And for Mami Athena, for improving on my essays and making it more worthy in the eyes of the "Diliman Gods"
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The final rays of sunlight pierce through the gap between the floral curtains. In utter silence, I enter my room dropping beside the bed the toils and turmoil of living an employed existence.
I arrived late in the office that morning, motivating our Team Leader to say. “You’re late again Jay. One more chance to prove yourself or it’s suspension for you.” Her comments hardly made a dent in my then muddled brain. As I made my way to my station, snatches of conversations swirled around me.
“The food from Le Mac tasted really bad, I think I should buy my breakfast at Veggies next time. I’m so hungry, I didn’t finish what I ordered.” ; “I don’t have any money anymore. Pare, pahiram naman ng pamasahe mamaya…”
Life is a struggle. It is what the scenes around me depict, whether in the office, or here at home. Even the sunset in my window is obstructed by a row of dilapidated apartments rented out to families who fight over dinner almost every other night.
I lie in bed thinking what to do with my time. Sleeping would be a great idea, but lately, I tend to wake up for no reason at all. When that happens, the desolation of midnight troubles me. So instead of going to sleep, I reach for the remote control hidden under stacks of jewel cases of pirated audio CDs on the side table. I turn on the TV, hoping to check what’s new in the world: Suicide Bombings in Iraq; Gay Marriage debated in the US Preliminaries; another cheesy scandal brewing in Hollywood. The evening news flashed a report about the arrest of one of the suspects involved in the killing of an eight-year old girl found stuffed inside a luggage bag late last month. Some things never change.
Life is harsh indeed. Complicated.
Sick of the news, I turn off the TV and hurl the remote control back to where I found it earlier. I get up from the bed and open my computer. When real life becomes too complicarted, I feel an urgency to free myself from its stranglehold. Longing for a way out, the appeal presented by Sims 2 is too tempting to be ignored.
First released last 2004 by the game publisher Electronic Arts, Sims 2 is a simulation game that offers a chance for players to direct their own lives, as close as possible to their ideal. It is the sequel to the very successful strategic simulation PC game, The Sims. Its creator, Will Wright thought of the idea of creating a “virtual dollhouse” using simulated people or “sims” that players interact with in the game. Due to the limitations imposed by technology, his idea was initially met with skepticism. He was told there was no way that game designers could manipulate a virtual “Ken” and “Barbie’ using computer codes at that time.
Wright persevered. Eventually, the game publishers approved the development of the game in 1995. Incorporating the elements from Sim City –where players experience being a mayor of a virtual city, The Sims was programmed to become a part house and interior design software and part suburban neighborhood where players can manage and observe the daily activities of the sims they created. The players can also control their movements and interactions with objects, especially electrical appliances, which they can buy in the game. The Sims was released in 2000 and it was received with resounding success.
Will Wright and his team of game designers had never expected the public’s reception when the Sims and its expansion packs came out. Their attempt to create a virtual life out of a simulation game was met not with simple contentment from its hard-core fans and critics, but rather with an intense pressure to break all gaming parameters and create a sequel that can capture a near perfect essence of what real life is all about.
After four years, the much-awaited sequel was released. Sims 2 had not only broken the gaming rules imposed on simulation games, it made the virtual closer to life-like in a manner never before seen in PC gaming history. In the years that followed, Sims 2 spawned expansion packs that made the game more liberating. From friendly pets to running a fledging business empire; to attending the university and earning a college degree to experiencing simulated weather seasons, Sims 2 has almost everything you expected in real life, with one amazing difference. Sims 2 allowed players to abandone their real lives, even if just for the duration of gameplay, for a slice of a virtual paradise or hell, depending on how a player configured people and objects in the game. The appeal of Sim 2 lies in the virtual existence’s usually being much better than real life.
For this reason, no matter how expensive the game was, I ignored all inclinations of acquiring the cheap pirated versions and bought the original box at Datablitz instead. A timeless PC game such as Sims 2 is a worthy investment. It can be enjoyed by a player for a very long time.
Like its predecessor, the focal point of the entire Sims 2 game is the sims. As virtual people, players can interact with hundreds of virtual objects and also with other sims. Amazingly, sims can can explore their surroundings without the control of a player. However, unlike real people, they can never make tricky decisions such as calling a repairman to fix a broken toilet. The game design also does not allow for love making episodes between sim couples.
