A recent IGN FAQ post details which astrological signs are the most compatible together in The Sims. Whether or not these relations hold true for The Sims 2 is unknown, however, it is certainly a good resource for sim players who do not own any of the strategy guides.

The San Francisco Chronicle is running an interesting article detailing how more and more computer games are making their way into the classroom, including SimCity and The Sims 2. The major advantage for the students comes in the exposure that it gives them to technology, something becoming a requirement in the modern business world. Playing SimCity 4 would certainly beat the Oregon Trail!

EA is reporting that The Sims 2 Open for Business just went Gold (http://www.dailygame.net/news/archives/005279.php), and it is expected to hit store shelves on March 2nd. That leaves more than enough time for CD replication, and we wouldn't be surprised if it arrived a little early.

Happy Valentines Day from all of us at SimGlobal!

Inside Mac Games is reporting that Aspyr has updated to show that The Sims 2 Nightlife for Mac has hit Alpha status, meaning the game is in its first playable form. This is definitely a good sign, showing that development of the game is on track, however, we are still skeptical of a March release. This is partly due to the fact that the system requirements (which are typically listed "4-6 weeks before the game ships") are nowhere in sight.

On the other side of the format fence, The Sims 2 Nightlife patch (version 1.2.0.355) has arrived and can be found at 3D Gamers.

The NPD Group has released a listing of the top 10 games for 2005. Taking in 3 top spots, The Sims 2 University, The Sims 2 and The Sims 2 Nightlife took the number 2, 3 and 7 spots respectively. The venerable The Sims Deluxe came in at the number 9 spot, an amazing feat for a game that turned 5 last year (although The Sims Deluxe did not appear until 2002). Unfortunately the article does not give any specific sales numbers, although it seems as thought the only other top game for EA was Battlefield 2.

Speaking at The Entertainment Gathering in Los Angeles, Will Wright discussed how Spore will allow users a new level of exchange of in-game content. You can find the article in full at ShackNews. The Washington Post also has a piece on The Entertainment Gathering with further detail, Evolving in the Virtual World.

With production of The Sims 2 Nightlife Mac shifting into high gear, Aspyr has opened up a The Sims 2 Nightlife page on their website to feature the game. At the moment their is nothing beyond what we already know about Nightlife on the page, however it will be the place to check up on in the near future for the minimum required specifications. As to how Nightlife will interface with the OSX86 version on the game (the patched version of The Sims 2 for Intel Mac's) we do not yet know. You can view the minisite at http://www.aspyr.com/games.php/mac/nightlife/.