More Awesome Than You!

Well, I showed you the cool, so I guess it would be extremely out of character if I failed to hilight the BAD news.

First, you'll note that there's a HUGE element of obsessive-compulsive behavior involving several of the new objects outright.

Observe the following:

(http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/crapola/ocddancing.jpg)
Some nice, OCD dancing. Notice that no less than *6* of the normally allowed 8 visiting sims is dancing here. This is NOT a healthy pattern of behavior. All are plumbobless, so they're likely functioning autonomously.

(http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/crapola/ocdbowling.jpg)
Notice the obsessive-compulsive bowling. Notice also that you can see the bottoms of the skill meters, one of which appears as a sim bowls. This suggests that they're popping skillmeters and gaining skills. Meaning that either skill-gaining is allowed downtown, or this unhealthy behavior is actually occuring at RESIDENTIAL lot! The fact that it seems to be skill-building is good, but it's still not healthy that so many sims are doing it at once, particularly on a residential lot, as is likely the case!

(http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/crapola/ocdkaraoke.jpg)
Notice the obsessive-compulsion of the karaoke machine. This is not healthy either. Anyone up for a game of Myshuno?

(http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/crapola/queuewipingsphere.jpg)
Here you will notice several sims that seem to be doing nothing except cheering at a dance sphere! Does this mean that anytime somebody uses the damn thing, everyone's queue gets wiped so they can cheer at it? Fun, eh?

(http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/crapola/horrendouslag.jpg)
Look how ungodly many sims are visible in this shot! The lag must be absolutely AWFUL! And the number of NPCs involved! Good gravy, that's 9 extra sims right there! (3 of each type!)

(http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/crapola/carnotstopping.jpg)
This car is not stopping. Neither are any of the other cars shown. What does this mean, you think? A bug, perhaps, that cars do not stop to release their occupants and simply run off the end of the lot, leaving you to curse and swear at the lack of brakes?

And this is what lies ahead of you read between the lines of their new demo clip. Be afraid, people. Be very afraid.

My main concern is whether bowling is scripted (like the play pool in Uni). I want them to *actually* play, dang it!

What kind of silly question is that? Of COURSE it's scripted. The TS2 engine is fundamentally incapable of doing anything other than rendering a series of canned animations. In order for them to ACTUALLY bowl, or play pool, you'd need a full-fledged physics engine. TS2 doesn't have this. The bowling is obviously thus a series of canned animations.

Hehe. Pool, I can understand. It's a static environment. Bowling, on the other hand is perfect for set-up and throw-away anims that you choose at random. Add in scoring, and it's perfect.

If they don't do it that way, I'll just have to *force* it to be that way (assuming I actually do get it some day).

Well, you'd still have to pick from a series of random two-shot bowls. And handle what happens if a player Xes out the interaction after the first shot. Otherwise it'll become uninterruptable. Won't THAT be fun? Nothing like a non-interruptable OCD for visitors to fixate on.

My goodness. Bowling as one, long, uninterruptible interaction over the course of two bowls (assuming you don't strike, of course) would be quite unplayable. I sure hope they don't do it like that.

Real life bowling is very flexible and good bowling alley managers can even be persuaded to reset the alley should something go wrong (like your pin setter screws up and dishes up 9 pins instead of the normal 10).

Heh, well, I strike fairly consistently, but I'm not liked much in bowling arenas due to my habit of taking a lightweight ball and hurling it like a shotput as my bowl. If the ball manages to come to ground before impact, it's liable to put an impressive ding in the floor.

Wait, that's a bad thing? That means you get a free point already.

Good lord, you bowl like my best friend. Except she would get the heaviest ball and shotput with it. It would make a very, very large crack on the alleyway and then (hopefully) make it down to the end of the alley with minimal bouncing.

