Development of The Sims 2 for Mac has reached beta status and is expected to be released in early June for US$49.99, Aspyr Media Inc. said Tuesday.
The Sims 2 is the next trilogy in the continuing computer reality series. In The Sims 2, users control artificial characters, known as sims, through their everyday lives and pass their DNA down from one generation to the next. The sims evolve by genetically passing on physical and personality traits. Users create and play a virtual sitcom by choosing one of five different aspirations -? Popularity, Fortune, Family, Knowledge, and Romance. These aspirations change a Simsi wants and emotions.
Users can create "sim films" with a movie-making feature that lets you set the stage and control the camera.
The game is licensed from Electronic Arts and under development for Mac by Aspyr Studios, Aspyris internal development team.
Company spokeswoman Karri Scott told The Mac Observer Tuesday the game is on schedule for final release "in early June."
System requirements are still preliminary, but Aspyr is currently saying the game will need Mac OS X v10.3.4 or later, a G4/1GHz Mac or faster, 256 megabytes (MB) of RAM, 4.2 gigabytes of hard disk space, a ATI Radeon 8500 or Nvidia GeForce2 MX video card or better with at least 32MB of video memory and a DVD drive.