almost ready to update again

I spent all day installing Boot Camp, but when I downloaded and installed The Sims 2, I didn't have very much space left on the partition. I think Windows 7 takes up more space than Windows XP. So I have to repartition the drive again tomorrow. At least this time it'll go faster. But I tested The Sims 2 briefly, and it loaded very quickly. I'll probably spend a day making sure The Sims 2 works on Windows 7 before transferring all of my CC and neighborhood files.

trying out The Sims 3

While I've been waiting to set up The Sims 2 on my new laptop, I went ahead and bought The Sims 3. I've been wanting to play it ever since it came out, but my old laptop couldn't handle it. I really wanted to try out the new features, and while I'm still getting the hang of it, it's a lot of fun and I think it's very different from The Sims 2.

The main difference, of course, is Story Progression. Since the rest of the neighborhood ages together, there's no need to rotate households. For me at least, I find it harder to play an entire neighborhood since they're doing stuff when I'm not looking. But it's a lot easier to play a single household. I've been playing a legacy family in Riverview, and I like that their friends, extended family, and neighbors keep aging and changing along with them. I am a little worried that there aren't enough babies being born though. What if my legacy kids don't have anyone to marry? Maybe I should download one of the Story Progression mods.

I've also been trying to play the whole Riverview neighborhood, which I've found very hard. I want to keep switching households, but then I worry about what's happening to the other households when I'm not playing them. I think for me The Sims 3 is better for playing a single family, while The Sims 2 is better for controlling an entire neighborhood.

What do other people think? What did you think about the differences between The Sims 2 and The Sims 3?

update coming soon!

I have my new computer now (woo!), but since I haven't had time to set up my Windows partition (I've been a devoted Mac user for about four years), I don't have an update yet. I'm hoping to get everything set up this weekend, and have the next update finished sometime next week.

But in the meantime, here is a teaser pic:

real life interrupts

I've been trying to get back on a regular posting schedule, but I keep getting delayed. The main problem is my computer. My poor MacBook Pro is over three years old, and the cooling system is completely shot at this point. I have to keep the fan on maximum at all times, and even then it frequently overheats when I try playing The Sims 2. This is especially problematic because I'm working on the college update, which requires me to play four households for three days each. But I ordered a new one last week, and it should be here soon. It'll take me a while to get everything transferred, but then I'll be able to play for longer than an hour at a time.

The other distraction has been setting up a new neighborhood. I've been watching a lot of Revenge, a wonderful prime-time soap about duplicitous Hamptonites, and it inspired me to set up a Hamptons-like beach neighborhood for my Sims. So I scrapped my old version of North Port (which you haven't seen, but it's where Tina Traveller and Isaiah Gavigan grew up), and have been building a new neighborhood from scratch. I'm using Phaenoh's lovely Sand Simoleon Point as the neighborhood and have been slowly adding houses and community lots. I don't have any pictures of it to share with you, but I have uploaded two of the lots on Mod The Sims, a residential lighthouse, home of Trent and Trisha Traveller, and Trisha Traveller's restaurant. Next I'm working on a beach house for the Gavigans based on the one in Revenge.

home

March 2044 - Samantha Ottomas is 60, Orlando and Sharla Bertoni are 38, Donna is 14, Veronica is 5.

Sharla never thought she'd be living back in her childhood home, but after her father died, she couldn't bear to have her mother living alone. She and Orlando had been planning to move into a larger house anyway, so it just seemed natural for them to move in with her mother.

February

February 2044 - Peter Ottomas is 61, Samantha Ottomas is 60, Sheila and Tommy Ottomas are 33, Katie is 9, Sean is 6.

February is a quiet time for the Ottomases. With the holiday rush over at the robot store, Sheila finally has time to spend with her family again. She still has to work on the weekends, but with a later start time they can share a pancake breakfast before she leaves for work.

my girl

January 2044 - Benjamin Grove is 25, Phoebe Centowski is 23.

In August when the lease on Phoebe's apartment was up, she and Benjamin moved in together into his apartment. They've been dating for over a year now, and their ready for their relationship to take the next step.