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::Snooty Sims::
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| Misc. OfB news |
Thursday 2 March |
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| Maxis opened up a feedback form where you can report gameplay issues with Open for Business. Find it here: Feedback form
MaxoidKane posted a message in the SimsBBS about a new feature for Simpages. In short; This feature, which will be added after registering OfB, allows you to see your businesses and achievements to-date in your game.
Find info about this new feature here: Business Pod
And lastly, EA sent out a press release about a Depeche Mode Simlish song being in Open for Business. Find it here: Press release.
Update: Now the song can be found on thesims2.com here: Depeche Mode Simlish |
| Misc. OfB News II |
Friday 3 March |
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2 New Open for Business reviews; Yahoo games gave it a 4 out of 5 score and 1Up gave it 7 out of 10. A couple days ago, Gamespy gave it also a 4 out of 5 score, so all in all, the 3rd expansion is getting some good ratings. Find the reviews here:
- Yahoo Games review
- 1Up review. |
On the Sims2.com, Maxis made a help page with some tips about starting a business. Find it here: Six tips to start your business
And lastly, for those living in America, the Open for Business Prima guide can now be downloaded from their site. It's a bit more expensive then usually though; Now the download version costs $12.99 instead of $9.99. Find it here: OfB Primaguide
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A new poll. This weeks question is if you will use the new twins cheat. Click here to vote: New poll.
Last weeks question was if you pre-ordered Open for Business. An interesting result; Only 10% of all people pre-ordered because of the Mascot kit. Almost half of all people got it as soon as it was for sale. 2465 people voted and here are the results:
Have you pre-ordered Open for Business?
- Yes, especially because of the Mascot kit: 10%
- Yes, but not specifically for the Mascot kit: 21%
- No, but I will get it as soon as it's in the shops: 49%
- No, I will get it at a later time: 17%
- I won't get this expansion: 3%
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| New chat announced |
7 March |
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On the Sims2.com can be read that thursday, March 16 there will be an Open for Business chat. Don Laabs, Hunter Howe, Shannon Copur, and Lyndsay Pearson will share gameplay tips and take questions.
The time of the chat is as usual at 3PM PST which is midnight for Europe.
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| OfB release dates |
7 March |
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In the SimsBBS, MaxoidKane started a challenge for clothing creators for making Sim outfits seen at the Oscars. See this topic here: Clothing challenge
Now this proved to be quite successful as some very good creations were made. A reporter picked up this story and made an article from this which you can find here: Reuters news story
Also Kotaku made a small article about it here: Sims Red Carpet. |
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| Open for Business reviews |
9 March |
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Again some Open for Business reviews;
Gamespot gave it a good 8 out of 10 score. For those that don't have the game yet, they also posted some new pictures and movies. Further more, PC Gameworld gave it 88% and Australian gamingsite PalGN gave it 7 out of 10.
- Gamespot review, Gamespot Pictures and Movies
- PC Gameworld review
- PalGN review
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The official UK Sims site mentions an Open for Business minigame. In this game, you need to solve some simple puzzles and answer a couple of multiple-choice questions.
The game is made for several languages. Click on your country name to play the game in your own language: |
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Carnegie Mellon University plans to use the Sims characters in its "Alice" software to try make computer programming more appealing to students.
A University found there had been a 50 percent drop in computer science majors and since Electronic Arts wants more women and minorities in computer science, they want to help make it fun for a new generation.
Read the press release here: Alice press release and the Alice site here: Alice.org
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In other news, a new review for Open for Business by Eurogamer. They are usually very critical about Sims games, but they still gave it a good 7 out of 10 score.
Find it here: Eurogamer review
Maxis started a new movie contest on the Sims2.com; You have to use the game's content to create a video commercial for an Open For Business store. The prize is a nice pc and also you can win an Nvidia videocard.
Note that this contest is only for America and then not for every state so it's advisable to read the contestrules first. Find it here: Open for Business contest
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A new poll. This weeks question is if you made a business yet. Click here to vote: New poll.
