sim posts(Subscribe to this feed)

The Sims 3 World Adventures downloadable now, hitting retail this week

by Griffin McElroy { Nov 18th 2009 at 3:00PM }

Is your Sim sick and tired of its usual routine of skipping work, improving its skills, making well-timed bathroom trips and attempting to WooHoo every single person in the neighborhood? Good news: The Sims 3's first (but certainly not last) expansion, World Adventures, is downloadable now for $39.99. If you're an oddly selective Luddite who plays video games but shuns the practice of downloading them, you can pick up a copy of the expansion in retail outlets when it arrives at some unspecified time this week.

The expansion allows your virtual representation (be honest, you modeled him/her after yourself, right?) to collect treasures, learn new skills and travel to France, China and Egypt, where we assume they'll attempt to WooHoo everyone there as well. You should really talk to your Sim about getting that under control, okay?

Gallery: The Sims 3: World Adventures

Gran Turismo 5 making-of video reveals mysterious packaging [update]

by Ben Gilbert { Oct 20th 2009 at 1:00PM }

It's quite clear to us that Gran Turismo 5 creative director Kazunori Yamauchi knows way more about cars than we do. Take, for instance, this latest making-of video discovered by GT Planet (embedded after the break), where he gets down to the nitty gritty on the inclusion of Mercedes' 2011 SLS AMG in his game. Before he delves into the possibility of the car appearing on the game's cover, he's shown with co-workers handling a box with three disc cases -- one blue, one red, one black. Though he makes it clear over the course of the clip that this isn't the final packaging, he doesn't exactly spell out what these mysterious cases might hold. Millions of cars? Top Gear episodes? Micro Machines?! Our best guess is that it's a Collector's Edition of some sort, though we'd love for such a thing to include a miniature SLS AMG (just sayin'!).

Getting back to the SLS AMG, Yamauchi says that the to-be-released car is in the running for a starring role on the game's cover. "The foremost reason is that the SLS AMG will probably be the most exciting car in the world when Gran Turismo 5 is released ... Also, in terms of styling and driving performance as well, it's probably the hottest car around right now," Yamauchi teases. We've asked Sony for details on the mysterious three-case box and will update this post when we hear more.

Update: Sony has responded by declining to comment. And now we play "The Waiting Game."

Gallery: Gran Turismo 5

[Thanks, Sean]

Continued →

Gran Turismo 5's Yamauchi: 'We could release it any time we want'

by Ben Gilbert { Oct 13th 2009 at 5:30PM }

Gran Turismo 5's Kazunori Yamauchi says he could give you his studio's next entry in the venerable racing-sim series right now ... but he won't. Speaking with Famitsu last week (translated by 1UP), the Polyphony Digital studio head explains that while "We could release it any time we want," he's more interested in trying to give the game "that classic GT-style." And though "daily progress is slow," the Japanese developer assures us that "it's still going forward at a steady clip."

Unlike the PSP iteration's somewhat lackluster feature set, Yamauchi intends on going "way beyond gamer expectations" with GT5, even confirming the export of cars earned in GT PSP to next March's PS3 sequel. We're hoping he goes way beyond our expectations as well and delivers the game to other territories in a more timely fashion.

Gallery: Gran Turismo 5

SimCastle and SimMars scrapped in favor of The Sims

by Griffin McElroy { Oct 12th 2009 at 4:00PM }

After breaking our hearts by showing us the Road Rash remake which never will be, the gaming industry's Encyclopedia Brown, supererogatory, dug up another pair of intriguing titles which sadly never saw the light of day. The personal blog of game designer Ward Moore mentions two Sim games which were ultimately canceled in order to focus on the blockbuster The Sims franchise: SimCastle, a game based on the SimTown engine set in medieval times, and SimMars, which ... simulated life on Mars, we guess?

Moore's blog included a look at the called-off Martian endeavor, seen above. The blog of illustrator Corey Keller includes a few conceptual designs from SimCastle, one of which can be seen after the jump. SimAnt, which perplexingly somehow got made while these two promising titles didn't, can be seen here. Life can be awfully unfair at times.

