["Carol of the Bells" from Holiday Hare plays]
[sips] -"Ahh!"
All right I can’t put it off any longer, we’ve gotta talk about what is probably the
most confusing release in the entire Sims series: The Sims 2: Holiday Edition! Mostly doing this as
a personal sanity check, I’ve been meaning to get to the bottom of this for years. But also cuz I’m
taking time off for my birthday and Christmas as I always do in December, so this is just a
quickly-made video to fill a time slot before I return and waste more of my life talking about yet
another Sims 4 thing. I’d much rather talk about the most confusing Sims 2 thing! And I don’t mean
confusing in like a “who the heck signed off on this nonsense” type of deal. It’s not a Sweet
Treats or Batuu situation. No, I mean confusing in the sense that referring to The Sims 2 Holiday
Edition could mean... a whole number of things. Like more than I ever realized back in the day
when it first came out in 2006. Er, 2005. Wait, wasn’t there a holiday stuff pack? Yeah that,
but what about the Holiday Party Pack? No no, the Christmas Party Pack, which I guess is just
a pack, not a bundle? Wait, these two are base game bundles though, right? What’s this one then,
and what about the stuff pack? Ah crap, this other bundle also includes the stuff pack plus
the other bundles? If that’s the case then what’s the Festive Edition? Ahhh!
And if you’re like me you’ve probably confused one or two of ALL of them at one point or another,
passing up certain editions because you thought for sure you owned it already, only to find out
it was a different thing later on. An irksome situation to find yourself in as a collector,
made even more confusing since every one of these holiday-themed releases were straight-up omitted
from the official Sims 2 website just a couple years after their release. My assumption is that
the holiday packs were only meant as limited time thing, but I’m just spitballing here.
What I know for sure is that The Sims 2 released in 2004 to immediate acclaim from critics and
players alike, selling over a million copies within 10 days of its release. And surpassing
4 million units by the following January, with a massive spike in worldwide sales across the
2004 Christmas season. So EA did what EA does and signed off on new paid content, with The
Sims 2 University and Nightlife expansions hitting the following March and September,
respectively. But then they tried something different for that Christmas, a smaller pack
released separately that wasn't large enough to be a full expansion, it was more like a pack
of... stuff. Hmm, a pack of stuff, let’s call it
a party pack! In what appears to have been intended
as a one-off seasonal bonus add-on, The Sims 2 Holiday Party Pack went on sale in November of
2005 kicking off this whole thing. Purchasable either directly from EA or in a slim cardboard
sleeve at select retailers. Though of course, they didn’t miss the opportunity to bundle it
together with the base game and release The Sims 2 Holiday Edition right alongside it. Which again,
far as I can tell was also meant to be a one-off sort of release to boost sales during the 2005
holiday shopping season. But I guess it sold pretty well because the following year they
did it again, this time around with an actual stuff pack: The Sims 2 Happy Holiday Stuff.
Effectively a re-release of the Holiday Party Pack in full-sized retail packaging this time,
along with another 20 or so new items bringing the advertised total to 60 instead of 40. Making it
even more confusing, there was also a digital-only Happy Holiday Mini Pack available to those who’d
already purchased the 2005 non-stuff pack stuff pack, exclusively through the Sims 2 website.
And following in the prior year’s footsteps, this also launched alongside a bundled edition in 2006,
once again called The Sims 2 Holiday Edition. But the cover differs slightly from the 2005
version juuuust enough to make them distinct if you’re really paying attention. And finally,
all other packs you may see online that are kinda named similarly stem from different worldwide
releases of the same packs and bundles. The Sims 2 Christmas Party Pack is the UK/EU retail version
of the original Holiday Party Pack from the US, sold in a proper DVD case instead of a cardboard
sleeve. The Sims 2 Festive Edition is the UK version of the The Sims 2 Holiday Edition in
the US, the 2006 one not the 2005 one far as I can tell. And it’s not to be confused with The Sims 2
Festive Holiday Stuff, which is the UK version of the US’s Happy Holiday Stuff Pack and not the
Happy Holiday Mini pack. Phew! Told you it was confusing! All that being said let’s start the
dang game and see what this headache-inducing mess of releases actually gets you!
[Sims 2 intro animation plays] -”Sul-sul!”