I have no idea why we never got thrown out. *Everyone* would stop and stare at us so it wasn't like no one noticed.

cool, you've recognized what i'm waiting on.  have you started working on it, or should i now begin hinting, nagging, trying to recruit your team, such like?
(i know, huge project, not likely in my brief remaining lifetime, still i dream it for the little children, and for their children.)
but, think about the possibilities of karaoke and bowling together!

Some of those scenes are obviously staged.
As for the cars, Hot Date for TS1 had non-stopping cars which drove by the community lots, to give the illusion of Downtown being actually downtown somewhere.

I'll hold judgement (and curses) until I've had Nightlife installed.

I'm starting to wonder how much work they put into the cars. It's possible that they made the ownable car a new NPC type that can locomote around (like the RC car does already). That might contribute to a goodly number of potential bugs in NL. :P

I'm not having high hopes for it. I rarely even leave my lots haha, so why bother going downtown?

Yes, but a lighter ball lets you get a higher velocity on it, which translates to greater kinetic energy. I tended to get a lot of strikes like this. That, or I'd miss target entirely and fail to register.

And I know perfectly well why I was never thrown out: Being more heavily armed than everyone else put together has that effect.

Oh, gah. Linedancing. *shudder*    :-X

I don't even know what that means. Do I want to?

LMAO! Line dancing is when a group of people all get together on the dance floor and dance, in sync. Don't know about these days, but it used to be a real popular fad in Country/Western type clubs.

It looks like the sims in the first picture are line dancing.
Tina explained what it is, but not the true horror of it. I was subjected to it in middle school and 12 years later I still start screaming at the sound of "Achy Breaky Heart."  People today still do it to Village People songs and the Macarena. It's still bloody awful.

The line dancing is a remain of the 60th, before the Twist, and before the Shake. It's a group dance, and allows many single bar visitors, who couldn't invite a partner to dance, to enjoy themselves when they were alone. I danced these dances a lot - no need of partner...:).

Bah! Dancing does not require a partner, only a sense of rhythm! (Now if the people at the local nightclubs would kindly clue into that last bit...) Linedancing is the spawn of evil.

I still don't get it. Then again, I don't really comprehend dancing at all, and the only reason that I even pay any attention to it is because of Bust-A-Move's more mathematical benefits.

Although now all the game needs, with those flashy light-up floors, is electric boots that emit an obnoxiously loud hum and overload the breakers.

Renatus, in the 60th you was FORCED to dance with a partner. It was a shame to dance solo...:). All the dances were for couples only - swing, rock, tango, etc.

You are right - nowadays you don't need a partner to dance. You can join a couple of Shake dancers, or dance alone - and it is most natural - I am glad it is...:).

The only kind of dancing I'm familiar with is the kind that involves having an automatic weapon fired at your feet.

That's the Classic Russian Dance...:).

I was very good in Kozachock - "kalinaka maia, saduyagoda kalinka maia"...:)

I don't think that's a "natural" game behavoir. I would guess that they staged the dancing and the bowling because they think it looks cool when a lot of people are doing it at once. It's fairly easy to manipulate the game like that, but I doubt that if they played that for more than a few minutes all the sims would actually keep doing that. They'd wander off and do a bunch of random useless stuff individually, and have to be herded back to the activity in question.

If that's not the case, I'm going to shoot whoever's responsible. Multiple times. Maybe some machine gun linedancing will drive it into the programmers brains why this is a bad thing.

I think she was going for the big noise more than a big score.


I never thought about it that way. Hmm. That must have been why we got to stay, too.

Oh, I got an impressive noise, too. I'd hit with enough power to hurl pins into neighboring alleys on a proper "discus thrower" toss.

I think they're doing the "Smustle" in that picture (essentially, the "Hustle" but they changed the first two letters so it seems like it's an original idea that gaming magazines will all titter at in their reviews of NL and say "oh Maxis, you've done it again!").  Apparently, like how Sims now can dance together, the Smustle is a group interaction that Sims will autonomously join and based on their dancing skills and how well they know each other, it will either look very cool or very...not cool. 

