GAMES
The Sims 4 High School Years Expansion Pack is Here
Welcome to an exciting school year at Copperdale High!
Copperdale is an ideal place to realize your high school dreams, explore your identity, and test boundaries as you make friends, experience iconic teenage moments, and grow into the Sim you want to be. Located on the banks of Lake LaSuli, this former mining town features seven lots built by The Sims 4 community creators including MsGryphi, who built the combination thrift store/boba hangout ThrifTea; xfreezerbunnyx, who built the library; and JOL1990, who built the principal’s mansion.
Blaze Trails Through High School
Teenage life in Copperdale revolves around the high school. It’s where your teen Sims will form lifelong friendships, develop their first crushes, choose their favorite extracurricular activities, and graduate to adulthood.
Teen Sims will attend class, hang out with friends, enjoy lunch in the cafeteria, take weekly exams, and maybe try to skip class and earn themselves a detention (watch out for the principal) during school hours. Then, after school, students can attend events like the science fair or participate in activities like football, cheerleading, chess, and computer club.
The extracurriculars your Sims can join include both clubs and teams like football or cheer. At these activities teen Sims will practice skill related activities, participate in competitions, and experience the thrill of victory (and the bitter sting of defeat) alongside their teammates.
Young love is also very much in the air. Your Sims will feel the flutters that come with teenage crushes and maybe work up the courage to ask the object of their affections out – or they could get lucky and their crush could make the first move! Of course, the flip side of this is the angst of unrequited feelings or first ever breakups.
Pro tip: Plumbite Pier – the local amusement park – is the perfect date spot!
Stir Things Up with Pranks and Fashion
Spice up your teen Sims life by letting them get into a bit of trouble. In High School Years there is more potential than ever for teen Sims to explore their mischievous sides by pulling pranks. They might mark up the whiteboard, leave a stink capsule in someone’s locker, or tamper with the school’s PA system! Just be careful not to get caught. While pulling successful pranks will increase a Sim’s mischief skill, being discovered will have consequences and may lead to trust issues.
Teen Sims can also have fun hanging out in their bedrooms, sitting cross-legged on their beds together, or even having pillow fights. Or, if they’re sick of being cooped up, they can sneak out of the house after curfew using The E Window and Trellis Ladder, which will let them climb down the side of the house and escape for a night of fun (again, try not to get caught).
Fashion has always been a huge part of The Sims because it is the ultimate form of self-expression. A collaboration with Depop will give your teen Sims even more styles to discover with looks designed by real-world Depop sellers Jeremy Salazar, Sha’an d’Anthes, Lapoze McTribouy, Selena Williams, and Bella McFadden.
Sports Stars, Prom Royalty, and Valedictorians
Every high school experience requires two key events: prom and graduation.
Prom is the most exciting, if anxiety-inducing, night of many teen Sims’ high school years. To prepare they can present a promposal sign to their crush, choose the perfect outfit, have friends over to get ready, and vote for prom royalty. Dance routines, music, snacks, and more are all within your control as the player.
The graduation ceremony is the big event marking a Sim’s transition to adulthood. To prepare, Sims will invite guests, decide on their outfits, and even get gifts for their school friends and favorite teachers.
It’s time to experience the rollercoaster of puberty, the drama of first love, and the journey of self-discovery with The Sims 4 High School Years Expansion.
The Sims™ 4 High School Years Expansion Pack
Electronic Arts
$39.99
$35.99
Be a good (or bad) student, join a club, start a trend, and make the most of being a teenager with The Sims™ 4 High School Years Expansion Pack*! Navigate iconic teenage experiences like attending prom, pulling pranks, experimenting with identity and trends, and forming friendships and rivalries at extracurricular events. There’s a lot to do before graduation – teen Sims can attend class, interact with teachers, and even earn money as style influencers or streamers! Purchase through September 8 to get bonus items for your streaming set up.
KEY FEATURES
Vibing Streamer Gear — Transform your bedroom into a gaming paradise, streaming studio, or a platform to influence trends with a new gaming chair, wireless speaker, and LED panels when you order through September 8**.
Experience High School — Experience all the ups and downs of high school. Attend classes in person, get to know your teachers, hang out in the cafeteria, and even decorate your locker! Your most treasured moments might happen while loitering around with your friends after school.
