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"There's no doubt about it: the game is addictive."

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Sims go to college in new expansion

By Hillary Lipko
Entertainment Editor

The Sims 2 is, to date, the No. 1 selling PC game of all time and for good reason. Think about it: you can probably think of at least one person who has played either the new version of this wildly popular simulation game or one of its predecessors. There’s no doubt about it: the game is addictive.

Sure, it gets annoying to have to micromanage when your Sim eats, sleeps and bathes (can’t they think for themselves at all?) but the most amazing part about the game is how it allows a player to create a world all their own.

Where else can you control the destiny of someone, let alone their entire family? The Sims caters just a little bit to the god-complex in all of us.

So it’s all been done before, right? I mean, I grew out of my Sims addiction in ninth grade, didn’t you? What makes Sims 2 so special? It’s better, that’s what.

Everything that you wished you could customize in the first Sims, you can probably customize in Sims 2. And even better for our god-complexes, you can watch your Sim grow up—in Sims 2, your Sim ages.

It’s this new aging feature that allowed for the introduction of the young adult age group in Maxis’ first expansion for the second-generation Sims game. Dubbed Sims 2 University, the expansion allows for these young adult Sims to move out of their family homes and go to college.

Tim LeTourneau, the producer of Sims 2 University, explained that the university concept was really something that they’d wanted to do for the first Sims, but since the characters in the original Sims don’t age, it didn’t really make any sense. It did make sense, however, to make University the first expansion for Sims 2.

You as the player have the option of sending your Sim either to one of two pre-existing universities programmed into the game, or to a university that you create. Yes, you can even send your Sim to a Sims version of Tech.

While in college, your Sim has the same opportunities as any student—he can make new friends, make new enemies, declare a major (there are 11 to choose from) and join a club or Greek organization.

Your Sim also has the opportunity to make money while at school by getting a part-time job, playing in a band or doing one of several other things to earn money.

Much like in the base version of Sims 2, once your Sim has enough money, he can upgrade his living conditions. In Sims 2 University, your Sim has the option of living in a dorm, a Greek house or a private house that is usually shared with roommates.

The concept of roommates also introduces a new aspect to gameplay—you live with Sims whose actions you cannot control. However, your Sim has the ability to gain influence over his peers through his actions. This addition is also back-compatible with the base game and allows your Sim to gain influence at home as well.

Many of the new features and objects in the expansion may not be so new to some players of the game. Some of the new aspects of University were derived from cheats and gameplay objects that were created by fans of the game.

One popular cheat, the resurrection cheat, was integrated such that if you want to bring a dead Sim back to life, you could just call up the Grim Reaper on a special telephone and offer him an amount of money to bring your Sim pal back to life. Be careful, though; if you don’t pay the Reaper enough, the deceased will return as a zombie.

The expansion is also packed with over 100 new objects, including stereos that play music from the college radio station—in Similish!

You might even recognize some of the songs as ones you’ve heard before, as all of the songs in the game are Similish versions of songs by up-and-coming artists.

Another new object is one so random, one can’t help but wonder which sleep-deprived game developer came up with it—a Sim-eating cow plant. The carnivorous plant is given to a Sim who majors in one of a few fields.

Normally, the plant just eats meat that the owner Sims feed to it, but if you get too close to it during feeding time and you don’t have a tasty treat, watch out, because you may very well become its dinner.

This plant has yet another sick twist, but I’ll leave that as a surprise to those who play the game.

There are also a number of new non-playable characters (NPCs) that have been added in this expansion.

One is a particularly annoying cheerleader who likes to show up at sporting events and parties to get all in attendance to participate in the school cheer.

It sticks in your head though, so if you’re not careful, you might find yourself doing the cheer too if you play too much!

Another NPC is the rival school’s mascot—an evil cow. (Does anyone else get the impression that someone at Maxis has a cow fixation?)

The cow also likes to show up at parties and sporting events, and sometimes even at random, to taunt the Sims at the university. Occasionally though, the evil cow isn’t so evil. Once it even picked up a guitar and started playing music with a couple of sorority girls.

Sometimes, due to the AI in the game, events that were not intended by the developers occur during gameplay.

