pictures

I’ve added pictures to the MySims preview, thank you Starrats!

MySims preview

Preview in Dutch

On Monday June 4 DMS2C was invited for a preview of MySims! for the WII and the DS. Because there was an embargo on this preview we weren’t allowed to post about it until today.
Unfortunately we don’t have any pictures because our camera is broken, but when the other previews come online you can look at their photo’s (links will follow shortly)
Also we didn’t get a real impression of the DS version because there was only 1 DS, so this preview is mostly about the WII version.
Pictures in this preview are used with permission of starrats!

The MySims preview was held in Utrecht, and it was lead by Tim LeTourneau and by Robin Hunicke ( she also worked on the sims 2, her first experience with the sims 2 was with the expansion pack OFB, she worked on the crafting tables)

MySims is really different then what we are used to of a sims version, this is mostly because MySims is designed for Nintendo.
Because Nintendo is Japanese the sims look a little Japanese as well.
When you start with the game it’s really weird because they don’t really look like the sims we know, but after a while you start getting used to them and they’re just sims again.

The game is played in a ghost town, well at first because when you start playing the town get’s more alive.
The goal is to rebuild the town again, a 5 star town to be exact.
You start the game by creating your sim.

You create your sim in a sort of cas, but it’s different the the cas of the sims 2, you’re not getting a screen with all the clothing that’s in the game, but you have to click your way through it until you see something you like.
You can change your sim just by clicking on it, head, hair, clothes.
When you start a new game you only have a little selection of options you can choose from, but when you start to play it you’ll get more options.
There are a lot of clothes and hair styles you can unlock during the game.
You can also change the voice of your sim, there are 5 voices and you can make them very high or low.
There isn’t an option to choose a male or female sim, you just create a sim that looks male of female.

When your done creating your sim you can go into town. The fun thing is that in MySims you’re not bound to a house, but you can walk freely through the town! And even better, you can create all the furniture and houses yourself! YES ALL!!! You have a workshop, there you can create the furniture with help of a blueprint.
Again when you first start the game the blueprint will be rather simple but as you progress in the game you’ll unlock new blueprints to create the weirdest looking furniture you’ve ever seen, or not if you just want normal furniture.
After creating you give it a texture, again it’s limited at first.

The goal of the game is to get your town rated with 5 stars, this means the town is living again. To get stars you need to fulfill tasks from other sims who live in your town.

The 1st sim you’ll meet is Poppy, the local florist, she’s going to ask you to make her something. To make objects you need essence, there are many different sorts of essences, you can get essences by making a sim happy, or sad or later in the game you unlock special essences fields.
The game doesn’t have a money currency, you collect the things you need or just steal them.
When you’ve accepted Poppy’s task you can go to your workshop to build the object she wants.
In your workshop you’ll get a blueprint of the object you need to build, you can use blocks to build the object.

There are a lot of different types of blocks so you can create everything like chairs, tables, beds and tv’s.
Now you can decide if you want to make Poppy the thing she wants and make her happy or just create something you like!
If you create the thing Poppy wants you’ll get a nice happy looking town, if you create somethings people don’t want your town with get a Gothic look.

Whatever you choose it’s going to determine the type of sims that want to live in your town, also you decide which sims are going to live in your town.
When sims want to live in your town they’ll go to the hotel, from there you can decide whether they’re going to live in it or not.
There are about 80 NPC’s in this game.

Besides the furniture you also create all the houses in the game, you can also redesign the houses that are already in the game.
Again you build the houses with blocks, when you start to build a house you’ll see a green grid where you can build your house on, there are a lot of creations you can make with different sizes of blocks, but you can’t make something like a cathedral.
It’s very easy to build a house, you just put the blocks on the grid and give it a nice color.
You’ll get more colors during the game, there is also a lot of decoration for around the houses and you can even place things on the roof.
You can build a 1st floor, but there are no stairs in the game, so it’s there only for decoration.

The gameplay is very easy, you meet new sims, you talk to them and ask them what they want, then you’re going to collect the things you need to make the object, after collecting everything you’ll go to your workshop and create it, then give it back to the sim.
At first the tasks will be easy, but the further you get the harder they’ll be!

There’s also a garden where you can make essences grow, we’ve been told that it’s possible to grow an eyeball tree for a specific kind of essence.
You can also chop down your trees to make room for new trees. You just plant the seeds and give it water and a new tree will start to grow immediately!

It’s a single player game, and you only play with the sim you’ve made, there is no family connections and the sims don’t have needs.
At one point in the game you’ll get a costume shop, there you can give your sim a new outfit, you can dress your sim up as a social bunny, or the cute panda bear suits for toddlers, or just dress your sim up like a pirate or a princes.

There is no connectivity possible between the DS and the WII, because they’re both different games.

In the DS version you control a holiday island and you need to satisfy all the people who come there for a holiday.
The DS versions also has mini games.

A release date isn’t known at this time, but it should be somewhere this fall.

Conclusion:
MySims is a very fun game, especially for someone who’s never played the sims on the pc. For the sims 2 players it will be getting used to because of the graphics of this game. Whether “die hard” simsfans will like this game really depends on the simsfan.
A really great aspect about the WII version is that you can create new furniture without using other programs to make new meshes.

Of course we would like to thank EA Benelux for inviting us, and giving us a great afternoon in Utrecht!

DeKDeS with producer Robin

Altador Cup

Finally after waiting so many months the Altador Cup on Neopets has started again.
It started last year as a parody on the WC soccer, but now it seems to be a tradition in Neopia.
Unfortunately i couldn’t play much last year, because i’m a rather big soccer fan (Italy world champion!!!! One year later and i’m still having fun because of that )

This year they’ve really changed the Altador Cup, we have a new team (Shenkuu, well they needed to at it because we discovered it with last years plot) and there are also new balls (well yooyu’s actually )
But now you can really “feel” the difference between the yooyu’s, if you could win a match with 12-0 last year, you’re going to be smashed this year, they really made it more difficult, and the difference between the yooyu’s is also working.
The fun thing is that almost everyone on Neopets is playing the AC (short for Altador Cup )and all the players are developing a carpal tunnel syndrome.
I think i got mine last year of playing to much Yooyuball
Yooyuball is really great because it’s almost like a soccer game, well except for the offside (this is very easy for the children and women who don’t know anything about soccer ) and they don’t have corners or throw ins, no the yooyu is in the game all time.
The purpose of the game? Well score more then you opponent, makes sense………………….
Although the game is rather simple it’s still addictive and because a lot of teams playing who Neopia is divided.
Just like last year, i’m playing for Altador, why…. well maybe it’s because of the similarity of the natives with the old greek – roman civilization, so a nickname for Altador is TOGA

So if you happen to have an account on Neopets and you’re not playing support Altador you’re also invited to join the TOGA guild

Oh yeah more troubles at work today, it was really a mess. A colleague has heard that she needs to start her new job this Monday
So that’s really bad for me and someone else because now we have to practically run the department and she only works 2 days so that means that i’m alone 3 days, and then i’ve got to run the show, but i’ve only been working there since January
Oh well it will all turn out just fine when everyone is at home with a burnout