Iconic Teen Moments — Dance the night away at prom and celebrate your graduation ceremony (if you keep up with your schoolwork!). In addition to those big moments, Sims can make lifelong friends, be asked out by other teens, participate in after-school activities and teams, and experience the rollercoaster of puberty.
Shake Things Up — High school is a time of self-discovery! Find the confidence to ask your crush out or the guts to skip class (don’t let the principal catch you). Teen Sims will explore their own likes and dislikes, and have new opportunities to cause mischief. Pranks and sneaking out after dark can have consequences, so be careful you don’t get caught.
Explore Your Style — Make your bedroom your own, plan outfits with clothes designed by Depop sellers, and become a Simfluencer! Teen Sims can earn money by selling outfits and hyping up looks they design on Trendi right from their bedrooms, which are now more interactive than ever. Use a tablet, read a book in bed, or even have a pillow fight!
*REQUIRES THE SIMS 4 (SOLD SEPARATELY) AND ALL GAME UPDATES.
**Conditions and restrictions apply. See https://www.ea.com/games/the-sims/the-sims-4/packs/expansion-packs/the-sims-4-high-school-years for details.
The Sims™ 4
Electronic Arts
$19.99
$17.99
New Look, Same Great Content
Unleash your imagination and create a unique world of Sims that’s an expression of you! Explore and customize every detail from Sims to homes, and much more. Choose how Sims look, act, and dress, then decide how they’ll live out each day. Design and build incredible homes for every family, then decorate with your favorite furnishings and décor. Travel to different neighborhoods where you can meet other Sims and learn about their lives. Discover beautiful locations with distinctive environments and go on spontaneous adventures. Manage the ups and downs of Sims’ everyday lives and see what happens when you play out scenarios from your own real life! Tell your stories your way while developing relationships, pursuing careers and life aspirations, and immersing yourself in this extraordinary game, where the possibilities are endless. Play with life!
Create Unique Sims – A variety of Sims are yours to personalize, each with distinct appearances, dynamic personalities, and inspiring aspirations. Use powerful customization features to bring your imagination to life. Create yourself, your favorite celebrities, your fantasy, or your friends! Change your Sims’ clothing to reflect your mood, develop stories that deepen your world, and give their lives purpose with traits and aspirations.
Build the Perfect Home – Effortlessly build and design ideal homes for your Sims using Build Mode. Construct the home of your – and their – dreams by planning its layout, choosing furnishings, and altering the landscape and terrain. You can even add a pool, basement, and garden, or rebuild with new ideas and designs!
Explore Vibrant Worlds – Travel between locations, discover amazing and distinctive neighborhoods, and encounter captivating venues. Your Sims can visit new communities to expand their social circle, hang out with friends, or throw unforgettable parties.
Play with Life – Control the rich and entertaining moments of your Sims’ lives from their relationships to their careers. Your choices shape every aspect of their lives from birth, to being a toddler, and into adulthood. Along the way, develop your Sims’ skills, pursue original hobbies, take them on adventures, start new families, and much more.
Add New Experiences – Use the Gallery to find inspiration from a community of players just like you, where you can add content to your game or share your own creations. Download, like, and comment on your favorite Sims, homes, and fully-designed rooms. Join the community, join the fun!
©2019 Electronic Arts Inc. EA, the EA logo, Maxis, the Maxis logo, The Sims and The Sims Plumbob design are trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc.
*CONDITIONS AND RESTRICTIONS APPLY. SEE WWW.EA.COM/LEGAL FOR DETAILS.
GAMES
This Week’s Deals with Gold and Spotlight Sale
GAMES
The German Empire Marches to Italy in a Free Expansion Today
We have a new expansion for our WW1 Italian Front FPS game Isonzo releasing today! It’s the first part of our Caporetto season of free expansions, and features a whole new faction with the arrival of the German Empire on the Italian Front, and brings a new map for the Offensive game mode. There will be two more releases in the Caporetto season, each one with a new map to ultimately link together into a three map Caporetto Offensive.
The German faction comes with more than ten new weapons, as well as historically accurate uniforms and equipment. This first Caporetto map sees you taking part in the early stages of the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo, with German troops assaulting Italian positions on the road to Caporetto. Historically it was a military disaster for Italy which brought down the government – but maybe things can go differently with you on the battlefield?