Continued →

Make new friends on Wii and DS at the Littlest Pet Shop

by Majed Athab { May 13th 2009 at 2:25PM }

We know, we know. You just can't contain your excitement, can you? EA has just announced its latest title: The Littlest Pet Shop Friends and already we can hear the shrills of pre-adolescent joy. Pair up this megaton news with this morning's stunning iCarly reveal and today becomes a big day for Joystiq's 13-and-under reader demographic.

EA promises the new LPS game will be bigger, better and more ~~badass~~ (okay not the last one) than previous titles, featuring a host of multiplayer mini-games, explorable game worlds and collectible pets. It hits Wii and Nintendo DS later this year in Fall.

Animal Crossing: City Events

by Chris Greenhough { Nov 12th 2008 at 6:15PM }

Special events form a crucial part of any Animal Crossing game, giving players dates to look forward to and a chance to gloat about owning the full set of Pascal's ship-themed furniture. Like I just did there.

Last month, Nintendo Power revealed Pavé (a peacock who runs the Samba Carnival-esque Festivale), Labelle (the third Able sister), Zipper (a bunny who appears on Easter -- SORRY -- "Bunny Day"), and Phineas (a beaver who turns up randomly to give out pinwheels and balloons), and now Famitsu has shed light on a few old and returning events and their respective characters.

The fishing (October to April) and bug-hunting tournaments (June to September) are back, as is the aforementioned hippy otter Pascal and (obviously) Joan the turnip-selling warthog. There's also a comeback for one of the rarer characters in the first Animal Crossing: Wisp the Ghost, a spook that occasionally appeared at night who could be caught in your net, and forced to do your weeding and paint your roof!

Gallery: Animal Crossing: City Folk

KK says: buy Animal Crossing: City Folk to visit the city, reach out to friends, and make Iwata cry!

Animal Crossing and WiiSpeak about �60 in UK

by Chris Greenhough { Nov 11th 2008 at 1:37PM }

Nintendo has confirmed to Eurogamer that the Animal Crossing: Let's Go to the City and WiiSpeak bundle will cost "£59" in the UK when it launches there on December 5th. We guess they mean £59.99, but let's face it: only chumps will pay that sort of money when the likes of Play have it for a penny under fifty quid. If you do still live in the late-1990s and buy stuff from high street stores with real people in them, then expect to pay a premium. Separately, the game will cost £40 and WiiSpeak £25. Again: if you're a chump.

As for the North American price, we're still waiting on official word, but Amazon's price hasn't budged from $69.99.

Gallery: Animal Crossing: City Folk

Animal Crossing: Emotional, Spendthrifty Folk

by Chris Greenhough { Oct 13th 2008 at 12:38PM }

Animal Crossing: City Folk is sticking to the formula laid down by Wild World fairly rigidly, but it's not all a rehash. Some new outlets and characters can be found in the city section next to your village, two of which have been recently showcased in daily videos at City Folk's official Japanese site.

The first of these stars Dr. Shrunk, whose dubious comedic talents have finally landed him the big one: a gig at City Folk's Theater. Here, you'll be able to watch the good doctor take to the stage, 'enjoy' his stand-up routine, and hopefully learn a brand new emotion in the process -- as you do. The second video (after the break) covers the Auction House (where you'll be able to offer items for those on your Wii's friend list to bid on), which appears to be manned by a Gyroid. Perhaps they ran out of ideas for new talking animals.

Gallery: Animal Crossing: City Folk

Continued →

Lock's Demo now available on Nintendo Channel

by Chris Greenhough { Sep 29th 2008 at 6:14PM }

The DS demo section of the Nintendo Channel is usually swamped with bland Touch! Generations fare, but it now looks like Nintendo has abandoned that policy to bring us some potentially interesting games to try out. What a novel concept! Top of your "to download" list (if you haven't already bought it) should be Lock's Quest, 5th Cell's ace tower defense/real-time strategy, which reviewers have been throwing superlatives at from every direction (stay tuned for our review later this week).

