

Sims are driven by their Needs. Sims have up to eight needs (or "motives") depending on their age, ranging from tangible needs such as "Bladder" (the need to urinate) and "Energy" (the need to sleep), to more ephemeral such as "Social" contact and a pleasant "Environment". These needs are displayed graphically with meters that change from green (full) to red (desperation), and a Sim with an empty meter will require or insist on an action which fulfills it (for instance, if the Hunger meter is low, a Sim will open the refrigerator and "stuff [his/her] face", or the user may direct them to cook an item). Some empty meters also cause actions. A Sim with an empty energy meter will pass out; a teen, adult, or elder Sim with an empty Hunger meter will die. These Needs are compiled into an overall "mood" meter, which is displayed by a diamond (called a plumbbob) that hovers above the active Sim's head. The needs of babies (which are social, hunger, bladder, hygiene & energy) are not shown as with other Sims, but their portrait on the left hand side of the screen indicates Sims as red (desperation), yellow (low) or green (full).

Social Worker

Should your Sim fail to care for a baby, leave its needs too low for too long, a Social Worker will come and collect all children on the family lot. Your children may be taken away if you leave them home alone. The Social Worker will also get involved if children do not attend school, or if they get too hot or cold (possible with the Seasons Expansion Pack). The expansion pack Free Time, allows a Sim to 'Plead with the Social Worker' so their children are not taken away. If your children are taken away then it is quite possible you will be banned from adopting permanently, With Cheats or Third-Party addons, Sims can Kill the social worker or turn her into a baby and so on. If the Child(ren), Toddler(s) or baby/babies are far from the social worker such as divided by a wall, she has the power to teleport them to the car.

Personality

Personality is a quantified way of measuring a Sim's behavioral characteristics. There are five personality traits, which players can control by allocating 'points'; for example, a Sim can be active, lazy or somewhere in between the two extremes. These traits determine how fast a Sim learns skills, the rate at which specific needs decay, the types of interactions a Sim will autonomously engage in, the likelihood of interactions and the likelihood of bringing home a friend from school or work. All Sims communicate in a language known as "Simlish". Simlish is a "language" made up of gibberish words, with meaning implied only through tone of voice and other paralinguistic cues.

Career

Children and teenagers may attend school from Monday to Friday. Homework completion and mood affect their grades (high grades generate cash or skills). Parents may enroll their children in private schools, after success in a minigame of inviting the headmaster for dinner. Truancy from school lowers grades. If a child's grades are too low, a social worker shows up to take the child. However, if teens' grades drop to low levels, they will not be taken away but may be sacked from their after-school job per request of their school counselor. An adult Sim can find a job from either a computer or a newspaper. Teenagers can also find after-school jobs in the same way. Sims who go to work in a good mood and have the required friends and skill points will get promotions. Each career contains ten jobs with increasing salary, each with its own uniform, hours and days of the week worked, and carpool. There is also the 'call in sick' option, where the sim can take a day off work, if your sim is faking, they may face serious consequences, Such as Losing their job or getting demoted.There are various career options including Athletics, Business, Politics, Military, Law Enforcement, Medicine and Science. The Sims 2: University, Sims 2: Seasons and Sims 2: Free Time expansion packs add additional career options to the pool. Successfully progressing through a career unlocks an object exclusive to that career, known as a career reward, most of them are useful for improvement of a skill that is critical to the career. When reaching old age, a Sim may retire, and receive a daily pay (pension). Pensions vary depending on the career and level of job carried out. Teenagers and elders may also seek employment, however only three jobs are offered in each career track for the teen/elder age groups and they receive about one-third to one-half less than an adult would be paid. Also, in Sims 2: Open For Business, the Sims have the option of starting a home business or creating one on a purchased community lot.

