MOODSTRControl Your Mood – Control Your Life

Description

The Sims 2 is an incredible sequel to the best-selling PC game of all-time! You'll get to direct an entire Sims' lifetime, and try to get them to reach their goals in life. Will they have a long, successful and happy life - or will they end up poor and heartbroken? Special DVD with bonus content - Interview with the game designers(where they offer game tips), tips on making your own films with Sims 2, screenshots, deleted scenes and more!

The Sims was one of the most popular games ever made. In it, players micromanage the lives of a family of virtual people, or Sims, and influence their paths toward success or something akin to a nervous breakdown. Its open-ended blend of cartoonish behavior and everyday living is unique in an art form otherwise obsessed with carnage and sports. With The Sims 2, long-time fans now have a deeper game with lots of ways to customize and share their experiences. The game will also attract first-timers because the goal-oriented gameplay and the luridly fun starter families make it easier to get into the action right out of the box. Now Sims are born with the traits of their parents, families grow, and Sims grow old. The People in Your Neighborhood The game starts at the neighborhood level. Here you can create a housing development from scratch or start with one of three premade neighborhoods, each with its own theme. From there, you'll settle on a house and a family of Sims to control. Create your own Sim (above) or your own house (below) from scratch with advanced tools. Aside from the basic needs carried over from the previous game, Sims now have aspirations, wants, and fears. The wants and fears are the day-to-day things that occupy their minds, like wanting to see friends or get married and fearing death or being rejected for a kiss. Satisfy their wants, and they become more efficient at completing tasks you assign them. Realize their fears, and Sims become lethargic, cranky, and unresponsive to your commands. Aspirations are the big-picture things, like raising a family, becoming wealthy, and gaining knowledge. Succeed here and you'll be able to buy odd gifts for your Sim to improve his or her life, like a money tree that pays dividends or a "fountain of youth" water cooler. What Else Is New? Of course, you wouldn't be able to juggle all that if it weren't for the improved "Free Will" option, which makes it easier for Sims to fulfill their basic needs. The artificial intelligence of the game is noticeably improved; they won't turn on radios just as a family member is going to bed but, strangely, they do occasionally put their dishes on the floor. Another big change in the series is the concept of the lifespan. Now Sims are born with the traits of their parents, families grow, and Sims grow old. Not only does this go hand in hand with aspirations (growing up is the first aspiration that a baby Sim will have), it provides a limited time with which your Sims can achieve their goals. The Universal Control Panel helps you manage your Sim family. A Family Affair The Sims 2 not only lets you create just about any type of Sim in any type of family, build elaborate houses, and even create a neighborhood from scratch, but it also allows you to start the game in medias res, with premade households. These families all have backstories that are smart spoofs of soap-opera plots--lots of scheming, romance, ghosts, and family fighting. Parents of teens shouldn't worry, though, because nudity is tastefully blurred out and "woo-hoo" between Sims takes place completely under the covers. The ESRB has given this a Teen rating. If The Sims 2 were a film, it would likely land between PG and PG-13. The makers have included some nice tools to help share the universe you've created. For example, you can capture in-game stills and video to show friends the private moments, family interactions, and house parties of your Sims. You can even package a household to share as a blog or an album on a special Web site. The Sims 2 is for patient gamers. Like life itself, the game is filled with mundane details, like getting ready for work and doing dishes. The game also demands a level of creativity from its players that the run-and-gun game genres wouldn't know what to do with. But those who stick with it will be rewarded with an absorbing, amusing diversion and a virtual family history that they've created themselves. --Porter B. Hall Set Up a Sims 2 Machinima Studio Amazon.com contributor Porter Hall reveals how you can make movies using the Sims as your actors. See his guide to setting up a Sims 2 Machinima Studio.

Features

• Sequel to the hit lifestyle simulation
• Manage your Sim's dreams and fears over a lifetime
• Mix Sim genes and see physical and personality traits inherited down through Sim generations
• Movie-making feature lets you control the camera and capture the action into mini movies
• Also available in CD-ROM Edition

Description

Welcome Back to New Vegas!With the introduction of the Ultimate Edition, Bethesda Softworks offers you the chance to double-down and get the complete package of New Vegas fun. For the first time in one package, you can get all the Fallout: New Vegas content including the full suite of highly acclaimed add-on content: Dead Money, Honest Hearts, Old World Blues and Lonesome Road. To sweeten the pot, you'll be armed with the latest cache of unique weapons, ammo types and recipes from the most recent add-on packs: Courier's Stash and Gun Runners Arsenal.Whether you're a seasoned explorer of the Mojave or playing the game for the first time, you'll find there are more friends and enemies to make, more consequences to your actions and more opportunities to live in glory or infamy throughout the Wasteland. The choices you make will be as crucial to your survival as ever.Enjoy your stay.

