The Sims 2: Free Time news

[retrotrut]

They just posted a bunch of new information on the new game. Recently there was a fan event in italy. so here's some news.:
-There is a new creature its an NPC genie
- 124 new objects!!
- Objects include hobby items, cars, telephones, nursery set, kitechen appliances, lights, furniture and decorations.
- Special craftable objects that can only be made by certain hobby workbenches in similar fashion to OFB.
- There are also new walls, floors, hairstyles and clothes for all ages.
- New neighborhood decorations include railways and observatories.
- New aspiration and career rewards. (Career rewards include a Koi pond, dance barre, Star of Fame, drafting table and an audio augmenter earpiece).
- Special computer object, which cannot be bought in Buy Mode. (For all newly moved in families, an NPC by the name of Mr. Humble will leave a package containing the Llama computer at the Sim's front door. The Sims 3 is pre-installed on this machine only!).
- The drawings made on the toddler crayon table and drafting table can be hung on the wall.
- New video games, including MySims, Spore and Fifa 08 & The Sims 3
- There's also a painting of a TS3 neighborhood, which asserts that the game will feature contiguous neighborhoods.
- Sims can now age together at the same time with 2 other friends, allowing other sims to grow up with your sim.


There is some new information revealed on The Sims 3 in this new ep

Aspirations
- New Lifetime Aspiration meter (This meter is between the influence and normal aspiration meters and rises with special events in a Sim's life such as a first kiss or wedding. Every time the meter rises you gain points which can be spent on special perks, in similar fashion to Open For Business. The perk tracks focus on Needs, Work, Aspiration and Secondary Aspiration.).
- Success in the lifetime aspiration meter allows Sims to choose a secondary aspiration (This is the only other way to select the Grilled Cheese aspiration. Choosing a secondary aspiration merges the two together, so wants/fears and aspiration based bonuses from both aspirations are avaliable to your sim).
- Sims now have a Weekly Goal, which can be fulfilled to gain rewards (At the end of every week, a pop-up message will appear saying what the sim's new goal of the next week is).
- Lifetime Aspiration benefits include aspiration based bonuses such as increasing the chance of having twins, increasing the chances of being abducted ect.

Hobbies
- There are 10 hobbies.
- Progress in each of these hobbies is tracked by meters (that resemble the skill meters) in a new section of the simology panel identified by a kite icon. There are 10 stages of these meters.
- Success in these meters allows a sim to join secret societies, each with their own club house secret lot with objects based around the club's particular hobby and where sims can meet other sims who share the same interests and skills. (Secret lots can only be accessed by car)
- Sims can enter competitions to win prizes, such as trophies, and can also win simoleans.
- New Talent Badges. (Including Sewing and Pottery, which determines which objects you can create which can then be sold.).
- Sims can create internet blogs and browse websites about their hobbies.

Relationships
- Sims now have Lifetime Friends. These friends are indentified by yellow smiley face icons. Lifetime friends have special interactions and the relationship is less likely to decay with them.
- Sims can now age together at the same time with 3 other friends, allowing other sims to grow up with your sim.
- New romantic interactions. . .

Music
- Custom radio stations (A new icon is in the sound options panel which allows you to create a new radio station. You can then go to a seperate pop-up box to select music files placed into the My Documents/EA Games/The Sims 2/Music folder to go into the radio station).
- There is new music included in the game.
- New intruments are avaliable, such as violins, which work in conjunction with other instruments.
- Old instruments are included as part of the Music hobby.
- Sims can mix music and mix new songs.

Misc
- Sims can now watch movies on the T.V.
- New T.V. Channels
- New foods which can only be unlocked through hobbies.


THE OFFICIAL RELEASE DATE TO THE US IS THE 26TH OF FEBRUARY
& TO EUROPE IS THE 22 AND TO THE UK IS THE 28TH

[retrotrut]

INTERVIEW WITH EDENSTYLE.IT

Why an Expansion Pack like FreeTime?
I think that Sims are like us. You need more than just go to work and to school to make your life mean something. We want to give abilities that Sims can enjoy and the opportunity to interact with other sims, a new way to spend time with people with group activities, new ways to build skills. We are very pround of this game.

Is there something related to magic in FreeTime?
There’s a secret Sim in every game, like werewolves, vampires etc. In FreeTime we decided to give a very exciting secret Sim: the genie of the lamp. You can rub the lamp and make 3 wishes. For example you can wish for wealth… many people will like it! When you wish for wealth, a bag of simoleon drops from the sky! Other Sims can collect the bag too.

