Sims Goes Urban

[Damian]

EA reveals plans for new Sims console titles

Rob Fahey 16:06 21/04/2004
The Urbz brings Sims to the big city, gives them an EyeToy to play with


The incredibly successful Sims franchise is set to take a new direction on console platforms, with EA today revealing details of Maxis' next console title, The Urbz, which is expected to launch towards the end of this year.

The new game - which will appear on PS2, Cube and Xbox, with a GBA title of the same name also planned - will place the Sims in a large urban environment, with the player challenged to build the reputation of their Sims in the city.

As the name suggests, the game features a strong "urban culture" theme, and as well as a new graphics engine for displaying city environments, a brand new image customisation system will allow players to create unique characters and attire them with, er, "bling" such as nose rings and tattoos.

The game will also support the EyeToy peripheral on the PS2, allowing players to download their own image into the game. This will be the second EA title to utilise the EyeToy - June's Harry Potter: Prisoner of Azkaban being the first - and Maxis is expected to show a demonstration of the functionality at E3 this year.

The Urbz is currently scheduled for a Q4 2004 launch on all console platforms. The PC, of course, will be seeing The Sims 2 at around the same time - with its ship date currently scheduled for September. No console version of The Sims 2 has yet been announced, and the implication from EA is that The Urbz will fill that role, although obviously a port of the PC title to a console platform at some point in the future has not been ruled out.

Not sure if this is good news or just another weird move by a game manufacturer to blatenly appeal to a group. (not that that is bad)
I'm a big fan of the Sims franchise but I think I'll avoid this one.

[Sycowulf]

Well... that sounds... lame...

[MagicHat]

I don't quite understand what they mean build your reputation...is this another online sims??? where others will be there too...

[Astrakan]

Originally Posted by MagicHat

I don't quite understand what they mean build your reputation...is this another online sims??? where others will be there too...

I read it to mean something similar to the reputation you build in games like Morrowind where your actions in the game increase your reputation stat. Apparently Fable is supposed to have something similar.

And if you haven't played/read about either of those games, I guess the closest thing I can think of would be Grand Theft Auto III (or Vice City) where the environment reacts to your previous actions.

KM

[IKEA_boy]

The URBZ

[Damian]

Originally Posted by IKEA_boy

The URBZ

Man I hate to do an about face on this but the screen shots actually look pretty cool.

[Damian]

[Damian]

[IKEA_boy]

I couldn't stand for much of the The Sims' first console outing. The original PC game doesn't even have much depth to it but at least I could use a mouse to play.

[Damian]

Originally Posted by IKEA_boy

I couldn't stand for much of the The Sims' first console outing. The original PC game doesn't even have much depth to it but at least I could use a mouse to play.

Always a party-pooper.

I haven't tried a console version yet. Difficult to navigate?

[IKEA_boy]

Originally Posted by Damian

Always a party-pooper.

I haven't tried a console version yet. Difficult to navigate?

I guess I could liken it to playing an RTS without a mouse / keyboard combo.