“A lot of humor in the game comes from unscripted gameplay…things that we never expected to happen,” LeTourneau said during a demo of the game for members of college press.

The aspects of gameplay are so incredibly vast that one can’t even begin to grasp or describe how detailed and precise the world created within Sims 2 and University is without playing it.

Of course, the versatility of the game doesn’t even allow for an exactdefinition of what “playing it” is.

“The game caters to all sorts of gameplay styles—gamer, moviemaker, storyteller…sometimes we’re amazed with some of the things, some of the uses that players come up with for the game…things we never intended,” LeTourneau said.

LeTourneau then went on to explain how some fans had created elaborate short films using the game. He mused over some of the objects and cheats that had been created by users to suit the needs of these filmmakers and the wants of those who simply want to customize the game to tell a specific story.

Expansion packs, of course, are meant as something for players to further expand their creativity and gameplay in a much larger way than any fan-produced object or cheat ever could.

So regardless of how you play the game, it’s one to pick up and try. I mean, real college life is enough for most of us, but it doesn’t hurt to know that you’ve created your own little world where your Sim either shares your pain or lives out the fantasy college life that you’ve always dreamed of. Just don’t forget that you still have work to do.

The Sims 2 is, to date, the No. 1 selling PC game of all time and for good reason. Think about it: you can probably think of at least one person who has played either the new version of this wildly popular simulation game or one of its predecessors. There’s no doubt about it: the game is addictive.

Sure, it gets annoying to have to micromanage when your Sim eats, sleeps and bathes (can’t they think for themselves at all?) but the most amazing part about the game is how it allows a player to create a world all their own.

Where else can you control the destiny of someone, let alone their entire family? The Sims caters just a little bit to the god-complex in all of us.

So it’s all been done before, right? I mean, I grew out of my Sims addiction in ninth grade, didn’t you? What makes Sims 2 so special? It’s better, that’s what.

Everything that you wished you could customize in the first Sims, you can probably customize in Sims 2. And even better for our god-complexes, you can watch your Sim grow up—in Sims 2, your Sim ages.

It’s this new aging feature that allowed for the introduction of the young adult age group in Maxis’ first expansion for the second-generation Sims game. Dubbed Sims 2 University, the expansion allows for these young adult Sims to move out of their family homes and go to college.

Tim LeTourneau, the producer of Sims 2 University, explained that the university concept was really something that they’d wanted to do for the first Sims, but since the characters in the original Sims don’t age, it didn’t really make any sense. It did make sense, however, to make University the first expansion for Sims 2.

You as the player have the option of sending your Sim either to one of two pre-existing universities programmed into the game, or to a university that you create. Yes, you can even send your Sim to a Sims version of Tech.

While in college, your Sim has the same opportunities as any student—he can make new friends, make new enemies, declare a major (there are 11 to choose from) and join a club or Greek organization.

Your Sim also has the opportunity to make money while at school by getting a part-time job, playing in a band or doing one of several other things to earn money.

Much like in the base version of Sims 2, once your Sim has enough money, he can upgrade his living conditions. In Sims 2 University, your Sim has the option of living in a dorm, a Greek house or a private house that is usually shared with roommates.

The concept of roommates also introduces a new aspect to gameplay—you live with Sims whose actions you cannot control. However, your Sim has the ability to gain influence over his peers through his actions. This addition is also back-compatible with the base game and allows your Sim to gain influence at home as well.

Many of the new features and objects in the expansion may not be so new to some players of the game. Some of the new aspects of University were derived from cheats and gameplay objects that were created by fans of the game.

One popular cheat, the resurrection cheat, was integrated such that if you want to bring a dead Sim back to life, you could just call up the Grim Reaper on a special telephone and offer him an amount of money to bring your Sim pal back to life. Be careful, though; if you don’t pay the Reaper enough, the deceased will return as a zombie.

The expansion is also packed with over 100 new objects, including stereos that play music from the college radio station—in Similish!

You might even recognize some of the songs as ones you’ve heard before, as all of the songs in the game are Similish versions of songs by up-and-coming artists.

Another new object is one so random, one can’t help but wonder which sleep-deprived game developer came up with it—a Sim-eating cow plant. The carnivorous plant is given to a Sim who majors in one of a few fields.

