Colin McRae appears dead, but Colin Mochrie is thankfully still kicking.

I don't think even the most customized copy of the Sims 2 would have any chance in court of being mistaken for a different game entirely. Animations in particular aren't terribly common as far as custom content is concerned, and they're usually pretty primitive compared to the originals. Either way, you'd have a hard time avoiding using default animation in a video of any decent length. You could get a whole bunch of custom furniture, grab custom clothes meshes for everyone, use custom eyes, makeup, bajillion polygon hair, and your game would still look close enough to the original that someone only passingly familiar with the thing would know what it was.

You have to consider the size of EA, the Sims alone couldn't sustain the entire company. It's like Activision/Blizzard. Everyone knows WoW is going to be a success, but it's a company bigger than just one game. I would think even a shitty Sims 3 would sell well, at least at first.

I'm not too worried yet. There's just too many details they'd have to work on, and the rewards seem pretty damn obvious to be worse than potential gains. Their store is pretty damn benign compared to TSR, and I doubt they could get away with giving you imaginary points for creating content and expect to regulate it with any relevance, ala Peggy G Zone, especially if they made it the ONLY way to get content.

They know sharing is a huge thing, they know that people are willing to spend millions of man-hours producing free shit for their game. TSR can't be that lucrative that they're willing to irreparably damage their IP to emulate it as the only way to get stuff. It's a given that any large restriction would kill a lot of the incentive to create stuff.

I think it was just speculation on the part of the people who linked to the BBS. Something about how the Maxoid worded the ban to the Booty or something.

Aha, found it: http://bbs.thesims2.ea.com/community/bbs/messages.php?threadID=4e81567021bcc3744668c12a5a66d0f5&directoryID=2&startRow=1&openItemID=item.2,item.104,item.41,item.127,item.23#fbe743ae7dba176013c319ba0b97704c

"A lot of our Simmers have been posting links to PaySitesMustBeDestroyed which is not ok. This site often posts content that is either from our TS2 Store or from partner sites which are pay/subscription based. This is considered linking to pirated content."

I've probably clicked around too much to reasonably find the thread that linked me there, but I believe the TSR connection was just a guess from the thread that brought me to the Maxoid post. Like, "Partner sites? Must be TSR!" that sorta thing. Nothing definite.

I think I saw that, something about the BBS not allowing links to the booty because of it hosting TSR/The Store content or something to that effect? I'm hoping that's just something limited to BBS retardedness, and the speculation beyond that is just rumors gone wild.

The creature creator is the thing they released before the game, right? I think I tried the trial but it wouldn't run on my shitty 4200 Geforce 4. I've never played Spore so haven't really paid it much attention after release. To my understanding though the creature creator is included entirely with the game, yes? I think that's closer to EA knowing people will buy stupid preorder shit no matter what.

I can think of a worse example: Fable II had a preorder edition, which cost an additional $10. I think it netted you an early version of the casino games in the game itself. They're all heavy on luck and short on strategy. One is essentially slots. In addition to that, it included a code to unlock some small content in game. A weapon and some clothing located in a chest early on, and a dungeon later in the game. Except this code wasn't included in a lot of preorders. So what they inevitably had to do was set up an online request form, which only required you had a Windows Live account (and if you've ever set up Live! for either XBox, you've already got that). So I got the bulk of the limited edition content, because all it did was unlock content already present on EVERY SINGLE COPY of Fable II.

Live! in general has quite a few games where downloadable content that costs money is clearly just unlocking content you already have but has been purposefully hidden in order to charge you for it. EA has a somewhat notorious example with The Godfather. The 360 version removed in-game cheats that other versions contained, and offered them as pay for downloadable content. And then there's examples of them offering "weapons" in multiplayer games, effectively subsiding advantages in competitive first person shooters.

Still, if the extent of the matter is they charge for bodyshop 3 early, well, it's not a dealbreaker for me. I'd just arr it or pass it by. I don't think the average user is going to be creating groundbreaking content before the game is out. I'm sure most people don't have all that much stuff from 2004 in their download folder still anyway.

edit: I checked the discussion page of the wikipedia entry on the Sims 3, and found this tiny gameplay video. It's not actually that short, but the resolution is hard to make things out. So far it looks like the Sims 2 with slightly better models and floors that show regardless of what floor the camera is located on.

