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601. First Bugs and Issues in Open for Business

Written on Saturday 4 March 2006 at 23:23 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

Every expansion pack for the Sims comes with its flaws, and Open for Business is no exception. Now it's been released, the first issues have already been found. One of them was already known since the last patch for Nightlife: Sims at University might be flagged for missing the final exam, if it overlaps with college. See our earlier post for more details about that. Another somewhat small issue, is that custom content is by default disabled. When starting the game for the first time you need to enable it explicitly, and restart the game after that, to make any downloads or hacks available in your game. It's also known that several hacks are still incompatible with the expansion pack, and thus may cause problems with Open for Business. If you're having such problems, disabling hacks might solve the problem.

But there is a bigger problem too, which can cause corruption of lots. Details are a little sketchy, as they are posted on forums anyway, but it seems that if you visit a community lot with a car from Nightlife, they might be unable to get back home properly. The game will let the Sim drive off in their car when directed to, but after that the game doesn't load the home lot. The clock will run fast (similar to what the game does when all playable Sims on the lot are at work or sleeping), and quitting the normal way isn't possible - you have to hit Control+Alt+Delete to terminate the game. The family will probably become unplayable, as the game still thinks the Sim(s) are visiting the community lot, but when trying to load that lot Live mode is not enabled. When visiting the lot with a taxi, this problem does not occur. Some users have also reported that first loading another community lot, that is unowned (i.e. not a business, but a 'classic' community lot) and going home after that helps. A similar problem also seems to exist, when saving the game while visiting a community lot. When reloading the family, Live mode is disabled, only Buy and Build mode are as if you're just editing the community lot. It's impossible to play the family again. Maxis is currently working on a patch to solve these problems, but it's unclear when it will be released. Until then, Maxis advises to visit owned community areas by taxi only. If the problem does occur, press Control, Alt and Delete at the same time, and kill the Sims 2 process. Do not bulldoze the offending community lot or the broken family lot, and avoid playing them until the patch is released. After the patch is released, install it and then you can revisit the family and community lot again. A few more details can be found in a post by MaxoidKane on the official BBS.

Finally, some people are reporting lots to become blank - with all walls, objects, etc. removed - under certain circumstances. It's not yet clear what causes this problem, though it might have to do with custom content.

Maxis is working on a patch to resolve these issues. A release date is not given, but naturally we'll let you know when we know more about this. Meanwhile, if you notice any problems in the game, filling in the feedback form is probably the best way to help Maxis with solving the problem.

602. OfB Reviews

Written on Saturday 4 March 2006 at 22:13 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

What was started by GameSpy last week, is now slowly advancing, as new reviews of Open for Business are starting to be placed online. We'll have our own review up soon, but until then there are - for now - two more reviews you can read. Websites 1Up and Yahoo! Games made up their opinion about the expansion pack. The main point 1Up makes is that it's not as easy and straightforward as the previous expansion packs, and although it does add some new objects fans will like, it lacks the "whimsical feel of playing a 'Sim God.'" Yahoo! has a little more to say, and notes that the business system is surprisingly open-ended. It's not as intuitive as may be expected, and if you run a business at home the customers won't notice much of a distinction - though it should be taken into account that doors are lockable now. Similar to GameSpy, Yahoo! also says the expansion works best in combination with Nightlife. Nevertheless it's a good game that'll add many hours of gaming time, although if you don't have any other expansions yet, University or Nightlife might be better to start with. The 1Up Review gives the expansion pack a score of 7.0 out of 10, whereas in the Yahoo! Review you'll see a score of 4 out of 5 stars.

603. City Scape Set

Written on Friday 3 March 2006 at 00:15 by Jendea - 0 comments.

I know that many simfans are playing Open for Business already. But for of us still waiting to pick up their copy, here is a "pre OFB" set. :)
The City Scape set includes 10 new objects, 2 recolors and 3 coordinated walls.
Happy simming!

You can find this set under my section:jendea or just click on the picture to go the set page directly.

604. Depeche Mode Simlish Music Video [Update]

Written on Thursday 2 March 2006 at 22:11 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

The band Depeche Mode has recorded their hit "Suffer Well" for Open for Business, in Simlish. Maxis has created a music video of this song, naturally starring a lot of Sims and robots. Other artists, Kajagoogoo and Howard Jones, were interviewed in a podcast, and it's not sure if this video is instead of a Depeche Mode podcast, or if it's an extra - but time will tell. For now you can download the video, in QuickTime format, from the news page.

[Update 3 March 11:10] The QuickTime versions of the video have been taken offline from the news page, but instead a Flash video has been put online, together with some information about the band's latest album. You can find it all on the video's page. If you prefer getting a QuickTime version, you're not completely lost yet. The files are still available, either in high quality (17.3 Mb) or low quality (4.4 Mb) - these files can be removed at any time though, so it's best to get them quickly if you want them.

605. Open for Business Shipped; Screenshots, Videos and More

Written on Wednesday 1 March 2006 at 15:40 by ChEeTaH - 4 comments.

