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191. Howard Jones Audio Podcast

Written on Wednesday 22 February 2006 at 23:06 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

A week ago Maxis updated their list of podcasts with a new videocast with Howard Jones, one of the singers who has recorded an old hit for Open for Business. Jones answers a few more questions, this time not from MaxoidMonkey but from MaxoidDano. He tells that the Sims 2 is the first videogame he has ever recorded a song for, though he used to play videogames a lot, like "Space Invaders". Howard also tells about his history in the music industry, his inspiration and favourite bands. iTunes users can subscribe to the podcast to hear the latest one. Others can check out the official site's podcast page to download the latest and previous podcasts.

192. New Nightlife Patch introduces University Bug

Written on Tuesday 21 February 2006 at 14:17 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

The recently released patch for Nightlife isn't perfect according to Maxis. Several users have reported that since installing the patch, students in University (only in combination with the University expansion pack of course) are having problems when class overlaps with the final exam. The game will then make the Sim act as if he or she is going to class rather than the exam, and will mark the Sim has not having attended the final exam. This also hurts the grade of the student in question. Maxis is working on a new patch to solve this problem.

Two work-arounds exist right now. If your student still has enough time before the final exam, you can make them visit a community lot. When returning at home, the clock will not have advanced much, but the time until the final exam has ticked on during the community lot visit. This should make the final exam be before class starts, and thus they won't overlap anymore. Another solution, provided by Maxis, is to move out the Sim and then move them back in. This will reset the time to 8am, without changing the countdown timer to the final exam.

It's unsure if the bug also appears in Open for Business, which has recently gone gold and possibly contains fixes similar to those in the latest Nightlife patch. See the BBS Thread for more details about the problem. The work around is called temporary, until Maxis releases a new patch, which makes it very plausible that they're working on a new one. An estimated date for the release of the patch has not been given. Thanks to Fabian from SimsZone for the link, and Mirena68 on their forums for a community lot workaround.

193. "Sims Played By" Campaign Updated

Written on Monday 20 February 2006 at 13:00 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

Last year EA launched the "Sims Played By" ("How do you play?") campaign to promote the Sims 2 on all platforms. New stories have been created since, for Open for Business, which will be released soon. EA has now published the 6 new stories - 3 videos and 3 picture stories - on the campaign's website, SimsPlayedBy.com. Fansite SnootySims has posted three stories as they were printed in magazines, all of which you can see by clicking the thumbnails below. The first and last were scanned and submitted by ZemiZem6 from Teen People Magazine, and posted on the official BBS, whereas the second is from Mitch, who has written the story.

194. OfB Gone Gold; 4 Screenshots

Written on Wednesday 15 February 2006 at 23:26 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

The latest expansion pack for the Sims 2, Open for Business, has gone gold. EA has announced that today in a press release. The game, now coming off the presses and being packaged, will appear on American shelves on Thursday 2 March (just 15 days from now), the UK will follow a day later. The release date elsewhere might vary around these dates, though it'll be released in the same week worldwide. To get the game delivered to you on the day of release, you can pre-order the game from our shop. Along with the press release, EA has also sent out 4 new screenshots of the expansion pack, which you can see in their full glory below.

195. Valentines Videos

Written on Wednesday 15 February 2006 at 22:38 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

Yesterday was Valentines day, which was a reason for Maxis to release two new videos of Open for Business. They are in the spirit of the romantic day. The first is all about a relationship that doesn't seem to be too great, whereas the second one shows some Sims gussying up to get ready for their date. As usual you can find the videos on the Open for Business videos page, on the official site. Both videos are about one minute long, and require QuickTime to be played.

196. Sims Dating Game

Written on Sunday 12 February 2006 at 03:01 by ChEeTaH - 3 comments.

On EA's games site Pogo.com a new Sims-related game has appeared, in the theme of Valentine. In the Sims Virtual Date game you have to pick a date, and take him or her out, following a couple of multiple-choice options to determine the success of your date. If you play between now and Valentine's day, you'll be able to win a diamond necklace (be sure to read the rules, US and Canada only, Rhode Island and Quebec not included). The older Sims Pogo game, The Sims Pinball is also still available. Thanks to the Dutch fansite The Hub for spotting the game.