The game interface is rendered in a 3-dimensional environment so players are given the freedom to view the sims’ world from different perspectives. Far more detail is introduced in mesh quality. Its Technicolor-like rendering, texture quality, and animation capability brings more life to the game compared to the first version.
Immersion in the game happens fluidly. Before the program loads the game menu, three unique neighborhoods will appear on the screen. Neighborhoods are like little towns complete with vacant lots, pre-made houses and several community centers. A community center may be classified as a convenience store, a public park, a neighborhood gym with a swimming pool or a commercial complex that houses several boutiques and specialty stores. These common grounds, which any playable sim can visit, play a huge role in creating the social fabric of the entire neighborhood. It is in these places where neighbors and townies meet and forge inter-sim relationships.
Sims 2 has three existing neighborhoods built into the game. These are Pleasantview, with its rolling hills, verdant valleys and azure waters; Strangetown, a lone desert outpost which is home to several sim families with very eccentric personalities; and finally Veronaville, a neighborhood inspired by a Shakespearean play. Here you find two rival sim families with young members from both households secretly in love with one another. Bear in mind that these three neighborhoods include several families complete with their own homes and family histories. These families set the tone and drama of each neighborhood. A player who feels like playing god can take control of these families and manipulate the lives of the sims.
Since Pleasantview appears to be the least sophisticated among the three “hoods,” I choose this neighborhood to set my game play. When the neighborhood has loaded, there is an option to play a pre-made family or create a new one using the create-a-new-sim option found at the bottom left side of the screen. It is a given that every sim belongs to a family – whether that sim is a bachelor or a couple with children. As in real life, the family is the basic unit of society in Sims 2.
By clicking the create-a-new-sim option, a random sim appears on the screen. This is always an adult sim because they represent the prime of a sim’s life. However, since there are six life stages a sim must undergo before it grows, a successive sim being created can be a baby, a toddler, a teenager or an elder. I choose an adult male sim, identifying it as my ideal replica.
After choosing my sim’s hair, eyes and skin color, I will also have to choose his hair style, his everyday clothes, his personality and finally his aspirations. When all physical and personality attributes had been selected, I ended up creating a sim with short black hair, green eyes, smooth white skin and a lean body which he could later improve through an exercise machine he could eventually purchase. I named him Brandon Camino and for the rest of this review, he will be our guide as we do a walkthrough of Sims 2.
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-tobecontinued-
I arrived late in the office that morning, motivating our Team Leader to say. “You’re late again Jay. One more chance to prove yourself or it’s suspension for you.” Her comments hardly made a dent in my then muddled brain. As I made my way to my station, snatches of conversations swirled around me.
“The food from Le Mac tasted really bad, I think I should buy my breakfast at Veggies next time. I’m so hungry, I didn’t finish what I ordered.” ; “I don’t have any money anymore. Pare, pahiram naman ng pamasahe mamaya…”
Life is a struggle. It is what the scenes around me depict, whether in the office, or here at home. Even the sunset in my window is obstructed by a row of dilapidated apartments rented out to families who fight over dinner almost every other night.
I lie in bed thinking what to do with my time. Sleeping would be a great idea, but lately, I tend to wake up for no reason at all. When that happens, the desolation of midnight troubles me. So instead of going to sleep, I reach for the remote control hidden under stacks of jewel cases of pirated audio CDs on the side table. I turn on the TV, hoping to check what’s new in the world: Suicide Bombings in Iraq; Gay Marriage debated in the US Preliminaries; another cheesy scandal brewing in Hollywood. The evening news flashed a report about the arrest of one of the suspects involved in the killing of an eight-year old girl found stuffed inside a luggage bag late last month. Some things never change.
Life is harsh indeed. Complicated.
Sick of the news, I turn off the TV and hurl the remote control back to where I found it earlier. I get up from the bed and open my computer. When real life becomes too complicarted, I feel an urgency to free myself from its stranglehold. Longing for a way out, the appeal presented by Sims 2 is too tempting to be ignored.
First released last 2004 by the game publisher Electronic Arts, Sims 2 is a simulation game that offers a chance for players to direct their own lives, as close as possible to their ideal. It is the sequel to the very successful strategic simulation PC game, The Sims. Its creator, Will Wright thought of the idea of creating a “virtual dollhouse” using simulated people or “sims” that players interact with in the game. Due to the limitations imposed by technology, his idea was initially met with skepticism. He was told there was no way that game designers could manipulate a virtual “Ken” and “Barbie’ using computer codes at that time.