I must say though, that I will no longer read Nightlife related information on this site as I am still optimistic about the game.  I still plan to wait a couple of weeks before buying it though so as to wait for the most obvious bugs to surface.  8)

I just had a deeply disturbing thought: what if they don't fix the wall-building code?  :o

As deeply flawed and frequently unusable as the wall-builder is now, imagine when they add "half-walls" to the game. I shudder at the thought.

Dear God no...

My mother tried to get me to linedance once  :-[ total embarassment

Line dancing can be great fun...I used to go to a country bar in college (despite not being big into country music) and it was a lot of fun. My favorite was the Tush Push :D

Jen

That first picture made me laugh. Unfortunately, in real life line dancing seems just as obsessive-compulsive. I can't even do the "Electric Slide", so I'm always the one who remains at the table making sure the purses don't get stolen.

That's the one I was trying to think of, the 'electric slide'. I have friends who belong to a moose club (or elk, I'm not entirely sure) and they drag me over there every once in a while. I usually sit at the table and watch too (making darn sure that no one swipes the beer, and oh yeah, the purses too :D)

G.

It's a very important job, and not one to be taken lightly! That's what my Electric-Sliding friends don't get...
And the beer, well... I swipe the beer while they dance. They come back  to the table all hot and sweaty and say "Hey, Val! Where'd our beer go?" to which I reply "Dunno. (Burp).".
Great, now that song is in my head. "It's electric!". Damn brainworms.

The ex played in a country band (still does) and so back when I cared, I would go to every gig with him to watch. This was a big sacrifice on my part because I despise country music. I would have survived except the bassist's wife went to every show, too, and she loved to dance. I was forced on multiple occasions to line dance because she wanted a partner. I hate group dancing. All those years of having to Chicken Dance and Electric Slide as a child scarred me in ways I cannot describe.

There will be no group dancing for my sims. I forbid it. They are dronish enough.

Dearie dearie me, linedancing is still popular in some parts of NZ and in fact only really hit here about 10-15 years ago. Funny thing is it was taken up by two main groups I knew about, country & western people and dykes. It's pretty scary doing a linedance with a bunch of dykes when you're not a dyke and have no sense of rhythm.  ;D

There are some good concerns raised here. But who am I kidding, I'm a junkie that will buy whatever EP they put out. Even if its "Sims! Crap on a Cracker!"

Although with Sims 1, I finally got fed up and didn't play or buy anything after Unleashed.

Entirely plausible, I think, a couple of years from now after they've rehashed every EP they put out for TS1 - I can just see it now - ' TS2 Crap on a Cracker - Watch your Neighbourhood Implode - now with More Bugs, Less Patches and a brand new collection of Godawful Walls You'll Never Use"

Screw rivalry, I'm really going to need those flamethrowers by that time.

Wasn't Unleashed the last one?

No, Makin' Magic was the last one. I think it was called something different over in the US though.

Wasnt there Superstar too? Or something about fame?

There was, but I think that came out before Unleashed.
As far as I remember, this is the complete order:
The Sims,
Livin' It Up, (Livin' Large in the US)
House Party,
Hot Date,
On Holiday, (Vacation in the US and everywhere but UK and China)
Unleashed,
Superstar,
Makin' Magic

EDIT: Fixed inaccuracies.

I thought it was called Makin' Magic in the US... I didn't realise we got another special titled game just because we're British.

And I agree with that order...

Which means we get the US version in NZ 'cos we had Vacation.

Ah. I thought I'd got something wrong. I started with all the Sims 1 EPs preinstalled on my PC, and so most of the first half of the order was worked out by looking at a box set of Prima guides. I thought Makin' Magic was called something different in the US, but if it isn't, blame my memory. From Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.com), Vacation was only titled On Holiday in the UK and China, nowhere else.

I'm pretty sure Superstar came after Unleashed - I remember because installing Unleashed was the last thing I ever did on my old 'puter - when SS came out, I was forced to buy a new one. The things you do for Sims....  ::)

Oops. My fault. Should have done some fact checking first. Unleashed did come before Superstar according to the Wikipedia articles for Unleashed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sims:_Unleashed) and Superstar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sims:_Superstar).