If you've got any solid links to those rumors Kyna I wouldn't mind reading them. I don't want to sound like I'm apologizing for EA or anything, but I am hopeful the game will turn out well. So far from what I have seen, which is very little, it does look great, although Spore did too, and I don't think anyone had that live up to their expectations. Either way it will without a doubt eat ram for breakfast, and dumb decisions will obviously be omni-present. I'm kinda leery about the focus on filming the thing. I don't play the game to upload shit to youtube, I just wanna play a game.

For some reason the default link wouldn't work and I had to watch it in super high definition. Anyway...

I like the huge range of sliders for creating sims. I do think that's a great option, given that everyone in the original game had identical bodies, and more delicate facial adjustments required editing outside the game in Milkshape. As far as pure "content" goes yeah, that's a waste. I like the ability to paint cars, since bringing that closer to the user is more freedom, although every example they showed was shit. I'm hopeful that their "HAY GUYZ I JUST GOT PHOTOSHOP" wallpapers are a sign you aren't held back in the ability to create them, because most of the examples were atrocious.

Still, no gameplay is ugh. It's a game, not a platform for people who make crappy machinima.

The previews seem to show people moving about inside houses outside your house of focus.  My problem would be whether or not I'd really want dozens of sims moving about outside my range of view.

I don't think it'd be practical. EA seems to love micro transactions and selling the same stuff to you over and over again, but I think charging for the tools would be a move even they could recognize as poor. Charging for tools you previously gave away is bound to cause backlash, and reduce sales. Additionally it caps creation to some degree. You inhibit the community, which is for the most part producing completely free content for your game, for an expansion's worth of profit? Lastly, the Sims 2 and Spore are the most pirated games on the planet right now. You release an expansion that's pure tools, and you've just created the world's most pirated expansion without even trying.

I wouldn't put it past them entirely, but even EA recognizes the free ride they're getting with the Sims community. You can inhibit to some degree, but to block it off entirely unless you buy a $40 expansion seems like you'd be shooting the IP in the foot for a minor gain.

I doubt they'd do a whole tools EP, could definitely see it riding as a feature of some silly expansion full of content you may or may not want though. A tools only EP would involve doling out a ton of core features all at once, after all.

I wish they showed more gameplay shots, all the info they've released now seems like pure scripted machinima. You can't play the game at that angle. There seems to be a huge focus on what all the NPCs are doing, and near zero focus on what you can actually do.

I'm sure you could find plenty of examples on the list that have problem spots. I've got a 6600 GeForce card that requires more power than the manufacturer claims and has all sorts of driver issues (as in, updating to the newest drivers is apparently a bad thing), but that's hardly EA's fault.

I get the impression from previews that you'd probably have to zoom upwards really far in order to get that sorta distance. Most angles you'd normally play on you couldn't see halfway across a neighborhood. It's a bit hard to tell though, since not one preview has showed actual gameplay. And I'm pretty skeptical that zooming is that seemless... That said, the latest preview showed a car sequence, and it looked like a slightly closer version of watching a car in SimCity 4. I imagine when you're looking at things on that level they aren't terribly detailed.

I don't want to sound like I'm defending the thing. My current computer won't even touch the game, and EA offering 4gb of ram as a potential requirement is pretty wtf inducing. I'm not skeptical as to whether that's realistic or not, particularly if you want things to be as seemless and fluid as their current previews do.

Maybe requirements closer to the later expansions. There's no way they could claim it'd require less than the original game and still have it be an improvement over TS2. The original box requirements are only an 800mhz processor, 256mb ram, and a 32mb video card. But by the time you get to Apartment Life the requirements rise to 1.3 GHz (2.0 GHz for Vista) and 512 MB (1 GB for Vista) ram. Same 32mb video card though.

I can't picture any serious quote even by EA claiming they were going to let you use your Pentium III and GeForce 2 to play their sequel...

I imagine the difference is that furries are supposed to be anthropomorphic, whereas "hybrids" are humans with animal traits. The furry take on either element is pretty scary and failure prone regardless though.

Thought the aquarium cube was 3x3? I have a hard time figuring out where the hell I'd place it in a home most of the time.

I'll work a bit more interacting with those guys then when I reinstall the whole deal on another computer.

