Apartment Life by: Bologna | Edited by: Bologna
It has been officially announced that Apartment Life is to be the next (and possibly last) Expansion Pack to be released. This new EP has a ton to offer, and while the information we have is just information based on the game in its alpha stage, a lot of the stuff will make it into the final product. However keep in mind that not everything may be the same.
First things first, lets talk about the main subject of the entire pack, apartments. Believe it or not, there will be apartments in this EP. Now, what would an apartment be if you could only move one of your families into it? Technically speaking, that would be a house. So of course, you can have multiple families living on this lot; four to be exact.While you can only have four families on the lot, you can have as many rooms as you'd like and allow NPC's to move in all around you. While on a lot, you will only control one family. There will be a new family selector screen for you to choose which family you are going to play upon entering the lot. Of course, the other families you have moved in will still be there to interact with, but you will have no control over them.
To rent an apartment is pretty much like vacationing in Bon Voyage or choosing a dorm in University. Once you choose your apartment, a week of rent is paid and your sims are free to move in. At your apartment you will be welcomed by the landlord. The landlord will take care of broken items. He also will check in on your sims from time to time. As far as your limitations in your new apartment, you can design it however way you want, except for removing walls and what not. Build mode is not an option. You can, however, change the flooring and wallpaper.
You will find a lot of new building options added to your game as well. Things like ducting, venting, heating, and cooling. Plus this EP gives what many simmers have been wanting, curly stairs! And of course, long awaited ceilings! No longer will you have to be careful when taking pictures that the sky does not show above them, because now there are ceilings above all of your Sims' heads!
Of course, with a new EP comes a new creature. Apartment Life gives you witches! Yes! At last the magic lovers get their sense of magic brought into the game! Your witch can learn and cast spells, fly on a broomstick, craft items, and brew potions! Witches can be good, nuetral, or evil, and, with a lot of effort, they can be atrociously evil! Good witches will be decked out in white robes, neutral in brown, and evil in black. Atrociously evil witches have green skin.
The spells that witches can cast are determined on whether they choose the good side, neutral, or evil.
Another cool thing available in Apartment Life is a huge playground set for the children. This huge set includes slides, poles to slide down, monkey bars, etc. etc. There is even a "Bouncing Bork Spring Rider" for the toddlers! These rides can be put on both a residential and community lot! So you can now bring the fun home!
If you bought Freetime, there was something new to learn, parenthood. With Apartment Life, there are 5 new things to learn! Whether it's fire prevention, anger management, lifelong happiness, physiology, or couple counseling, your sims won't ever run out of knowledge!
Now, you may think thats quite a lot, but that's not the half of it! There is so much more to learn and explore with Apartment Life! This EP will be hitting store shelves around August 26th, 2008 (depending on where you live). So I guess you'll just have to pick up yours and explore the game further!
The Sims and SecuROM by: Neb | Edited by: Bologna
Many of you have heard the news. Simmers are in an outrage about the new anti-piracy product that EA has decided to use in their Sims games. SecuROM will now replace Safedisk as EA’s anti-piracy product of choice. It will be included in each of the Expansion and Stuff Packs for The Sims 2, and will most likely be included in The Sims 3. This new anti-piracy software has been known to cause problems in several simmers’ games. Many simmers are reporting numerous problems, the most common ones being buggy gameplay, anti-virus software malfunction, malfunction of CD burners, and expansion packs refusing to launch. Rarely do computers shut down because of this new product, but it has been known to happen. EA is putting your computer at risk just to protect their rights.
The Sims: Pet Stories, The Sims 2 Deluxe, Bon Voyage, H&M Fashion Stuff, FreeTime, Kitchen & Bath Stuff, and the soon to be released IKEA Stuff and Apartment Life all include this dangerous anti-piracy software. Several simmers have reported problems after playing some of these games, most commonly Bon Voyage. SecuROM interferes with some computers’ systems due to an application it installs on your computer. This may seem bad, but trust me, it gets a lot worse.
The next and newest version of SecuROM, that will be included in The Sims 3 and Spore, is much worse than the current version. After the first activation of the game, SecuROM require that it re-check with the server within ten days, in case the CD Key has become public and gets banned. If it cannot contact the server before the ten days are up, nothing bad will happen and the game will run just fine. After ten days, a re-check is performed, and required, before the game can run. Re-authentication will also be required when patching or downloading game content. This means you must have the internet in order to play the game, which is rather unfortunate for those who play with their games on a totally separate computer disconnected from the internet to prevent their games being lost to viruses and malicious spyware. You will only be able to install the game on three computers.
Scenario: You have two computers in your household with your game installed on both. One of the computers is getting old, so you decide to get a new one. You install your game on that one. Well, your three times are up. So if you get another new computer, you cannot play your game on it unless you buy the game again.
There is a bright side though! The CD will no longer be required to play the game. Now that makes everything better... doesn’t it?
For those who have experienced problems with their computer after having installed on of the Expansion Packs or Stuff Packs including SecuROM, here is a removal tool that can be found here: SecuROM Uninstall Utilities.