The Intel Macs have arrived, the Intel iMac shipping to users this very moment. However, those considering a new Intel Mac for their gaming needs might want to take a step back and consider the performance issues they will face. A detailed article on the subject of Rosetta run games at The Mac Observer discusses that players of The Sims 2 can expect a Universal Binary patch that will take care of the current sluggishness. However, as to whether or not a patch will arrive for SimCity 4 is as of yet unknown, with Aspyr primarily issuing these patches for games "that have performance or stability issues".

From just over six months ago: Intel Apples and The Sims

Several articles are reporting that two game design companies (Gamma Ray and Feng Zhu Design) listed The Sims 3 as one of the projects that they are currently working for for Electronic Arts. EA responded that until there are any official announcements, any speculation is premature. Clearly EA doesn't want The Sims 2 to lose any value yet as they can probably squeeze another 3-4 expansion packs out of it. It is highly likely that these two companies are doing preliminary work for the game, although it would be early to assume that there are actual working models yet. Instead it is more feasible that they are creating graphics models of what the game might look like, rather than actual working models.

You can read about this major news at IGN.com and EuroGamer.net. The discovery at Feng Zhu was originally made by the Sim2Network.

Aspyr just announced that The Sims 2 Nightlife Expansion Pack will be heading to Mac. The expansion pack is expected to be shipping in March. You can find the full details in the Macworld UK article. Presumably since Aspyr is continuing developement of Mac expansion packs for The Sims 2, we can look for The Sims Open for Business for Mac in the coming months as well.

An article over at Gamasutra discusses that a mod for Spore is already in the works that will allow Spore creatures to mate in explicit manners. The mod, aptly named "Sporgy" brings up memories of the controversy brought up by the original The Sims nude patch, or the early SimCopter men kissing easter egg.

Disclaimer: The feature that mentions "Sporgy" is explicit in certain descriptions and therefore in consideration of any younger audience we label it "M" for Mature audiences only (17+). You can view it at http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20060116/ruberg_01.shtml.

TheSims2.com had a couple of news blurbs today, the first giving notice that there will be an Open for Business chat on January 19th at 3pm (Thursday), with more details on that here. Also noted was a special on GameSpy, The SimPrentice Part 1, which gives a pretty interesting look into the game's business characteristics.

A recent article at GamePro.com details some interesting numbers of the most popular BitTorrent downloads from several format catagories (PC, PS2, XBox, PSP, ect), showing that in the PSP catagory The Sims 2 was the most popular game with nearly 40,000 downloads since December 9th. Now while these numbers come from only one BitTorrent trakcing site, it seems that they are probably indicative of The Sims 2 PSP popularity, with the next game, GTA: Liberty City Stories, only garnering 7,692 downloads since mid-November.

An interesting article over at Gamasutra details the analysis made by SIG Susquehanna Financial Group's Video Game Journal on the viability of certain upcoming games. Looking at EA, the Journal apparently made mention of Spore with little details as to how the game would sell, Gamasutra noting that "As for Spore, the game's highly unique nature leads the SIG analysts to hold off on predictions entirely." Similar situations occured before the releases of The Sims and The Sims Online, where game analysts were simply unable to predict how succesful the games would be, with The Sims booming and The Sims Online failing.

It seems as though the SimCity tips and hints hotline referenced in the SimCity 4 Deluxe version's installation guide has nothing to do with the game at all, but instead connects callers to a sex hotline. The full story at The Herald News describes how the number was discovered to be an explicit one. Electronic Arts said that they were unaware of the situation but are looking into it. As this is the first complaint of this nature it is likely that at some point the hotline worked for SimCity, although EA has not commented on whether or not they still maintain a SimCity 4 hotline.

Using the Snocap digital registry to ensure that the music's copyright is respected, EA and Nettwerk Music Group are now allowing users to get ahold of the tunes from their favorite games including The Sims 2. It seems that of the music Mark Mothersbaugh created for The Sims 2 and its expansion packs can purchased for 99 cents a track. You can find the full story at GameDaily.

Gamasutra currently has a very interesting feature that discusses the online collaboration that helped create the music for The Sims 2 GBA/DS. While traditionally game creators were limited in those they could choose to create their music simply by distance, online tools that now share not only text but also voice and video allow for collaboration with artists who live far away from the programmers. Now it is a simple matter for game artists to bring their music together using the internet and even coordinate recordings digitally.

It seems as though the UK version of The Sims 2 official website (http://thesims2.eagames.co.uk/) is going to be hosting a chat with Tim LeTourneau tonight at 7pm. You can find the full details on the forum post, although who can join the chat is still vague. Remember it is 7pm (1900) GMT, meaning that viewers in the US will have to log on earlier.

Will Wright has a busy schedule in front of him for early 2006. First, he will be speaking on "Good vs. Evil" at the D.I.C.E. Summit (Design Innovation Creativity Entertain) held by the Academy of Arts and Sciences, February 9, 2006. Then it March it seems that he will be heading out to the GDC (Game Developers Conference), although the details on his participation there are more sparse.

A column by Marc Saltzman that has been published in several online publications details some of the most anticipated games of 2006, starting with Spore. You can find the article on USAToday.com.

SimCity 3000 is still the city modelling game of choice for the venerable Future City competition that encourages 7th and 8th grade students to "present their vision of a city." An article here from Hampton, VA describes this year's challenge to rebuild and revitalize cities like New Orleans. Whether or not the competition will move onto SimCity 4 in future years is difficult to say, as SimCity 4 brings in many micromangement aspects that may complicate the competition (eg, adjusting specific schook budgets).

EA has just fully recognized The Sims 2 Open for Business expansion pack in a press release which you can view here. While EA did not give a release date, it looks that we can expect it February 28th according to the game's Amazon.com page where you can also pre-order the game.

Well, if you have a look at Amazon.com's top wishlist items for 2005, you will see that The Sims 2 made it in for the Computer Games catagory. Meanwhile, GameDAILY has an article detailing the most anticipated games for 2006, which of course includes a snippet on Spore. Here's to another year filled with Maxis inspired Sim-goodness!