Normally, the plant just eats meat that the owner Sims feed to it, but if you get too close to it during feeding time and you don’t have a tasty treat, watch out, because you may very well become its dinner.

This plant has yet another sick twist, but I’ll leave that as a surprise to those who play the game.

There are also a number of new non-playable characters (NPCs) that have been added in this expansion.

One is a particularly annoying cheerleader who likes to show up at sporting events and parties to get all in attendance to participate in the school cheer.

It sticks in your head though, so if you’re not careful, you might find yourself doing the cheer too if you play too much!

Another NPC is the rival school’s mascot—an evil cow. (Does anyone else get the impression that someone at Maxis has a cow fixation?)

The cow also likes to show up at parties and sporting events, and sometimes even at random, to taunt the Sims at the university. Occasionally though, the evil cow isn’t so evil. Once it even picked up a guitar and started playing music with a couple of sorority girls.

Sometimes, due to the AI in the game, events that were not intended by the developers occur during gameplay.

“A lot of humor in the game comes from unscripted gameplay…things that we never expected to happen,” LeTourneau said during a demo of the game for members of college press.

The aspects of gameplay are so incredibly vast that one can’t even begin to grasp or describe how detailed and precise the world created within Sims 2 and University is without playing it.

Of course, the versatility of the game doesn’t even allow for an exactdefinition of what “playing it” is.

“The game caters to all sorts of gameplay styles—gamer, moviemaker, storyteller…sometimes we’re amazed with some of the things, some of the uses that players come up with for the game…things we never intended,” LeTourneau said.

LeTourneau then went on to explain how some fans had created elaborate short films using the game. He mused over some of the objects and cheats that had been created by users to suit the needs of these filmmakers and the wants of those who simply want to customize the game to tell a specific story.

Expansion packs, of course, are meant as something for players to further expand their creativity and gameplay in a much larger way than any fan-produced object or cheat ever could.

So regardless of how you play the game, it’s one to pick up and try. I mean, real college life is enough for most of us, but it doesn’t hurt to know that you’ve created your own little world where your Sim either shares your pain or lives out the fantasy college life that you’ve always dreamed of. Just don’t forget that you still have work to do.
By Hillary Lipko Entertainment Editor

The Sims 2 is, to date, the No. 1 selling PC game of all time and for good reason. Think about it: you can probably think of at least one person who has played either the new version of this wildly popular simulation game or one of its predecessors. There’s no doubt about it: the game is addictive.

Sure, it gets annoying to have to micromanage when your Sim eats, sleeps and bathes (can’t they think for themselves at all?) but the most amazing part about the game is how it allows a player to create a world all their own.

Where else can you control the destiny of someone, let alone their entire family? The Sims caters just a little bit to the god-complex in all of us.

So it’s all been done before, right? I mean, I grew out of my Sims addiction in ninth grade, didn’t you? What makes Sims 2 so special? It’s better, that’s what.

Everything that you wished you could customize in the first Sims, you can probably customize in Sims 2. And even better for our god-complexes, you can watch your Sim grow up—in Sims 2, your Sim ages.

It’s this new aging feature that allowed for the introduction of the young adult age group in Maxis’ first expansion for the second-generation Sims game. Dubbed Sims 2 University, the expansion allows for these young adult Sims to move out of their family homes and go to college.

Tim LeTourneau, the producer of Sims 2 University, explained that the university concept was really something that they’d wanted to do for the first Sims, but since the characters in the original Sims don’t age, it didn’t really make any sense. It did make sense, however, to make University the first expansion for Sims 2.

You as the player have the option of sending your Sim either to one of two pre-existing universities programmed into the game, or to a university that you create. Yes, you can even send your Sim to a Sims version of Tech.

While in college, your Sim has the same opportunities as any student—he can make new friends, make new enemies, declare a major (there are 11 to choose from) and join a club or Greek organization.

Your Sim also has the opportunity to make money while at school by getting a part-time job, playing in a band or doing one of several other things to earn money.

Much like in the base version of Sims 2, once your Sim has enough money, he can upgrade his living conditions. In Sims 2 University, your Sim has the option of living in a dorm, a Greek house or a private house that is usually shared with roommates.

