I'm a slayer, ask me how.

Tim got a new video card and gave me his old video card.

So...of course, I had to test it out.

by installing Sims 3.

And now I've spend my entire evening playing that game.

And if I keep playing at this rate, Halloween in my Sims game will be happening the same time it happens IRL.

I forgot how addictive this game is. It's pretty much like playing with dolls.

I was too lazy to create my own Sims so I went with a premade family. I spent a good chunk of time trying to get the zombies to attack my one Sim but he was too fast for them. His son is flirting with a vampire girl, but she just aged up and now he's a teen and she's a young adult so the game won't let them flirt. I'm hoping he will age up and I can make them go to college together.

The wife/mom is an idiot. She is mean spirited and insults EVERYONE she meets, sends insulting texts...yet she has a strong attraction to two guys in the neighborhood.

Anyway, this was the productive activity of my evening LOL

This happens every time. They have announced Sims 4 and I WANT IT SO BAD! I haven't played Sims 3 in months but I don't care because Sims 4 will be better!

I wish they would release the specs, I'm curious to know if my PC (which I pretty much had built to PLAY Sims 3 on it's initial release) can handle Sims 4. I hope so. I think I read somewhere that MAXIS/EA was trying to build it so it wouldn't require massive hardware upgrades from everyone. Usually every time I have to get a new computer it is because of a Sims game LOL. You'd think I would learn?!

They also announced a new Dance Central game for Xbox One...but it only comes with 10 songs! (and one of them is that AWFUL "Talk Dirty" song which I cannot STAND!...though it might be fun to dance to). I'm so close to just buying the Xbox One. But maybe I can get Santa to chip in...

So, I ran over to Gamestop after work today only to realize that the Kinect comes out Thursday. Who the heck releases anything on a Thursday???? And just to rub it in, the text from Gamestop reminding me about my pre-order came right as I was leaving the store. Ah well, at least I got my Rock Band 3 song code, which was missing from my original reciept. Time to play "Burning Down the House"!

Now - should I stay up super late tomorrow and go to the midnight launch of the Kinect or just pick it up after work on Thursday? Probably should go home Wednesday since I have Babies in Bloom first thing in the morning Thursday...but still...it would be cool to have it in my hands at midnight...but I wouldn't get home until 1am and I'd have to be up by 7...yeah, I'm thinking sleep wins over the Kinect this time. Plus it's sort of a reward for getting my lazy but out of bed on a Thursday when I usually get to sleep in...I always have coffee before a Babies program because I pretty much have to spaz for 20 minutes to keep their short little attention spans focused...now where was I?

Rock Band 3 is a lot of fun. The song lists was weird but they had to try hard to find rock songs with piano in them that were fun for everyone. I'm looking forward to the Billy Joel track pack scheduled for release later this month. But I think they tweaked the game in all the right places. It's so much easier to drop-in/drop-out when you're playing with a group and the fact that you can finally change difficulty DURING the song is brilliant. I watched Alan play the drums on pro-mode and it was insane! I started the pro-mode keyboard lessons but I keep wanting to use my left hand and as far as I can tell, you are only supposed to use your right hand (because the game guys at Harmonix really think I want to rock a Key-tar...and I just can't bring myself to do it). Right now I just set it on my lap and that sorta works. I managed to play on Expert last night, but it was only on "I Love Rock and Roll' and "Yoshimi vs the Robots"...

Have only played a little bit of Sims 3:Late Night but so far it's fun. Almost feels like a different game with the way the city is set up. I've got two Sims going right now, a brother and sister living together in an apartment, trying to make their way in the big city. Cyan and Stanley. Cyan is trying to be a movie star because her lifetime wish is to be a celebrity. Stanley isn't sure what he wants to do except date a lot of ladies (he has the heartbreaker lifetime wish). But I'm hoping he will be able to start his own band. He was rocking the bass at the night club and the ladies loved it, so I think he's going to start recruiting members.

ACK! Just looked at Xbox Live and the DLC on sale this week is all DragonAGE! Shoot. I haven't downloaded any of the DLC for this game - those of you that have (faeriesfolly), are they worth it? Or, let me say, which one is the best? I got Microsoft points burning a hole in my virtual pocket and with these at half off, it's hard to resist.

Civilization 5 still eats up a good chunk of my time because on of my library buddies has the game and it's a lot more fun when you play together. I've only managed to do a domination and time victory so far. I'm trying to get a cultural victory but you really have to plan ahead for that. You need someone to watch your back because you can't build soldiers AND culture at the same time if you want to win.

Speaking of which, I should probably eat some dinner before Tim logs online and wants to conquer the world! Cant' fight with Hiawatha on an empty stomach!

No, I am not dead in a ditch! Sims 3 Ambitions just finally arrived in the mail! And lordy it has reawakened the Sims addict in me ten-fold. I never really put a lot of time in with World Adventures, but now that my Sims actually have to WORK at work, the desire to give them a vacation actually happens so I've been taking them to China then sending them home to find a profession of their choice.

I picked up the first character I ever made on Sims 3 - Katniss. She's a bit older now, has a hubby and a son named Jake. Jake had just turned into a Young Adult from a teen when I started. So I sent him to China as a graduation present. He had gone before with the family as a child so he really wanted to go back and learn more martial arts skills. When he got there, a challenge was issued for him to spar with someone named Xi Yuan twice. So he practiced his fighting technique, leveled up a belt, then went to find this person. She turned out to be a hot chick. They sparred and he won both times, then they started chatting and immediately hit it off! But, unfortunatly, she was married so he couldn't get his foreign flirting on. Then his short vacation was over and he had to go back home.

But Jake missed his new friend. He decided to call her up and see if she wanted to visit his home town. She came to visit...alone. Now Jake no longer had to hide his feelings! They spent a fabulous whirlwind day together and before she could leave on a jet plane (or however Sims travel) he asked her to move in with him. She accepted, but she wanted to bring her teenage daughter along. So now they are all living with Katniss and Alton, who recently became a firefighter (he's also totally filled up his life bar so I'm scared he's going to drop dead on the next emergency run...). Firefighting is the only profession I've done so far and it's a lot of fun. Alton has to maintain the engine and alarm, then if a fire breaks out (or angry gnomes attack) he has to drop everything and hussle over to stop the fire! It would be a lot of fun to have more than one Sim in the same profession since I assume they would fight fires together. Might have to try that for Firefighter or Ghost Hunter...

So, yeah, this game is so addictive. I still don't like that I can't switch between families in a single town and not have to worry about my other family aging up and/or moving away while I'm playing.

I think I'm going to have to limit myself on Sims playtime. Maybe only play on weekends. It really cuts me off from the rest of the world since I play on my computer and have to turn off TweetDeck, plus when I log off it takes my PC a few hours to recover. And with the new Ambitions pack, you can't zone out while the Sims are at work if they have a profession because you have to fight fires/hunt ghosts/create fashion etc. in real-Sim-time. I used to dual-screen it and have my Mac Book open next to me while I played, but I tried that yesterday but I've got too much going on with my Sims to look away for long.

Anyway, time for me to catch up on my 30-Day meme!

AD made chex mix today while I was at work. So delicious. Though, of course, it is impossible to make a logical amount of chex mix, you have to make...oh 3 HUGE tupperware's full. Good thing it is so good for me with all that salt and margarine...oh wait.

CBS did update the Amazing Race website today with the premiere episode that aired last night, so I was able to see the second elimination of the season. Yeah, this show is so addictive. It is really the only reality tv show I've watched on a regular basis.

I'm not sure what to do with Heroes. We didn't even get through the premiere episode and part of me just doesn't miss it. As AD pointed out, I don't even really care about Hiro anymore, and when you don't care about the most adorable character on the show, what's the point? I'll probably let the DVR fill up and if I don't hear some amazing "OMG THAT EPISODE MADE UP FOR TWO CRAPPY SEASONS" from the f-list/twitter world, then maybe we'll just let it go. I think the only thing that would make me tune in now is if Alexis Bledel guest starred (oh, come ON, you know you want to see a Rory vs Jess showdown!!!! ADMIT IT!)

The Office has also gotten old to me. I want to hang around to see the Jim/Pam wedding, but they are still writing Michael WRONG. He just can't be that painfully incompetent. And everything he does would get you fired in heartbeat, and it's just not funny. I haven't even watched the second episode yet because the first was so rough. Blah. My DVR list keeps getting smaller.

So, instead we're watching season 2 of Burn Notice, Season 1 of Fringe (thank you Netflix!) and waiting for 30 Rock to come back and be glorious. DVR should have Big Bang Theory for us too. I'm watching season 1 of Mad Men - just rewatched the pilot episode and had forgotten most of it, so I think rewatching all of the 4 I've seen before moving on to 5 would be wise. Yeah, so I'm watching old tv while the new tv is on.

When the heck does Chuck come back? It did get renewed, right? That show was fun. Plus, he knows kung-fu now! Still need to catch up on last season of Supernatural and Dexter so I can start this new season. Oh, and I need to speed watch Legend of the Seeker so I can start watching season 2 next month.

Played a lot of Sims 3 today. Tried to start up a big family group because I'm bored with my solo girl, but the house I put them in was too comlicated and it was a hassle to find them. Need to get a boring house and shove them in it. Or get my single girl to hook up with her man. Problem is, both her and her "romantic interest" are loners, so I don't think they want to live together or get married. At least, it hasn't been an option.

NEW PARAMORE ALBUM TOMORROW! AND I'M REALLY SURE THAT'S RIGHT THIS TIME!!!!! Will have to run in to Target on my way home and snag me a copy to rock out to.

ACK! That reminds me, need to set up the DVR to tape Conan tonight - Paramore is performing (hayley even tweeted about her adorable socks!)

So, I broke down/caved to peer pressure/the darkside and bought Sims 3 on Wednesday. Turns out it wiil run on my MacBook and the disc has both Mac/Win on it so once I buy a new PC I can install it on there (*waits for Windows 7*)

So far so good. There are some differences in gameplay, just enough that you're able to jump right in but you still need to read the pop-up tutorials. The customization on the Sims and their houses is overwhelming. I've made a couple Sims but I might just go back to my lazy "random" mode for awhile because it takes a long time to make a new Sim. They have "traits" now. You choose 5 different ones and that will effect their personalities and wants/needs. Like, you can make someone who loves the outdoors so going outside gives them a mood boost. Or someone that is a slob so they leave messes all over but mess doesn't really bother them like other sims. It's fun to experiment with the combinations. My first girl has the Daredevil trait, so she's say "watch this" and slap a random stranger or eat food off of the ground. She's an odd ball.

They really changed the work and friends stuff. In the old game you eventually got the pattern down for making friends. Greet/Joke/Chat/Joke/Compliment/FRIENDS! Now it's a bit trickier because of their traits, your traits, and other stuff. Also, what you need to get job promotions are a bit trickier because you might need a friend, or you might need to make your boss happy, or you might need to study gardening. Just little tweaks like that give the experienced Sim player a bit more of a challenge.

I feel like I've barely scratched the surface of the game. I havent' tried any Sims with kids yet, so I don't know what those controls are like. It's weird playing on a MacBook but still fun (hardest part is remembering how to right-click).

okay, enough air, back to Sim land!!!

Yet another Sims 2 Expansion Pack -- "Free Time"

Now your Sims can do crafts, sports, music, and compete with their talents or meet other people because of their talents! And apparently it's all tied to your lifetime aspiration meter! AND you can unlock cool stuff!!!

Yes, the irony is not lost on me! But still. It's not coming out until mid-2008. I must collect the rest of the games before then!!!

So, apparently the limit is 8 Sims per household. I had no idea. My one Sims had the "Wants to have 10 Babies!" want. That means you have to *ahem* alter her life span to make that happen. Unless she pops out twins at one point, she's not gonna be able to have that many before she hits old age.

Also, more than one toddler at a time is too much to handle! I think when I had my Sims family move houses (they went back to the family home because the Prefect family is loaded, 200,000+ Simoleons) it sped up her current pregnancy cuz she popped the baby out right on the doorstep, so they infants were only days apart. And trying to juggle two toddlers, two kids, and one teen was just too much for this household!

Then, Marvin dropped dead in the bathroom after his mother's ghost spooked him! AND he died right in the doorway so I couldn't get any of his relatives in there to plead for his life! But, Zaphod is an exorcist, so they had the magic phone that lets you call death. And since the family has tons of cash, I was able to get him back good as new. *phew* No fair though, I've never had the chance to get a Sim to beg for life before.

So, the moral is - 2 Sims is easy as pie, 7 Sims is a bit tricky, 7 sims of differing ages is INSANE! But more weird stuff can happen so it makes it a bit more fun. I think I'm going to make a HUGE family when I get the new game. Yes...just so I have at least one totally insane family. That or I'll just make two "family aspiration" Sims and watch them reproduce like bunnies! bwahhahahaha.

How sad is it that my goal for the week is to make one of my couples in Sims 2 get a divorce? They should have never gotten married in the first place! She said she was rich, but that was just because she was living in a dorm! She graduated, moved out, and was broke again so it didn't even fulfill his "marry a rich sim" want. And Marvin is her true love. They are both "Family" sims. They will make hundreds of little freaky looking babies together....but first i have to get her divorced from Blair otherwise I don't get the "try for baby" option when they are in bed together.

again, I say, this game is messed up.

Club Jade posted about a Star Wars friending meme going around and for the first time ever I actually put my name on there! Now it's time to sit back and see if anyone wants to be my friends....

It also reminded me that I have a starwars.com blog somewhere out there. At least, I'm pretty sure I registered for one...yep, here it is.. Totally blank but claimed. Ah well. Just requires too much time to post both to LJ and there.

speaking of random blogs that I should be posting to, simontrueheart has transcribed another Sims tale to simfamous. Mans not right in the head. My same will be so boring by comparison.

Oh, and we did see 'V for Vendetta' today. I shall post a more indepth little commentary later, but let me say - yes you should see it. Its not the best movie ever but it's worth watching. Some great images and moments and Hugo Weaving was FANTASTIC.