As for the lots, yeah, they're pretty borked. The Free Time special hobby lots are worthless entirely, as they're just vacation-townie free versions of the Asian vacation spots (some townies are there, but I didn't notice anything special about them, and the pagoda location is pretty damn worthless without the old man there...).

Additionally, no witches ever seem to spawn at the two magic locations. The evil warlock would show up at community lots, but I'm not sure a good witch or warlock ever spawned until I forced the game to. Either way, the magic lots are worthless as other than the evil warlock castle's serving NPCs, they're both completely empty.

No idea what went wrong during installation, but given the hassle it takes to remove and reinstall stuff, I'm just playing with the notion that this neighborhood is a loss, and I can just use it to test hacks and content out for a game on a more stable computer.

Bees and things that made my sims itch. And all the chance cards that increased skills tended to target ones I already had maxed. I eventually gave up on learning anything there, both my characters could teleport via magic already, so it was somewhat redundant, and I suspect something is just wrong about the installation, I never once saw a local, unless they happen to resemble white people in kimonos and offer no different options than a tourist would. I did learn the Dragon Tale at least.

Outside of that though, there's some clear issues with my game. All the secret hobby lots from Free Time appear to have had their lots replaced with random asian vacation lots from Bon Voyage. I went to the secret gaming lot, and it looked suspiciously like a game free pagoda. When I went on vacation in game, I confirmed that it was EXACTLY like the secret lot from there, meaning something overwrote something it shouldn't have.

But with the next semester starting mid next month, I'm hoping to more or less replace this machine with a decent laptop, so it's too much of a hassle to fix it when I'll be able to start fresh without all the hardware issues. I opted to just try and give myself the interactions in SimPE in the meanwhile.

Probably these stairs. The AL ones don't have a matching set that go the other way, Marvine's do, and have a whole lot more colors.

Not sure I care for vacations. I like getting new interactions, but how you get them is a pain in the ass. Tons of loading since every spot is pretty much good only for one thing. I'm not sure I've actually seen any locals, everyone I've met seems like a tourist in a kimono. I saw a ninja once but he promptly vanished. I did get the dragon tale out of the old man at least. Other than that, the vacation has pretty much been horrible. Arrived at night, next two days it rains. And pretty much any thing you can get bees out of, (tossing a coin, chance cards from tours) has caused my sims to be chased by bees.

Closer inspection (ugh) leads me to believe they are yellow submarine tattoos. I don't think that makes things any clearer though.

Yeah, walk to lot and new turnons/turnoffs were present in my game with AL and FT but not BV installed. I tossed BV into the mix anyway, I don't see any major core additions (vacations I'm guessing are mostly just expanded dates, right?), but I like beach lots. I'm a pretty big Japanophile too, so kimonos are nice. Hairwise I tend to avoid the Maxis stuff, most just can't compare to CC with the textures they use, even if the shapes are ok.

That brings the setup to every EP but Pets, which seems to be pretty universally considered unnecessary. At least I confirmed most of the stuff packs weren't worth it (that said, I did get the Holiday Stuff pack, kimonos again.)

It'd be nice if the expansions built off each other a bit more. I can understand the issue of requiring a daisy chain of EPs to enjoy something, but something like Outerwear is added in one expansion, and not a single EP after that bothers with the whole clothes category.

Yeah, I'm leery about three. The leap to two from one is solid, but fairly obvious concepts like dates still require an entire expansion instead of being a core feature? Vacations, pets, weather, dates, and probably college'll all have their own separate expansions all over again. Oh boy, I love spending $40 for a feature I've already played with in a Sims game!

I haven't tried it myself, it requires five CC components beyond what's included to have it work, and that lovely skin texture appears to be AWOL entirely, so I'm not even sure it would work anymore. But screenshots of it and the original mesh give me the impression it's static and stays perfectly rigid regardless of movement.

Gotta love the original, it's available in a lovely shade of shit brown

Kinda a lot of overhead just for that though. Plus you can't really avoid animals like you can say, an extra lot like Bon Voyage.

I think this one falls squarely under the awful category:



http://modthesims2.com/download.php?t=226957

It's supposed to be a white tiger, but I'm thinking donkey and a cat tail with some sorta circulatory problem. Those definitely aren't stripes...