Recently the first part of a podcast with Senior Producers Tim LeTourneau and Don Laabs was posted, all about Open for Business. Maxis has posted the second part of this now, offering another 11 minutes of questions and answers about the upcoming expansion pack. In it they tell that, to start a home business, you'll need to pick up the phone to let the council know you're running one. It's cheap to start with, and apparently one technique is to sell the trees on the lot to make a bit of money. When it comes to mentoring, Don tells that your Sim can mentor family members. By doing so, the family member will gain the perks, from the bottom up, that the mentor Sim has earned along the way. You can only mentor the skill based perks though, and not the cash ones. Tim also says that the business system is flexible, and new expansion packs will take into account that Open for Business is out there, and you can run businesses with the new objects from those packs.

Regarding the split levels, the producers say that altering the height of it will not be possible. New music styles include "New Wave", with famous acts from the 80s like Depeche Mode, Howard Jones and Kajagoogoo, who have recorded their work in Simlish. The favourite bug from Don is that Sims would get lost in the elevator - they'd go in, but after that they wouldn't come out of it. Ladies of the evening businesses are possible too, but considering the way the game works, it'll take a lot of effort and won't be the most efficient way to earn money. Jealousy can also kick in a lot that way.

To listen to the podcast, check the corresponding news post for download and subscription links.