The concept of roommates also introduces a new aspect to gameplay—you live with Sims whose actions you cannot control. However, your Sim has the ability to gain influence over his peers through his actions. This addition is also back-compatible with the base game and allows your Sim to gain influence at home as well.

Many of the new features and objects in the expansion may not be so new to some players of the game. Some of the new aspects of University were derived from cheats and gameplay objects that were created by fans of the game.

One popular cheat, the resurrection cheat, was integrated such that if you want to bring a dead Sim back to life, you could just call up the Grim Reaper on a special telephone and offer him an amount of money to bring your Sim pal back to life. Be careful, though; if you don’t pay the Reaper enough, the deceased will return as a zombie.

The expansion is also packed with over 100 new objects, including stereos that play music from the college radio station—in Similish!

You might even recognize some of the songs as ones you’ve heard before, as all of the songs in the game are Similish versions of songs by up-and-coming artists.

Another new object is one so random, one can’t help but wonder which sleep-deprived game developer came up with it—a Sim-eating cow plant. The carnivorous plant is given to a Sim who majors in one of a few fields.

Normally, the plant just eats meat that the owner Sims feed to it, but if you get too close to it during feeding time and you don’t have a tasty treat, watch out, because you may very well become its dinner.

This plant has yet another sick twist, but I’ll leave that as a surprise to those who play the game.

There are also a number of new non-playable characters (NPCs) that have been added in this expansion.

One is a particularly annoying cheerleader who likes to show up at sporting events and parties to get all in attendance to participate in the school cheer.

It sticks in your head though, so if you’re not careful, you might find yourself doing the cheer too if you play too much!

Another NPC is the rival school’s mascot—an evil cow. (Does anyone else get the impression that someone at Maxis has a cow fixation?)

The cow also likes to show up at parties and sporting events, and sometimes even at random, to taunt the Sims at the university. Occasionally though, the evil cow isn’t so evil. Once it even picked up a guitar and started playing music with a couple of sorority girls.

Sometimes, due to the AI in the game, events that were not intended by the developers occur during gameplay.

“A lot of humor in the game comes from unscripted gameplay…things that we never expected to happen,” LeTourneau said during a demo of the game for members of college press.

The aspects of gameplay are so incredibly vast that one can’t even begin to grasp or describe how detailed and precise the world created within Sims 2 and University is without playing it.

Of course, the versatility of the game doesn’t even allow for an exactdefinition of what “playing it” is.

“The game caters to all sorts of gameplay styles—gamer, moviemaker, storyteller…sometimes we’re amazed with some of the things, some of the uses that players come up with for the game…things we never intended,” LeTourneau said.

LeTourneau then went on to explain how some fans had created elaborate short films using the game. He mused over some of the objects and cheats that had been created by users to suit the needs of these filmmakers and the wants of those who simply want to customize the game to tell a specific story.

Expansion packs, of course, are meant as something for players to further expand their creativity and gameplay in a much larger way than any fan-produced object or cheat ever could.

So regardless of how you play the game, it’s one to pick up and try. I mean, real college life is enough for most of us, but it doesn’t hurt to know that you’ve created your own little world where your Sim either shares your pain or lives out the fantasy college life that you’ve always dreamed of. Just don’t forget that you still have work to do.
By Hillary Lipko Entertainment Editor

The Sims 2 is, to date, the No. 1 selling PC game of all time and for good reason. Think about it: you can probably think of at least one person who has played either the new version of this wildly popular simulation game or one of its predecessors. There’s no doubt about it: the game is addictive.

Sure, it gets annoying to have to micromanage when your Sim eats, sleeps and bathes (can’t they think for themselves at all?) but the most amazing part about the game is how it allows a player to create a world all their own.

Where else can you control the destiny of someone, let alone their entire family? The Sims caters just a little bit to the god-complex in all of us.

So it’s all been done before, right? I mean, I grew out of my Sims addiction in ninth grade, didn’t you? What makes Sims 2 so special? It’s better, that’s what.

Everything that you wished you could customize in the first Sims, you can probably customize in Sims 2. And even better for our god-complexes, you can watch your Sim grow up—in Sims 2, your Sim ages.

It’s this new aging feature that allowed for the introduction of the young adult age group in Maxis’ first expansion for the second-generation Sims game. Dubbed Sims 2 University, the expansion allows for these young adult Sims to move out of their family homes and go to college.