You are on a perilous journey across the Great Southwest in a post-nuclear world. As you trek across the treacherous Mojave Wasteland, you'll need to keep your senses sharp for what may be lurking around the next corner. Your goal is to make a name for yourself, but beware — in New Vegas, fortunes can change in an instant. Welcome to Vegas. New Vegas. All the latest weapons Become the King of New Vegas Battle against mutated creatures Synopsis It's the kind of town where you dig your own grave before being shot in the head and left for dead. It's a town of dreamers and desperados where the right kind of person with the right kind of weaponry can really make a name for themselves — as well as make an enemy or two along the way. As you battle across the heat-blasted Mojave Wastelands, the colossal Hoover Dam, and the neon-drenched Vegas Strip, you'll meet a colorful cast of characters, power-hungry factions, mutated creatures and much more. Choose sides in the upcoming war or declare "winner takes all" and crown yourself the King of New Vegas in this follow-up to the 2008 videogame of the year, Fallout 3. Key Features: Ultimate Edition includes all original Fallout: New Vegas content and the full suite of add-on content, including Dead Money, Honest Hearts, Old World Blues and Lonesome Road Also includes the latest arsenal of weapons, ammo and recipes with the Courier's Stash and Gun Runners Arsenal add-on packs Explore new areas, each with thrilling quests, unique personalities and more chances to the play the savior or the pariah to the natives of New Vegas See if you can make your way out of a high-stakes game with three other lost souls after finding yourself lured into a trap masquerading as the Sierra Madre Casino in Dead Money Fight your way out of the middle of a conflict between a New Canaanite missionary and the mysterious Burning Man in Honest Hearts Save the Think Tank from their own science experiments that have gone horribly wrong in Old World Blues Make one last journey into the treacherous canyons of the Divide to find out why Ulysses, the original Courier Six, refused to deliver the Platinum Chip at the beginning of Fallout: New Vegas in Lonesome Road Flex your ammo-packed muscles with new weapons in each add-on, including the Two-Step Goodbye, a unique set of ballistic fists and the Sleepytime, a nifty 10mm submachine gun Stretch out with a little room to grow, as each of the four main add-on packs increases the maximum level cap by five levels, raising the ceiling to Level 50 Find more friends and enemies, live with more consequences to your actions and earn more opportunities to live in glory or infamy throughout the Wasteland For the first time in one package, this Ultimate Edition offers you all the fun of the original Fallout: New Vegas game, plus the full suite of action-packed add-on content, including Dead Money, Honest Hearts, Old World Blues and Lonesome Road. Hungry for more? The Ultimate Edition makes sure that you're locked and loaded with the latest supply of special weapons, ammo types and recipes from the two most recent add-on packs, Courier's Stash and Gun Runners Arsenal. That should keep you happy during your stroll through the desert. Visit expansive new areas, and come across an outlandish array of friends. Put up your dukes with the Two-Step Goodbye, or lull your enemies to eternal sleep with a 10mm submachine gun — known simply as Sleepytime. Face brand-new challenges — but be careful. Your choices will be crucial to your survival — and reputation as savior or pariah to the natives of New Vegas. The Ultimate Edition ensures that you'll enjoy your stay as the Wasteland welcomes you back for another visit.

Features

• Beyond the Wasteland: The world of New Vegas is more expansive than ever. Each new distinct area presents a fresh set of branching-quests, remarkable personalities and more chances to play the Savior or the Pariah to the natives of New Vegas.
• Dead Money: Lured into a trap masquerading as the Sierra Madre Casino, you are thrown into a high stakes game where you'll have to work with three other lost souls if you want to survive.
• Honest Hearts: An expedition into Utah's Zion National Park goes horribly wrong and you become embroiled in a war between tribes and put into a conflict between a New Canaanite missionary and the mysterious Burning Man.
• Old World Blues: Transported to the Big MT research crater, you are enlisted by the Think Tank to save them from their own science experiments that have gone horribly out of control.
• Lonesome Road: Ulysses, the original Courier Six, contacts you and promises to answer why he refused to deliver the Platinum Chip at the start of Fallout: New Vegas, but only if you make one last journey into the treacherous canyons of the Divide.

