Posted 6 days, 8 hours ago at 12:50 AM. 8 comments
The Sims 3 is nearing its February 20, 2009 release date. As we get closer and closer to the date, it’s time to update some information from the previous articles. Over the past few months various information, promotions, and CDs have been released to the public. We”ll try to condense all that information into one blog post, sticking on the more important things.
The Sims 3 Story
The storyline is sort of a prequel setting up all the families you’ve seen in past games. The main family everyone keep’s track of is the Goths. This time Mortimer Goth will be a kid. You’ll be able to see both his parents Gunther and Cornelia Goth.
The second family everyone loves to hate is the Crumplebottoms! This time Mrs. Crumplebottom is at her younger adult age and will be haunted by the ghost of her husband. (Presumably if The Sims 1 is Canon, her husband died from a chandelier accident.)
Next up is the Landgraabs who were featured in many Sim titles, including Simcity 3000. There appears to be a rival between the Landgraabs and the Altos.
Welcome to Sunset Valley
Sunset Valley is the main town featured in The Sims 3. EA will release another neighborhood for you to play with after you register. In Sunset Valley there are a few areas your Sim can visit, the beach, science center, gym, library, city hall, park, public pool, hospital, cafe, police station, catacomb, stadium and more.
Message for SnootySims Forum: Thanks I made some corrections you pointed out, sorry for the confusion. As for the areas you can walk inside with your sim, so far the park, public pool, library, beach , and possibly the art gallery, are currently known. This list is not 100% complete and confirmation of other areas would be revealed eventually.
As previously mentioned, you will play as one family, everyone around you will age and die alongside with you. Your neighbors can get married, move in, or move out on their own.
The Map view will be your guide to getting around on the game. In this view you can see every building with their appropriate icons. By hovering your mouse over an area, you can see what Sims are currently in that vicinity, and instantly zoom in without any loading screens at all.
You can also view where your Sims go to work and actually see them travel to that location. However once they are at work they will disappear from the map screen. The map view actually reminds me of the canceled Simsville game.
Create A Sim - Create a Style
Create A Sim has been enhanced further to allow for more customization over past games. This is due to the Create a Style feature. In Create A Style, you will be able to set up patterns and colors for any object, floor, wall, and clothing. The create a style has a small palette dock where you set all the colors and patterns. If you drag this dock to a specific item, it’s colors and patterns will change. This makes unlimited color combinations for clothes.
For example, in Sims 2, if a dress didn’t come in a certain color, you would have to edit the color through Photoshop. In the Sims 3, all you would have to do is select any color you want and apply it to your dress and it will instantly change to that color.
Personality, Wishes, and Skills
Each Sim will have their own personality through the selection of traits. After you create your Sim, you will be able to choose up to 5 traits that describe his behavior. These traits will dictate his personality and actions.
The inappropriate trait will let a Sim belch in public or sneeze in public. A Sim with akleptomaniac trait might even steal items from your home. A Sim with the hot headedtrait will get angry very quickly and yell at others.
After you select traits, you will be provided with a few lifetime wishes. If you fulfill them they will make your sim happy. There are also short term wishes that can be fulfilled at any time. By spending your happiness points, you can obtain achievement traits, which are special traits that allow your Sims to “cheat” their way through life. For example the haggler achievement trait lets your Sims get discounts when they go shopping.
Skills have been brought back yet again, but this time skills have a more social experience than before. If you excell at a particular skill, other Sims might want you to run errands for them. Some opportunities at work might arise and allow your Sim to be promoted in a field. There was one example where your boss might ask you to bring in a piece of artwork you made since he knows your creativity skill is high.
Freed from your need
Needs are one of the most boring features of the Sims. You often found yourself having limited time to do anything just because you had to go pee or sit down. The Sims 3 will still include needs but the game has been designed to have less focus on them. Instead you’ll have more time participating in socialization and achieving your Sims’ wishes and lifelong dreams. Your family for the first time will be able to take care of themselves on their own. This frees up time for you to explore the town and meet new Sims.