Tim LeTourneau, the producer of Sims 2 University, explained that the university concept was really something that they’d wanted to do for the first Sims, but since the characters in the original Sims don’t age, it didn’t really make any sense. It did make sense, however, to make University the first expansion for Sims 2.

You as the player have the option of sending your Sim either to one of two pre-existing universities programmed into the game, or to a university that you create. Yes, you can even send your Sim to a Sims version of Tech.

While in college, your Sim has the same opportunities as any student—he can make new friends, make new enemies, declare a major (there are 11 to choose from) and join a club or Greek organization.

Your Sim also has the opportunity to make money while at school by getting a part-time job, playing in a band or doing one of several other things to earn money.

Much like in the base version of Sims 2, once your Sim has enough money, he can upgrade his living conditions. In Sims 2 University, your Sim has the option of living in a dorm, a Greek house or a private house that is usually shared with roommates.

The concept of roommates also introduces a new aspect to gameplay—you live with Sims whose actions you cannot control. However, your Sim has the ability to gain influence over his peers through his actions. This addition is also back-compatible with the base game and allows your Sim to gain influence at home as well.

Many of the new features and objects in the expansion may not be so new to some players of the game. Some of the new aspects of University were derived from cheats and gameplay objects that were created by fans of the game.

One popular cheat, the resurrection cheat, was integrated such that if you want to bring a dead Sim back to life, you could just call up the Grim Reaper on a special telephone and offer him an amount of money to bring your Sim pal back to life. Be careful, though; if you don’t pay the Reaper enough, the deceased will return as a zombie.

The expansion is also packed with over 100 new objects, including stereos that play music from the college radio station—in Similish!

You might even recognize some of the songs as ones you’ve heard before, as all of the songs in the game are Similish versions of songs by up-and-coming artists.

Another new object is one so random, one can’t help but wonder which sleep-deprived game developer came up with it—a Sim-eating cow plant. The carnivorous plant is given to a Sim who majors in one of a few fields.

Normally, the plant just eats meat that the owner Sims feed to it, but if you get too close to it during feeding time and you don’t have a tasty treat, watch out, because you may very well become its dinner.

This plant has yet another sick twist, but I’ll leave that as a surprise to those who play the game.

There are also a number of new non-playable characters (NPCs) that have been added in this expansion.

One is a particularly annoying cheerleader who likes to show up at sporting events and parties to get all in attendance to participate in the school cheer.

It sticks in your head though, so if you’re not careful, you might find yourself doing the cheer too if you play too much!

Another NPC is the rival school’s mascot—an evil cow. (Does anyone else get the impression that someone at Maxis has a cow fixation?)

The cow also likes to show up at parties and sporting events, and sometimes even at random, to taunt the Sims at the university. Occasionally though, the evil cow isn’t so evil. Once it even picked up a guitar and started playing music with a couple of sorority girls.

Sometimes, due to the AI in the game, events that were not intended by the developers occur during gameplay.

“A lot of humor in the game comes from unscripted gameplay…things that we never expected to happen,” LeTourneau said during a demo of the game for members of college press.

The aspects of gameplay are so incredibly vast that one can’t even begin to grasp or describe how detailed and precise the world created within Sims 2 and University is without playing it.

Of course, the versatility of the game doesn’t even allow for an exactdefinition of what “playing it” is.

“The game caters to all sorts of gameplay styles—gamer, moviemaker, storyteller…sometimes we’re amazed with some of the things, some of the uses that players come up with for the game…things we never intended,” LeTourneau said.

LeTourneau then went on to explain how some fans had created elaborate short films using the game. He mused over some of the objects and cheats that had been created by users to suit the needs of these filmmakers and the wants of those who simply want to customize the game to tell a specific story.

Expansion packs, of course, are meant as something for players to further expand their creativity and gameplay in a much larger way than any fan-produced object or cheat ever could.

So regardless of how you play the game, it’s one to pick up and try. I mean, real college life is enough for most of us, but it doesn’t hurt to know that you’ve created your own little world where your Sim either shares your pain or lives out the fantasy college life that you’ve always dreamed of. Just don’t forget that you still have work to do.