Last weeks question was if you plan on using the twins cheat. Alot of people plan to use it occasionally, while a quarter prefers the cheesecake option. 2141 people voted and here are the results:
Will/do you use the Twins cheat?
- Yes, I love twins and use often!: 15%
- Only now and then: 38%
- I prefer to use the cheesecake option: 25%
- No, twins are too hard to handle: 22%
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A new picture from the shopping pack "Family Fun" has been found by fansite Simsovernight.net.
It claims to come from the official Sims 2 site. Probably from a yet unknown info page for this pack. It looks pretty official as far as I can see.
Since the releasedate is April 13, it sure is about time Maxis will show some more from this pack; less then a month to go and not an official picture or announcement yet except for the ad in the OfB box. Hopefully more will come soon. |
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As the last of the 'big 3' news-sites (Gamespy,IGN,Gamespot), now IGN made an Open for Business review.
They gave it a good 7.8 out of 10. Find it here: IGN review. |
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| Familly Fun pack in EA store |
15 March |
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The Family Fun boosterpack is presented in the EA store. There is a picture of the box and also a small description of this pack.
See it here: EA store.
Thanks to those pointed this out to me. |
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The artpictures from Family Fun have now been posted. See them here: Family Fun artpics
The Sims2.com has now a special section for the Family Fun pack. There is also a new movie to be found there. Check out the page here: Family Fun on Sims2.com |
17 March
The transcript from thursdays chat has been posted on the Sims2.com.
Find it here: Chat transcript
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A new poll. This weeks question is no surprise after the official announcement of Family Fun stuff. Will you get it? Click here to vote: New poll.
Last weeks question was if you made a business yet. Interesting is that nearly everyone who has the game, already started one. And that there's still quite a high percentage that's having trouble with their business. 2136 people voted and here are the results:
Have you build a business yet?
- Yes, and they are doing great!: 45%
- Yes, but they're not doing so well...: 27%
- No, maybe later: 6%
- I'm not planning on building a business: 1%
- I don't have Open for Business (yet): 21%
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| The official Sims2 site has posted the patch for Open for Business. Find the long list of changes and the download here: OfB patch
Also the 'runs with scissors' object has been updated for Open for Business. Find this strange object here: Runs With Scissors
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| The Sims 2 on mobile phones is around for some time. But now the connected edition is available as well. A press release about it can be found here: Sims 2 mobile
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| Mac Sims 1 collection |
23 March |
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Aspyr Media announced Thursday it’s shipping The Sims Complete Collection. The collection combines Aspyr’s Mac conversion of the original The Sims game with all of its expansion packs together for $49.99.
See it here: Sims 1 complete collection
A reminder note for Spore fans, the GDC is currently underway and lots of info and new pics are being released daily. Check sistersite Snooty Spore for all the latest news.
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A new poll. This weeks question is if you decorate your neighbourhood. Click here to vote: New poll.
Last weeks question was if you plan on getting the Family Fun pack. Almost half of all people will get it for sure, a quarter won't get it, and the rest isn't sure yet. 2208 people voted and here are the results:
Will you get Family Fun stuff?
- Yes, I will get anything Maxis makes!: 30%
- Yes, because I like this theme: 16%
- I think so. Not sure yet: 29%
- No, because I don't like this theme: 13%
- No it's too expensive: 12%
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| Nightlife for Mac |
28 March |
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| Aspyr updated its project status page to show Gold Master status for their port of The Sims 2 Nightlife. The game is expected to ship this month.
A review has been made by Macworld which you can find here: Nightlife review
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| Maxis lost and found |
30 March |
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In the Sims 2 game are quite alot of hidden things, like hairstyles or objects. For some reason, Maxis has kept them out of the game. 'hugznotthugzkidz' from the Sims BBS made a list of all these hidden items and where you can download them.
As mentioned in this bbs post, there may be a reason they aren't available in the game, but no problems have been found as of yet.
Find the list here: Maxis Lost & Found. |
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As IGN did with the former expansions, they now have a guide for Open for Business. In this guide, they give lots of attention to the game changes, elevators, employees and much more.
Find it here: IGN Open for Business guide
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