The Sims 2 seems really good, from what I’ve heard. I’ll be getting it as soon as it’s out!
Neat, huh? They do archive the chat transcripts, so anyone who wants to read them can find them here http://thesims2.ea.com/chat.php Several things have changed since they announced the delay in late Feb so take the info in the earlier chats with a grain of salt.
Umm… what? The Sims 2 has absolutely nothing to do with the Unreal engine.
You sure? I could have sworn I read that graphically that’s what it’s based on.
Well crud. I’ve just scoured the Unreal technology website and nowhere do they mention the Sims 2. I know I saw it mentioned in a preview somewhere, but I guess it and I was wrong. Sorry! I guess the porno mod will have to wait!
My new video card is on the way and I preordered the guide and the special DVD version.
I can’t wait!
I always drown those 3d rendered brats in the swimming pool.
They said the most horrible thing in last week’s chat- babies, toddlers and kids can’t die! That’s just wrong. And they don’t go to military school this time either, so if you don’t want them you either have to neglect them as babies or toddlers until they’re taken away, or wait until they’re teens to kill them off. It means you have to be a lot more selective about downloading families this time around. Thank goodness that you sims don’t have unexpected kids now!(in bed your sims now either “play” or “try for a baby”)
I’d be surprised if “playing” didn’t sometimes lead to the unexpected baby.
Is it possible to have gay Sims in this version? I’m not certain, but I don’ tthink it was in the original?
I don’t need to. Social services comes and picks mine up. My Sims are horrible parents.
Yes, it was. (Well, it kind of was. Or at least I know that while I didn’t have any exclusively gay Sims, I didn’t have any exclusively straight Sims either. They weren’t the least bit gender selective and would pretty much do anything with Sims of either gender.)
My sims were gay…they couldn’t ‘marry’ irrc, but they could ‘move in’ and do all sorts of stuff. Made for fun love triangles!
I’ve got this preordered as well! Can’t wait! 
It’s definitely always been there. In the original, I had a hard time getting my Sims not to be gay. (Hmmm, you’d think I would’ve gotten the hint sooner…)
Your characters are inherently and extremely bisexual. This was intentional so that every player of the game could model his or her own family. All that’s required is that you build up the relationship between any two Sims enough to unlock the “romantic” interactions, which flip the “love bit.” If you build up the romantic relationship enough, the game will eventually give the Sims the option to marry.
If you have two Sims of the same sex with a high enough romantic relationship, they’ll get phone calls asking if they’d like to adopt a baby. Heterosexual Sim couples get the same option, but they can also “play” in a bed to make a baby of their own.
In related news, President Bush has announced plans for a Constitutional Amendment banning the Sims 2.
When I worked there, we’d occasionally get calls from pissed off fundies about the gay Sims. Officially, we’d give them back their money (same as any other dissatisfied customer) if they sent us the CDs. Unofficially, we called them a bunch of assholes once we were off the phone.
EA Service Rep: “I’m not sure what you’re talking about, ma’am. We never included that in the game. Unless…say, you don’t have any gay porn on your computer, do you?”
My coworker told me she didn’t like the game because it had nudity in it. Her 14-year-old son plays it. I insisted it didn’t have nudity unless you installed the nudity patch onto it, but she didn’t want to believe her little precious would do such a thing. I’ve played the game for 5 years now, but she was convinced I didn’t know what I was talking about.
Hell, I used to have customers argue with me about weird mods all the time:
me: Hello, thanks for calling Maxis tech support, this is sturmhauke. What can I do for you?
Pissed Off Customer: I bought this game for my kid, and I don’t appreciate the [nudity, scary aliens/demons, drug paraphernalia*, pornographic wallpaper, etc.] I want my money back.
me: Well, none of those things* were actually included in the game -
POC**: (interrupting) What do you mean they weren’t included? I’m looking at them right now!
me: There are people who make unofficial add-ons and put them on the Internet. You have one of those.
POC: I didn’t add anything!/My child wouldn’t do that!/Isn’t that illegal?/I think you’re lying!/[miscellaneous rant]
me: I’m sorry, but someone must have added it, it certainly didn’t come with the game./[same]/Usually not, but it depends./I assure you I’m not lying./[miscellaneous attempt at placation]
[conclude with offer to assist with clean reinstall or refund process, often interrupted with more ranting]
- There is in fact a 4-Sim bubble blowing bong available in the Unleashed expansion. It only blows bubbles, mind you. And when the Sims giggle uncontrollably afterwards, it’s only because of childlike joy. Really. More blatant stuff can be found on mod sites.
** C does not stand for Crap, certainly not.
As for the sexual preference issue, Sims are officially bisexual, though it’s never explicitly stated anywhere. Whether you can successfully get two Sims to get busy depends solely on their personalities and your patience, and not at all on their gender.
Oh dear.
I sense more sleep is going to vanish… as if just getting broadband wasn’t enough already…
One thing I forgot to point out before: everything I described is true of the original Sims, I don’t know how it works in Sims 2.
I do know that relationships are new to the Sims 2; when you create a family, you can draw lines indicating that two Sims (male or female) are spouses, siblings, or child/parent. So if you want a couple, straight or gay, you can set it up from the get-go.
And it’s really interesting to me that one of the few times EA has published something without removing it for fear of losing market share or offending their audience, they ended up with the #1 selling PC game of all time. Not suggesting that it sold so well because of The Gay, of course, just that you don’t have to pander to sell millions of units.
Another interesting bit is that I heard that the reason the original game got a Teen rating from the ESRB wasn’t because of the bisexuality, but merely because it’s possible to have a man slap a woman.