Minimum Requirements
Windows XP SP2
Pentium IV 2.0 GHz / Athlon XP 2000+ or equivalent
1GB RAM
6.5 GB of hard drive space with 1 GB additional space for custom content
128 MB Video Card with support for Pixel Shader 2.0
Windows Vista SP1
Pentium IV 2.4 GHz / Athlon XP 2400+ or equivalent
1.5 GB RAM of Memory
6.5 GB of hard drive space with 1 GB additional space for custom content
128 MB Video Card with support for Pixel Shader 2.0
Computers with built in Graphics Chipsets
Intel Integrated Chipset, GMA X3000 or above.
2.6 GHz Pentium D CPU, or 1.8 GHz Core 2 Duo, or equivalent
AOL has just exposed the new AIM Chat Experience on their front page. The new chatrooms ditches Userplane’s flash based interface and attempts to ease the migration for AOL users into a web based format. This will also be the first time AIM users can enter an AOL member created chatroom.
The Setup
On the left column lists all the users in the chatroom. Each user has their own icon which you can upload at profiles.aim.com. If you hover over the screen names, you can either view a profile, IM, ignore, or report a user. In the center is the complete chatroom, it places every text in it’s own little speech bubble. If someone types more than one line, the chat bubble expands downwards. On the right side is the media panel. Users can paste links to videos, photos, or just a plain old link.
The Implication
Yes, even after the invention of MP3s, the WAV chatrooms still exist.
From the names of the chatrooms that are appearing in the user created area, it seems AOL has finally migrated the old “FDO Chats” to the internet. FDO Chats were previously exclusive only to those with @aol.com screen names under AOL client software. Now that AIM users can also chat in AOL chatrooms, expect a clash.
The Design Flaws
The designers chose to have each line of chat appear in a speech bubble. The basic design and colors used for the chat bubbles are very distracting and clash against the main background. Some themes, as noted in the screenshot above, make the situation even worse. I also didn’t quite understand why the screen names are placed on the right side of the speech bubble.
If the designers could try to follow in iChat’s footsteps by creating smoother speech bubbles and placing names on the left side, it might make these chatrooms more visually appealing.
Chat widget
The chat widget runs under yourminis.com platform which AOL acquired recently. At least it is being put to use unlike Bebo, as we have yet to hear any news on how AIM Profiles will utilize it.
I have added the new “Ask A Question” module on the sidebar. Now I can personally answer some of your questions. After you post a question it will be added to queue, so don’t expect it to show up until the next day.
If I don’t have an answer to your question, it will most likely not show up. Also if you ask the same question someone already asked, it will probably not show up as well. On the “Ask A Question” module, you can click previous and next to see questions others have already asked.
Posted 1 month, 1 week ago at 11:49 PM. 2 comments
Another frequently asked question. So we’ll walk you through on how to remove messages from appearing inside your Buddy Update box in the AIM Buddy Info.
Please note that it can take several days for messages to disappear from the box.
There is also a bug with AIM Profiles, if you edit your AIM Profiles page, your buddy updates box will reappear. A workaround for this would be to stop using AIM profiles, this means you can no longer add friends, post comments and add pictures.
Buddy updates are controlled through two locations. One is within Aim 6.8 and another is located at its own special website. If you use Aim 6.8 you’ll need to perform both methods. If you don’t use Aim 6.8 you just have to perform the first method.
On the Right side you will see a heading that says “Sites that you already have.” You need to click delete under everything that is listed there. Remember that it takes a while for the feeds to disappear from your buddy info.
Once your done the box will no longer appear as long as you do not alter your status message. However there are other programs that alter the status messages.
Method 2: Aim 6.8 Plugins
In Aim 6.8, plugins can alter your status messages in several different ways:
If you install Aim 6.8 for the first time. [Plugins affect Status]
If you install a new plugin.
If a plugin changes status message for you, e.g. AIM Music Link
Aim 6.8 luckily has privacy settings for plugins. Some plugins like AIM Music Link, has its own built in settings that need to be disabled in order for this to work. Follow these steps to ensure status messages are not updated:
Open Aim 6.8
Click Edit.
Click Settings
Click Privacy
Uncheck “I have updated my profiles or blogs”
Uncheck “I have installed a new AIM Plugin”
Method 2b: Aim Music Link Status
Open Aim 6.8
Click Actions or press CTRL+N (Aim 6.9)
Click Aim Music LInk Preferences
Uncheck Share Music with your Buddies.
Click OK.
So again, as long as you don’t update your status, your buddy info box will dissappear eventually.
Posted 1 month, 3 weeks ago at 7:40 PM. 7 comments
AOL sent out an email today warning users to backup all your storage from Xdrive. Xdrive will shut down on Janurary 12, 2009. This also affects Bluestring users as well since both websites use the Xdrive platform. We’ll help you along the way and run through some steps you can use to backup files. We’ll also add in some tips for other websites you can backup your files to.
Did You Know: By backing up all files from Xdrive…
You are also backing up pictures from AOL Pictures.
As you reach this step either you’ll see a link of a zip of all your files or not. It depends on if your zip is ready or not. If it is, download the file and you can extract all your files in a Zip File. Click here to learn how to open and extract a zip file. If your files are not ready yet, please keep reading on.
How to Generate A Zip Backup
If your files are not ready, go back to the previous page and click on Xdrive Classic, a new window will now pop up on the screen.
Click on the small tick box next to the word name, then click the green download arrow. It will take several minutes for the download box to appear, please be patient as Xdrive generates your zip file.
One it pops up, click save, or save file. Choose the location you want it to download in, like for example, Desktop. Don’t understand zip files? Click here to learn how to take files out of a zip file.
Where can I backup my Xdrive files online?
Well there are several places, we shall list some we deem appropriate for your Xdrive content. Each site has their own rules and limitations, you may not be able to get back the same amount of space you used up before. Below there will be a review for each site and you can decide whether you want to use it or not.
Box.net would be the first choice for Xdrive Users
1GB of Space (4GBs less than Xdrive)
25Mb File Size
10GB/Month
ADrive.com has as much storage as the premium version of Xdrive.
It has some of the features Xdrive has.
50GB of Space (Same as Xdrive Premium)
2GB File Size
Unknown Bandwith
For Xdrive users who liked having a program to upload files, Dropbox has a similar experience where one can just drag and drop a file, and it will be uploaded into storage.
I noticed there were no comments for a few days. This issue has been fixed, you can now comment on the site. Sorry If you haven’t been able to get help for the past few weeks.
Posted 2 months, 2 weeks ago at 11:40 AM. 2 comments
AOL has released a brand new version of AIM for Macs through its beta website. No, this is not Aim 4.7 that was released several years ago, this is a brand new 2008 version that follows behind Aim 6 for Windows. Though this has been released a while ago, the lack of advertising has Mac users still complaining about Aim 4.7.
Feature List
Customize Aim icons, Wallpapers, and Emoticons, and Sounds
Tabbed IMs just like Aim 6
Aim Groups, Aim Blast, Aim Chats
Aim File Transfer even while buddy is away
Friendly/Nickname support
Full Offline IM support
Feedback & Bugs
While this product is in beta, expect some bugs to appear. Background color for text may not show up. Offline IMs may appear twice. Generally users have been very happy with this release, so Mac users should try it out too if you dislike iChat or Adium.
Posted 2 months, 3 weeks ago at 9:49 PM. 4 comments
Some users have reported having a message pop up whenever they IM someone who is offline. This message states:
Offline IM Storage is Full
So far we know that this problem has to be fixed through AOL staff. Which unfortunately means you’ll have to wait your turn for your screen name to be fixed. In case it has taken several days and your screen name has not been fixed we would like for you to test out the possible workaround below and post a comment below:
Access AIM Logging Settings
Open AIM 6
Click Edit > Click Settings
Click IM Logging
The quickest way to work around this problem would be to click “Delete log files“. You may not want to lose every past conversation, instead you can delete certain screen name logs you no longer need. Click within the address path where all the logs are stored, right click and press Select All, then press CTRL+C to Copy, you will now be able to go directly to that folder.
Access Logs Stored on Computer
Open Windows Explorer
In the Address Bar, press CTRL+V on your keyboard
Press Enter to reach the folder
You can delete any screen name that appears there. This shall free up some space for your offline storage and will postpone the error message.
Posted 2 months, 3 weeks ago at 12:53 AM. 0 comments
AOL Journals has finally called it quits after 5 years. Through the years it went through a few rough spots, but managed to create a small dedicated user base whom enjoyed networking with their peers. On October 31st, 2008, AOL Journals will cease to exist. Leaving many of it’s dedicated following frustrated over it’s demise.
Migrate to Blogger
The next step for AOL Journals users is to migrate their account to Blogger. Interestingly, AOL has teamed up with Google to create a transfer tool to ease the process for you. Though, after you migrate your blog, I recommend exporting it to another platfom. If you need help on the import process, visit Blogger Help AOL Import.
A Brief History
When AOL Journals initially launched, it felt as though it was a replacement for AOL Hometown. AOL Hometown was a basic website generator, but was very limited, and used an overly annoying Java script application to run it. Instead of using AOL Hometown to describe oneself, AOL Journals was meant to serve as a blogging outlet for all members. AOL Journals could not manage gain much popularity among the main user base. This could be because it due to lack of advertising, for one there were no AOL Journals tabs in AOL Profiles, one of the highly viewed features on AOL.
To generate some buzz, The The Magic Smoke began as a blog that would feature other bloggers and provide up to date information regarding features, bugs, and outages. This blog expanded further on community development, and lead to the creation of CoMET, which served as a guide for new and old AOL members.
Even AOL’s own developers joined the AOL Journals platform, where we could get a behind the scenes look on what to expect. Among the years AOL Jounals added some new features including tagging support, RSS feeds, and integration of “whitelisted” embeddable content such as Flickr slideshows.
Limited Features: A Brief History Part 2
Even with such features AOL Journals just could not gain a large grasp on AOL members. Sure many started their own journal, but abandoned it usually after the first post. The lack of customization was a huge deterrence. Though some customization through CSS was planned, it never really saw the light of day. Later on, even AOL’s own development and community teams moved outside of AOL Journals and started their own websites. After AOL acquired BlogSmith, all major blogs began utilizing this platform.
Whats next in store for AOL?
Well all I can really speculate is Bebo. AOL did acquire them and we have yet to see what they are planning to do with it. We do know they will integrate AIM Profiles in some form. In addition, Bebo also has its own blogging platform.
After the massive amount of complaints about Spore’s “draconian” DRM, EA sheds some light on its future plans. Here are some details Mariam Sughayer shared with MTV Multiplayer Blog.
Up to 5 Computers Authorized
This new patch expected to release sometime in the near future, will allow 5 computers authorized to play concurrently. When one computer uninstalls the game, you will be able to deauthorize access to that computer, freeing up one installation attempt. With this new method, users will no longer be forced to hit the activation cap that was set in place since the beginning.
Goodbye DRM?
EA shows off its compassionate side by saying they might release a patch down the road that will completely make DRM “null and void.” Don’t expect this patch anytime soon, its more likely to occur many many years from now when everyone else is awaiting Spore 3.
User Reactions
As we wait until the final details of this patch to come forth, users are still not pleased deeming this is “not enough.” Concerns stem from SecuRom’s ability to cripple DVD hardware and burning software. Another concern includes the pirated version as the most ideal to play since it has been wiped clean from SecuRom and can be installed on an unlimited amount of computers.
Further Questions
Feedback from various online forums and websites have brought up several questions that need to be answered by EA.
What would happen if a user uninstalls the game but the deauthorization attempt has failed?
In order to keep this as fool-proof as possible, EA would have to create a new program that can detect whether Spore is installed or uninstalled on the system. Since really, if a user uninstalls the game while they are currently offline for whatever reason, they will have no way of contacting EA’s servers about this change.
Though this previous situation is hypothetical, a more common occurrence is where users will reinstall their operating system because of unforeseen circumstances. EA has to be able to deauthorize a computer that has no traces of this game within the registry.
Will this patch apply to hardware changes?
If the patch authorizes 5 computers to play the game, hardware changes should not use up an activation attempt. We do hope this new patch will deauthorize a computer once they detect hardware changes and reauthorize after it notifies EA.
Something strangely interesting occurred over the release of Spore. Spore, the critically acclaimed creature creation game, has a strong list of supporters and gained high reviews on major gaming sites. Yet still, the biggest issue it has is its SecuROM DRM. This has resulted in the game amassing a low review score among its players and critics. This appears to bea protest campaign against SecuRom DRM, from players who have played the game and majority of others who haven’t.
DRM Concerns
The majority of complaints on Amazon’s site deals with the limited amount of activations your allowed to use in order to play the game. An activation attempt can be used if you completely reinstall your operating system or upgrade a certain amount of hardware inside your computer.
Once you have used up your 3 activations, you will need to call or email EA’s tech support and prove to them that you have purchased the game. Otherwise your only other choice is to purchase another copy.
Three is the loneliest number…
Some users have also installed Spore on multiple PCs, effectively using up 1 activation attempt for each PC. Amazingly within days of the game’s release, one consumer has already used up all 3 activation attempts. There are other complaints as users also seem to be concerned over the longevity that these activation servers will be up. What would happen 10 years later when those servers go down? Will players be locked out of playing the game?
Its unknown how EA will react to this. Its likely they will not do anything at all and will continue to use SecuRom in the future.
Posted 4 months, 3 weeks ago at 12:41 PM. 0 comments
This previous issue has been fixed.
There have been many reports about users unable to send any messages in AIM Chatrooms. The error message is as follows:
OnlineHost: We’re sorry, we are unable to send your message. Please remove the Web address and try again
This occurs for most of the messages that are sent even though there are no web links in your text. This is an AOL HOST issue, this means that AOL and only AOL can fix it. In the meantime there are several workarounds you can do to avoid this problem.
Workarounds
The first workaround involves upgrading your version of Aim to Aim 6.8.10.4 or Aim 6.9. You can upgrade your Aim versions by following the links below
You can use either version to fix the problem. Unfortunately users of Windows Me, MAC, and Windows 98 will be left out. This includes iChat, Adium, Meebo, T-mobile Sidekick, and others.
Posted 4 months, 4 weeks ago at 1:37 AM. 0 comments
The Great Divide
Time Warner plans to split AOL into two factions, an advertisement unit and a dial-up unit. The plan will be to sell off each unit to potential buyers.
Dial-up users do not make up the majority on AOL so giving them away won’t be such a big deal. Plus this means that AOL will finally have no use for India call centers, although they still might work as online tech support.
The advertising unit also known as Platform A, accounts for the whole AOL community, but mainly focuses on Ad.com. Platform A consists of tons of websites and brands all across the internet. Its a very lucrative spot to potential buyers as they will have ad spots in tons of areas including the massive AIM user base.
I am a Dial-up User, Where do I go?
Earthlink has been in talks to take over dial-up subscribers. I believe dial-up users will be switched over to an entirely new Earthlink email address, Their AOL account will automatically be switched over to free and they will be encouraged to use both emails. This is just purely speculation.
I am a Broadband User, Where do I go?
As for the advertisement unit, it looks like we’ll end up joining Microsoft or Yahoo, or hopefully someone else who wants to step up to the plate.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
The most interesting part of this merger is the drama between each of the major companies. Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft are battling it out to gain the largest footprint over internet advertisement revenue. If AOL merges with Yahoo, Microsoft gets upset. If AOL merges with Microsoft, Google gets upset. Added to this problem includes the recent deal Yahoo and Google are making to share advertisement plans. Microsoft isn’t so happy about that either and wants the decision blocked. I’m hoping neither of these companies buy AOL. As you can see its already a tangled mess. Joining forces with AOL will only complicate matters.