Aspiration

New to The Sims 2 is the "Aspiration" meter, roughly analogous to self-esteem or life satisfaction. As toddlers and children, Sims aspire only to "Grow Up", but upon becoming teens, the player must assign Sims one of five life aspirations: Family (befriending family members, marrying and raising a large family), Fortune (wealth and prestige), Knowledge (skill enhancement and life experience), Popularity (making friends and socializing) and Romance (frequent and varied romantic relationships and interactions). With the Nightlife expansion, a new aspiration was added: Pleasure (wanting to live an enjoyable life). A hidden aspiration called Grilled Cheese(wanting to eat as many grilled cheese sandwiches as possible) is available for use through the ReNuYu Senso Orb or as a secondary aspiration with FreeTime.Each has fears that correspond to his or her aspiration, stage of life and present circumstances. When a want is achieved, such as to "make a friend", aspiration points are allotted to the aspiration meter; conversely, when a fear is realized, such as the death of a spouse, aspiration points are decreased. There are six levels to the meter: the highest is platinum, then gold, two levels of green and two of red, with the meter depleting a small amount every few hours.Sims with a platinum meter are fulfilled, docile and more willing to perform tasks they dislike; Sims with red meters will experience nervous breakdowns and require treatment from an automatically-summoned psychiatrist who is invisible to nearby Sims. Aspiration levels determine how a Sim will live as an Elder before death. If the Sim grew up well with a high aspiration meter throughout each change in phase the gravestone or jar of ashes will be more significant.The Sim's lifetime total of Aspiration points are recorded by the game, and can be used to buy special items that have unique effects, such as providing free money or altering lifespan, but only if the aspiration meter is at "gold" or "platinum" level; if not, the chance of success decreases and negative side effects may occur.In the FreeTime expansion, a new lifetime aspiration meter was added. As Sims achieve very important lifetime event such as marriage or a birth of a child, they will gain a little lift in the meter and for every section you complete you get rewards, e.g choosing a secondary aspiration. Getting to the top of the meter will make the Sim achieve permanent platinum aspiration, which can also be achieved by completing a Sim's "Lifetime Aspiration" Which normally involves a long term want, such as reaching the top of a certain career, or having a certain amount of children.

Relationships

Romantic relationships can happen in a number of ways. Constantly flirting with another Sim, regardless of sex, will make them have a crush on one another and eventually fall in love. This allows more intimate interactions such as making out. Sims can simply remain in a de facto relationship or they can get married (called "Joined Union" for same sex Sim couples). The Sim who initiates the marriage or union will retain his or her surname, while the Sim who did not initiate will take the surname of the spouse. With the addition of The Sims 2: Nightlife, Sims can also date each other, as well as taking part in many romantic themed interactions. Sims also have chemistry with one another, which is affected by what they find attractive in another Sim, related to personality, aspiration, or appearance. There is also a jealousy factor when your Sim, if in a relationship of any kind with another Sim is flirted with. The Sim partner will be jealous and will cause this Sim to be angry with you and with the Sim who initiated the flirting. It is possible that Sims will start fights, insult and annoy individuals 'caught' flirting or more with another Sim; they can even "break up" if their relationship level plummets to a certain level.

Death

Sims can die in a variety of different ways. If a Sim reaches the end of the Elder life stage, he or she will die of old age. Depending on whether or not the elder Sim dies with either gold or platinum aspiration meter, the Grim Reaper will come with two hula girls and will take the elder Sim away while a gold-rimmed marble tombstone is left in the deceased Sim's place. Sims can also meet premature ends by various means such as electrocution, being struck by lightning, hit by hail, death by satellite, fire, starvation, disease, being eaten by the Fictional cow-plant, drowning, being swarmed by flies, and even being crushed by a murphy bed. Sims leave behind tombstones (if placed outside) or urns (if placed inside), which are typically possessed by their ghosts. As long as the memorial is left on the lot, ghosts will haunt the household. Ghosts may scare you easily, potentially to death. The color of the ghost initially depends on what death the Sim has suffered.Children, Babies and Toddlers are Immune from Death, as this may cause Controversy.When a Sim dies, the game pays out life insurance money to his or her spouse, children, and friends, based on the dead sim's relationship with the recipient. If there were no other sims living on the same lot, then all of the dead Sim's money disappears and the lot goes up for sale with all the furniture left as it was at the time of death. If the deceased sim owned a business, it will go to the sim living on the same lot with whom s/he had the highest relationship; if the deceased sim lived alone, the lot will go to the the sim with whom s/he had the highest relationship. A family member experiencing the death of a loved one will likely go into motive desperation and be seen by a therapist after falling onto the ground and acting crazy. If that character is selected, the therapist will be visible, but to others, it will appear as if the character is talking to him or herself.After death, a Sim is no longer an interface. Death is carried out in The Sims 2 by the NPC Grim Reaper. Sims can be saved from any premature death if a friend begs the Grim Reaper for mercy (depending on the relationship the Sim has with the potentially dead Sim). In "The Sims 2" this version of the Grim Reaper is much more ghost-like: having no legs and floating about. He has a long robe which is uncompleted, also this time there is nothing in the hood and his skeleton is visible. He comes when the Sim dies and the gravestone/urn of the sim appears. At this point other controllable sims on the lot can be directed to plead with the Grim Reaper for the dead sim's life. Pleading results in the Grim Reaper challenging the pleading sim to a game of chance. If the pleading sim has a high enough relationship with the dead sim, they will win and the dead sim will be brought back to life. Once there are no more dead Sims left in the lot, the Grim Reaper brings out a purple mobile, dials a number, argues with the receiver before dissapearing in a white beam. University has a job reward that can bring people back from the dead. Sims can bring them back as zombies or as normal Sims.With the FreeTime, the genie can resurrect a Sim as one of the wish options (there is a small chance the Sim will be a zombie).There are also two new features in Apartment Life in which you can bring a dead Sim back to life "as a Sim" if you are a good witch, while you can bring a dead Sim back to life as a zombie if you are an evil witch.