And welp, it’s The Sims 2 base game with a buncha Christmas crap added to it! And not just that,
but items related to Hanukkah, New Years, Kwanzaa, and a little Halloween for good measure. But the
emphasis is absolutely on Christmas, with a new Santa Claus NPC and gift-giving mechanics
and whatnot now part of The Sims 2 experience. Something I remember being excited about back
then when I pirated a copy from Demonoid or Blackcats-Games or something. It was the first
time I saw sims celebrating a holiday in-game, at least explicitly. There were certainly
a number of celebration-themed items in the past, but the Holiday Editions, all of ‘em,
removed all ambiguity and made sim holidays canon.
Oh and to be clear, despite the crapload of Sims 2 holiday packs, all you need is the 2006 Happy
Holiday Stuff Pack, or your regional equivalent. To my knowledge, that includes all the earlier
holiday content in a single stuff pack. It also comes with this handy instruction booklet covering
every new object and piece of clothing in the pack, and wow do I miss having this with every new
Sims thing! About the only stuff not covered are the new holiday events, to the limited degree they
occur in The Sims 2, at least. For instance, Santa Claus doesn’t visit on a particular day. Instead
he spawns whenever there’s a Christmas tree on the lot and there are freshly-baked Santa Cookies
nearby. The Jolly Old Saint Home Invader himself then makes an appearance that evening and drops
off gifts, so long as there are cookies leftover for him to chow down on. Otherwise I hope you have
some use for a lump of coal cuz that’s all you’ll get. Then there’s the New Year’s Bash party,
a timed event sims can throw via the telephone, bringing about Father Time a little after 8PM. And
then at midnight, the punctual old dude gets transmogrified into Toddler New Year.
What the heck, somebody call social services! It’s chaotic enough with one toddler in the household,
much less a dancing baby in a tophat! Otherwise yeah, the rest of the content is a grabbag of
gaudy red and green holiday bric-a-brac, enough to make your home look like a Michaels seasonal
section after an earthquake. Trees and lights and stockings and garland and reindeer and wreaths,
plus a crowd of candles for the different December-focused holidays. And if you’re
playing on period-correct hardware like I am here, be prepared for that framerate to tank,
there’s nothin’ like a forest of bedazzled cacti and pine trees to ruin performance. Also I have
no proof that this weird dancing snowman ruins FPS, but just lookin’ at it I don’t trust it,
and I’d like to accuse it of crimes. But yeah, while just over 60 individual items are in the
pack, that number includes all of the individual clothing and hair items for sims of different
ages. Plus variations on certain objects, like having alternate Christmas tree designs,
frosted windows and doors, and slightly revised wallpapers that all kinda blend together. So it
kinda’ve feels like less than 60 items, and the majority of it can’t be interacted with at all,
but whatever! From a certain point of view, this was the very first stuff pack in The Sims series,
if you consider most of this came from that original Holiday Party Pack. So yeah, I cut it
all the slack, it’s perfectly fine. And it brings me back to a time when I was eager for anything
and everything new for The Sims 2. The series was not nearly as greedily-designed and derisive
back then, and getting new content packs at all was exciting no matter what it was. And hey, at
least you got new gameplay with Santa and Father Time and New Years parties, plus having fireworks
and party favors, this being their introduction into The Sims 2. It’s simple but satisfying stuff,
and I can’t help but feel happier upon revisiting this one. Especially since I’m so unequivocally
uninterested in the current iteration of the game here at the end of 2023. Anyway whatever,
that’s all beside the point, all I really wanted to do here was say how ridiculous
I find this whole release of the game and explain all its confusing iterations. The Sims 2 Holiday
Edition! There’s too many of ‘em! And yet, however many versions and re-releases there are,
it all feels less like a cynical cash grab than I’m used to today. Merry Christmas!
[cheery holiday music plays] [general simming noises]
Yes the next video will be the For Rent pack. No, I’m not excited about it,
but I know a bunch of y’all are so it evens out in the end. Anyway,
hope you enjoyed this Sims 2 video! I truly can’t believe it’s turning 20 soon,
2004 cannot have been that long ago. Help I’m getting old, we’re all getting old, I don’t
know what to do, why is it already Christmas again, happy holidays, thanks for watching!