Aspyr announces The Sims Vacation

by Peter Cohen, MacCentral  

Mac game publisher Aspyr Media today announced plans to publish The Sims Vacation for Macintosh. It's yet another expansion pack for the wildly popular game The Sims.

Published for the PC by Electronic Arts, The Sims Vacation is being brought to the Mac by the folks at Westlake Interactive, who have previously collaborated with Aspyr to bring The Sims and every other expansion pack to the Mac.

The Sims itself is one of the most popular PC games of all time. It's a game of simulated life, where people called Sims go about their daily routine oblivious to your interaction, while you decorate their apartments and homes, help them decide what careers to have, how to interact with others and how to have a good time. The game's add-on packs expand its capabilities, from dating (the recently released Hot Date add-on) to more stuff for your Sims to buy (Livin' Large) and more.

In this add-on, you're able to bring your Sims on vacations to exotic locations like a tropical beach resort, winter lodge or woodland hideaway. Whether the Sims are on a family adventure or a romantic getaway, there's tons to do with this new expansion.

The Sims Vacation incorporates more than 125 new items like the Snowman and the Camping Tent, and a variety of new activities. There are new people as well, like the Vacation Director, the Yeti, the Archer and the Beach Shark. Just like real life, there's a darker side to things too -- you'll have to watch for pickpockets, out of control kids, "a serious case of Montezuma's Revenge" and other pitfalls that might mar your Sims' vacation memories.

Preliminary system requirements call for Mac OS 8.6 or higher (including Mac OS X), PowerPC G3/233MHz or faster, 192MB RAM, 600MB free hard drive space, ATI RAGE Pro or better graphics system with at least 4MB video memory.