The update sees new uniforms and equipment from the German Empire for Isonzo’s six classes: Rifleman, Assault, Engineer, Officer, Marksman and Mountaineer. For those who aren’t familiar with the game, each class has different weapon, gear and perk options that allow you to specialize your play style within the overall focus of the class. For instance, Marksmen are always sharpshooters, but a lot depends on your loadout. You could be a long-range sniper and observer identifying and eliminating high value targets with a scoped rifle, or you could equip body armor to take and hold a front line position with deadly accurate mid-range fire. Every class has choices to make in this regard.
In Isonzo’s signature Offensive game mode, one side must attack and break through multiple defensive lines. Thick layers of barbed wire, trenches, and whatever extra defenses the enemy engineers put together will stand in the way of a successful attack. Objectives can be taking and holding key points, or planting dynamite to sabotage enemy supply stashes or heavy artillery guns.
The new Caporetto map – the first of three in the season – is a huge battlefield based on the strategically important Monte Kolovrat. There are five defensive lines, where each line has two objectives for the attackers before they can advance further. While in the historical Battle of Caporetto both German and Austro-Hungarian forces were involved, in Isonzo we’ve chosen to focus on the German contribution, so the map recreates the stunning German advance from the town of Tolmein all the way to Kolovrat Ridge. It’s a damp, overcast day when the attack begins, and the attackers must first cut their way through lines of wire to break into a devastated town – including capturing a church defended by multiple heavy machine gun positions. Fortunately, in Isonzo there are many tactical options available to deal with such strong points: artillery barrages, smokescreens, snipers, rifle grenades, even poison gas. From there, it becomes a literal uphill battle for the German attackers as they begin to climb towards the peak of Kolovrat Ridge. They’ll need to sabotage bunkers and capture command posts while navigating rocky trenches and steep forested slopes. At the penultimate fourth defensive line there is a huge siege mortar to sabotage and a cluster of houses providing cover to the Italian defenders – then it’s one last climb to reach the final objective: Hill 1114. If the Germans can take it, the Italians will finally be the ones fighting uphill as their reinforcements stream in to try and counterattack.
Of course, things are no walk in the park for the defenders either – although it’s easier to maneuver when going downhill, and it’s much simpler for officers to deploy flares to call in support, the extensive trench lines can become a liability once the Germans get a foothold, providing cover as they advance. Some of the Italian defensive positions can be exposed against the sky, making it easy for German marksmen to pick off targets. Italian engineers should make good use of their construction abilities to put down additional sandbags and lay out extra wire to prevent German assault troops sneaking through the trees to flank trenches with their grenades or light machine guns.
As we mentioned before, historically the Battle of Caporetto was a disaster for the Italians. Appalling leadership led to poorly motivated and unprepared troops falling apart in the face of the combined Austro-Hungarian and German armies using cutting edge infiltration tactics. The Italian soldiers were not allowed to retreat until too late, and in the end hundreds of thousands would surrender. After Caporetto the top Italian general was fired and replaced by someone far more competent, who managed to turn the war around for the Italians. In Isonzo, it’s a more fair fight where both sides have an equal chance of winning, if they can use all the tactical options available better than their opponents.
The release will also bring other improvements to the game, including a prestige mode and higher level cap. Additionally, for those who want more options for visual customization of their character, the Royal Units DLC is releasing alongside the free expansion and contains uniforms from the German Kingdoms of Bavaria and Württemberg. Though part of the German Empire, these states had their own distinctive uniforms which we’ve carefully recreated with the same accuracy and attention to detail as with the other uniforms in the game.
The Battle for Caporetto Begins…
Isonzo is available right now on the Microsoft Store for Xbox, and the free Caporetto expansion is out today! Plenty of time to master the art of mountain warfare before the German Empire joins the action on the Italian Front. Follow us to get the latest development news as we add the finishing touches!
We’ll see you in the trenches!
Isonzo
BlackMill Games
$29.99
World War One expands to the mountains of the Italian Front – beautiful but deadly in equal measure. Inspired by the two year struggle for control of the Isonzo river valley and the Alps during World War One, Isonzo elevates the WW1 Games Series, figuratively and literally.
