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The Urbz: Sims In The City (Also simply titled "The Urbz") is a game that was released on November 9th, 2004 for the Sony Playstation 2, Microsoft Xbox, Nintendo Gamecube, Nintendo DS and Nintendo Gameboy Advance. Versions for the Nokia NGage, Sega Dreamcast, Microsoft Windows and the Playstation Portable were in development, but all cancelled due to various reasons, which can be found below.

The game was planned to start a sub series for The Sims, where multiple titles had been planned. Due to low sales, the sequel that was under development at the time, and all plans for later sequels, were scrapped.

edit] Development

edit] Console Version (PS2,PSP,GC,DC,XBOX) - 2000-2004 ( Released - 2004 ) (Maxis)



Starting development in the year 2000, only a mere few months after the original The Sims released, Electronic Arts, due to the massive success of The Sims, wanted to bring the game to the at the time, ever growing console market. Electronic Arts, rather than do a port, decided to have Maxis develop a spinoff of The Sims, which was intended to be a sub series in order to bring in more profit. The Urbz was intended to launch originally on the Playstation 2 and Sega Dreamcast in 2001, although they decided to make versions for the Xbox and Gamecube after they were announced, and eventually a version for the PSP as well once it was announced. The game eventually entered "Development Hell", due to several reasons:

1. Maxis and EA lost profit due to the cancellation of Simsville in late 2001.

2. EA dropped support for the Sega Dreamcast, which stalled development.

3. Maxis, having less than 200 developers at the time, was broken up in 3 groups. (1 group to focus on The Urbz, another to focus on The Sims 2 and another to focus on The Sims 1 Expansions).

Due to this, the game would undergo numerous internal delays. Originally expected to be released in late 2001 as the first Sims title on consoles, EA contracted with Edge Of Reality to port The Sims to console, beating Maxis to it, where The Sims for console would be released in early 2003. Due to moderate success of The Sims for console, EA wanted to further experiment with The Sims for console, and due to the final Sims expansion pack releasing in late 2003, EA merged both teams working on The Urbz and The Sims 1 expansions, to focus on console versions of the games. One team focused on The Urbz, and the other, focused on The Sims console sequel, which would release in late 2003 after being developed for an impressive 5-6 months using the engine created by Edge of Reality for the first console game. Eventually, The Urbz would finally release in 2004 on the PS2, Xbox and Gamecube. A version of the game was planned for PSP, but cancelled due to low sales of the console game. EA released a sales total, stating the console version sold an estimated 2.4 Million copies, which was under their required sales numbers of 5.0 Million copies, which is what cancelled future versions and sequels.

A beta PS2 version of the game was uncovered by Video Game Beta Book and shown on the official youtube channel.





edit] Windows Version (Windows) - 2003-2004 - ( Cancelled ) (NuFX/EA Chicago)

In March 2003, EA wanted the game to not only launch as intended on just consoles, they wanted the planned Urbz sub series to be on PC as well.

Electronic Arts then had NuFx, a chicago game developer, start development of the PC version. This version would be the version used for most of the trailers and promotional releases due to Electronic Arts feeling the game was more polished. The game ran a heavily modified Renderware engine, and was to play more like a third person action adventure game, in comparison to the original Sims game which was a fixed perspective point and click simulation game.

According to information released on a now defunct blog of a former NuFx developer, the PC version also allowed players to drive cars, and the game, unlike the console version, was to be fully open world (This concept of Open World would later be used for The Sims 3).

The game was cancelled at near completion in 2004 due to the low sales of the Console and Handheld versions. However, EA was impressed with NuFx's work, so they purchased the studio in 2004 and it was renamed EA Chicago. (The studio would later close in 2007).





edit] Handheld Version (GBA,DS,NGAGE) - 2003-2004 - ( Released - 2004 ) (Griptonite Games)

The handheld version of the game was developed by Griptonite Games who had contracted with EA to do a trilogy. (They had developed TS Bustin Out before this, and would release this version and go to release the handheld version of TS2 later).

The Handheld version has little known information about its beta's, except that an NGAGE version was developed, but cancelled, due to poor sales of The Sims Bustin Out for NGAGE.

















edit] Game History

Development History:

Game first proposed by EA - Late 2000

Game starts development for PS2 and Dreamcast - Late 2000

Dreamcast Version dropped - March 2001

Xbox and Gamecube versions start development - September 2001

Development put on hiatus - June 2002

Development Resumes, PC and Handheld versions greenlit - March 2003

NGAGE Version cancelled - Feb 2004



Console and GBA version released - November 9th, 2004

DS Version Released - November 17th, 2004

PC and PSP Versions cancelled - Jan 18th, 2005

The Urbz 2 Cancelled - Feb 8th, 2005

The Urbz 2 reworked into The Sims 2 console - June 2005

The Sims 2 Console released - October 24th, 2005

The Urbz Soundtrack officially released - March 2007

The Urbz Website shutdown - June 2010

edit] Cancelled Versions

edit] The Urbz - Dreamcast

Nothing about this version is known, except that in late 2000, Maxis and Electronic Arts wanted to develop a Sims title for consoles (Although Edge of reality would beat them to it and develop The Sims Remake for PS2,GC and Xbox in 2002). The game was planned for release on the Playstation 2, Xbox, Gamecube, Dreamcast at this time. Due to the discontinuation of the Dreamcast console in March 2001, the version for Dreamcast was scrapped.





edit] The Urbz - Playstation Portable

At the time of The Urbz development in 2004, a port was greenlit by EA for the PSP to be released in 2005. However, due to the failure of the game to sell up to expectations, the port was cancelled. Images of a beta of the port running on a PSP were leaked in 2008 onto a beta website, but the images were lost. The game appeared to play just like the PS2 version, albeit with lower res graphics and less draw distance.





edit] The Urbz - NGAGE

A version of the GBA and DS version of the game was planned to be released on NGage in 2004 along with the GBA and DS versions, but it was cancelled early in development. The previous game in the console series, The Sims Bustin Out, did release on NGAGE however, but due to poor sales, it is believed to have caused this port to be cancelled.





edit] The Urbz - Microsoft Windows





During development of The Urbz, a version of the game for Windows was in development by another EA studio, rather than Maxis. This version was the version which was never officially announced, but heavily shown and advertised by EA.