Attached Link: http://mediaviewer.ign.com/ignMediaPage.jsp?media_id=1723203&object_id=564180&channel_id=59&page_ti

Slightly OT, but bear with me... That biggest of all game phenomenons is getting an overhaul. Yup, Maxis have announced "The Sims 2" (quicktime link above) and it really looks incredible. It's a full 3D engine, complete with working hands and facial expressions. It has "digital DNA" which allows your sims appearance to be inherited by your children, (that's right children...) Female sims get pregnant, big belly and all, and have babies, they grow up, become teenagers, get jobs, get married, the parents grow old and die... If you thought Poser and the first Sims was addictive this one promises to be even more so. I don't imagine the models will be as hires even as Posette, but I imagine it's only matter of time, untill they are. The success of the first took them by surprise, and gave them problems with later upgrades. I don't image they'll make the same mistake with this one. Just think, at some point in the not too distant future you might be able to build your own character in Poser, convert it, and then play it in the Sims, in glorious fully lighsourced, 3D. This link will take you to a page with many more articles and pictures: http://pub11.ezboard.com/fsimsliceforums55306frm1.showMessageRange?topicID=3364.topic&start=1&stop=20 The images have to be seen to be believed, nowhere near as hires as poser at the moment, (probably p2-p3 quality models) but the overall effect is incredible. Especially the pizza... :) Given the chance how many would want to put thier poser characters into a game? later jb

That Pizza just made me feel really hungry lol

Oh crap! I'm still addicted to the first one :)

"maxis" & "matrix". coincidency? ;)

Game characters are edging ever closer to Poser's level of detail. It'll be a few more years before the polycounts match Posette and the P4 Male, but I've been watching footage of the upcoming Half-Life 2, and what Valve is doing with eyes, lipsync, and facial expressions for the main characters is nothing short of amazing, especially when you remember it's all generated in realtime.

Link to movies (check out videos 3dn and 4dn, particularly)

Doom 3 doesn't look shabby, either.

Attached Link: http://www.cscentral.com/image.php?img=hl2/screenshots/Halflife22.jpg&title=Half-Life%202

have you noticed shadow inconsistency with this pic? the guy on the street casts shadow differently then the houses. but nonetheless, i like it! ;)

I hadn't been looking at the screenshots, just the videos, but you're right. The shdows of the characters (humans and vehicles) do not match the shadows of the architecture. Odd. Incredibly detailed, though. I'm looking forward to September.

The shadows of the buildings are probably generated by one single light in the scene.. and the character shadows are probably chosen by the light they are closest to.

unfortunatly SIMS crashes my machine... don't have the slightest idea why since I have more than enough RAM and everything else. But once I start a game, around 40 minutes in the characters lose their clothing and then it crashes. Had to reinstall XP twice because of it. Too bad because I really liked the game.

Lots of people having probs with the Sims unfortunatly, mine is now.. running... not smoothly.. but at least it works, if I spend more then roughly an hour downtown or in oldtowne.. bam.. lockup forced restart. Have you installed all the patches Farside?

Looks like this is going onto my christmas want list this year.

Poserverse The New Home for NYGUY's Freebies

Unleased is a problem child apparently, but that one seemed oriented to the female market, (I don't have pets for a reason :) so why would I want on in the sims :) Checkout simslice.com, for some unofficial patches that might fix your problems. Having said that, it could be a bad mesh, have you got the filecop? Checks your downloads etc. for duff files, some of those will kill the game stone dead... later jb

Can you play the sims on-line with other people from around the world???

Finally sims catches up other life sims...heh..makes me want to put creatures back on my system...

Tirjasdyn
http://michellejnorton.com

The biggest problem with games not having the same poly count has to do with the engine... it's damned hard to real-time render an entire 3D environment, and animated models, and flying weapons/bodyparts/explosions, and do it all with any accuracy, in spite of the fact that everything involved in the typical 3D game involves set animations (run, walk, crouch, fire, etc etc.) In spite of that, things are coming along very nicely. Also, folks are adding goodies like deformable terrain, true particle acceleration, fog, smoke, flames, a reactive environment overall, etc. Also, lighting is to the point where raytracing on-the-fly is almost practical. So what's holding us back from melding Poser chars into a game? Well, the users for one - not everyone can run out and buy a Radeon 9500 Pro, a P4/3.06GHz chip and mobo set, or the 1.5GB of RAM and 80GB hard drive that seems to be a base requirement for these high-end games. I am fully confident that a full-on game engine that can easily use Vicky/Mike Lo-Res (10-15k polys) on the fly are not only possible, but are prolly being tinkered with right now. OTOH, you gotta pay the bills and sell games, and not every one of your potential customers has a monster box... this consideration is what tends to hold games makers back. Therefore, the real gee-whiz stuff gets shelved. The one big reason why Counterstrike and The Sims are the most-played games out there has more to do with compatibility on older boxes than with cutting-edge eye-candy. Most LAN parties (while admittedly shooter-centric) involve a few extremely hopped-up computers, but the majority of boxes are run-of-the-mill Frankenboxes, computers usually cobbled together on a budget, and likely from used parts (esp. the server.) Given this, we'd better get comfortable... it'll prolly be a couple of years before we can simply drop in Posette and give her a rocket launcher - in spite of progress thus far. (to give you an idea of progress, Quake 2 (1997) could only handle 800 polys per character, and that was pushing it. Quake 3 (2000) can handle 1,100 polys per model maximum, but UT 2003 (err, 2003) can deal with 2,500 polys per model easily. Unreal2 (2003) is supposed to handle 10,000 polys per model in the cut-scenes, and 3,500 otherwise.) /P

Attached Link: http://thesims.ea.com/us/

Macmullin, Sims Online is a entirly different game them The Sims. ATM there's; 1. The Sims. With expansion packs; Living Largre, House Party, Hot Date, Vacation, Unleased & Superstar. There's also a DeLuxe version, basicaly the original game with some extras. 2. The Sims Online, roughly hte Sims, but with different gameplay tailored to online play, last I hearded the srevers are full of jackasses, can't speak of personal experiance as I never tought the idea to be atractive. This game needs an aditioonal monthly fee to play like most online games of this nature. 3. The Sims (video game console version) A brand new game in 3d with a career option, but a less atantion to building and such (can only have one floor buildings etc.) Nice for a while but doesn't compare to the original, 2p mode is fun, I rented it.