Description

The Sims 2 is an incredible sequel to the best-selling PC game of all-time! You'll get to direct an entire Sims' lifetime, and try to get them to reach their goals in life. Will they have a long, successful and happy life - or will they end up poor and heartbroken?

The Sims was one of the most popular games ever made. In it, players micromanage the lives of a family of virtual people, or Sims, and influence their paths toward success or something akin to a nervous breakdown. Its open-ended blend of cartoonish behavior and everyday living is unique in an art form otherwise obsessed with carnage and sports. With The Sims 2, long-time fans now have a deeper game with lots of ways to customize and share their experiences. The game will also attract first-timers because the goal-oriented gameplay and the luridly fun starter families make it easier to get into the action right out of the box. Now Sims are born with the traits of their parents, families grow, and Sims grow old. The People in Your Neighborhood The game starts at the neighborhood level. Here you can create a housing development from scratch or start with one of three premade neighborhoods, each with its own theme. From there, you'll settle on a house and a family of Sims to control. Create your own Sim (above) or your own house (below) from scratch with advanced tools. Aside from the basic needs carried over from the previous game, Sims now have aspirations, wants, and fears. The wants and fears are the day-to-day things that occupy their minds, like wanting to see friends or get married and fearing death or being rejected for a kiss. Satisfy their wants, and they become more efficient at completing tasks you assign them. Realize their fears, and Sims become lethargic, cranky, and unresponsive to your commands. Aspirations are the big-picture things, like raising a family, becoming wealthy, and gaining knowledge. Succeed here and you'll be able to buy odd gifts for your Sim to improve his or her life, like a money tree that pays dividends or a "fountain of youth" water cooler. What Else Is New? Of course, you wouldn't be able to juggle all that if it weren't for the improved "Free Will" option, which makes it easier for Sims to fulfill their basic needs. The artificial intelligence of the game is noticeably improved; they won't turn on radios just as a family member is going to bed but, strangely, they do occasionally put their dishes on the floor. Another big change in the series is the concept of the lifespan. Now Sims are born with the traits of their parents, families grow, and Sims grow old. Not only does this go hand in hand with aspirations (growing up is the first aspiration that a baby Sim will have), it provides a limited time with which your Sims can achieve their goals. The Universal Control Panel helps you manage your Sim family. A Family Affair The Sims 2 not only lets you create just about any type of Sim in any type of family, build elaborate houses, and even create a neighborhood from scratch, but it also allows you to start the game in medias res, with premade households. These families all have backstories that are smart spoofs of soap-opera plots--lots of scheming, romance, ghosts, and family fighting. Parents of teens shouldn't worry, though, because nudity is tastefully blurred out and "woo-hoo" between Sims takes place completely under the covers. The ESRB has given this a Teen rating. If The Sims 2 were a film, it would likely land between PG and PG-13. The makers have included some nice tools to help share the universe you've created. For example, you can capture in-game stills and video to show friends the private moments, family interactions, and house parties of your Sims. You can even package a household to share as a blog or an album on a special Web site. The Sims 2 is for patient gamers. Like life itself, the game is filled with mundane details, like getting ready for work and doing dishes. The game also demands a level of creativity from its players that the run-and-gun game genres wouldn't know what to do with. But those who stick with it will be rewarded with an absorbing, amusing diversion and a virtual family history that they've created themselves. --Porter B. Hall Set Up a Sims 2 Machinima Studio Amazon.com contributor Porter Hall reveals how you can make movies using the Sims as your actors. See his guide to setting up a Sims 2 Machinima Studio.

Features

• Sequel to the hit lifestyle simulation
• Manage your Sim's dreams and fears over a lifetime
• Mix Sim genes and see physical and personality traits inherited down through Sim generations
• Movie-making feature lets you control the camera and capture the action into mini movies
• Also available in DVD Edition

Description

Get into the holiday spirit with The Sims 2 Holiday Edition! This special holiday release contains The Sims 2, the fastest selling PC game of 2004, where you take your Sims from cradle to grave thru life’s biggest moments. Will they strive for popularity, fortune, romance, family or knowledge? It’s up to you to mix their genes, fulfill their dreams, and push them to extremes. Also included, your Sims can celebrate the holidays with 40 new items! Decorate the house, serve a festive dinner, experience Santa’s arrival, and throw a rockin’ New Year’s Eve bash!