Game Over

If all the Sims in a lot are 'dead', this is The Sims 2 equivalent to a Game Over. Time pauses, the "Live Mode" option turns off, and a dialog box labeled "The Finale" pops up that says that "...unfortunately, the way things stand now, The Sims 2 is a LIFE simulator." It then gives you suggestions of what you could do with the lot.

Other characters

There are several types of Sims:
Townies (Visitor):
They are Non-Player Characters (NPCs). They may become playable if they join a household or if they are teens who go to the university. These Sims are those which are roughly equivalent to playable Sims; since the addition of Nightlife they can have jobs and other characteristics of a playable Sim, except they do not live on an actual lot. They visit the Community and Residential lots and can be interacted with just like any other Sim. With Pets, it includes dogs and cats. There are some unique characters or group of townies like Big Diva, Slob, Grand Vampire, Cheerleader & Mascot.
Worker townies:
They are NPCs. They may become playable if they join a household or if they are teens who go to the university. These Sims can be hired to perform services for a fee (such as cleaning, gardening, repairing etc), can do delivery (newspaper, mail, groceries, pizza and Chinese Food with University) or can be a city employee (police, firefighter, social worker, repo man, headmaster, adoption service).
Default characters:
They are the default NPCs. They can't become playable. In the base game, these characters are the Grim Reaper, the therapist, the social bunny and the Pollination Technician #7. Several expansion packs introduce new characters like Holiday Party Pack adds Santa Claus, Father Time and Baby New Year. There are other funny ones such as Mrs.Crumplebottom who is brought in to the game by Nightlife. She is best known for smacking sims with her handbag. The Bon Voyage Expansion also includes the Unsavory Charlatan, a nasty pickpocket that, if caught can be reported to police and fought with.
Creatures:
They are playable and are Sims who are transformed or standalone creatures. They are Sims based on a mythical creature and they have special abilities and behavior except in the base game where Ghost isn't playable and extraterrestrials are actually just regular sims with some strange genetic traits (green skin, black eyes). Several expansion packs introduce new classes of creature: Zombies, Vampires, Servos (robots), Werewolves, Plant Sims, Bigfoot and Witches.

Neighborhoods

The Sims' universe consists of a neighborhood with several lots. The game is played on one lot at a time. There are two main kinds of lots - residential and community lots. From the latter, Sims can purchase groceries, clothing and magazines as well as interact with Townies.Some of the expansion packs add sub-neighborhoods, where the Sims can travel under different circumstances. The Sims 2: University adds campus sub-neighborhoods, exclusively for student player Sims, where they can live in regular houses, dorms or Greek houses are also available. The Sims 2: Bon Voyage adds vacation sub-neigborhoods, where Sims can live in hotels or vacation homes. You may make a new customized neighborhood or play within the three that come with the game.Each neighborhood has space for several residential and/or community lots. New with The Sims 2: Apartment Life are apartments, condos and duplexes complete with potentially noisy neighbours and landlords.The original game ships with three neighborhoods, and the option to create additional ones. Neighborhoods, including the sub-neighborhoods for each, are separate from each other, and Sims cannot move between them, or contact Sims in other neigborhoods, in-game.

Minigames

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 minigames (like rushing a Greek house in University, or dating in Nightlife). In Nightlife, each date in and of itself is a challenge to keep both Sims as happy as possible, while accumulating aspiration points.

