Prerelease:The Sims 2 (GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox)
This page details pre-release information and/or media for The Sims 2 (GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox).
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Believe it or not, this game was originally going to be a sequel to The Urbz: Sims in the City, which was planned to expand into a spin-off franchise. A lot of planning went into conceptualization stages, but was cancelled before development could fully get off the ground, with sales of The Urbz not meeting EA's expectations. As of a result, the game was reworked into The Sims 2 for consoles, leading to a lot of repurposed content and design changes.
Contents
Development Timeline
2003
- May - During E3 2003 when The Sims 2 unveiled, Will Wright mentions plans about a console version of the game where it would have "more traditional gaming elements" and experiment with "new ideas".[1]
2004
- Apr. - A sequel to The Urbz is teased when someone on the chat asks MaxisScotchmo about Online Play in that game, clarifying that they are "waiting to do the online game with Urbz next year".[2]
- Jun./Jul. - The Urbz 2 starts development for PlayStation 2, GameCube and Xbox consoles.
- Nov. 9th & 12th- The Urbz: Sims in the City is released in the United States & Europe.
2005
- Jan. 23 - EA Netherlands holds a fiscal event for the year, with The Urbz 2 appearing on their list for a late 2005/early 2006 release.[3] The mention of it would be removed on the 26th.
- Feb. 4 - An Urbz survey sent to players on TheSims2.com has the mention of an "Urbz 2".
- Feb. 8 - The Urbz 2 is internally cancelled due to poor sales of the first installment. Because of that, development started to take on a different direction.
- Feb. 10 - In an interview with Will Wright, he mentions "a new game" that will be shown at E3 2005.[4]
- Apr. 11 - The Sims 2 for consoles is listed on one of the titles for E3 2005.
- Apr. 18 - The Sims 2 for consoles is officially unveiled by Electronics Arts, with a Fall 2005 release.
- May 18-20 - The game is shown off at E3 2005, along with a new trailer.
- Jul. 14/16 - EA Games holds a "Hot Summer Nights" event at their headquarters, and releases new screenshots and gameplay videos.
- Aug. 22 - The Sims 2 for consoles has its first review on SimZone, a UK-Based Sims fansite.
- Late Aug.?/Sep. 2 - The Designer Walkthrough is released, showing a late build of the game.
- Sep. 9 - The Sims 2 (Console) Demo Version build date.
- Oct. 4 - The Sims 2 for consoles goes gold.
- Oct. 11 - The Demo version of The Sims 2 for consoles is released, limited to 2,500 copies. Later copies would come in the form of Official PlayStation Magazine disks.
- Oct. - The Sims 2 for consoles is finally released.
Sub-Pages
 | The Urbz 2 Mid-2004 - February 2005. The pre-Sim-plification era. |
| Pre-Revelation February - April 2005. The rework begins. |
| April |
2004
Summer-Fall
Early Development
Plans for a sequel to The Urbz: Sims in The City date back to as early as April 2004, when someone in the chat asked the developers if they were doing Online Play for the game. They said that the first game would be focused on Reputation, Motives and Jobs, and a potential sequel would have Online Play.
It would eventually begin development in circa June-July, five months before the game would be released with a 2005 launch date for the PlayStation 2, GameCube and Xbox. This game was part of the spin-off multimedia franchise plan EA and Maxis had in mind.
Plot and Features
In the original plot for The Urbz 2, the player's Urb is found in SimCity (with the city itself actually making an appearance aside from mentions in older games) without any money after becoming famous in Urbzville and they're given another chance to earn money and regain their fame. The player also has to stop Daddy Bigbucks from buying out the city while Jayde works as their sidekick, who would've made their appearance as a true character rather than just a preset.
Several old and new characters (including some from the portable games, such as Nora Zeal-Ott and Dusty Hogg) would've made an appearance, including The Black Eyed Peas who would've lent some of their music for the video game. This game was also set to feature new locations alongside some returning from the previous game. Children and multistory housing were planned to make an appearance but were scrapped due to technical limitations. Jugen House originally had five stories before being downgraded to one.
There were also going to be extra features such as online play in the PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions, but were not developed fully due to declining usage of The Sims Online and The Sims: Bustin Out's Online Weekend mode, alongside overall technical limitations. A private in-house LAN test was done and worked perfectly, which explains several online functions within the PlayStation 2's game code and texture files.
Concept Art
Intro Storyboard
Bailey Brent was one of the character designers and storyboard/animation artists for some of the Sims console games. On their site, a storyboard for The Urbz 2, likely the intro cinematic can be found before it was removed some time later.
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| In the first panel, an Urb gets out of the bus and moves into a new house only for money to be stolen by another Urb. Later on, another Urb (Which looks like an early version of Toothless Joe) finds the main character and offers him a place to stay. | In the second panel, the first scene shows the main Urb dressed up in a hotdog suit, presumably part of a scrapped job. The next scene shows the player's Urb thwarting the other Urb who stole his money, possibly via a new and scrapped Power Social, which involves a microphone and shades of some sort. In the final scene, Fergie and apl.de.ap of The Black Eyed Peas can be seen in the background rocking with the main Urb during a concert. |
Those storyboards loosely match up what was described by one of the former Edge of Reality employees, even though Daddy Bigbucks or Jayde isn't seen or mentioned at all.
