The Sims Online will be host to one of the larger New Years parties. The festivities start December 31st with parties going on all day. Sims will also be given special objects for the day including a top hat and disco ball. Players who "celebrate" by kissing another Sim on the hour will receive not only a mood boost but also 50 simoleons cash. Don't miss out on this opportunity!

From all of us here at SimGlobal we would like to wish all of you a Merry Christmas, and hope you have happy holidays! Thank you for coming to SimGlobal for the past year and a half for the latest news and previews on Maxis' line of Sim games.

Zeve, from the SC4ever.com Forums recently interviewed MaxisJoseph. From that, he gathered the system requirements.

Minimum System Specs
CPU: PIII 500 or equivalent
RAM: 128MB
Video: 16MB supported Direct3D capable video card with DirectX 7.0
compatible driver
Disk Space: 1GB
CD-ROM: 8X or faster

Recommended System Specs
CPU: P4 1GHz or equivalent
RAM: 256MB
Video: 32MB supported Direct3D capable video card with DirectX 7.0
compatible driver
Disk Space: 1GB
CD-ROM: 8X or faster

SimCity.com has six new screens up, featuring images of the daily lives of the sims in SimCity. These new screens include everything from a country club to the neighborhood movie studio. On an unrelated note, Merry Christmas to All SimGlobal visitors and Happy New year, too.

We have updated the SimGlobal style once again, in time for our 1 and a half years on the net celebration. We have made it easier to use as well as better for resolutions less than the recommended 1024 x 768. Along with this, you may also find it better for older browsers with the removal of several old JavaScripts whose time was up. We hope you enjoy the new design, post comments and problems on the forums.

After over a year of working, the SimGlobal.net contact page is up and running. If you wish to contact SimGlobal, no longer email us, but use the contact link to the left. We'll then email you back if your message warrents a reply. This new contact page will greatly reduce junk mail, and help SimGlobal in many ways yet to be discovered.

SimCity 4 just went gold as reported by http://www.bluesnews.com/. The release date of January 14, 2003 will hold. Going gold means that unless Maxis overlooked a major problem, the game is nearly ready for production. It also means that the release date given will be less likely pushed back for any reasons.

Check out some of the 9 news videos posted on Gamespot before they are locked up at http://gamespot.com/gamespot/filters/products/media/0,11100,561176,00.html. These videos are some of the first to show some actual gameplay, raw and unedited.

SimCity.com has added 5 new screenshots to its screenshots area. These new shots feature the new possible business deals in the game, including a missile launch in a residential subdivision. Fun stuff, really. Check out the five new screens over at the SimCity.com screenshot section.

You can now order SimCity 4 on EBWorld.com with a free "Transportation CD" inlcluded. Apparently, this transportation CD includes new types of trains, planes, boats and automobiles that you can actually install into the game, meaning that you can not only add your custom "Sims" and buildings to the game, but you probably be able to create your own vehicles as well. With this as a possibility, it also brings up the question of what else on can create for the game. Trees? Animals? We shall have to wait and see...

Over the next few weeks we will be updating SimGlobal, changing the titles over to our new look as well as updating some of the game pages. Any suggestions for what you want design/content wise can be sent to webmaster@simglobal.net. Also, look for new and different The Sims Online content very soon.

The December SimCity articles have arrived bringing us the latest and greatest on this new game. They are: