After seeing the ads I am SO looking forward to this game. It looks hilarious!

It IS. I killed my first sim by walling him up in one room after selling all the fittings. He eventually starved to death.
Now I have a Sim called Eric Cartman. Strangely enough he is a police cadet, 'You will respect my authoritahh!!!!'

I don't like the game. You have to take control of various life-functions that are, quite frankly, not fun to do. :)

I can think of certain functions that would be very fun in a computer game ;-)

Are they in, if you know what I mean (wink wink)?

Do get to make sure little Sims are made by their parents, ahem?

Yesss, sort of. You can have your Sims "kiss" and if they are inclined romantically toward each other and if they "kiss" enough, you will get a little box asking if you want a baby. If you choose "yes", a baby instantly appears in the house.

Sims do sleep together, literally, but without any other actions.

I just got a way cool resource so now I can create my own Sims Skins! (Textures, faces, and bodies you can map to the Sims models) Naturally, my first was a Vulcan, but I've also done Picard, Darth Maul, and even myself using scanned pictures. Granted, I am a programmer so a lot of how to do this was intuitive after a while, but you get a good tutorial with it.

You can get Sim Show and Face Lift from thesims.com download section.

With any luck I'll be getting this game on my birthday (the 10th). It sounds like it's a lot of fun (And a lot of pain.) to play.

Without ruining the gameplay too much, just how far can you customize things? I've been thinking of trying to recreate a few famous tv houses like the Brady house (WITH toilets in the bathrooms.) for example.

Of course I'll look at the Official site and see what's there when I get the game but you guys might save me some time. Oh, please tell me about any good fan sites to go to.

www.mallofthesims.com

It's a neat collection of sites with Sims add-ons built like a virtual mall.

Well I've been playing this game a lot since I got it. I also have the Livin' Large expansion pack. My best friend has let me have a few skins he made and I've gotten some from the stores at www.mallofthesims.com (Thank you by the way.). I'm currently having fun with a large family of eight that I made. Haven't made the Brady house yet. Maybe I'll do the one from Happy Days first or the Odd Couple apartment.

The Sims is a good game, but it is quite a lot like Theme Hospital.

Yeuch, I hated TH.

Peter.

Well, it was "OK" for it's time, but it was no Packman! (Looking into my Computors 'Games section' I found that I still had it installed, dash it.) One thing about The Sims is the like other Maxis games it hasn't really got an objective.

Note: Not Packman, Theme Hospital

I've worked out a (Kind-of) cheat that you can use but it isn't really that great. if you have the MOVE_OBJECTS ON cheat on then find an uneaten snack from the fridge you can sell it off for $15

Pardon me while I make a Shameless Plug! Yes, I know there's a board for that; ask me if I care!

Go to Mall of the Sims, then head to Sim Island Outfitters (L-5). In the Men's section there, you will find 4 skins that I designed: An Iron Chef two-sided t-shirt (with a head I made, too), an Austin 3:16 shirt, a Green Lantern t-shirt (Hal Jordan logo, green with black sleeves), and a 2-sided University of Tennessee t-shirt (orange with a white `T' on both sides)!

I've also made a few LICC skins: two LICC logo t-shirts, Rocket Ranger, Kiehart, redshirts, and greyshirts, plus a custom Commander Milkshake t-shirt that I sent to JD. Those have NOT been released anywhere, but may be available for download sometime in April, if I get my own site up and running by then. The Commander Milkshake t-shirt is a limited edition (only JD and myself have it), and will be changed slightly if I decide to let people download it (I'm going to change the lettering on the back from black to blue, and use a different font)...

If you haven't already checked them out, I recommend:

www.simfreaks.com
www.thesimsresource.com
www.7deadlysims.com (A MUST!)
www.skindex.net (Superhero skins, anyone?)

I'll maybe have a look, thanks anyway! And just how do you desing skins, could you give me a . . . .lesson . . . .

Good websites you picked there

Livin' Large & House Party now available...both great "add ons"

I may get a boot to the head for saying this but what's so much fun about The Sims games, anyway? Why does anyone get so involved in them since they take so long to complete? Ok, there's the aspect that you get more playing time for your money, which I guess in of itself makes it worth a try, at least, certainly compared to very brief games like the Blair Witch trilogy.

Anyway, with the Sims games it looks like it'd take forever to build your cities, rollercoasters, parties and so on and so forth. I guess it just depends on the person cuz this doesn't look like a game I'd have much patience for, but that's just me. Ditto practically any game where you have to build civilizations, plan massive war scenarios or go on magical quests. I admit I've really gotten involved in some other games (SS2, Half-Life, Phantom Menace), but they're mostly FPS ones.

