My Life has never been the same
Like 2.7 million people in the last couple weeks, I the household I live in has embraced the Sims 2. Were it not bad enough that The Sims was a terribly addictive game in its own right, the Sims 2 is jsut a million times bigger.
Since there are four people in the house, and at the moment only 2 computers that can handle it, the playing time has been stagnant. People play when they get home, when others go off to work, or fight over how much time has been used.
The first day, my roomate Clarence found the cheat codes. For him and Daina, another roomate, the game is about building huge houses and decorating them. The game itself is not such a draw until they have their dream palaces. It was funny to come home from a night of drinking and Magic:The Gathering at 3 am to find Daina still up and building. It has taken her three solid real days to get her house right. She got a little frustrated at the fact that parts of the house were only containing catwalks, so she spent another hour fixing that.
Clarence is worse. First, his teenage sim likes boys. He has no time for girls, and this botheres Clarence, to the point where he made a family of girls to turn the sim straight. Like Daina, he has constantly been modifiying his house, that was, until he found the mini mall option.
Now, for me, I just for a time that I am allowed to play Everquest. Between then, I play the Sims on my laptop.
For me, the changes that were made in the Sims 2 were great. The expansion of the Sims world gives it a replay value that is second to none. THe expansion of household items, decorations, and the building of little communities is exactly wha tht eSims needed. THe whole global face of Sims gaming will be changed forever. As from the example of my two roomates, maybe a little too addictive.
The lag and slight technical problems that come with the Sims 2 are another issue all together. THe videocard that we have in the game computer is a 9600 XT, not a bad card. There is more than enough ram, but it is the only game that causes the computer to freeze. It is funny, because it seems to freeze at the perfect time to screw someone over.
Still using DirectX9 C, which in itself is a unpolished version of the popular series, still needs to be worked out. In older video cards, the C version seems to not handle well, even with newest ATI catalyst drivers.
All in all, the Sims 2 is the most bought game for now, and deserves its laurels. For all of you that haven't played it, get on it! I will write another article on my actualy playing experiences soon....if i can get onto the gmaing computer.