Spore Creatures is there also, and while it may not have attracted the same loving critical response as Lock's Quest, it still piques our curiosity, simply because it's not the Spore everybody else has been banging the drum for. There's a demo of MySims Kingdom as well, which looks adorable, and an anagrams demo for sdrsorsCwo SD. These all expire October 5th, so don't delay!

Gallery: Lock's Quest

Animal Crossing: Timely Folk

by Chris Greenhough { Sep 25th 2008 at 1:40PM }

One thing Animal Crossing: City Folk won't be replicating from previous Animal Crossings is the horrendous delay in getting a PAL version out. Wild World on the DS took nearly four months to cross the Atlantic to Europe, while Animal Crossing on the GameCube turned up two years late (though lucky Australia had to wait for only thirteen months).

This won't be the case for the Wii game, which will launch in Europe this December, where it will be known as ~~Animal Crossing: Pointless, Overlong, Awkward Subtitle~~ Animal Crossing: Let's Go to the City and come bundled with WiiSpeak. Happy news for any Europeans who thought they would miss out on any vital, fruit-related conversation at Game Night!

Gallery: Animal Crossing: City Folk

KK says: buy Animal Crossing: City Folk to visit the city, reach out to friends, and make Iwata cry!

Metareview: Spore Creatures

by Chris Greenhough { Sep 12th 2008 at 7:30PM }

With all the current hype surrounding Spore, even ardent DS fanboys such as ourselves have to strain to recall Spore Creatures. It looks like a totally different game to its PC counterpart, and we quite enjoyed it when we went hands-on at GDC '08. So which is it: the sleek, refined alpha member of its species, or a sloppy afterthought of a game, heading for history's rubbish bin? We copied and pasted some other people's thoughts to find out!

IGN (78%) gave the game one of its better reviews, praising its sense of fun and creativity: "Spore Creatures isn't intended as a replacement for the core PC Spore experience -- it's meant to compliment that design with a unique experience that lifts many of the core elements. And for the most part it succeeds in that task: this is a fun, involved, albeit more linear DS experience with a few quirks that get in the way, but even with those quirks it's great to experience a game on the more limited handheld with a similar sense of creativity that PC gamers will have in Spore."

Eurogamer (5/10) isn't so keen, arguing the game is crippled by its linear nature: "What it doesn't offer is any sort of Free Play option where you can do your own thing. You can indulge your creative desires or you can play the game. You can't really do both at the same time in any satisfying way, which suggests that "linear action adventure" simply wasn't the right direction to take the Spore concept for its handheld outing."

GameSpot's (65%) Kevin VanOrd just couldn't emotionally bond with his creations: "It's still a cute adventure across multiple planets, and it features a pared-down version of the creature creation tool that helped make the PC release such a success. It has some annoying quirks, and it won't inspire an emotional connection between you and your digital doppelganger, but Spore Creatures is still a pleasant diversion and an appealing, if ordinary, companion to its bigger brother."

Gallery: Spore Creatures

This post is a part of our Metareview category, but we also like reviewing things ourselves, and making sure our voice is heard. We're conceited and self-absorbed like that.

Animal Crossing/WiiSpeak bundle gets priced

by Chris Greenhough { Sep 8th 2008 at 10:00AM }

The WiiSpeak microphone add-on should add a fresh dimension to the Animal Crossing: City Folk experience, and having awkward conversations with fellow internet people about fruit prices won't even be that expensive. Nintendo reps have informed a GameStop manager's conference in Las Vegas that the City Folk and WiiSpeak bundle would retail at $69.99 (the equivalent of 423 apples, five Porcelettas, and a Red Snapper at today's dollar-to-Bells rate) when the game releases in November.

That's a tenner less expensive than purchasing the game and peripheral separately, and obviously you'll be able to use WiiSpeak in other titles. Sound fair to you?