Wright persevered. Eventually, the game publishers approved the development of the game in 1995. Incorporating the elements from Sim City –where players experience being a mayor of a virtual city, The Sims was programmed to become a part house and interior design software and part suburban neighborhood where players can manage and observe the daily activities of the sims they created. The players can also control their movements and interactions with objects, especially electrical appliances, which they can buy in the game. The Sims was released in 2000 and it was received with resounding success.
Will Wright and his team of game designers had never expected the public’s reception when the Sims and its expansion packs came out. Their attempt to create a virtual life out of a simulation game was met not with simple contentment from its hard-core fans and critics, but rather with an intense pressure to break all gaming parameters and create a sequel that can capture a near perfect essence of what real life is all about.
After four years, the much-awaited sequel was released. Sims 2 had not only broken the gaming rules imposed on simulation games, it made the virtual closer to life-like in a manner never before seen in PC gaming history. In the years that followed, Sims 2 spawned expansion packs that made the game more liberating. From friendly pets to running a fledging business empire; to attending the university and earning a college degree to experiencing simulated weather seasons, Sims 2 has almost everything you expected in real life, with one amazing difference. Sims 2 allowed players to abandone their real lives, even if just for the duration of gameplay, for a slice of a virtual paradise or hell, depending on how a player configured people and objects in the game. The appeal of Sim 2 lies in the virtual existence’s usually being much better than real life.
For this reason, no matter how expensive the game was, I ignored all inclinations of acquiring the cheap pirated versions and bought the original box at Datablitz instead. A timeless PC game such as Sims 2 is a worthy investment. It can be enjoyed by a player for a very long time.
Like its predecessor, the focal point of the entire Sims 2 game is the sims. As virtual people, players can interact with hundreds of virtual objects and also with other sims. Amazingly, sims can can explore their surroundings without the control of a player. However, unlike real people, they can never make tricky decisions such as calling a repairman to fix a broken toilet. The game design also does not allow for love making episodes between sim couples.
The game interface is rendered in a 3-dimensional environment so players are given the freedom to view the sims’ world from different perspectives. Far more detail is introduced in mesh quality. Its Technicolor-like rendering, texture quality, and animation capability brings more life to the game compared to the first version.
Immersion in the game happens fluidly. Before the program loads the game menu, three unique neighborhoods will appear on the screen. Neighborhoods are like little towns complete with vacant lots, pre-made houses and several community centers. A community center may be classified as a convenience store, a public park, a neighborhood gym with a swimming pool or a commercial complex that houses several boutiques and specialty stores. These common grounds, which any playable sim can visit, play a huge role in creating the social fabric of the entire neighborhood. It is in these places where neighbors and townies meet and forge inter-sim relationships.
Sims 2 has three existing neighborhoods built into the game. These are Pleasantview, with its rolling hills, verdant valleys and azure waters; Strangetown, a lone desert outpost which is home to several sim families with very eccentric personalities; and finally Veronaville, a neighborhood inspired by a Shakespearean play. Here you find two rival sim families with young members from both households secretly in love with one another. Bear in mind that these three neighborhoods include several families complete with their own homes and family histories. These families set the tone and drama of each neighborhood. A player who feels like playing god can take control of these families and manipulate the lives of the sims.
Since Pleasantview appears to be the least sophisticated among the three “hoods,” I choose this neighborhood to set my game play. When the neighborhood has loaded, there is an option to play a pre-made family or create a new one using the create-a-new-sim option found at the bottom left side of the screen. It is a given that every sim belongs to a family – whether that sim is a bachelor or a couple with children. As in real life, the family is the basic unit of society in Sims 2.
By clicking the create-a-new-sim option, a random sim appears on the screen. This is always an adult sim because they represent the prime of a sim’s life. However, since there are six life stages a sim must undergo before it grows, a successive sim being created can be a baby, a toddler, a teenager or an elder. I choose an adult male sim, identifying it as my ideal replica.
After choosing my sim’s hair, eyes and skin color, I will also have to choose his hair style, his everyday clothes, his personality and finally his aspirations. When all physical and personality attributes had been selected, I ended up creating a sim with short black hair, green eyes, smooth white skin and a lean body which he could later improve through an exercise machine he could eventually purchase. I named him Brandon Camino and for the rest of this review, he will be our guide as we do a walkthrough of Sims 2.
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-tobecontinued-
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