I just love Echo!

[simmiecal]

I love the stuff that Echo makes for the game and now there's a new one:  a pinata!

The kids hit it a few times and then candy comes out. The kids can eat the candy and then you dispose of the pinata. Nice addition for kids birthday parties. Why can't Maxis ever think up stuff like this?

http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=164455

[Emma]

Ohhh that is pretty good!

[webwench]

Echo says this, but it's worth reiteration if you're going to download:  It's a fairly heavy file.  If you download it and use it, it's probably to your best interest not to put a bunch on a lot (say...to sell in a business).  Could cause stuttering and game malfunction.

[Eleonora]

What the hell is that kid swinging around?! A folding chair?!
But yeah, it's great that the community can give us so much more variety than maxis.

[ZephyrZodiac]

I still miss the old Sims1 climbing frame for kids!  Fun filled faster than kicking any number of flamingos, almost before they actually reached it!  And some of the stuff from House Party, like the dressing up box!

[liegenschonheit]

It looks like the kid is swinging a board, or something. I'm assuming since she had to use the pillowfight animations, that a bat wouldnt work.

It seems that Maxis has lost some of the creative spark that made TS1 so quirky and hillarious, and instead we get more "realistic" stuff. Or maybe this is due in part to the fact that forum monkies over there keep demanding "real" things like laundry.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Why would sims need laundry?  I mean, they strip off, shower, and dress again in the same outfit, and they're just as clean with the clothes on as they were when they just stepped out of the shower!

I think the problem now is that, as you say, the creative spark is, while not completely gone, is certainly not as bright as it was!  And some of the really beautiful objects from Sims 1 just have never been recreated for Sims2, and much of the stuff is heavy-looking and dark!  And even though sims can woohoo in any double bed, I still rather miss the old love-bed with the other options!  And why sims have to always relax on top of the bedclothes these days is beyond me!

[Simlover]

I'd like to see the Baby Grande piano from Sims 1 make a remergence, it always added a touch of class to a place.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Didn't it just!  And I'd love a guitar that kids could play too - it always seems a bit sad to me, toddler ages to child, and you satisfy whatever wants you can, and he rolls the "Buy a Guitar" want - and he's then got to wait until he's a teen before he can play it!

[liegenschonheit]

Apparently a lot of people agree with the need for a baby grand piano, because somehow I ended up with about three different ones in my game at one point (I've since downsized to just one).

It almost seems to me as if the people at Maxis are leaving the more interesting and fun stuff to the modders to do, and just trying to push the next EPs out as fast as possible. There are some brilliant people making some fantastic things, but I don't really think that excuses a lack of fun on Maxis' part. I for one would love to see more playground type stuff for kids, one lonely swingset isn't cutting it.

[Emma]

Why would sims need laundry?  I mean, they strip off, shower, and dress again in the same outfit, and they're just as clean with the clothes on as they were when they just stepped out of the shower!

But...but...they pee through their clothes!

I liked that hacked playground set from C&C that let the kids play with their pets on it too-it even used to have a cute little raccon come play with them too! (That was when I used to let them have pets-I hated that aspect of unleashed. Used to love growing my own veg though!)
Ok the gameplay was crap, and the graphics were pretty awful compared to Sims 2, but I loved the objects we had with the expansion packs for Sims 1.

[ZephyrZodiac]

But when you first had Sims1, didn't you think the graphics etc. were brilliant?  I know I did way back then!  It's just that now we have Sims2, Sims1 seems a poor substitute.  The same could be said of Sim City, each new version made the previous seem dull by comparison, although I personally never could get to grips with even 3000, and I wish I could get 2000 to work now!

[Emma]

Yes I did. I was just as addicted to Sims 1 as I am to Sims 2 now I didn't build as much as I do with Sims 2, most of my houses were like boxes! Once I got Makin' Magic I used to grow the kids up too. I actually went as far as to install and play it for a while, but I am sad to say I got bored very quickly

[ZephyrZodiac]

I think that's true with Sims2 as well, which probably explains why I have an enormous number of abandoned games around!  I tend to like the start of a hood with new famiies all struggling to build a home, then when they get successful, it gets boring, which is probably why I don't play generation challenges!  I'd be bored silly if none of my sims ever had to worry about the repo man!

[Emma]

Because I am always adding new families, I don't tend to get bored too quickly. I have lots of different 'kinds' of families too, and I play them all equally-1 sim week each

[ZephyrZodiac]

I'm rarely so consistent timewise, but I do keep adding families too.  But quite often I theme the family names in a hood, and when I can't think of any more names, I start a new hood!

[Emma]

When I do get bored, I build! I haven't built anything in a while, although I do want to have a go at Pes's building challenge

[ZephyrZodiac]

I've several houses I've built since OFB, but I need to package them and run them through Clean Installer, and then check them out in my build game, take pics and all the rest of it!  The building part I like, it's getting them ready to upload that's a pain, which is why I don't upload many!

[J. M. Pescado]

When I do get bored, I build! I haven't built anything in a while, although I do want to have a go at Pes's building challenge

I look forward to seeing what sort of horrific monstrocity you come up with. As a side benefit, it'll be a nice home for Emma GilsCarbo.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Now, we all bow to you as the great hack creator, but Emma is pretty good at house-building, you know!  And her houses are neither monstrocities or monstrosities!

[Emma]

When I do get bored, I build! I haven't built anything in a while, although I do want to have a go at Pes's building challenge

I look forward to seeing what sort of horrific monstrocity you come up with. As a side benefit, it'll be a nice home for Emma GilsCarbo.

Yeah? Your face and my butt Pes Actually if you allow sim-me to spawn with the Goopster, that's what our kids will look like-a combination of your face and my butt

[edit] Oh, and thanks for sticking up for me Zeph

[ZephyrZodiac]

Had to take a dig at that spelling!  And don't try to tell me it was a typo!

[J. M. Pescado]

Now, we all bow to you as the great hack creator, but Emma is pretty good at house-building, you know!

Not according to the samples I've seen. Emma apparently builds bathroomless houses, a shortcoming which would be readily apparent, if not for the fact that Emma cheats so outrageously that it's doubtful she knows how to even play.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Maybe the house was for a challenge?

[Emma]

How do I cheat? I don't cheat.....