Yes, LAUNDRY!  I have daydreamed about Sim Laundry ever since the days of Sims 1.  And finally it has arrived!  And apparently my Sims love doing laundry as much as I love watching them do it, because they get the Wish to "Do Laundry" all the time.  (This wish is only fulfilled after sending one load of clothes all the way through the process to dry.)


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OMG LAUNDRY!

I raced out last night and picked up a copy of Ambitions, the latest expansion pack.  My VERY first impression was that this expansion pack takes a heck of a long time to install.  I'm pretty sure that's true (and not just due to my impatience) because it turns out that THIS EXPANSION PACK IS WICKED HUGE.  Also, AWESOME.


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It was a year ago today that The Sims 3 shipped.  (Coincidentally, they celebrated by shipping Ambitions today.  I'm really hoping to have a chance to run out and pick up a copy at Best Buy tonight.  I'm struggling through a really gross cold, so look for the lady in the sweats with the red eyes and a wad of Kleenex in hand.)

Out of everything The Sims 3 brought to the table, I think the defining item for me has been Story Progression.  Until Sims 3, time stood still for everyone but your own Sims.  When you went to town, you would run into the same NPCs over and over again, throughout generations of your own Sims, the NPCs and townies remained unchanged.  


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Awesomemod is not easy to find, install, or use, but it can save your virtual bacon.  I used it to repair my game last night so that I can keep playing, instead of reverting to a backup and losing a month of gameplay!


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Death Fish are so inconvenient!

Fishing is a skill in The Sims 3, one which is greatly aided by the "Angler" trait.  There are several dozen kinds of fish which can be caught, including those which were introduced with the World Adventures expansion pack.  

Each fish has its own bait that can be used to catch it, and learning those baits is a skill in and of itself!  You can learn the baits by reading the fishing books.  Much like the recipe books, the fishing books are surprisingly expensive single-use (i.e. consumable) books which disappear after a Sim reads them.  Your Sim can also learn the bait by using something for bait, and catching something with it.  


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With The Sims 3, every time your Sim fulfills a wish, they get Lifetime Happiness points.  These also accrue as your Sim's life passes along, and in fact your Sim can rack up a fair number of Lifetime Happiness points just by playing the game.

When you click on the "treasure chest" tab to view the Lifetime Happiness tallies, you can click to open a menu of items and rewards that you can buy.  There are an awful lot, and even more were added with the World Adventures expansion pack.  Clearly, you need a strategy!


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This is all about getting married in Sims 3, why your Sims might take the "wrong" last name, and how to fix it!  


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It coulda been twins!

Who doesn't get the urge to cheat from time to time?  Or, in the case of The Sims 3, sometimes a lot!  I mean, hey, "cheat" is such a loaded word, isn't it?  Depending on what you're trying to accomplish, cheats can help you get there.   


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I run into a lot of people who want to share pics and video from their games, but can't figure out how to do it!  Now admittedly, there is a feature where you can hook up your game to your EA account, and upload the images and videos to your My Page thingie on the Sims 3 website.  But this is a pretty slow and clunky process, and it isn't very useful if you want to share stuff in email or on a blog of your own.


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Love That Snowman Sweater!I know there was, and continues to be, a lot of player outrage over EA's online Sims 3 store.  The line of reasoning is that we already bought the dang game, and they have already put out a stuff pack, so it's excessively money grubbing of them to try and nickel and dime us to death on the store, too.  

This is coupled with a perception that The Sims 3 shipped with far fewer items in Buy Mode than its predecessors.  There are some high profile items missing (the piano and the hot tub being the most lamented missing items).  But a lot of the difference between Sims 3 and Sims 2's Buy Mode is covered by the Custom Palette tool.  


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