Premade neighborhoods

In The Sims 2, three neighborhoods created by Maxis (Pleasantview, Strangetown and Veronaville) were included. Riverblossom Hills comes with the Seasons expansion, Desiderata Valley comes with FreeTime, Belladonna Cove comes with "Apartment Life", and Bluewater Village is included with the Open for Business expansion but is a subneighborhood, much like the Downtown area included in "Nightlife". Some expansion packs add a new complementary or self-contained neighborhood. Each neighborhood contains lots. Sims live and build their homes on residential lots and visit community lots, which house recreational hangouts, such as pools and malls.Pleasantview is a neighborhood with many of the characters from The Sims. Strangetown has Alien Sims as well as normal human Sims. Veronaville has many references to the works of Shakespeare, particularly A Midsummer Night's Dream (with a family's surname being Summerdream) and Romeo and Juliet — with Verona being the town in which the play is set, and the title characters having their surnames. For example, there are two feuding families named the Capps (Capulets) and the Montys (Montagues). The neighborhood also includes characters from The Tempest, King Lear, and Much Ado About Nothing.Neighborhoods added with the Expansion Packs are modeled after the new additions. Riverblossom Hills features gardening and weather references with farm-like land and most of its premade houses look much like farm houses. Desiderata Valley features the new community lots - such as the "secret" community lots that come from hobbies. Belladonna Cove, the newest neighborhood added to the bunch, features apartment complexes as well as the secret "magical world". Bluewater Village, the sub-neighborhood, is featured in every neighborhood, much like Downtown. Bluewater Village features small businesses started by the sims who live in the neighborhood.Both University and Bon Voyage added three sub-neighborhoods that were inspired from the added main content of the expansion pack. University added the three college locations La Fiesta Tech, Sim State University, and Académie Le Tour - all of which are specifically modeled for Pleasantview, Strangetown and Veronaville. While Bon Voyage's locations were not modeled for one of the three main neighborhoods, each location offers unique landscapes and local residents. The three vacation areas are Twikki Island,Three Lakes, and Takemizu Village.

Plot

Although gameplay is open-ended, The Sims 2 has characters with histories, and the game is designed to incorporate expanded photo album features or a packaged blog, such as a neighborhood photo album. The three pre-loaded neighborhoods each have a storyline told through the existing photo albums and the Sims' personal biographies.The first pre-made neighborhood is called Pleasantview, which contains families in the original The Sims game. It features some Sims from the original game but much older. Many of the families' stories focuses on sims cheating on their lovers. The Goth family are mourning Bella Goth after she has disappeared, and her now grown daughter, Cassandra, has a mismatched love life. Don Lothario is described as a romancer. He is engaged to Cassandra Goth but has 3 other lovers. Brandi Broke, the child of Bob and Betty Newbie, is an adult, living in a trailer & raising her children after her husband Skip's death. The Pleasant family, now featuring a grown Daniel, are in conflict. Daniel is having an affair with the maid and twins Angela and Lilith do not get along. Darren Dreamer, an artist, is in love with Cassandra Goth. Dina Caliente and her sister Nina are in love with Mortimer Goth and Don Lothario, respectively. Dina is a golddigger who just wants Mortimer's money.The next pre-made neighborhood is called Strangetown, including the Curious family who are made up of three brothers, one of which is alien pregnant. The neighborhood is also home to an extraterrestrial Sim known as Pollination Technician #9 Smith who has four children, three of which are grown up and have inherited his green skin and two have also got his black eyes. Much of the neighborhood's sub-plot focuses on the feud General Buzz Grunt and his son have with the Smith family which it is suggested is based on the family's extraterrestrial heritage.The third pre-made neighborhood is named Veronaville. Many of the characters are named after Shakespeare's characters. The plot of the neighborhoods mainly focuses on two teenagers, named Romeo and Juliet, who have fallen in love despite their families feuding with one another.

History

Development

EA Games announced on May 5, 2003 that the Maxis studio had begun development on The Sims 2.The game was first shown at E3 in Los Angeles, California on May 13, 2004. 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.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. A teaser trailer was provided on the Makin' Magic CD but was later uploaded to websites all over the Internet.

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 illegal per the game's EULA, which prohibits the commercial use of tools such as Bodyshop. The .package file (which is installed in the downloads folder so that the player can use custom content in-game) is legally EA's property, 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.[17] 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:

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 a cheat code which removed pixelation accessible from the console menu. Shortly after the statement, subsequent patches and expansion packs removed the "intProp censorGridSize" code.

Reception

The Sims 2 had a successful E3.The game also received the Editor's Choice Award from IGN and GameSpy upon final review of the finished product. 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. 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. The game was also nominated for two international awards in 2005.

Awards

Year Award Category Result
2007 Blimp Award (UK Kids' Choice Awards) Best Video Game Won
2006 Apple Design Award (Apple Design Awards) Best Mac OS X Game Won

Comparison to The Sims

Graphics

Graphically, The Sims 2 is more detailed than The Sims and allows players to view its world in full 3D. Unlike 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 nose to be very large or very small in The Sims 2's Create-a-Sim. Texturing is achieved through use of raster images, though it appears more lifelike.

