It saddens me having to report that long-time Maxis employee and friend Caryl Shaw has moved on from EA. Caryl has always been one of my most favorite people to deal with and was always kind and took a moment to listen when I had to contact her for various reasons (although I tried my best to not bug her much because I make it a high priority not to contact unless I have something absolutely important to bring). Not only that, but in person she is an entertaining and very outstanding speaker.
If your a long time Maxis fan, then you may remember her as MaxisLucky. I first met her over at the official Sims 1 forums (actually, many of us did). She helped with the management of the official site, as well as launching The Sims 2 website when the hit sequel was released. Her list of games include The Sims SuperStar, Makin’ Magic, SimCity 4 Rush Hour, The Urbz, The Sims 2 (and up to Open for Business if I recall correctly) then onto Spore (Senior Producer and manager of the Web Development Team)
She will still be with us in the game industry though, so not all is lost! We can now follow her progress with ngmoco, a developer for the iPhone and iPod Touch. I can’t wait to see what her first project will be! Best of luck with your new job, Caryl. Readers, if you remember her from past games or would just like to share your farewell wishes, please leave them in the comments. She may end up reading this
Old school gamers will love this and hopefully those who never played Mario Paint will want to take a look into it. Mario Paint was a game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System which allowed users to paint, draw and doodle much like Microsoft Paint. It wasn’t only a paint program but also an audio composer program as well. Many fans loved this part of the game, and it even sparked a PC program to be created called Mario Paint Composer. YouTube is flooded with tons of videos featuring this tool varying all kinds of music genre. Below are a few songs from our favorite Sim games. I tried to tackle this awhile back but I didn’t get anywhere…I’d love for someone to try to create The Sims 3 theme on it. Any takers?
I have been getting a few requests if I happen to have or know where a Sims 3 necklace can be purchased. Honestly, I do not know. The ones that I have shown in the past were from various EA events that were held to market / promo their upcoming games. The only way regular folks can get one is if they make it out of clay. That is what I am about to show you. Etsy, a site in which people add their hand-made crafts has a listing for a Sims plumbob phone charm for $4. Sure, it isn’t official but its all we have in the meantime unless you have a way to create one yourself. Phatloots, the person who crafted the item is also taking requests, so it is very much possible to get one made as a necklace. Contact them at the bottom of the page for more information.
Remember The Sims? Where you had the ability to basically create your dream house and control a person or group of people? Well now your can carry that magical crystal that hovers over an active Sim with your wherever you go! It can now dangle magically over your phone.
Comes with a black cell strap with a lobster clamp so you can take the charm off to make it easier to put on your phone, purse, etc.
It is made from polymer clay, baked and glazed to have a water resistant coat. The crystal is carefully shaped and cut by hand. The edges are outline in a darker green color to give the crystal a more defined shape.
Next month’s GameInformer magazine not only has the first scoop for Portal 2, but also contains a special interview with Will Wright on the 10 Year Anniversary of The Sims. Look for it in newstands sometime this month!
Live in Salt Lake City and have have what it takes to join the video game industry? Stop by EA Jobs and turn in your resume! EA has expanded their Salt Lake City Studio to take on a new, unannounced project according to Ben Bell:
“We’re truly thrilled to expand into Salt Lake City and what is becoming a growing and dynamic video game development scene,” said Ben Bell, Executive Producer at EA. “We’re looking to fill several critical leadership positions on an exciting new project.”
According to Kotaku, it states that Salt Lake City is home to Littlest Pet Shop and Nerf development teams… The Sims Team will establish a new project there…wonder if this new project have anything to do with The Sims 3 coming to consoles. If Ben Bell is somehow involved, I bet it might just be!
I feel very bad for fans and players in the Brazil community. While Brazilian fansites may have already known, it is news to me. According to WorldSims, EA has closed the doors on EA Brazil this past December, leaving the fans left in the dust and 40+ employees unemployed…Which is why we probably haven’t heard from SimVIP as he was a part of EA. Not only that, but their YouTube channel went offline and their official website has stopped being updated.
This may cause problems for the distribution of games… Dimensao Sims via twitter even stated they have yet to receive any sort of information regarding The Sims 3 High End Loft Stuff hitting their area. I just don’t understand…from all of the past events they held and as many fansites the Brazilian community has – why would they shut down EA Brazil? Was it losing that much money?
Julia Yu Tsao has quite the imagination. For his Graduate Thesis Project, he came up with the following idea of ‘Curious Displays’, a future display technology that becomes familiar with its surroundings and will point out certain aspects that the owner may not be aware of, much like how we point out things for our Sims to do in the game.
In a way it’s a very interesting idea but on the other hand, very terrifying. It just seems…creepy. Not to mention, what would happen if it would break? Hundreds of small pieces everywhere, that’s what. Thank god we’re a long, long ways off to pull off this kind of idea. I am still waiting on my hoverboard, dangit!
In a world where logic is a common trait for mankind, one company seems to lack it all – EA. Layoffs, losing money, more layoffs, lose more money, buy new studio, layoffs, lose money and close studio…when will it end? EA is putting their bets that Mobile gaming is the next big thing, thus why they have purchased the Melbourne based mobile developer IronMonkey Studios – who has worked on past games like The Sims 2 and the Need for Speed series. I wish them well, but frankily I don’t think this will help them any. But hey, just my thought…they could be doing quite well in the mobile department. It just seems like a silly move…
Jeff Green has returned once more with witty answers to stupid questions in his latest mailbox! A few Sims related questions managed to make their way in – specifically someone asking about The Sims 1 original soundtrack (which if they would of checked iTunes, would have known it’s been on there for some time), the possibility of SimCity 5, and he laughs at a person who lost their disk and cd key for SimCity 4 thanks to their roommate. View the awesomeness here!
We all know the end of the story. Activision today is one of the biggest and most successful publishers in the world and owns the rights to some of the most popular gaming franchises, including 2009’s blockbuster Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.
But Kotick said that his high-level management style has proven costly on occasion. For instance, when Activision had the chance to buy Maxis, the developer of SimCity 2000. He visited their offices and spent an entire day looking at SimCity 2000, which was said to be buggy and unpolished. He thought the only reason to buy the company would be for the game and the franchise so he didn’t even bother to look at another title codenamed Jefferson in one of the back offices. It was being worked on by Will Wright and it turned into The Sims.
I don’t know what would have been better – the way it is now or if Activision had bought the company. Personally I’m kind of glad it’s at EA…It’s been a pretty good run all the way up until 2007 when EA switched CEOs. Bobby Kotick of Activision probably would have ran the Sims series into the ground faster than what EA could ever do. I mean how many Guitar Hero games did they produce last year? 7? I used to love that series, now I despise seeing the game in stores…
Here you will find programs, patches and tutorials for Maxis' created games as well as useless stuff that I enjoy or find on the internet. If you need to contact me, you can shoot me an email!
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It saddens me having to report that long-time Maxis employee and friend Caryl Shaw has moved on from EA. Caryl has always been one of my most favorite people to deal with and was always kind and took a moment to listen when I had to contact her for various reasons (although I tried my best to not bug her much because I make it a high priority not to contact unless I have something absolutely important to bring). Not only that, but in person she is an entertaining and very outstanding speaker.
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