The Sims 2: Holiday Edition includes the complete Sims 2 game and 40 supplemental holiday objects. Like The Sims game that preceded it, which quickly grew to be on of the most popular PC games of all time, you create one or more autonomous characters (sims) with distinct personalities and needs. You then create a virtual household for your sims, deciding whether they're roommates, spouses, or parents, and you move them into a pre- or custom-built house and neighborhood. Your sims will interact with each other and other sims in their community, with children going to school while the adults head to work. The Sims 2 features an enhanced neighborhood editor that lets you import custom cities from SimCity 4 (not included), and it also includes expanded building options for building bigger houses. This sequel features enhanced appearance editing tools that allow you to customize your sims' appearance. View larger. The genetics function takes your ability to create a family and builds it out further. View larger. Let your sims celebrate New Year's in style with a fantastic party. View larger. The most significant additions in The Sims 2 are the behavioral and character enhancements made to the sims themselves. While sims still have specific personality types determined by their horoscopes and adjustable individual characteristics -- such as neatness, niceness, and playfulness -- sims now have some notable major new features, such as memories, genetics, aging, and the new aspiration/fear system. This sequel also features enhanced appearance editing tools that allow you to customize clothing, hair styles and colors, and even lets you make adjustments to facial features. The genetics function takes your ability to create a family and builds it out further, letting sims pass on genetic information to their children. When creating a family, you can now have the game randomly generate children based on their parents' appearance and personality, though you can still edit those children. You can choose to re-create a real-life couple or family to see what kind of genes get handed down from generation to generation. Or you can experiment by interjecting some DNA from an alien into the family tree, as The Sims 2 includes the ability to create aliens from outer space and even marry them off to your more outlandish sims family members. Another adjustment to The Sims 2 is the application of the aging and aspiration/fear systems. While the aging systems consequences are fairly obvious and straightforward, the aspiration/fear system can actually help your sims stave off old age. This new system allows you to choose one of five aspirations for your sims, including building a family, earning money, seeking knowledge, experiencing romance, or being popular. These aspirations are immediately realized by four simpler goals that get displayed onscreen, as well as three basic fears. Each sim has an aspiration meter which can fill up as you complete goals, or empty out if your sims' worst fears come true. Goals can be as immediate as throwing a successful party, or as long term as eventually winning over other sims as friends or spouses. Fears can be equally straightforward or long term, such as the fear of being rejected or getting fired from work. Just as in life, if enough fears are realized, your sims lose their aspiration and go temporarily insane, although fortunately for your sims a therapist usually shows up. During this period of insanity, your sims can become unresponsive, ignoring orders you may be giving. However, if your sims successfully complete their goals, they earn more aspiration points, causing their meter to progress from green to gold and eventually platinum. The higher your sims' aspiration meters reach, or the longer they stay in the platinum range, the longer your sims remain as "normal" young adults. The 40 new holiday objects included in The Sims 2: Holiday Edition allow you to celebrate several holidays in style. From Halloween objects, to firecrackers, wallpaper, presents, tree decorations and more, you can let your sims celebrate New Year's or even invite Santa Claus over for supper. And there is even a new movie-making feature that lets you "film" your sims in action and save the video to your computer. The Sims 2 even looks great, powered by a powerful three-dimensional graphics engine.

Features

• Holiday Edition includes the complete Sims 2 game and 40 supplemental holiday objects
• Sims now have major new features, like memories, genetics, aging, and the new aspiration/fear system
• Celebrate several different holidays in style, such lighting fireworks on July 4 or inviting Santa Claus to supper
• New movie-making feature that lets you "film" your sims in action and save the video to your computer
• Powered by an all-new three-dimensional graphics engine, graphics looks much better than the original

Description

THE GAME'S AFOOT...It is November 1890 and London is gripped by a merciless winter. Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson are enjoying tea by the fire when an agitated gentleman arrives unannounced at 221b Baker Street. He begs Holmes for help, telling the unnerving story of a scar-faced man with piercing eyes who has stalked him in recent weeks. Intrigued by the man's tale, Holmes and Watson find themselves swiftly drawn into a series of puzzling and sinister events, stretching from the gas-lit streets of London to the teeming criminal underworld of Boston. As the pair delve deeper into the case, they stumble across a whispered phrase 'the House of Silk': a mysterious entity and foe more deadly than any Holmes has encountered, and a conspiracy that threatens to tear apart the very fabric of society itself' With devilish plotting and excellent characterisation, bestselling author Anthony Horowitz delivers a first-rate Sherlock Holmes mystery for a modern readership whilst remaining utterly true to the spirit of the original Conan Doyle books. Sherlock Holmes is back with all the nuance, pace and powers of deduction that make him the world's greatest and most celebrated detective.