How can you meet the genie?
There’s nothing you can do to get the genie. A gipsy come to your door, drops the lamp off and then disappears. You can also sell the lamp.

Are there new NPCs?
There’s only one special Sims, the genie. But there are also some other minor characters, like the ones that give you secret lot membership card.

Can you tell us something more about aspiration benefits?
Aspiration benefits affect your needs, your work, your particular aspiration (knowledge, popularity, romantic…) and secondary aspiration. For example, needs will decay more slowly. For jobs, you can unlock an ability that let you to not be fired, or you can have more vacation days. I think that players will really enjoy them. In this way you can be rewarded for your gameplay. Every Sim has his own aspiration benefits.

What can you unlock while practicing hobbies?
Depending of your skills and enthusiasm you can have more interactions. So, if you are very talented, it will make the difference.

Can Sims learn hobbies from other Sims?
If you have high enthusiasm in tinkering, for example, you can talk about it with other sims, you can blog about it, you can instruct others, you can share hobby tips and read about tinkering in newspaper.

Can you create teams when you play soccer?
The soccer net is an object you can play with one or two sims, but others can watch it. If you work with your imagination, you can do more or less everything.

How videogame contests work?
You have to go to game secret lot and play videogames with other sims. The best player will win the contest.

Are there dance lessons or do you have to practice at home?
You have to practice it at home or at secret or community lots, where you can find a ballet bar. Players are very creative, so they can create a sort of dance studio and make more sims practicing together. Again, if you use your imagination you can create everything.

Is there a new neighbourhood?
Yes, Desiderata Valley.

What about the new families?
There’s Una family, with only one Sim (a woman) that likes grilled cheese. Then we have Aspir family: they are interested in having a bigger family. You can also find the Jocques… something is happening in that family, a kind of drama. Then MrMole… it’s a mistery about what exactly he does. We also have the Bells and the Bustings.

Are there new TV programs?
Yes, there are new films… and also new videogames.

What’s new for toddlers?
The activity table. Toddler and children can do few more activities. Children can play baseball, soccer…

How many colors can you choose when you paint a restored car?
6 colors.

Which are the new career rewards?
People work very hard to get them, so you’ll discover them playing. There’s a very cool career reward for intelligence career. For oceanography there’s a very pretty pond.

How is working the sewing machine, expecially for clothes? Can you also sew custom clothes?
As your skills increase, you can have more options. Customization is one of them. We give a template and you can choose the colour and the pattern of clothing parts. There’s a template for female teens, one for adult sims and so on.

Are there talent budges for sewing and pottery making?
Yes.

In some screens and in the movie there are sims bird watching, collecting bugs and observing ants. How this kind of hobby works?
You just have to go outside, click on the ground and choose “Hunt bugs”. Like in BonVoyage, where you have mementos, clicking on your bug box you can see a window with all bugs you collected.

Are there new build mode features?
Many new walls and floors.

Can skilled sims become famous?
In player imagination, yes… like when you sing under the shower thinking you may become famous. You can be awarded by very high enthusiasm, but there’s not a “becoming famous” feature.

What about new romantic interactions?
Just play and see what happens…

We read about “being in the Zone”. What does it mean?
When you maximize your hobby enthusiasm, you can be dedicated completely to the hobby and you feel like being in your own World. When you are in the Zone you hear no one and you don’t have to worry about your needs.

Is there something new for people that like aliens?
Unlocking knowledge aspiration benefits you can summon aliens and be abducted by them.

Are there new foods?
There are a few foods your Sims can unlock by gaining enthusiasm in their hobbies. Through the cuisine hobby, there are 3 party platters: chips and dip, cheese and appetizers. Through the fitness hobby, your Sims gain access to a protein shake that makes their training more effective for a few hours.
Also a Family Aspiration Sim can unlock the Lifetime Aspiration Benefit, "Grandma's Comfort Soup." They can then prepare the soup and anyone who eats it gets cured of any illness and gains hunger and comfort.

In Bon Voyage it seems that Sims are obsessed by Tai-Chi. Will it be fixed in a patch?
We heard about that, we’ll try to fix it.

Is it the last Expansion Pack?
The Sims is based on game creativity, so if we have the opportunity to bring creativity to players there may be something. You have to wait for an official announcement, but if there isn’t, Free time will be the last one.

to view this link go on http://www.edenstyle.it/espansioni_freetime_english.htm

[LyricLee]

Crap I so was not gonna buy this one and now I want it. Thank you soo much for the info!

[retrotrut]

no problem!!!

Latest update in the next post :)