From the makers of Verdun and Tannenberg…
Take part in historical offensives from the Sixth Battle of the Isonzo to the Strafexpedition. Reflecting the course of the actual battles, as the attackers advance the fighting will shift through vastly different landscapes within a single offensive: from hillside fortresses to mountain trenches and fierce urban combat on city streets. Everything is recreated based on research and field trips, from sound effects and uniforms down to the houses, vineyards and trenches you’ll be fighting over.
The new Offensive game mode puts you right in the middle of key historical offensives on the Italian Front. Lead the charge across stunning Italian landscapes as you choose your path to victory – cut paths through barbed wire, flank your enemies by following mountain trails, or man a mortar to blast a way through. Shape a dynamic battlefield by laying sandbags and wire, placing ammo crates, deploying trench periscopes or sniper shields, and more.
Call in support with a unique historically accurate flare system: flare guns can mark targets for artillery or biplane flybys, or different colored flares can be used to guide your team. Once the big guns have softened up the enemy, finish the job at close quarters with an Arditi dagger or mountaineer’s pickaxe. Man heavy machine guns, mortars and even mountain guns for more direct fire support.
Choose from six classes based on historical combat roles and build your loadout from a selection of weapons, equipment and perks linked to that class, giving flexibility and variety while staying grounded in what real soldiers might have carried. You’ll be operating wire cutters, bandaging yourself and wounded teammates, and blowing the whistle to start an assault. One shot can kill and even lighter injuries can lead to quickly bleeding out.
Being an effective soldier in Isonzo is not just about being a good marksman. Mastering the terrain is also key – the mountain can be a friend or foe. Learn how to navigate well to maintain cover and surprise your enemies or support your allies.
Finally… watch out for the dreaded poison gas. You’ve never experienced WW1 action quite like this!
Isonzo key features include:
• MOUNTAIN WARFARE: Assaulting mountain fortifications, battling through ruined towns, and fording rivers are just a few of the challenges you’ll face as you fight your way through numerous enemy positions
• TACTICAL MULTIPLAYER FPS: Choose your role and loadout carefully to survive this high altitude combat – play a sniper to pick off the enemy engineers before they can cut your wire, use rifle grenades to clear enemy machine guns, and much more
• WORLD WAR ONE GAMEPLAY: Historical Offensive game mode based on real battles and focused on the unique challenges of Alpine warfare. Fight with 30+ WW1 weapons, poisonous gas attacks, and intense artillery barrages
• BUILD FOR VICTORY: Place your own wire, sandbags, trench periscopes, and more! Whether you’re digging in or on the attack, shaping the battlefield to your advantage will be key to victory
• FACES OF WAR: Make every class your own by picking from a variety of historically class-appropriate uniforms, accessories and headgear. As a finishing touch, you can even pick your mustache from several famous period-accurate styles!
• AUTHENTIC WW1 ATMOSPHERE: Accuracy in everything from maps and weaponry to music and the uniforms – fight for the Kingdom of Italy, the German Empire or the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy
MORE GAMES IN THE AUTHENTIC WW1 GAME SERIES
Immerse yourself in more WW1 action with our other standalone titles Tannenberg and Verdun. Experience trench warfare on the Western Front in Verdun, or maneuver for control of key sectors in Tannenberg on the Eastern Front. These authentic WW1 shooters let players choose from a range of squads from across the war, as they fight for control of the ever-changing frontlines.
GAMES
Transport Fever 2: Console Edition is Bringing the Full Transport Tycoon Experience to Xbox
Today, we proudly share a sneak peek into the development of Transport Fever 2: Console Edition, and how we managed to bring the full transport tycoon experience to Xbox.
Transport Fever is a very popular and highly rated transportation tycoon franchise on PC. Its latest entry, Transport Fever 2, delivers a level of size and detail never before seen in the genre. The goal of the game is to build a successful transportation company by constructing railroads, streets, water and air lines. Starting in the 19th century, the player connects towns and industries to transport both passengers and cargo. In addition to a customizable free game mode, there is also a fully-fledged campaign mode with challenging missions set in real-world transportation history.