Heheheheh...

You know I heard a rumour that linedancing is how the Nazi party got started. ;D

I never heard that, but it makes perfect sense.

There is a distinct resemblance between line dancing and some blitzkreig maneuvers!  ;D

I don't see that anyone answered this: In the US, Makin' Magic was called Makin' Magic.

Wow, and a spade is called a....?  :P

No matter what country, a marching platoon/division/etc. of soldiers, with its strictly coordinated leg/arms/handsl/head movements is very reminiscent of line-dancing.

G.

Have you ever seen one of those old British propoganda tapes from the war, where they spliced footage of a Nazi parade and played some of it backward, so it looked like they were linedancing? Hilarious.

I've never seen that but it sounds great. My other favorite "rumour" (ok, I'm stealing some comedian's bit here) is that rap "music " actually was originally started by the "callers" of square dancing.

You only have to watch some old black and white news-reels to see that the choreography that went into the goose step obviously has its origins in linedancing. I also think that there's a strong possibility that sharp pointy things under the toenails played a part... I mean, take a look at those guys? Do they look happy?

That is an excellent theory!  I still maintain that cRap was developed for the sole purpose of appealing to musicians who have no real musical or singing talent whatsoever, and so they are able to get away with making a simple beat and talking over it. 

I totally agree, LK....I can't sing a note in tune but I'm sure I could talk over a backbeat. By the way, do you know why punk/goth rock was invented? So ugly kids could be popular too ;D

I've given this some thought and have finally decided to take offence at your opinion LK.  It being my gorgeous son's birthday and all; he MCs (the UK version of rapping) and he's good at it.  Granted that he hasn't been able to sing since his voice broke, but he is talented, makes his own music, writes his own lyrics and is good enough to perform at different venues.

Rapping has helped to keep alot of teens out of trouble in my area - and I live in a rough and ready part of London.  In fact, my road's so 'hard' that my cat takes on any dogs that try to pass through our area! 

Wow! That's exactly what I say!
I reckon cRap audiences are really dumb too, if it doesn't have a heavy driving beat, they don't know what to make of it. Chanting in Time 101.

The younger Polynesian peoples in Aotearoa flock to rap in droves, unfortunately they also absorb the gang culture norms from America. They call themselves 'gangstas' and have eastside and westside gangs. And the crips and the bloods. In New Zealand for crissake. They don't even know east or west of what. GAAARH.

I gotta disagree, too. While most rappers are very bad (as many singers are very bad--see American Idol or Pop Star), there are some that are very good. For example, Snoop Dogg and Busta Rhymes are great. They have good tone and flow and their lyrics are well written. I'm not what you would call a rap fan, but I think there's a lot more to rap music than just talking over a beat.

I also agree that most singers are crap. Take Britney Wossname for example, if there weren't electronic boosters, aids and backing vocals to everything she did it would sound even worse than it does. I was listening to Alison Moyet and Shania Twain last weekend. That Alison has a voice to die for. Shania always sounds a bit nasal to me but by god, put next to someone like Britney, at least Shania can rock a whole stadium with the power of her voice. -And she can sing in tune.

I think the music company monopolies have had things their own way for far too long, making and breaking stars as it pleases them, regardless of talent. The Internet is responsible for opening up opportunities again and letting people be heard, for good or for bad. ;) Yay the Interweb!

Shania Twang, that is, witch, or "Every Man's Wet Dream Provided You Put Ear Plugs In"?  ;D

Don't care for cRAP, or much R n B and loathe Hip Hop. Like almost everything else except Country.

Nope. R & B neither. Buncha wailing. That damn Whitney Houston song out of the Bodyguard - took me bloody weeks to get that out of my head, it just wails on and on and on...