If Microsoft or Yahoo does indeed buy AOL, interoperability will finally be on the table. Whoever buys AOL will now have to integrate all AOL screennames together with the buyer’s IM service. For the first time we may finally have AIM with the ability to add Microsoft and Yahoo subscribers to the buddy list. I know many have have been clamoring for that.
The other great feature is advertisement revenue. Now Yahoo or Microsoft will have an even larger audience to host advertisements, including non-AOL owned websites that Ad.com serves.
The Buzz Around the Internets
There seems to be no agreement as to who should buy AOL. One thought is that If Microsoft buys AOL, it could allow Yahoo to prove themselves to investors that they can run independent of Microsoft. Another speculates that AOL won’t be able to save the Microsoft brand. We may find ourselves watching the same thing happen years from now when Microsoft announces it will try to sell off AOL.
During this battle, users are always the victims. If I were to choose a company that could attempt to save the AOL community to bring them back together, I would choose Yahoo. Yahoo has proven its expertise in this aspect with sites such as Yahoo Groups and Yahoo Answers.
What do you think will happen to AOL?
Post a comment on your ideas and thoughts as to what might happen to AOL. You’ll have to wait until 2009 its announced what plans AOL will be forced to make.
Posted 5 months, 1 week ago at 10:24 AM. 0 comments
Pricing Raise
eMusic has decided to increase their pricing plan for new subscribers. The new price will apply to all members but there’s a few additional benefits if your account was active before July 17th. New members will have to pay $11.99 for 30 Mp3s.
Older member will have to pay $11.99 for 40 Mp3s. On August 17th, all older members will also receive an additional 10 track booster for 30 days.
Design Raise
Since the past week, eMusic has changed their site design to reflect the Web 2.0 style ( which has now become standard). This includes larger easier to read fonts and bigger graphics.
Album Pages
Albums now have a huge graphic of the album cover to the left. The track list is now displayed to the right. Below that are some newer toolbars like “Discover” that take you to other critically acclaimed albums and stories in your music genre. Below that is “Dig Deeper on the Net” where you can see videos from Youtube users that relate to the artist and a wikipedia entry. Thats if your artist has a unique name, otherwise you’ll see some strange unrelated videos.
Posted 5 months, 1 week ago at 1:25 PM. 10 comments
So in the past few weeks several fan sites were able to see a glimpse of The Sims 3. No EA didn’t ask me to attend. Anyway we’ll take a look at whats been announced since the last time we covered it, and summarize all the major details from the fan sites.
Seamless Neighborhood
All fansites pretty much agree there will be no loading times from place to place. Everything is done seamlessly so you can play inside your house, zoom the camera out and get a glimpse of whats going on in your town. By that, you select where you want to go and your sim will reach there by walking, cab, or car. The location of the neighborhood is alongside a rocky shore and mountains off in the distance.
As you play the game, everyone around you no matter where they are will be doing something and aging alongside with you. Each action they do will have a purpose and their behaviors will be dictated by each traits they have. You will start out with a few traits and expect to gain some more as you play through. Social interaction will play a much larger role, and even “negative” actions might make someone more happier.
Screenshot Analysis
For more detailed information about The Sims 3, you can visit the fansites at the bottom of the article. Now we’ll take a look in some new screenshots to see whats been improved since the game was first announced.
Fat is in! The new body shape adds more variety to the people you’ll likely meet around the ‘hood. Talking on the cellphone is now a base game feature that everyone will have.
The trailer showed off some of the new seamless neighborhood transitions by zooming out. We do know that this may be a huge struggle for lower end PCs. Fan sites have said that developers will be able to solve this problem by making the neighborhood smaller for PCs that struggle. Still I would recommend buying a new graphic card to support this game. Nvidia 8800+ seems to be a surefire way to make this game run smoothly.
The whole neighborhood will transition into day and night at the same time. Some sims may come out at night to do some mischief. This sunset along shows off some shadow mapping that is based on light from the sun.
Sims will be aware of others actions and may get irritated by them. This was in development for The Sims 2, but it wasn’t so apparent as they made it sound once the base game was released. So we hope they can enhance this even further in The Sims 3.
The Sims 3 will be released on February 20th 2009
On PC then later on MAC