After the huge success of Transport Fever 2 on PC, it was only logical to bring the experience to consoles as well. Not only that, but no efforts were spared to give the console community the full experience that made the game great on PC. In order to achieve this, the engineers at Urban Games had to pull some rabbits out of their engineers’ hats.
Always providing the freshest layer of paint
One of the most cherished features of Transport Fever 2 are its highly detailed vehicles. The game comes with more than 200 lovingly hand-modeled trains, ships, and airplanes, each sporting multiple 4k textures and normal maps.
On PC, it is easily affordable to have all the models and textures in memory whenever needed, as a typical rig has 16 GB of RAM and a GPU with a dedicated extra memory. Consoles, however, are built differently. They have a unified architecture with an overall smaller amount but ultra-fast memory. The key to make it work on consoles is texture streaming, which allows to clear textures of models that are not in view anymore. Moreover, this technology is used in Transport Fever 2 to constantly load textures at the highest affordable resolution to present the stars of the show, like the classic Class A 3/5 steam locomotive, in their best coat of paint at all times.
Keeping the ground like a console pro
A trademark of Transport Fever 2 are its huge maps. During development of the game, it was always paramount to provide a real sense of scale. The engine should allow for maps where a high-speed train, such as the famous Japanese Shinkansen, can really make use of its superior speed. So, a lot of effort was put into designing a highly effective terrain rendering pipeline that can handle maps of more than 120 sq miles of size with a detail resolution of almost 1 yard. Central to this is a dynamic terrain tessellation algorithm on the CPU that, while costing a bit of extra memory, makes sure the engine can render these maps on a wide variety of PCs.
Now, enter the world of consoles with their incredibly well-designed GPUs and graphic APIs. Here, the hardware can be leveraged very well for terrain rendering by making use of the GPU tessellation feature. This feature generates the render mesh for the terrain fully on the graphics card, saving valuable processing time for the complex economy and city growth simulations. While generating more triangles, the hardware approach still costs less memory overall due to its efficiency. So vast maps can be viewed from a bird’s view high up in the sky and seamlessly zoomed in down to individual rocks on a riverbank.
Inspiring the inner architect
Finally, let’s talk about constructions, a central and defining part of the Transport Fever 2 experience. Constructions are large assemblies that consist of dozens of assets, street segments, ground decals and terrain modifications. Think of structures like airports, train stations, docks, highway crossings, and many more. Anything that is needed to build a vast transportation empire.
For a smooth construction experience, it is key that the player really feels that he has precise control over the building placement. On PC, constructions are typically built using the mouse. As the average PC user is very well adjusted to this method of input, it is sufficiently performant to calculate the entire construction each frame and place it under the cursor. However, on consoles, the best way of building constructions is to have them always kept in the center of the screen and move the camera along the map for placement. And moving the camera needs to be as smooth as silk.
So, for the console release of Transport Fever 2, the construction preview pipeline was overhauled. All dynamic calculations are now performed in the background while a static preview of the structure and its underlying ground plan are shown. Not only are constructions now completely stable in terms of FPS, but they also give feedback to the player on what environment features the construction would tear down when built.
Let’s get tycooning on console
We are very excited to bring the Transport Fever franchise to consoles for the first time ever with the release of Transport Fever 2: Console Edition on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One in February 2023, and we hope you will enjoy it as much as we did developing it.
-
WORDPRESS6 days ago
Turkish startup ikas attracts $20M for its e-commerce platform designed for small businesses
-
PPC7 days ago
31 Ready-to-Go Mother’s Day Messages for Social Media, Email, & More
-
PPC6 days ago
A History of Google AdWords and Google Ads: Revolutionizing Digital Advertising & Marketing Since 2000
-
MARKETING5 days ago
Roundel Media Studio: What to Expect From Target’s New Self-Service Platform
-
SEARCHENGINES6 days ago
Google Search Results Can Be Harmful & Dangerous In Some Cases
-
SEO5 days ago
Google Limits News Links In California Over Proposed ‘Link Tax’ Law
-
MARKETING6 days ago
Unlocking the Power of AI Transcription for Enhanced Content Marketing Strategies
-
SEARCHENGINES5 days ago
Daily Search Forum Recap: April 12, 2024
You must be logged in to post a comment Login