Adore reggae though.  :D

I think that the Whitney "bodyguard" song is the perfect performance of a song. Never heared before, and possibly never will hear again such a  performance...:). When I heared it the first time, I got the goose bumps...:).

Reggae cool, man. Whitney has talent, bad taste in men and even less in musical vehicles to showcase that voice. Mariah "pain in the arse" Carey, simper...

Oooh, shall make her as Sim and kick on regular basis.

Some R&B is good, also some of the Jazz. I like the old rock'n rollers, such as Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Blue Oyster Cult etc. I have a bunch of classical music as well. I also listen to U2, The Red Hot Chilly Peppers, Evanescence and the like. I like some of the Metallica songs too.

Never heard anything by Spears, Twain et al, they don't interest me at all. I also listen to the German rock bands such as Die Ärzte, Die Toten Hosen. I don't like country/western, I seem to be unable to distinguish between songs. They all seem to be alike to me, I must have a tin ear for this kind of music.

Nope, all country music does sound the same. I've listened to way more than I'd like over the last few years.

U2 is my all time favorite band. I'll listen to a little bit of everything else, though--jazz, classical, rock, reggae, ska, etc.

You're right.  There's also cussing and drugs.

Well, to those who agree with me: Thank you.  To those who don't: Everyone is entitled to their opinions, and yours are wrong.

No!  That's not what I meant to say!  What I mean is that everyone has their own indivudual tastes in music, even though yours are bad.

No!  That's not what I meant, either!  I'm sure all rappers/hip hoppers are have their own strengths and weaknesses, despite the fact that very few actually graduated from high school or have any natural talent besides talking and getting in trouble with the law.

No!  Dammit!  Just forget it.

Keep it up LK and I'll be sending my boyz and the cat round! ;D

I'll get my own Boyz Wit Catz N Da Burbz to fight you!  ;)

I think the Sheepmasters were correct in calling you rude, LK.  ;)

They were mean first!! ;)

A typical infant response!  What are YOUR strengths, LK?  It's easy to point the finger at others and laugh, but diversional techniques don't work with adults!  Come on...I'm waiting.... ::)

It was my inner infant fighting to come out.  (FerretLance isn't the only one who has bipolar tendencies, you know.)

My strengths?  Biting sarcasm, dashing good looks, and--wait!  Did you see that?!  It was David Hasselhoff!

(Runs away.)

Well, I thought it was funny anyway. (Which is not to say there aren't talented people who rap; I just don't listen to it because the little I have heard, grates on my nerves.)

I thought this was funnier!

Granted, LK's the same age as my kiddies, so I'll 'low it!

What does R&B stand for, anyway? Run and Barf?

Arghh!! Slap! Slap! Slap!  I'm leaving! (Slams door on her way out).

Ok, let's leave music alone and move on to a less touchy subject like politics and religion.  ;D

Sounds good!  Our government sucks and I'm an athiest!  Who's next?

Not controversial enough.  Try this one: chocolate chip cookies, crunchy or chewy?

You, sir, have offended the Keebler Elves for the last time!

Ha!  I smite thine hollow tree with my mighty war axe, Trollhaus!

But my +4 Sword of Many Secrets blocks thy Mighty War Axe and causes a great plague of locusts to eat your wee villiage, Slægtninge!

What happened to the topic in here? Where's the 'ugly' of NL?

Interesting thread.  Started out comical, ended an entirely different way.  Reminded me of a few things.  Oh, well.

The original topic appears to have gone the way of 99¢ gas and Lawrence Welk.

I've returned, to bring the thread back on topic.  (Besides, my hands still stinging from giving out all those slaps).  Nightlife will remain ugly until JM makes it macrotastic compatible.  I'm in no hurry to buy it.  As far as I can see from the screen shots and mini advertising trailers, there's nothing there that makes me think - I've got to get it.  Alot of it looks like fixed animations which will become as boring and irritating as the pranks and kickyball of Uni. 

The only thing I want EA to issue is a decent patch for Uni.