Open for Business officially shipped yesterday. Some stores worldwide have already started selling the game, despite the official release date being 2 March. EA announced this in a press release. Senior Producer Don Laabs is quoted saying Open for Business ""opens a limitless world of new gameplay for Sims fans. The game includes all the tools players will need to create businesses that reflect their unique personalities, be they buttoned-down professionals, or wacky worker bees who explore the limits of the workplace. This is one of the most open-ended expansion packs we have created and we encourage fans to discover their irreverent, quirky business personalities." Precise details can be found in the full press release.

Besides the press release there's a lot more news from Maxis about Open for Business, more or less celebrating the release. Read on for details. Read More!

606. Unofficial OfB Screens and Videos

Written on Tuesday 28 February 2006 at 02:15 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

Besides magazines and gaming websites, some fans of the Sims have already received their copy of the third expansion pack for the Sims 2 on PC, Open for Business. That means some people are already posting new screenshots of the game on forums or elsewhere. The German gaming site Krawall has posted 35 screenshots, and the DVD included with the Dutch gaming magazine PC Gameplay also had several screenshots of the pack on it. Fansite The Hub has posted them on their forums. On the forums of our affiliate SimsZone Mirena68 and Azazel13 have posted some screenshots throughout the thread. But with the expansion already being released in Switzerland and Austria last week, there are more German sites with screenshots from users. Undisturbed.de has posted many screenshots in their forums, and fansite SimTimes has put a couple of screens together in one topic. In the start post of that topic, you'll also find two links to videos SimTimes made, as well as another video from raye1forTS2 on the official site's BBS.

The game will be available worldwide this week, and more screens and videos are bound to turn up on many websites. New shots may be posted on links given above, or on many other forums. We won't be able to report on all of them, but naturally we will keep you updated with new reviews that will appear soon as well.

607. Sims on Next Gen Consoles?

Written on Saturday 25 February 2006 at 23:31 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

Last year the Sims 2 was released on the PlayStation 2, XBox and GameCube. Following the release schedule for consoles of the past couple of years, a new game can be expected near the end of this year. GameSpot has now posted something in their Rumour Control section, about the Sims moving to the next generation of consoles; specifically the PlayStation 3, and possibly also the XBox 360 and maybe Nintendo's revolution. Rumours were fueled by a job opening for a future Sims project, for a PS3 (PlayStation 3) engineer. The PS3 was singled out though, there were no openings for XBox 360 or Revolution engineers. Even though development costs for the next generation consoles are generally high, and the Sims hasn't been doing as well as EA had hoped for, so-called "microtransactions" might be what will help EA make a bigger profit; sell extra downloads for a small fee. Nothing has been confirmed yet, and EA is not commenting on the rumours, but GameSpot deems it likely that the Sims will indeed make a move to the next generation. More details can be found in GameSpot's article.

608. Family Fun Stuff Pack Confirmed

Written on Saturday 25 February 2006 at 19:25 by ChEeTaH - 2 comments.

Some people are already getting their copies of Open for Business. Especially in Switzerland and Austria the pack has already been released. Where University and Nightlife came with an announcement of the next expansion pack, that's not the case with Open for Business. Rather than looking 6 months ahead, it's just 2 months this time, with the announcement of the Family Fun Stuff pack. The Fun Stuff pack, which will cost roughly $20, has been spotted several times before, earlier this month, together with a Glamour Stuff pack (which is not announced now). Rather than being a full expansion pack, a Stuff pack will only contain several objects, clothing, déco items and accessories for Sims. This pack will have, as the name says, a family theme. There will be Fantasy and Underwater sets for children's bedrooms, upscale Nautical furnishings for the family room and adventurous costumes for kids, matching outfits for group outings with the family. In total there will be 60 items, including castle beds, sun dresses and tropical wall hangings. Family Fun is said to be released in April, and although most shops have now removed their entries, rumours from dates posted there suggest it'll be late April. It's not yet sure when Maxis will officially announce the pack, if it'll be available through EA Downloader introduced last year, and when pre-orders will start to be taken - but as always we'll keep you updated with that information. The ad on the Open for Business can be seen by clicking the thumbnail below. Thanks to SimTimes (German) for posting the images.

609. OfB Information from Strategy Guide

Written on Saturday 25 February 2006 at 19:07 by ChEeTaH - 4 comments.

It's not uncommon that Prima's strategy guides for the Sims games are packed with little details for the games. The guide for Open for Business is no exception. A few people have already received the guide and are posting information out of it on the internet. Three of them are rosierealea (thanks to SnootySims for the link), Mmmyrs2 (thanks to Hiki for the link) and vibrateforyou. Altogether there's a lot of new information about the expansion pack in the guide, including cheats, new interactions, many details of robots and specifically Servo, and much more. Read on for the new details that have been posted. Beware for spoilers! Read More!

610. Mascot Screens

Written on Saturday 25 February 2006 at 16:14 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

When pre-ordering Open for Business at several stores (including our shop, US only) you can get a mascot kit as download. You will be able to download the files at the day of release, 1 March. To promote pre-ordering a little more, Maxis has released two new screenshots displaying what you'll get. There's a chicken mascot suit, and the Sim in it is a bit surprised, as well as a chicken sculpture to put outside your business. You can check the two screens by clicking the thumbnails below. If you want the download, order the game in our shop before 1 March (offer available for US orders only, see the official UK site for details about getting the mascot in the UK).