Gallery: Animal Crossing: City Folk

Metareview -- Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise

by David Hinkle { Sep 7th 2008 at 2:30PM }

With Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise having released on September 2nd here in North America (and September 5th in Europe), you've all had some time to play the game. There aren't many reviews out there right now, but the ones that are available seem to generally laud the game's ambitious efforts. After we check in with the critics, toss your two cents in.

So let's get to the scores!

IGN (85/100) thinks it's quite the game: "Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise takes the original 360 effort as a template, and brings the 'go at your own pace,' free-form design to the Nintendo DS, beautifully. The visuals are crisp and colorful, the audio is a mix of in-game animal sounds and VO taken from the TV show, and its easy to control the world with a quick swipe or tap of a stylus. There are some basic changes to be had, such as the lack of camera control, the removal of the somewhat pesky mini-games for mating, and the general spectacle of watching your Piñatas move around in beautiful HD, but the core gameplay more than survives in its conversion to the pocket platform, and Viva Piñata is left with just as much magic on DS as it has on 360."

Eurogamer (80/100) says the game isn't for kids, but good nonetheless: "However, what Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise loses in coming second, and not having a triple-core PowerPC chip to drive its graphics, it makes up with its new, much better stylus-based interface, and Rare's impressive feat of retaining the vast majority of the original game's best features, in roughly the same measures. It's still a bit too complex to work as a kids' game (for that you might be better with the 360 sequel's co-op mode, where you can pick up a second pad and offer a helping hand), but for everybody else it comes highly recommended."

Edge Magazine (70/100) said: "If Pocket Paradise makes you want to throw it against something, though, it's only because it succeeds in making gardening compulsive." [Oct 2008, p.96]

Gallery: Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise

Animal Crossing boxart warms our cold, cold hearts

by Chris Greenhough { Sep 4th 2008 at 4:22PM }

Just as Animal Crossing: City Folk won't be abandoning the series' trademark graphics, so the boxart is exactly what you'd expect: a bright, bustling village scene featuring fresh fruit, happy animals, KK strumming out a tune beneath a tree, and Tom Nook waiting to rake in your Bells. A lot of those villagers look familiar to! While a lot of traditional elements are on display, there is a hint of the fresh possibilities afforded by the titular city, and a bright yellow bus to transport us there. Ah, we're excited already! Do you approve, dear reader?

Gallery: Animal Crossing: City Folk

[Via Go Nintendo]

KK says: buy Animal Crossing: City Folk to visit the city, reach out to friends, and make Iwata cry!

GC 2008: Finally, a pet game we can get behind

by Chris Greenhough { Aug 20th 2008 at 6:25PM }

Click image for MORE MONKEYS.

"Monkey Madness Wii targets kids ages 6 to 8 years," reads the opening line of the press release for Ubisoft's new monkey sim. "Like hell it does!" say we. Okay, so maybe it does, but we can't help being drawn to Ubisoft's newest pet game (and at least it's not Monkeyz). Fact: monkeys are adorable and awesome. Everybody thinks this, so no wonder Ubisoft settled on making a game about them. We've had it with labradors and kittens, frankly.

In Monkey Madness Wii, ~~kids~~ we will be able to adopt a monkey and then befriend, train, feed, play with, and photograph our simian chum. There's a range of ridiculous outfits to dress George in (we've already settled on a name), and George's personality will be shaped by how you treat him -- he could be meek, courageous, loyal, indifferent, or something else. We can even cross-breed George with other species of monkeys to create "fantastical hybrids," which sounds a tad disturbing, but we plan on George being an amorous little bugger.

We haven't even touched on the neatest feature of Monkey Madness Wii -- the ability to upload George to your Wii Remote (using the Wiimote's 6 kilobytes of on-board memory) and take him to a friend's house to play with the monkeys on their Wii. Clever! In fact, this is wasted on chil'n, and we'll say it now, readers: DO WANT. Now, can you resist a monkey gallery?