Mark, most people claim they get bored of the Sims after ten days. I can understand that. There is too much to do, and I cannot see the attraction when all the truly interesting things about people - dialogue and conflict, relationships and thought - do not exist in the game.

One thing the Sims has done is appealed to very casual gamers and those who do not play at all. They are less likely to throw the game away after a few days like the semi-hardcore gamer that I am, although as I have not tried the Sims I don't know.

Peter.

Ok, so what about wargames where you command scores of soldiers, tanks, ships, planes, spaceships, cannons, horsemen and all the other people and equipment involved with wargames? I bought Starcraft and Broodwar and their strat guides all in one package, the Battle Chest. Starcraft I've tried (just getting up to where you battle some giant plants and flying bugs and what looked like scorpions, if memory serves) but not Broodwar so far. Those are the only two RPG's I have for now, though I sometimes think I might try both Diablos, which also come in a package deal with their strat guides, and it's a lot cheaper than when they were all sold separately. I'm just not sure how much I'd like those games, or other similar fantasy based ones.

I've still got so many games I've either barely tried or haven't tried at all. Plus, if I'm lucky I may be able to get a newer system in several weeks, but I'll see. The 1.2 and 1.3Ghz models are really coming down in price already, so maybe again if I'm lucky I can get a 1.4 or 1.5 for about $1,500, give or take, the price of some 1.2s or -.3s now. I don't have to have the absolute top model. I just want something that's fairly high end for now, that I can enjoy for some time without worrying about it not meeting the ever demanding system requirements of the newer games these days, and that has a pretty good graphics card. I'd like to also get a new monitor that can show images much better, too, but I'll see. I've been pricing computers online (for customizing) and in stores, which is where I'll probably buy another one, unless I can get a very good deal online, which is a good way to get extra memory and/or a bigger harddrive, since the games are getting so much bigger, too. I've only got a 8gig which is almost full, so if I could get one up 10x that I'd still probably fill it up pretty quickly. It'd just take a little longer. *S*

I guess I did last about 10 sessions with the Sims before investigating the offshoots of it, websites, etc. I had more fun designing my own Sims and putting them in the game than actually playing it.

I'm still crazy about Sim Theme Park, though. Haven't tried Sim Coaster yet -- how does that relate? Is it a simpler version of Sim Theme Park?

I dunno, aifix. I've only seen the games in the stores, but never bought or played any. They look very boring to me, but like I said I don't have the patience for them, either.

Somehow the games are very catchy (To me anyway)but to remain very interested in the game you would need no buy lots of the add-ons and stuff (Sortof like me anyway)

The Hot Date Expansion pack is being released. It's nice to know the end of civilization can be dated.

The Sims is a joke. They made a •••• game and each month they release a new expansion, making people believe it will be the game they promised it would be. Each one is a disappointment, but so many morons keep on buying.

Peter.

How many have you bought, Peter?

I haven't bought or tried any of them, but I know the sort of game it is.

Pesti - are you looking forward to simsville? Hot Date looks like a step towards it.

My birthday was on a friday? I am not really looking forward to Hot Date. It's one of those activities I should be doing more of in reality.

SIMS Hot Date is now available.

Review: WOW! This game is a challenge! 5 stars!

There are now several different ways to greet, kiss, hug, dance, joke, tease, brag, flirt, and ask to leave.
You can give a quick peck or a "fiery" kiss...the problem with the "fiery" kiss is that the person you're kissing has to be really in love with you and in the proper mood.
There is now a pink heart for people who like you, and a red heart for people who love you.
New skins, no new careers though. New appliances like the "love tub" and the "love sofa"
You can also create your own "downtown" section.
There is now a yellow taxi to take you downtown.

THIS is the way the SIMS should have been at the beginning!

Has anyone else tried to get their Sim to fall asleep Downtown? (in Hot Date)

Oh yes!

At least now I know that I'm not the only person who thinks that hot date is the best Sims game

I got rid of the Sims long ago. While it initially appealed I felt that really the micromanagement made it too frustrating.

I agree with you completely, Douglas. I also didn't really care for Black and White for that reason.

I wouldnt have minded the career advancement and getting the family built up etc. However, by the time you attended to basic functions you couldn't do it easily.
This involved getting up, getting washed/showered, breakfast, changing, going to work, keeping everything clean, tea, relaxing, sleep.
If you tried to develop a hobby you got the "Too tired/fed up" message.

SIMS Superstar is out. I love the satellite dish for the TV.

Next up---The Sims--Makin' Magic. You get to cast spells, do voodoo, ouija boards, tarot cards, etc with your SIMS

I really enjoy SimsII. It's got all the stuff that made I fun, but has removed some of the need for intense micromanagement. It is no longer necessary, for example, to tell a Sim to go to the bathroom. I still did have a Science-minded Sim starve to death, though, because she was too busy looking through her telescope.