The Urbz 2: Nightlife Concept Trailer
There is an unreleased trailer of what could be The Urbz 2. It features a group of Urbs in a dull mid-sized city who open up a nightclub in an industrial place, and tries to get other Urbs to join it by doing things like spraying graffiti tags and using a shirt cannon on other passerby Urbs. The title, The Urbz 2: Sims Nightlife likely suggests that some elements were recycled for the mainline Sims 2 expansion with a very similar name or was intended to be announced at E3 2005 along with that.
The main characters in the trailer are likely earlier versions of Candi Cupp, Felicity Usher and the default male preset Sim, since they share very similar appearances. Several others make an appearance, like the dancers from Neon East.
2005
February
Cancellation
The Urbz sequel was internally cancelled on February 8, 2005, due to the game failing to meet the sales requirements of 5 million to warrant a sequel; it had only sold 2.6 million copies. The game would be reworked into a console adaptation of more-popular The Sims 2. Several Urbz 2 characters such as Felicity Usher, Betty Buttercup and Candi Cup and locales like Jugen House and HMS Amore would be reworked into the game as we know today.
Concept Art
Chuck Elyer originally had two Visual Target images on his website before they were overwritten by one of the public pre-release screenshots.
An early layout of a suburban house, which seems to be almost the exact same shape as Mom's House from Bustin' Out. Some furniture, wallpaper and flooring do not appear in the final game at all. Also, the sofa is taken from The Urbz.
A close-up of the kitchen area, showing slightly early designs for Felicity Usher and a preset. The kitchen counters were originally from Bustin' Out as well. Through the window, some fencing can be seen which could be the same one from Mom's House.
Early UI Menus
Sebastian Hyde was the UI Designer and concept artist for most of The Sims console installments. There are also pictures on his site that include earlier versions of UIs from the game. The Create-A-Sim Pictures looked completely different and looked closer to the Windows counterpart, which may have been made as a mock-up. These mock-ups are overlaid on a screenshot of Create-a-Sim from the PC version of The Sims 2.
| Portfolio Site | Final |
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In the final game, the sleeve customization is not spread out, and there also seems to be a slider of some sort at the bottom of the materials section.
| Portfolio Site | Final |
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| Portfolio Site | Final |
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| Portfolio Site | Final |
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The body-morphing section looks more or less the same, except the font is different and the arrows don't appear at all.
| Portfolio Site | Final |
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The Fashion section was slightly redone. The head icon seems to be different, and the accessories icon seems to have contained head items. There's also a pair of dice at the bottom, which likely (as it does in the final game) was for randomizing clothes.
| Portfolio Site | Final |
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It seems that the icons for various pieces of clothing were different at that time in development. Almost none of these glasses appear in the final game.
| Portfolio Site | Final |
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The Skin Tone icon originally had a hand palm rather than two different hands.
| Portfolio Site | Final |
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The Aspiration screen is mostly close to the final (with some humorous placeholder text), except that the Grow Up Aspiration is displayed (possibly a placeholder) before it was replaced with Creativity. There were also eight (likely placeholder, as they're taken straight from the Windows version) High Scoring Aspirations instead of five. Also, the font was slightly bigger.
| Portfolio Site | Final |
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This image seems to be an earlier version of the food creation menu, and seafood was originally going to be included in the fridge rather than having to be harvested. Also, the icon for the tuna is brighter. Judging from the layout of the house, it seemed to have been taken at a point where Rockwell Acres looked different and almost at the time when the first pre-release screenshots surfaced.
Live-Action Intro
There's also another video which involves creating the intro using real-life actors as a reference. Some things are different and longer, like for example they play video games before they argue while in the final version, it just shows them arguing.
April
Game Preview
Two months after The Urbz 2 got cancelled, The Sims 2 for consoles was unveiled on April 18, 2005, planned for a late 2005 release. At that time, some interesting Urbz leftovers and changes could be spotted in the screenshots and trailer.
First Screenshots
| Early | Final |
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An overhead view of the original layout for Rockwell Acres, the starting house. A handful of differences can be spotted in the image.
- The camera intro is different, and zooms from the street to the front of the house. The picture implies it as showing an overhead view of the area.
- At the VERY bottom of the screenshot, next to the bookshelf, the arrow control that looks very similar to what was seen in The Urbz can be seen.
- An earlier design of the Light Therapy Wall Scone (something that could be seen in the Urbz, since most wall lights have switches in the game) is seen in the bathroom.
- Near the top-left corner, the birch tree from The Sims: Bustin' Out can be found. From the textures, it looked like it was ported straight from there.
- In the final game, Nina Caliente does not live in Rockwell Acres. She might be there for testing purposes.
- The Stainless Steel trashcan lacks the shine and polish.
- The wallpaper used for the living room, kitchen and hallway was changed.
