The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 62

6Fl Tuesday, October 10, 2000 THE TENNESSEAN www.tennessean.com Fun Tech Pnmnntinri rniith Iririo WUMIf4WMIIj Willi niuo 1 t' Jinny Gudmundsen 1 xlll' I GANNETT NEWS SERVICE Having fun while learning to read Sf" '-in'- w1- 'yl -vA i. Llvin' Large, an add-on pack, for the popular PC title, The Sims, lets players build a career, decorate their home and develop relationships. ir yvor mm More of the same in add-on for Sims BY MARC SALTZMAN GANNETT NEWS SERVICE onsidering the groundbreaking PC title The Sims has been the best-selling computer game of 2000, publishers Electronic Arts Platform: PC Genre: Simulation Developer: Maxis Software Publisher Electronic Arts Suggested price: $29.95 Rating: for Teen Minimum Requirements: The Sims, Win 9598, P233, 32 megabytes RAM, 175- megabyte hard drive space, 2-megabyte video card. www.ea.com Score (out of 5 stars): OOOO wedding singer, then session musician, and may eventually achieve rock star status. There are 125 new items, such as a vibrating heart-shaped bed, a telescope, a cleaning robot, exploding garden gnomes and a crystal ball.

Many of the new items such as the genie in a lantern and. the sad clown painting is exciting and the games are enjoyable to play, most children willingly tackle the academics presented. Sadly, this title is being discontinued, but it is still available in many stores. If you can't find this title, the Cluefinders grade level titles also are strong. Score (out of 5 stars): OOOOO Best for ages 9-12.

From The Learning Company, www. mattelinteractive.com, $24.95. WinMac. For teaching situations Two new reading comprehension series would make great additions to classrooms. The Stories More series transfers award-winning children's books to the computer for reading and listening; and it's accompanied by grade-appropriate computer activities that coordinate with the themes of the books.

Stories More: Animal Friends is for kindergarten-first grade, whereas Stories More: Time and Place covers second-third grades reading. Score (out of 5 stars): ooooc From Edmark, www.edmark.com, (800) 362-2890. WinMac. That's A Fact Jack! Read series Teachers can turn classrooms into an interactive game show about children's literature. This series covers 450 of the books most often read in schools.

Children read the books away from the computer, and then play the computer game show to test reading comprehension. Each CD-ROM in the series reviews 10 different books related to a specific theme. This series is for grades 3-12. Score (out of 5 stars): ooooc From Tom Snyder Productions, www.tomsnyder.com, (800) 342-0236. WinMac.

Jinny Gudmundsen is editor of Choosing Children 's Software Magazine at www.ChooseChildren Software.com E-mail comments to jinnydi ChooseChildren Software.com While in elementary school, children should progress from emerging readers into genuine readers, and from there, we hope, into avid readers. Software can help on this "learn to read better" trek. Good titles will cover phonics, sight words, spelling, vocabulary, grammar and reading comprehension. Here are some great reading titles to explore while trekking down the road to becoming an avid reader: Reading Blaster: Reading becomes fun when children join the Blaster pals (two kids and a dog) on an adventure to the Planet of Lost Things. Kids play games that deal with phonics, sequencing words to form sentences, spelling and identifying parts of speech so as to rescue lost things.

One gripe: At times, the games don't read words out loud when they should. Score (out of 5 stars): ooooc Best for ages 6-7. From Knowledge Adventure, www.knowledgeadventure.com, (800) 542-4240, $29.99. WinMac. JumpStart Reading: This is one of those rare titles that achieves the delicate balance between substantial learning and great entertainment.

Children go on an Indiana Jones-type adventure during which they play five games that teach reading comprehension, parts of speech, vocabulary and phonics. The games come with controls for degree of academic difficulty and game play, so they will appeal to varying learning styles. Score (out of 5 stars): ooooo Best for ages 6-8. From Knowledge Adventure, www.knowledgeadventure.com. (800)542-4240, WinMac.

The Cluefinders Reading Adventures For third-graders to sixth-graders, this is the best reading title to explore. Players join four clue-finders as they solve the mystery of a dying planet by playing eight language arts games. Because this story line situations. There's also an architectural aspect to the game so players can renovate their homes by adding appliances, furniture and rooms. Livin' Large does not mess with the game play that made its predecessor so sought-after, but rather, adds new characters, additional careers, many more home decoration tile sets (wallpaper, rugs, different house styles (castle, Vegas love shack, etc), more neighborhoods to support extra families, and of course, a few additional gadgets.

Let's get more specific: There are five new career paths a musician, slacker, paranormal, journalist and hacker each with 10 jobs per career. As with The Sims, players must work their way up the ladder of success. The musician will start singing in subways and tuning pianos, but in time may become a lounge and can't be blamed for releasing an official add-on pack. And fortunately, it's SIMply superb. The name of the expansion is Livin' Large, a $30 bonus disc that offers a number of extra goodies.

This CD is ideal for those who enjoyed playing The Sims and are craving more. The goal is to control a batch of simulated people (aka by nurturing their personal and professional lives. And any number of scenarios can surface, be it falling in love with the neighbor, losing a job, inadvertently causing a house fire and dozens of other "real life" can produce negative results, which can be an unexpected annoyance when you've worked so hard to get your sims to be happy. There aren't many beefs with Livin' Large, but I guess I expected some new game play tweaks instead of just more graphics and situations. But, it's just more of the same, which isn't exactly a bad thing.

Overall, however, Livin' Large proves to be a successful shot in the arm The Sims needs. Now, if you'll excuse me, "Fred" my golf caddy is late for his carpool, and if he misses his ride again, "Julie" may kick him out for good. Marc Saltzman wrote "Games Design: Secrets of the Sages." mm'- 1 Business news, now on TENNESSEAN.com Every day matters. wwwtennassean.com flt CRUISING THE SUPERHIGHWAY? I JJ rvj 4 1. uproar.com 2.

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TENNESSEAN Every day matters, www.tennessean.com LjSL In Cluefinders Reading Adventures, youngsters help solve the mysteries of a dying planet while completing various academic challenges. S.1 idEir Join us for information on current and future positions in Sales, Customer Service and Management in Nashville. CUSTOMER CARE REPS INSIDE SALES REPS INSIDE SALES MANAGERS CALL CENTER MANAGERS Check out our web site for specific information about available positions and submit your resume on-line: www.dell.comnashvilleiobsor fax: 1 -800-224-3355. Please make sure the Source Code: AN0NT1010 appears on your resume. it Wxitforce diversity on eiienliol pfjff of Dell's commitment to ttw quality and to ttw ruhjfB We ancouroge yoo to apply, wtratevtw your roc.

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