197. New Nightlife Patch

Written on Wednesday 8 February 2006 at 22:04 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

Less than a month before the release of Open for Business, Maxis has addressed several issues with Nightlife in an updated patch. 29 Problems that weren't fixed with the first patch have been solved now. The patch also contains all the fixes that were in the previous patch as well. Here's a summary of the newly fixed problems:

• Fixed an issue where NPC Mrs. Crumplebottom was causing objects.package to be corrupt.
• Addressed an issue where cell phones could not be placed in a Sims inventory before making a phone call on it first.
• Dorm Cooks will no longer duplicate on previously played lots after installing Nightlife.
• Sims will no longer get a memory of making out with themselves in the hot tub under certain conditions.
• The Mad Scientist career track will no longer have a conflicting message about missing a day of work and having the day off.
• Moving lots with University Graduates into the Sim Bin and back into the neighborhood will no longer cause all of the diplomas to belong to one Sim, instead the will belong to their original owners.
• Sims will now be able to use Cell Phones and MP3 players if placed on tables.
• Young Adult Male Sims can no longer get pregnant and give birth by using the Electro Dance Sphere.
• Vampire NPC's can now be influenced to drink Vamprocillin-D properly.
• Sims can now work out if there is a rug in front of the TV.
• Computers are no longer able to be placed in a Sims inventory if the computers are turned on.
• Sims playing the hand held games will no longer get a memory about meeting themselves.
• Fixed an issue where University Sims were randomly getting taken back to their original neighborhood during their Freshman year.
• Fixed a rare occurring of an issue where Sims could not move off of a University lot after graduating.
• Teen Sims age transitioning directly to an Adult Sim that has chosen not to go to college will no longer receive a memory that they have completed their Freshman year.
• Having a Family Reunion will no longer overrun the memories panel of a Sim with a memory for every interaction during the Family Reunion party.
• Fixed an issue so that dorm rooms will be hidden again when Nightlife is installed.
• The want "Stay Home From Class" can now be fulfilled by Pleasure Aspiration Sims that Skip class.

The full list is available at the Nightlife Update Page, where all bugs as of the Mrs. Crumplebottom one are only fixed in the latest patch. You can download the patch from the same page, or if you don't have Nightlife the general update page gives you link to previous patches (which have not been updated). Note that to install the Nightlife patch, you'll need to have CD 2 in your drive.

198. New H-Mail

Written on Saturday 4 February 2006 at 16:10 by ChEeTaH - 1 comment.

Hunter Howe has sent out his second e-mail for Open for Business, with a new update about the expansion pack. This time it's all about the new build mode features. Awnings come in various styles, and can be built in pretty much any shape. Elevators are also new, and are somewhat magical. They can rotate during their trip. Shaft pieces allow the elevator to skip a floor, whereas the door piece (2x2 squares big, 3x2 including the reserved tiles in front of the door) can let your Sims in and out. Plummeting elevators can drain the needs of the Sims in the elevator a lot, causing death as ultimate result if the needs are too low. Woohoo increases the risk of a crashing lift. Split levels are also new, and allow you to make stages or little pvaillions. Finally Hunter mentions the new dome, cone and octagon shaped roofs that you can put down instead of the usual ones. A new windmill ploppable can also be seen in one of the five included screenshots. You can see those together below, just click the thumbnails for large versions. The whole email, with the same screenshots, is behind the read more link (or below if that isn't here).

Read More!

199. Tim LeTourneau Interviewed

Written on Wednesday 1 February 2006 at 23:36 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

Tim LeTourneau was recently in Europe, and while he was there he also gave an interview to a local Dutch paper. Fansite SnootySims has translated the interview from the "Brabants Dagblad" to English. In the interview Tim tells how University didn't score that well in Europe because of the American style it was in. Maxis has learned from the experience, and from the active Sims community. He also gives a little hint as to something that might appear in the next expansion pack: thousands of players have requested the ability for Sims to grow their own vegetables (says the original Dutch text), and Tim says it's natural that Maxis adds in the option in an official expansion pack. The topic of gardening also appeared in previous surveys, in combination with farming, which shows that Maxis is probably seriously considering this for the future. So far this is all still speculation though, without any official confirmation.

Furthermore in the interview, Tim also says that the Sims is an idealistic world, which is very optimistic. Without war, or a long-term memory, players are able to connect to the virtual characters. In the real world, Sims probably wouldn't be able to survive. For more details, read the full interview.

200. First Shopping Packs in sight

Written on Wednesday 1 February 2006 at 23:27 by ChEeTaH - 0 comments.

Several names have appeared in surveys for new, small, expansion packs: it started with "Booster Packs," followed by "Shopping Packs," and recently they were called "Sims 2 Stuff." The Sims 2 Holiday Party Pack is what could be considered such a pack, but now the next two of the Shopping packs (which seems to be the final name) have made an appearance. Expected on 26 April is the pack called "Family Fun Shopping Pack," followed by the "Glamour Shopping Pack" at 24 June. If this is the start of a trend, two shopping packs can be expected between every two expansion packs, making an annual total of 2 expansion packs and 4 shopping packs - something new every 2 months. Both themes weren't specifically mentioned in the last survey.

The packs are now listed at at least two Australian shops, dStore and GameHead, for roughly $30 Australian each (about $22 US, or £12). The amount of objects in the pack is unsure. It started off with 125 objects in the first survey, down to 75 in the second and roughly 60 in the latest. The definite answer will probably be given by EA in the future. As more details arrive in the future, we'll let you know in this news section. Thanks to SnootySims for posting the links.