- The genie lamp cannot be found at Rockwell Acres in the final game.
| Early | Final |
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The same house, now zoomed in with a fire going around the area.
- Dina Caliente and Don Lothario can be seen in the image, along with the unnamed blonde sim preset.
- Nina doesn't seem to be moving her mouth when she sees the fire, which suggests that new head mouth movements have not been implemented yet.
- The design for the Blade Vision VERY High HD TV looked closer to The Urbz iteration and isn't present in the final version.
- Felicity Usher originally wore a short leather vest over her normal shirt.
- Ossie Madison had a different-colored shirt and his belt buckle seems to have been untextured.
- The same birch tree from the first screenshot now has a different design, probably meaning that the image was taken on a later build.
- The fridge and stove design is taken straight from The Urbz.
- A mysterious red thing, which is likely presumed to be a Sim wearing red pants can be found behind the kitchen wall.
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Yet another screenshot of early Rockwell Acres, this time as a later version.
- The fridge and stove now exactly matches up what is seen in the final game.
- The wallpaper from the previous two screenshots was changed to the one in the finished product.
- A closer view of an earlier Felicity Usher and Ossie Madison could be seen.
| Early | Final |
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A much later version of Rockwell Acres, this time as a render. It was ironically the very first screenshot to be posted.
May
E3 2005 Trailer
One month later, a trailer was released at E3 2005. In contrast to the very first screenshots released, the footage was used from a much earlier build.
- The houses seen from the HMS Amore had a slightly different color scheme.
- The DJ Booth looked a little different.
- The Rockwell Acres house reuses its layout from the very first screenshot, even though the kitchen uses the Friend of Mine flooring from The Urbz and doesn't appear in the final game.
- Felicity Usher had darker skin.
- The Blue Glow Special lamps were bigger and had less detail.
- Also, a clearer view of the early Blade Vision VERY High HD TV can be seen.
- The Solana Vista Window door had a thicker arch.
- The "classic control" circle emitter looks exactly like the one from The Urbz.
- The social system was very different, and looked like graphics were still placeholder, as it had a gauge on the right.
- The inside of the HMS Amore had a slightly different flooring design.
- The Bulkhead Latch door was dark blue rather than beige.
- The square floorlights had a slightly darker border and resembled the one from The Urbz.
- An earlier version of Phil Phantasm can be seen near the end. He had different shades, brown hair, and lighter skin along with different shirt sleeves on his jacket.
- Near the end of the trailer, an unknown location is shown which could probably either be The Orbit Room.
June
The Urbz 2 was finally redesigned into The Sims 2 for console, except that a few minor changes can be seen.
July
EA: Hot Summer Nights Trailer
On July 14, 2005, the developers of EA Games had a "Hot Summer Nights" event at Redwood Shores, where the headquarters are located. At the event, they had playable demos of The Sims 2 for various platforms and handhelds. According to the article, it was also the time the Creativity Aspiration was introduced into the game.
On the same day, EA Games posted a video to several gaming media websites of The Sims 2 for multiple systems... this time showing not only one, but TWO earlier versions of the video game.
- At some points in the trailer, the HUD switches between a slightly different version of the final one and a seemingly-different variant.
- The earlier HUD resembled the one from Bustin' Out, and had no mugshot of the controlled Sim. Also, the currency is displayed with a dollar sign rather than a Simoleon one.
- The later HUD design lacks the Simoleon symbol, and had less bevel at some parts.
- The house in Rockwell Acres originally had a comic ditherer bookcase, and still had the widescreen television. Though, the sofa was colored orange instead of green.
- The camera intro for the HMS Amore was different, or was probably made for the trailer.
- The HMS Amore had minor layout changes:
- A driving range was present.
- The DJ Set looked slightly different.
- The floorlights still had their earlier appearance.
- A curious spinning sign (likely an earlier version of the Taxi) is present near the entrance, and was changed up in the final version.
When Hector Fromagero was seranading Dina Caliente, his mouth stayed completely closed confirming that facial movements were not yet implemented in the earlier build.
- Betty Buttercup had a black-and-white hat rather than a pink-and-blue one.
- Nelson Longfellow looked slightly younger and wore no glasses.
- The expensive stereo had an earlier appearance.
- The Light Therapy Wall Scone had the same design as seen from the first pre-release screenshots (the final design lacks a light switch).
- Phil Phantasm can be seen dancing next to Ossie Madison, who still had their earlier appearances.
- The location featured at the end of the trailer is unknown, but it's likely presumed to be in The Orbit Room or 8 Rockpile Road.
EA Hot Summer Nights Screenshots
On that same day, EA Games posted six new screenshots.
An earlier rendition of the HMS Amore, likely taken from the earlier build of the trailer.
September
Designer Walkthrough
At the beginning of September, the game was almost complete, and one of the Designers has released a Designer Walkthrough being based around it. While the game is mostly the same, a build date saying "A.09.01.0" can be seen on the bottom left corner at the beginning.
Since the demo version is dated September 9, 2005 and the Designer Walkthrough was released about a week before, it was likely that the build shown in the video were sent to review sites.