Gameplay

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.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.

Game customization

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

Editions 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.

Editions

a. The Sims 2
Release date Windows:NA September 14, 2004, EU September 16, 2004
Mac OS X:June 13, 2005
Includes The first release of the core game on four CDs.
b. The Sims 2: Special DVD Edition
Release date Windows:NA September 17, 2004
Includes The core game on one DVD, plus a bonus DVD with exclusive content.
c. The Sims 2: Holiday Edition (2005)
Release date Windows:NA November 17, 2005
Includes The core game and The Sims 2: Holiday Party Pack.(No Longer Available)
d. The Sims 2: Holiday Edition (2006)
Release date Windows:NA November, 2006
Includes The core game and The Sims 2: Happy Holiday Stuff.(No Longer Available)
e. The Sims 2: Deluxe
Release date Windows:NA May 8, 2007
Includes The core game, The Sims 2: Nightlife, and a new bonus DVD that is different from the one included in the Special DVD Edition.
f. The Sims 2: Double Deluxe
Release date Windows:NA April 15, 2008
Includes The core game, The Sims 2: Celebration! Stuff, The Sims 2: Nightlife, and the new bonus DVD.
g. The Sims 2: Complete Collection
Release date Windows:NA TBA, 2009
Includes The core game, all the Sims 2 expansion packs, all the Sims 2 Stuff packs and the new bonus DVD

Expansion packs

The Sims 2 expansion packs provide additional game features and items. Eight expansion packs have been released as of 2008. There are no current plans for more expansion packs.
1. University
2. Nightlife
3. Open for Business
4. Pets
5. Seasons
6. Bon Voyage
7. FreeTime
8. Apartment Life

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 eight stuff packs so far with a ninth one to be released in November 2008. 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.

a. Holiday Party Pack
Release date Windows:NA November 17, 2005
Includes Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year themed stuff, plus new NPCs: Santa Claus, Father Time and Baby New Year.
b. Family Fun Stuff
Release date Windows:NA April 13, 2006
Mac OS X:April 30, 2007
Includes Family orientated Fairy tale and nautical themed items mainly for children's bedrooms.
c. Glamour Life Stuff
Release date Windows:NA August 31, 2006
Mac OS X:June 1, 2007
Includes Luxury, couture and glamour themed objects, floors and walls.
d. Happy Holiday Stuff
Release date Windows:NA November 7, 2006
Mac OS X:September 4, 2007
Includes All items from Holiday Party Pack plus added Asian and European holiday themed stuff.
e. Celebration! Stuff
Release date Windows:NA April 3, 2007
Includes Celebration and fiesta themed stuff for birthdays and weddings.
f. H&M Fashion Stuff
Release date Windows:NA June 5, 2007
Includes Fashion collections from H&M and H&M branded build objects.
g. Teen Style Stuff
Release date Windows:NA November 5, 2007
Includes Goth, Thrasher and Socialite themed stuff for teenagers' bedrooms, teenage haircuts and new teenage clothes
h. Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff
Release date Windows:NA April 15, 2008
Includes Kitchen and bathroom objects, floors and walls. Also, kitchen and bathroom clothing: cooking apron etc.
i. IKEA Home Stuff
Release date Windows:NA June 24, 2008
Includes Fashionable furniture, floors and walls from the styles of IKEA.
j. Mansion & Garden Stuff
Release date Windows:NA November 14, 2008
Includes Ornate architectural and landscaping items plus 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 2 for PC can download content for their game online. It launched in July 2008 as a beta version limited to the USA and Canada. The store would be regularly updated with new content for players.

Content

The Sims 2 Store works on a points system where users purchase a number of points using a credit card to buy objects, clothing, skins and hairstyles for their Sims. The Sims 2 Store Edition is a free tool used to install the items purchased from the store into player's games. The EA Download Manager (EADM) and The Sims 2 Store Edition are required in order to get the stuff in the game.June 27, 2008 : The first exclusive items are Cubic and Art Deco objects.September 2, 2008 : Exclusive Spooky items are released. It includes mummy, pumpkinhead, Frankenstein and Bride items.
Film & TV series

The Sims (working title) is a film currently in preproduction. The film will be live action.On May 25, 2007, it was announced that The Sims film rights had been purchased by 20th Century Fox. Not much is known yet about the upcoming film. 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.EA has officially announced it and a MySims animated television series in development at Film Roman


by : iMAm