What is also ugly is the car that is dangled in front of people as an incentive. They could've at least made it a sports car.

It's like the Chimera (creature of myth: lion's head, goat's body, serpent's tail)

below it wants to be a race car (under-carriage)
In the middle it wants to be an antique car (chassis)
Up top it wants to be an SUV or a Jeep (roof)

Like my grandmother would say "it's neither fish nor fowl"

and you know what? In every shot I've seen, it has been a male sim driving.
*grump*

That's because only a man would drive such a nasty vehicle.

Oh, OK.  I'll turn aside the madding hordes of torch-wielding Tollhouse cookie fanatics who were rolling toward the hollow tree with murder, mayhem, and arson on their minds to ask:

What ugly car are we talking about?

Maxis is giving away a bonus car download if you pre-order NL

http://thesims2.ea.com/about/ep2_order.php has a photo of it.


Lisa

And one of you is going to volunteer to give me that car. Otherwise I'm going to have to start banning random people until someone comes forward.

Any car not made in Europe, if I may be bold enough to say! And since the States is the place of origin of this game, I don't think any european car will be shown. Instead, we'll get those butt-ugly american-style-based pieces of junk!  :P

Believe it or not JM, that would have been my first avenue of action should I ever get the car. It has potential doesn't it? A nice flat roof, good for all kinds of things to be mounted onto, no? A flame-thrower perhaps?

I was thinking of, for starters, say, a jeep. With a machine gun.

Fully functional I take it (the machine gun that is). Mmm...I like that thought. A nice, messy way to get rid of annoying townies!

Why would they punish you for pre-ordering like that?
JM, if I had that car, I would pay you to have it. And release a supper-modded flame-throwing townie-seeking-missile equipped hummer-beast.

Yep, I thought of that film too - it was set to the tune of "Doing the Lambeth Walk (Oi!)" and I remember my Grandfather saying he cried with laughter when it was shown in the local cinema.

JMP: R&B has stood for Rhythm and Blues for most of my life - but my Ex's kids told me I was an idiot for not knowing it means Rhythm and Bass nowadays. All I know is I'd rather listen to Dr. Feelgood than some fool shaking his jewellry at me...

 

Bah...linedancing...give me headbanging animations and a decent heavy metal soundtrack (not the nu-metal crap they've incorporated) and I'm a happy man! BTW, Dr. Feelgood as in Motley Crue?

No, this (http://www.drfeelgood.de/) Dr. Feelgood.  :)

While Rap is not my personal choice in music, I do respect the fact that it is a form of modern day ballad and that's why it appeals to people.  It sounds raw and by design it is raw.  It is just another form of an Artist's desire, and sometimes desperation, to share their experiences and interpretation of modern society.  This is no different than impressionism in painting and sculpture - it looks like plain chaos to many, but it is orchestrated thought and passion put into form by the Artist.  As far as talent, Rap does take a great deal of coordination and rhythm and it is certainly colorful in form - I know I couldn't do it, so I have to appreciate those who do give it a go.

 

Speaking of UGLY, What is with all the angry drink tossing in the restaurant/bistro scene's?  And I noticed a little meter thingy in one of the screenshots where this was snapped.  Maybe a new competition of sorts?

The men may drive those stupid cars, but it appears that the women get the drinks to throw on their dinner companion.


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That screenshot is obviously fake. If the date is being rated as "Ok", and the time bar is not elapsed, why are drinks being tossed in anger already?

Fake screenshot but realistic date scenario. "You take me out for a meal and this is what you order? I can get this crap at home (provided I am stood next to the fridge and there are no diagonal doors nearby)" *SPLOOSH*

Hmmm, at least in GTA:SA I can take her outside and smack her upside the head for getting my suit wet.

I wouldn't say it's a REALISTIC scenario. Like many of the other scenarios in the game, like academic probation and being expelled,  teens running away, and being left at the altar, it's not realistically ever going to happen except in the most contrived circumstances. It may not even be possible to get it to occur naturally without modifying stats.